Another World

These shorts contain the emotional development the movie was missing. With the two separated, both feel incomplete.

~ Story 6/10

Adult Naomi's story is fleshed out here. We get to see his feelings for Ruri grow in his youth, and then his turmoil and emotional hollowness as he goes into adulthood.

It sounds great on paper. Unfortunately in reality, it's just not very interesting separated from the movie.
If you watch this before the movie, you will be very confused. If you watch this after the movie, you will feel like the emotional development came too late. The ideal situation would have been to have the heartfelt moments ... from this ONA inserted where they belong in the film. The story would have been much stronger.
Even if this ONA was meant to be an extended trailer of sorts for the film, the scenes should still have been integrated into the main story somehow.

~ Animation 3/10

There is a huge chunk of this ONA that is just still images with voice-overs or even just silence with text on screen. I thought the point of 3D CGI was to streamline the animation process, but I guess the budget was just too tight.

The sepia tone + vignette was pretty corny and unnecessary. The voice over narration was already enough to make it clear that these are Naomi's memories.

~ Character 8/10 ------------SPOILERS----------

This ONA does what the film should have done for the characters.

Unfortunately, since these emotional scenes were put into a spin-off instead of the film, Ruri's in-film personality is practically blank.
For example, her fear of heights in the movie is reduced to 2 gags (falling off the stepladder & almost falling out of the car). Her attempt to overcome her fear in order to go visit the mountains with Naomi should have been in the movie. The final reveal that she was the little crow would have been much more rewarding. The girl who was afraid of heights flew through the skies to save her loved one. It's hard to pick up this touching detail from the movie alone.
Another example is the scene of her singing in the library when she thinks no one else is listening. In the movie, she goes from aloof to 'love of my life' for Naomi in no time at all. This one little scene of Naomi catching her with her guard down would have done wonders for their relationship to go from strangers to friends.

Naomi himself would have benefited greatly from the character development shown here. The way we get to see his unhealthy obsessive lifestyle while trying to find a way to bring Ruri back would have made his final sacrifice in the movie so much more touching. In the movie we only see the "exciting" scenes where he fails at experiments over and over. We didn't get these quiet moments where he's sitting in his empty apartment, not taking care of his health, shutting out the world, unable to function. Even him trying to care for a cat only to have it confiscated without a fight was great insight on his state of mind.

On a lesser scale, the research team would have been more lovable in the movie if they had the comedic moments shown in this ONA, along with seeing more of their relationship with Naomi.

~ Overall 6/10

I'm glad this spin-off exists to bring more depth into the characters, but it just doesn't work separated from the movie.

Another World, a spin-off to the movie Hello World, give the necessary character development the movie couldn't show.

As far as storytelling goes I liked this more than the movie. The spin-off dealt the story-telling in 3 different episodes each starring Naomi as he gets to where he is in the movie. Before moving on to the story and the characters, I'd like to highlight areas in which the spin-off was better than the movie.

A major drawback of CGI anime movies is the movement of individual characters on screen. Sometimes the character models can feel a bit too unnatural than they already are when placed in ... a scenario that requires rapid movements or vivid expressions. Due to being a 10 min short for every 3 episodes, a major blunder was avoided. Since there were no need for.. (i forgot the word will edit if I remember) large animations? yea, the frames looked good. The backdrops were all beautifully animated, tho CGI models did ask more to be desired.

Moving on to narration. Now, this is a rather subjective topic as much I may want to objectify it. People like different styles of narration and that's understandable. The 3 episode shorts each asked for different narration styles. If I would differentiate it, it would be as follows: 1)Despair 2)Desperation 3)Hope
I know it may sound weird but hear me out.
Oh yes, SPOILERS AHEAD.
Episode 1 deals with Naomi's coming to terms with his weakness and relying on books to help someone he knew he couldn't himself. After finally seeing her smile once, his world gets shattered by some random ass thunderbolt in a matter of seconds. The slow score at the starting of the episode along with Naomi's narration helps set the scene for the backstory. Now here's where it gets weird. IDK WHY THE fuCK they used a dubstep right after that. BUT FINE. The slow-paced scores throughout the second ost help set for an awkward meeting between two people. And a high-low set for when they're happy.

Episode 2:
From the start of the episode to the end, all we hear is tirednss in Naomi's voice. From his way of living to the backdrop, with everything blacked out, it sets the scene for his desperation to shy away from reality. From him rejecting outings to protecting his solidarity, everything points him towards rejecting the reality that befell him as he tries desperately to change it.

Episode 3:
This one starts off with the tone the last one left it with not changing immediately. Well, I guess that's a norm in the media but still it's appreciable. Naomi's silence throughout the episode signifies the despair that he's sunk deep into. Being unable to help the only person he cares about and seeing all his efforts wasted, Naomi's at his breaking point. Tho with quite a few comedic reliefs throughout the episode, Naomi's underlying depression slowly eats him. His anguish hits hard when he questions himself before Ruri. The narration of the episode follows the theme hope, cause despite being head deep in despair, he tries to find happiness in the little things his lab head and assistant do and finally renews his yearning for the day Ruri wakes up in the past that he's unable to accept. Not a light-hearted romance, his love for one person acts as both a curse and a blessing for Naomi.

God that was long.
Now I was gonna go into characters but if you've read until this point, you probably have already watched Hello World and don't need to know that. And it would make this review needlessly long.

I thoroughly liked the history given to Naomi that justified his desperation. I'd say I enjoyed this more than the movie as it gave Naomi the character development he needed and since I watched the movie beforehand, it put a smile on my face to know he succeeded.

I'm caught between two thoughts that are conflicting right now, so I'll just take you through both.

These three shorts weren't entirely necessary? As far as the content of the shorts themselves, I feel like we got the gist of it from the main film. It does show the stuff that fills the time between when we meet Naomi in the recorded world and when his older self appears, but a lot of it was just extra stuff and not really anything that added to the story. That's my first thought.

My second thought is WHY WASN'T THIS PUT IN THE ACTUAL MOVIE?! Yes, the content ... wasn't entirely necessary, but the content isn't what I got out of these shorts-- it was the emotion. The emotional motives that I understood logically and only got a taste of sensationally were all right here! Why provide a weaker product in the film when the material to make it better is available? Obviously, the way these shorts were told as a sort of memory bank of the older Naomi wouldn't have worked in the context of the film, but why the hell not rework it to get all the feeling into the final product? Having to go to a seperate place to see development that should've been present in the original work is so disappointing.

Should you watch these as a prequel, should you watch them at all, I don't know. I more or less think the only one that adds anything substantial is the final one, but then again, the first two could've provided a foundation for that one to stand on. Who can say? What I can say is that it would've been a way better decision to add it into Hello World rather than do it this way. However, putting that aside, I enjoyed seeing what I did of the older Naomi. Being able to connect with him, even if only a little bit more, made me feel like Hello World had a depth to it that I didn't see initially. If you felt like Hello World seemed unfinished, watch these. It won't entirely amend it, but it will give you a bit more to work with.

Another world. Using Katagaki's adult version of time in an effort to rebuild Ruri's lost consciousness since a major incident in the past of young Katagaki happen in the movie. All video rewind every event happen while Katagaki trying hard to enter the ALLTALE system. Maybe some people judge that this ONA had less impact served to the main one. Yet, it is revealed that this can be attached as a prequel one, not just a side story. Yeah, the event take the same like the young one do to take Ruri heart in the movie. While accident happen, all just get recorded to ALLTALE, ... and Katagaki trying hard to retake it from them.

At some moment, the feeling just real. Its attached well to the storyline. However, since this episode only served a little, its not enough with some perfectionist people out there. To me, its enough to describe what happen in the adult one. Yeah, its all his mistake, do a selfish thing only to saved Ruri, then end with a big failure in the movie. Albeit, with this little show, its show Katagaki motives, his desire, the struggle, high fighting spirit, even if he got labeled as a fool who has no fun. He accepted it and tried hard to realize his dream: returning Ruri's smile.

Its simplicity make me decides to give this show a big respect. A touchable moment really get its place. Even if get a less impact far for its main movie. This show prove me enough the reason to give the high scores in 9 for all of its elements. Yeah, thats it. The prequel element were real. Almost crying hard when watching that little show. A great sign must be the right decision to me to show my respect for the series.
Story 9
Art and sounds 10
Character 9
Enjoyment 10
Overall, slightly gone to 9.5

Honest thoughts and opinions about this ONA.

SPOILERS AHEAD FOR HELLO WORLD!!
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Story - 4/10
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Very straightforward and gives a backstory to Quantum World 1 Naomi (Sensei).

Art- 6/10

I know that this comes before, during and after the movie is in theaters and some shots may look very repetitive and I get that. I do appreciate that they made this just to fill in the gaps with a very limited budget considering how all out they do in the movie

Sound- 5/10

It hits when certain scenes need that emotional push for the atmosphere to kick in.

Character- 9/10

This is where I go full ham on this review.

Naomi in this world reminds me of Okabe Rintaro from the Steins;Gate series but to be precise, in Steins;Gate 0 (Im not gonna go into spoilers here for those who haven't watched) but if you know the reason why Okabe is a Sad Scientist then that is basically it (more on that in a moment). The VA portrayed this sad boy beautifully and I can feel his every emotion leading to the film. This evens the moral scale which he has portrayed in the movie and we all see the reason why. You can see his struggle as he survives school and as a lab member. People calling him out directly and indirectly as to why he cant give up and just be happy. Episode 2 was one of the strongest things that solidify this comparison to Okabe .The difference though is that Okabe has his friends to back him up to become his Chuuni lovable self while Naomi has the Quantum storage and his fellow lab members to give him hope as to successfully gather that specific data, pushing the limits of the system and his body and allows him to do his role in the film. Him reading that many books and studying for 2-3 years after her "death" can show the dedication and sacrifice that he will go through even if it means his own life.

Ruri on the other hand, showed something else that can erase her robot-ish portrayal. She expresses to be sad, tenacious, happy and love. Doing the extra detail of "climbing a mountain" part in some of the episodes shows that she has depth. Every time her young version is onscreen it feels less and less of a Damsel in Distress.

Enjoyment- 7/10

Some people may find this very boring even before/after watching the film which is understandable. I personally enjoy empathizing the pain and struggles of Naomi.

Overall - 6/10

These short are meant to give depth to the existing characters that we know. If you want to continue watching, then prepare your moral shoes on and strap in. You will stay for the characters than the plot itself. Tying some loose ends in Naomi's character

!SPOILERS!




I liked it a lot not gonna lie because of his back story and how he got to that point in the hello world they showed how Naomi had tried several times to get inside alltale and failed and then ended with him using a stick to walk as he couldn't use his legs properly due to paralysis and there was so much emotional development inside him and honestly made me tear up to see his love for ruri was so much that ended up dying for her :(. its quite a dramatic anime all in all and has a lot of emotion-induced aspects yet ... in this one its mostly about how he got lost in his own mind to help save Ruri and its really beautiful to see him work that hard for her to be back.