Kaijuu no Kodomo

Studio 4°C is very much a formidable studio in term of animation. Their movies often have a creative art style with realistic character designs and a light cold tone of color choices. Therefore, it's always a treat watching their works. But sadly, I can't say that the stories they offered are just as inspiring. And unfortunately, Kaijuu no Kodomo or Children of the Sea, as beautiful as it may look, is not an exception.

Normally, this will be the part where I'm spoiling the story a little bit to help guiding the viewer into the anime. But this time, the story is just too incomprehensible ... or quite frankly, a mess. And I really think that it's better for you to find out yourselves.

For the length of a movie, the cast is reasonably rounded and works quite well. We got introduced to the 3 main lead and some minor side characters that doesn't leave much of an impression. But what I want to talk about is their dialogues, they always sound so vague and as invalid as possible. I figured that maybe the director wanted to remain the mystery to the end but even then, there's really no answer, no explanations of any kind and that really hangs me over the middle.

As mentioned above, Kaijuu no Kodomo has one of the best animation I've ever seen. As comparable as Ufotable, Kyoani or Ghibli's works. Everything looks so fluid and beautifully detailed. Especially the characters' eyes and the scenery of the sea, they looks so lively but still remain the uniqueness of animated story. The music is also very reminiscent and bring a lots contribution in the overall tender and mysterious tone of the anime.

Imo, no matter how great the animation can be, if its story fails to make the same impact, it's just such a shame because pieces of animation that's as beautiful as Children of the Sea is so rare to find nowadays. So if you're all for the story like me, Kaijuu no Kodomo is just not worth it.

This is a tough one to review. First off it's clear that the animation and artstyle is both beautiful and thoughtfully executed. However, the difficulty in reviewing Kailua no Kodomo mainly comes from its story. Here's a more precise explanation:

Animation (8): A beautiful mix of 3D elements that don't feel too out of place and a well thought out charadesign makes this movie one of the prettiest ones to hit theatres the year of its release.

Story (4): This is where it's really hard to have a concise opinion, at first I felt like maybe I didn't understand the thought process behind a lot of the ... final 1/4 of the movie, with all of the classic maternal representation and space-related metaphors we get nowadays from Shinkai movies. But just like Shinkai's Kimi no nawa, this feels like a shoe-horned pseudo-deep storyline made the story seem deeper than it truly is, with convoluted forced metaphors that could dupe some into thinking Kailua no Kodomo is a deep philosophical statement. Similarly, after rewatching it another time, it became evident that a lot of the character introductions were non-sensical -- what happened to that handball girl ? Was it all just to show that the main character does not allow injustice to prevail ? How about Sora forcing the universe into Ruka ? How can this be justified ? This entire thing feels like pandering to the general public's lack of sensitivity when it comes to "artsy anime movies".

Characters (4): No character's roles are ever explained, Anglade is such an ambiguous character whose role I wish was more explicited, similarly Dede and Jim just spit out some pseudo-deep crap about the universe in a supposedly mysterious tone. The rest of the supporting cast are forgettable at best which is a shame and the main characters aren't developped enough for anyone to identify themselves to them.

Overall: Form over substance, pseudo-philosophy yet beautiful animation makes this the probable source for the next Instagram edits for beautiful anime, other than that if you're interested in a convincing story you can probably skip this one.

Children of the Sea's high commitment to pretty nonsense, both visually and thematically, results in an unsatisfying viewing experience.

Children of the Sea might be worth watching for the sheer verve of its occasionally
resplendent visuals. The raw, complex lineart gives the depictions a real sense of texture, and the shear density of the aquatic wildlife in the frame is impressive. Much of that wildlife is rendered using CG, but it is generally integrated pretty well enough so that way that the high fidelity of the CG art contrasts with the more impressionistic traditional art reads as an artistic flourish. However, integration of CG is much ... less successful during the myriad of cuts with extremely dynamic cameras moving through highly detailed 3d environments.

The storytelling is pleasingly sedate, if extremely unfocused. I liked the relationship between the three lead children - the burgeoning friendship between the female lead and the younger brother and the significantly more antagonistic relationship between the female lead and the older brother.

However, this story is frequently sidelined as characters that are barely introduced murmur about a "festival" (the aesthetic vagueness of their exposition does not make it any less clunky). They then wax lyrical about how the expansiveness of the universe relates to the interior of mankind or something, which is preposterous and burns time that could be better spent developing the characters and conflict. The fixation on pretty sounding nonsense also comes at the expense of following through on the existing plot elements (Why were the children rescued off screen? What happened to the pointless science team subplot?) which frustrates the film's own efforts to establish a sense of grounded magical realism.

This culminates in a deeply surreal climax. The presumed life or death stakes for the characters caught in the middle of the "festival" are way too abstract and vague for the storytelling to land with any visceral impact - even in the face of all of the intense and captivating visuals.

Music pieces are great individually, but sometimes seems poorly timed with the pacing of the shot to shot editing.

this is my first review so sorry if there's a mistake.

POSSIBLY LITTLE SPOILER

Art-10
In my opinion this movie has an art of indulging eyes throughout the scene presented with a details view on the beach and ocean as well as subtle movements in animatio so, no complaints in this art style.

Music-10
as well as the music that accompanies the story during a sea diving scene or when a character experiences something magical in this story, a background sound that really matches all scenes. I give a 10/10 score on music.

... Voice acting-8 (I hate the father, lol)
while for voice acting there are no problems. All actors match the characters being played. except for one, the main character's father who will later be explained below.

Character-7 (Is because side characters)
all three protagonists have different personalities who are friends. The main character is said to have mischievous behavior that often acts at will and also she hates her mother, for some reason is not told why she hates her mother in the movie, even so throughout the story, we will see the development of this girl who will change throughout the story. While the other two protagonists are cheerful children who accompany the main character. This movie taught me about what friendship is and why it is valuable. That's what makes me like these three characters, because they help each other and get through the fun and sadness together. Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you about the main character's father who was very bland, he didn't have the characteristics in this story as well his voice acting, for example when his daughter wanted to go to the beach during a storm he was the only one who didn't panic while the mother who does not look useful is only showed her feelings, unfortunately, this father has an empty role until the end of the movie, applause for the mother.

while for supporting characters such as the teenager and weird grandmother, their origins are not conveyed and why they are involved in the story so for supporting characters is very worse. While some other institutions in the story that might look like a bad guys are also not told what they are planning.

Story-2
the story in this movie is very ordinary and even confusing, in the beginning to the middle I enjoyed the story, until the end of the story will be a common thing for most anime in general. I can not tell because of spoilers. Honestly, maybe the story in this film is too hasty so it does not explain the details of what happened.

Conclusion
maybe the art and ost in this movie is great but the story is meh.

This anime is suitable for you who are :
People who only care about unique art style, hachi's fans, People who are bored during pandemic and have free time.

This anime is NOT suitable for you who are :
People who care about the storyline, those who hate lazy storylines.

What an absolute spectacle. This is the sort of film that gently draws you in by the hand, stroking you with gentle breezes, lapping at your bare toes as the distant calls of whales echo by your ears.

And then proceeds to faceplant you into the sand and screech like a dying seagull as you hallucinate from a lack of oxygen.

For the first hour of the film I was completely hooked! Ruka, Umi and Sora are familiar but enjoyable archetypes, and no time is wasted in building a bond between the trio and getting into the mystery. The side characters have next to no ... focus, but they work into the setting well enough to not take away from the story. And, of course, with every frame being pure eye candy, you easily lose yourself to the world and watch the plot flow with the waves...until the plot begins to lose you.

Am I an idiot? Did I miss all the obvious hints and signs because I was too caught up in the gorgeous scenery and facial expressions? Totally possible. Most likely. Did I genuinely attempt to follow every hint and sign? For sure. And yet there I sit, taking in the second hour of the film, jaw dropped because the sights and sounds are all I can follow, and even that loses any sense of direction in the final half an hour. It does sort of tie bits and pieces together at the end, but certainly not enough for me to ponder what I just saw.

I can see the direction the story was going, and what it was asking the viewers to explore. There are elements of fantastical and philosophical proportions that do offer decent speculations - but certainly not enough to hold a story together. If that was the point - if the story should be taking a backseat to the visuals, then that's fine! I'm all for a pure spectacle, but I want to know I'm only getting a spectacle. Don't build up a story just to toss me into a lecture on the existence of man and memories. I'm just not smart enough, y'all -_-

Looking for a sensory overload? "Children of the Sea" will mesmerize you with its top tier visuals and great voice acting. If there is any, ANY way, turn the voices down, turn off subtitles, and just take it the sights and sounds. Otherwise, stick with the Ghibli films for a satisfying blend of storytelling and beautiful animation, because the most you'll get from these children is a headache.

A pretty one, though XD

Children of the Sea presents a story that is very metaphorical and is something that should be appreciated for its visual presentation. The quality of this anime film is rather inconsistent. I loved some scenes and was generally amazed by the effort put into the most important scenes, but other scenes just felt rushed and lazily done. The story is really metaphorical, so if you are the kind of person to turn your brain off while watching films, don't watch this film. You will be bored. However, if you are the type to analyse a film while watching it and after watching it while digesting ... the plot of the film you just watched, then this might be the film for you.

Some things are animated rather sloppily, but for the most part, the animation is pretty decent. There is a scene that goes on for quite some time that is quite hypnotic. That was the peak of the animation quality and I loved it. It's rather hard to explain the animation without going into spoilers so just sit back and let the film take you on a journey.

The soundtrack, sound effects, and voice acting are all spectacular in this film. These really complemented the animation and overall story. It's unfortunate that character development was rather poor. The film spends almost all of its time focussing on the three main characters. It pretty much doesn't develop the relationship Ruka has with her parents. Any shift with the relationships with Ruka and her parents and the relationship between her mother and father, which happens in this film, feels rather jarring since there is a lack of backstory and character development to show how they got to that point and why their relationship is unstable and changing. I wasn't invested in the supporting characters. They weren't given enough depth to have anything to care about.

I did enjoy this film and appreciated the metaphorical aspect of it. Just beware of the poor character development. Don't expect a masterpiece or anything significantly good when watching this film.

Watched at Hoyts Entertainment Quarter 15 as part of the Sydney Film Festival.

From the everyday, to the simple, to the surreal and eccentric, visually and audibly - Kaijuu no Kodomo was absolutely artistically stunning. The artistic visuals and beautifully composed music was the best part of the film. These two elements blended seamlessly to create such a vibrant and well-designed world, with use of colour and music really visualising different tones and environments perfectly.

Ultimately though, Kaijuu no Kodomo was slightly disappointing. Leading up to this film's release in my country, I was pretty excited and anticipating a similar enjoyment to the first time I ever watched films like Wolf Children or Your Name. With their stunning ... artistic styles and soundtracks, I was expecting Kaijuu no Kodomo to join these two fantastic films in glory. Unfortunately it did not.

What this film lacks in comparison is in its story-telling. With an almost hyper-focus on the stunning artistic visual and sound design of this film, what gets left behind is the capacity to tell a story effectively. The pacing was uneven, and the events were never really explained or developed in ways that could actively engage me in the story of the film itself. I found myself greatly anticipating the animation and visual aspects more, rather than the events that unfolded. It felt messy and it ended messy.

The characters were all played effectively, with no particular issues or key moments that arose. The voice actors all performed well for what they were given.

Overall, it was a beautiful piece of artwork but just a mediocre film.

I really tried to like this because it's been awhile since I've seen a good anime movie, but wow this movie is really boring.

I read an entire article about the impact fast fashion has on the planet with the movie on in the background and didn't even realize until after.

There's nothing hooking you in at all it's just so boring, not only is it boring, the original looking art to imitate the mangas art style can be wildly unsettling sometimes and even hard to look at sometimes so it was off putting sometimes.

the music is.....like not there? when it is its boring and sleep ... inducing.

ASMR during the rain scene though? 10/10

The Children of the Sea is a film I would recommend a friend to watch by themselves at 2-3am with little to no explanation.

The film is very alluring and captivating even with visuals alone. Some of the best animated sea life there is. From ribbon eels to false killer sharks the scenery is illuminating and stunning.

Very good at keeping your attention by going from a melancholy sunny scene to something darker and more fast paced.

Some of scenes were genuinely so intense (not content wise but by use of sounds and visuals) that I was taken aback or caught off guard.

If you are not ... a fan of films that are more emotional in nature rather than literal than this may not be your flavor of tea. There is a lot of fantastical elements that can be hard to attach to in terms of a plot. At times it often feels more like a visual and auditory experience than it does a concrete story. So that looseness and lack of rigidity in terms of story can be a fault if that is what you are wishing to derive from a film.

The characters themselves serve as devices to explore the world in which the film is set in and everhthing works together to propel the film forward in that way. The change of pace from a typical summer childhood adolescence animation was personally a treat for me, so if you like odd tasting candy maybe try it out yourself.

🐋 🪼 🐟

So...
This movie was a ride to say the least. I walked into this expecting what I read in the synopsis, but the synopsis did NOT prepare me for what I actually viewed.

Story- 4
It was going just fine in the beginning; there were fish, oceans, kids talking about a ghost of the sea, just as the synopsis said. But then, that all changed. I tried to understand what was actually happening and catch the meaning, but from that whale consumption scene to end of the movie, all I picked up was...METEOR, THE MEANING OF LIFE, BIRTH... THE UNIVERSE!!! I couldn't follow along then.

Art- 9
The ... animation was beautiful. The ocean scenes, the fish, the rain illusions especially. The camera movements through me off a little at certain scenes, but overall, it was amazing.

Sound- 9
I didn't focus on the music too much in this one, but it was very soothing. I enjoyed what I listened to throughout the entire movie.

Character- 4
No development to speak of, I couldn't really read anyone, and there isn't anything else to discuss.

Enjoyment - 6
I did enjoy this for the most part. I wasn't bored and it DEFINITELY kept me intrigued...but it did swim squares around me.

Overall- 6
This movie was something. I liked what I was given and this is something I think would be a good watch for movie night, mainly to see the faces of those who don't know what's coming. But honestly... I felt like I was on drugs while watching this.

The beginning of the anime was very cute, I liked where it was going. I thought it might be a cute story about love and friendship, and I was hooked on it until I kept watching it and halfway through the movie then I quickly lost interest. It didn't make any sense at all! I think it tired too hard to be philosophical and mysterious. The writing just took such a wide turn that I was so lost. I watched it all the way through and I just couldn't wrap my head around it. I think I got the overall message, that we are one ... with the universe. And the universe is within us. Something like that.

Beautiful animation and music is great too. But I give it a 5 because I was very confused.

I actually couldn't comprehend wtf was happening. People are saying it's impressive how well the team managed to fit the entirety of the manga into 110mins, but I was actually just trying to make sense what was actually happening in the story the whole time, it was not enjoyable for me. Music and art style is pretty, that's about it. overall, I'm pretty damn disappointed. I felt pretty empty after watching it, would not watch it again.

What? I have to write a longer review? I cant MAL, dont make me write what I can't feel... I rated it 6/10 overall. Not the worst rating I've ... given, and probably lower than average for me. I'm surprised I didn't drop it halfway through, though I almost did, honestly.

NO SPOILERS <3

As someone who works at a movie theater and has seen the ad for this movie only about a million times, I was excited to finally sit down and watch this movie that has been on "my list" on Netflix for a long time, but I have to say I was a little disappointed. To preface, I have not read the source material and I watched the English dub, which I thought was decent. Or at least the dubbing matches the monotone dialogue of the film.

STRENGTHS: The art style is incredibly unique and beautiful. A solid 10/10, besides the fact the eyes were ... accidental jump scares to me at a couple points in the film lmao. I really thought most of the character designs were nice too despite the faces perhaps lacking in expression once animated. What it lacks in somewhat rough movements at parts, it more than makes up for with creative and fluid animation sequences at many parts of the film that are extremely rich, vivid, and pleasing to the eye to watch. The sound design with underwater noises and such I thought were really nice and the musical score I thought was good too, although I found it to be a little repetitive by the end, but perhaps it was because I was becoming bored with the action.
- ART, SOUND, CHARACTER DESIGNS

WEAKNESSES: I found the pacing of the movie to be off and startling. The beginning of the movie intrigued me setting up the main character as a realistic, human character and introducing an interesting premise showcasing a boy who was raised by the sea with a mysterious brother. However, by climax of the movie, I found myself feeling totally lost and confused as to how we ended up here. The movie completely ended up in a different direction than I expected; which is actually something I love in a movie, besides the fact that the climax felt... weird? confusing? impossible to follow? It is hard to put into words.

In general, I think the biggest issue I have with this movie is that it feels superficial or as though it is trying to impart some grand message, but it kind of just comes off as just "life is everywhere, the universe, wow" and it makes you wonder, "okay, and? what is the point of this?" It was hard for me to take it seriously.
- PACING, THEME, AIMLESS STORY

Maybe I just have a smooth brain and there is some grand message to be found in this movie, but the story and theme of the movie falls flat to me. Besides this, the visual intrigue alone and the enjoyment you feel watching this movie is not bad at all and I'd recommend it to a friend. It was at least thought-provoking.

Why was this so confusing!! I was wracking my brain trying to figure out the story, and still couldn’t understand. But it seems I’m not the only one who doesn’t get it so, if you are confused, so are everyone else. :D

It is really beautiful though I will give the movie that.

Story:3/10
It is a very confusing story! I still don’t understand what went down.
I thought if I watched until the very end they would at least give me something but no, they didn’t.

Art:8/10
Very beautiful! Nice and detailed.
... The manga kinda style was a little off putting but nothing wrong with trying something different.

Sound:6/10
It was alright, I don’t know if it was just me but, some of the sound effects didn’t actually sync that well.

Character:3/10
Erm, hm, well I wanted to know more about the mother to be honest, everyone else wasn’t really that interested. I couldn’t connect with any of them at all.

Enjoyment:3/10
I wouldn’t recommend this to anyone to be brutally honest, like you can watch if you like but, you will just be confused.

The only thing I enjoyed would be the artwork, that’s it really. It was just boring.

This is just my opinion of the show. You can agree or disagree with this review all you like.
Also I like more simple reviews as they are quick to read, hence why there are no spoilers and so short.
-CuteChaff

x

Glad I'm not the only one who found the story is like an extrem hurricane rollercoaster, the prologue was good, then the middle of the story is starting to be confusing and somehow 'parting away' from what they introduced in the start of the film, I also can't digest the climax, the ending is leaving too much questions, honestly I feel like the film is not worthy my time. Maybe the movie is not for me because I'm not that phylosophical.

Aside from that, I like all the characters, I can't not smile everytime I see them, Umi is personally my favourite even though I don't ... really like chara with that 'sunshine sunbright sunlight' personality, I understand Ruka's feeling of wanting to protect him. "he's a baby in teen body holy frick"

This movie has some of the best art and music combinations I have ever seen, as I was watching I kept saying wow and how did they do that.For sure a top 5er in visuals.Now the characters and their story's are ok at best to me kinda felt like you really had to fill in the blanks yourself while sometimes that is ok they leave us with a lot of blanks in the movie and many I am still trying to figure out.Some of the characters I still don't understand and their actions also I still don't get the plot. I get the girl and ... 2 boys being friends and everything I just don't get who's the bad guy or good guy.One more thing the whole movie is building to this climax and well it look good I still can't make heads or tails of it really what happen was it a good thing or a bad thing.So good visuals and the rest well let you see for your self.