Santa Company: Manatsu no Merry Christmas

The real litter was the friends we made along the way.
Shout outs to Google Mail.

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Congratulations MAL for getting the honour to host this.

Character design was alright I guess. Moon Santa was terrifying.
Why did this air so late after Christmas.
What did this have to do with Christmas.
... Save the whales. Pick up your bottles kids.
I'm really desperately trying to reach the minimum character count here, does it show.
Um.
Also a bootleg Ghostbusters believe it or not.
Apparently there's more to this series but whether or not you know of it I don't think matters cos this was it's own thing.

Well... What should I say

The anime itself was better than I expected it to be, the art was great and the ending was amazing.
The story was all over the place and didn’t really make a lot of sense, but it did what it was supposed to do:
Tell people about all the trash in the ocean

As this anime is probably aimed at kids aged 4-9 you can’t expect much story.

Characters were alright, I especially liked Thomas and Santa.

... For being free, this anime was really good.

The live chat made the anime pretty funny, shoutout to Google Mail and all the other amazing people!

Anyway, Im tired, bye

story- 4
while I love the message, the story itself is not very well executed, I think the biggest limiting factor was the 30 minute run times, due to this they could not have the proper setup needed in order to establish needed plot points. Additionally for being a 30-minute show, the begging was far to slow, it felt like 80% of the episode was just an introduction
Art-6
while there are some problems with CGI it is overall pretty fine and I liked the color pallet,
sound-8
easy the best part of the show, the sound design and music was actually very good and fit the atmosphere
Character-5
the ... charters felt uninspired and dull, nothing really unique, but this is not there fault once again it is hard to make an interesting Charactershow out in a 30 minute short
Enjoyment-4
I saw myself watching the timer the entire time almost witching it would be over, but there are some moments that are pretty good and I enjoyed
Overall-5
I think the idea was good, and I loved the message but the execution was pretty bad

Well... That was bad.

The story was a rushed mess. I guess the main point is to advertise against littering, but mixing it with the story of becoming a tonttu makes it a mess (even though as a Finn, I enjoyed hearing them say the word tonttu). Adding the part about the littering felt really forced. I can understand that someone might start cleaning the beach when seeing litter on it, but the way he talked about littering was not natural. No one talks like that, that was just very badly made "Insert our agenda here" moment.

The artstyle looks nice, I liked it. Maybe a bit ... weird at some points and I'm not sure if it fit the theme of story, but it still looked nice.

Nothing special to say about sounds.

Characters were mostly very plain, of course we are talking about a half an hour long anime, so there's not much time to develop characters. I found Mint very annoying and I hated her from the moment she opened her mouth.

Overall I didn't really enjoy this.

Santa Company, at least this version, does a pretty mediocre job of telling a story with an environmental message for kids. I know there's another short film and a full-length movie from a few years ago, but as I haven't seen those, I'm just going to judge this on its own.

There are going to be slight spoilers from here on out, but since it's a 30-minute short film... I hope it's not too inconvenient.

Story - 4

Although this is a PG film, definitely meant for kids, I feel like the story was still really underdeveloped. Kids don't necessarily need super complex stories, especially if ... the focus is the message rather than the characters' development, but I do think this could've been better. There's no motivation behind what the characters do, at least no good motivation. Mint wants to be as good as her brother/live up to Panal (I think), Noah wants to clean up to prevent animals from dying like his pet(???) whale did, but these are all motivations that are dropped more than halfway through the film and without further elaboration. Also, the reveal of the trash dragon Mook was quite strange. The only other time we hear about him is when the teacher from the beginning says that Mint was working on an assignment about "Mook, Santa's enemy," and even then that's all we hear about it.

Maybe I'm being nitpicky, but I feel like there could've been something more coherent for this film.

Art - 9

I think the art style is super cute and the color design is awesome. The main cast certainly look unique without being gaudy. One point off for the CGI though. It wasn't bad, just... strange.

Sound - 9

Sound design was pretty good. I don't usually listen very hard for sound design, but nothing sounded bad to me. The voice actors are all also really incredible. So, a 9.

Character - 5

Like I said in the story section, the characters just didn't feel fleshed out in any way. They were all pretty one-dimensional. They don't have to be super complex if they're just for a short environmental story, but I wish there was more of a sense of their goals and motivations. Or some kind of change in their characters...

Enjoyment - 7

Despite all of the flaws in the characters/story, it was still kind of fun to watch. It was visually pleasing and the music during the credits was definitely really nice.

Overall - 5

I think the message behind the short film is a great one. We should all do our part in keeping the world, especially the oceans, clean and not contributing to the large amounts of litter out there. I admire the team's efforts to make an entertaining film meant to entertain and educate the public about this issue. I just think audiences would enjoy it more or take it more seriously if there was some more work put into the story so that it doesn't seem so heavy-handed.

I really like the concept, I just wish there could've been a better product for such an interesting idea and such an important issue.

***SPOILER AHEAD***


Supposed to be educational but instead of focusing on the real life impacts it has (it does touch on this briefly but VERY briefly- probably less than a minute in total), it instead focuses on a monster that appears because of trash which of course not being real, is not going to make people change because it's FICTIONAL.

The main protagonist is also possibly one of the most infuriating characters I've ever met. She's idiotic, blames everything that goes wrong or isn't in her favour on others, and basically just straight up bullies Trevor. She's the epitome of a terrible person yet she saves the ... day. What kind of picture do you think that paints especially to kids?

Story in general is dull. Only redeeming feature about this is that their intentions to bring about awareness to the problem is a good one. And the ending song rocks.

It had a very simple story, great if you want to just past the time. The character design and art style were beautiful and overall keep me very entertained! I expected it to be longer, but that was okay. There was some use of CGI/3D models so it could seem weird to some people. I recommend watching it if you have nothing else to watch or want to watch it with your family. It also had an important message. It's a 30-minute movie so you can't expect so much. Maybe if the story was developed more and make it longer. It would be great as ... a series. The story makes sense for the time frame.

I think it's a good idea to spread awareness about the plastics and trash that contaminated the sea and affecting marine animals. I really wish the anime would be more realistic, based on reality lives than just a fantasy because, in reality, it is really hard to tell people to not littering the ocean.
You can't just tell people "hey the sea is polluted and marine animals are dying we have to stop this" and then they just agree and clean the oceans. In reality, there are many people who are lazy to put trash in to the bin or just put it in their pocket ... or their bag if there is no bin. They literally throw trash like they throw rocks because they are too lazy to find a bin or they don't want their pocket or bag to be dirty. And there are many people who have their stupid reasons.
So, the good thing about this movie is only animation, and others. I hate the pastel colors, they burn my eyes. I really wish the story is more realistic.

Not going into details here because just from looking at it, you can probably already tell about which way it's heading. I'll say that the animation was particularly good, the main point and theme about this show was suppose to be an educational short movie about why littering is bad and it did okay in that department I guess so you can't really fault the plot for that and expect insane plot and character development. Although being an educational purposed film, it did have that anime feel in it and wasn't straight forward, throwing in some little plot and characters in there for the fun ... of it. I enjoyed the 28 minutes it aired and considering it was a low budget short movie where I only found it by MyAnimeList ad banner, it did what it is suppose to do pretty decently I guess.

Most of this is my early thoughts about the film. I did not spend much time over thinking the film. I also did not watch many short anime films, so i do not have a specific standard for reviewing them. I will be judging the film based sorely on my expectations and how much did the film delivered.
And let me tell you, going in to this, I did not had any high expectations. I did not watch the original film, neither did I know anything about it`s premise and world. I knew that this was a spin-off and that it had limited budget and ... a small team, and that it aimed to tell a simple story with hopefully adequate characters and animation to back it up. And thankfully, it was able to meet and even exceed my expectations. It is a very beautiful, enjoyable and well put together short film, especially considering its free.

STORY AND CHARACTERS:
The story is not aimed to be complex or serious endeavor with any long or complex story points. It is a light hearted tale that aims to tell a simple contained story, with a joyful and serious tone. And it is necessary to have those expectations while watching this film. The story is largely contained and follows the three main characters Mint, Noah and Thomas, as they try to clean the garbage polluting the shore area. Other than the main premise, the film also spends time telling us about more larger plot points of the main series like the Santa company, which really intrigued me. The opening 5 mins of the film was the point where I was most invested in the film. It explains its world and premise with effective dialogues and beautiful art style. There was some adequate jokes that made me chuckle a bit.
But I did felt that at certain points the story was too much to the point and did not try to expand certain plot points. For example, I wished there was a more prominent story arc that better showcased Mint`s shortcomings and her over coming them, Or a better representation of and focus on the littering issue that the film is so heavily aimed at. Thankfully, the story is paced correctly and explains story points effectively. And it overall kept me entertained. It really made me want to watch the original film.

Much like the story, the characters are simple and don`t have much dept to them. But they were likable and not irritating and carried the story pretty nicely.The main characters got the most screen time, and the story was focused around getting to know them. I really like their personality and relationship, and they carry the film for me. Apart from Mint, the characters fell two-dimensional, and served more as supporting cast for her, which I think works in the film`s favor. Again, the characters were entertaining and fun and did not overstay their welcome. They fit perfectly in the story and its world.

I have not watched the original film, so I do not have the context for the story and characters. But I think it was still satisfactory and did not contain any major plot holes or missing information. You will be able to watch the film without felling the need to think or speculate much.

ANIMATION AND MUSIC:
The animation and artwork was the best part of the film. The art-style made the world feel authentic and pleasant to look at. There overall good amount of animation. The animation was not fluent at some points and there was a two or three weird cuts, but you`ll hardly notice them.The music was also incredibly put together and added a lot to the story. These two things, more than anything else, were the main reason I enjoyed the film so much.


DIRECTION AND EXECUTION:
like I said, the recourse for this film was limited, but the creators clearly put a lot of effort in making the film. Director Kenji Itoso had a clear vision in his mind, and knew what to put in the film and how to effectively engage the audience in the film. I also think the creators were very effective in setting our expectations right. And they were very clear about what this film was about and what to expect. I think the film was well directed and executed.

CONCLUSION:
Like I said, I did not watch much short films and I did not had high expectations for this film. But I still think it delivered on the key things like. There is noting absolutely great and noting horribly bad, everything is simple. But all of its different aspects come together and gives a enjoyable and fun experience. Whether you`ll like that experience or the film, largely depends on your expectations and tolerance for such things. For the most part, I had a blast watching the film. It simple yet entertaining plot and fun characters made me really happy. I may not remember the characters and the story, but I won`t forget the pleasant time I had watching this film.

Congratulation to MAL for hosting the film. And thank you to all who worked on the film. I enjoyed and loved it very much, and I plan to watch the original film.


Thanks for reading my review. Do watch the film if you think you`ll like it.