Kimi wo Aishita Hitori no Boku e

Short non-objective and biased review.

Well, well, well...
This was actually surprisingly good, I honestly didn't have my hopes up after watching 'Boku ga Aishita Subete no Kimi e' before watching this movie, which wasn't a good idea, but without going into spoilers, I can recommend watching Kimi wo Aishita Hitori no Boku e first.

'Kimi wo Aishita Hitori no Boku e' starts off at a good phase and it didn't slow down once in my opinion, sadly going into details with this movie isn't very easy without spoiling.

The two movies really go well together, even though it might not have been needed to make it into ... two movies, this one (Kimi wo Aishita Hitori no Boku e) was great.

The main character feels real, and their journey felt satisfying to follow. Their reaction feels genuine and the way they handle the situation feels real.

Unsure of what else to say without spoiling too much of the movie, I honestly think it's worth to go into this movie without looking at any trailers.

[63/100 Animation] The animation is way better in this one, but still feels a bit dated.

[84/100 Story] The story felt easy to follow and I thoroughly enjoyed the story more than other points.

[54/100 Sound] Was alright. The OST wasn't bad and felt fitting.

[65/100 Voice acting] VA is better and more alive compared to 'Boku ga Aishita Subete no Kimi e' though I'm biased because of Shiori's voice actor having more screen time.

TLDR; 'Kimi wo Aishita Hitori no Boku e & Boku ga Aishita Subete no Kimi e' are two movies made into one with two stories flowing into each-other.

This review will probably be deleted after the Movie had a global release.

[Note: I haven't watched part 1 yet since I can't book a movie ticket for part 1. While it's "not necessary" to watch it, it might affect the context of this review. This review might be edited/deleted if part 1 have a significant impact on this review]

An overdramatic romance drama anime movie building up by using every possible repetitive tropes to make itself become a borderline laughing stock. Like seriously, I'm holding my laugh while watching in cinema.

They try their best to make it look like a good soap opera by using tropes that has been commonly used, assuming that it work for majority group ... that watch TV so it might as well work here too. Well, it might work there but probably not here, at least not for me. Sometime it's a hit, most of the time it's a miss. But the most importantly, this movie look like a below average generic soap opera when those tropes added up together. By that, I mean it look like the one that will milk every single possible tropes. No, it's the one that milk every single possible tropes. Don't believe me? Let's see how it goes.

"Our parents are getting remarry, we can't marry each other anymore. What should we do?" [Common trope counter (Surprise Incest?): 1]
"Let's escape together" [Common trope counter (The Runaway): 2]
(My reaction to that information: ??????????)

What kind of teenage think it's good idea to run away just because their parents are getting remarry and therefore they can't marry each other? First of, what make it wrong for them for marrying each other? Second, why even run away right now, at teenage? They just either need to tell their parent right there or wait for them to grown up enough to marry each other. The runaway trope is absolutely usable in a lot of situation but definitely not this one. This one just doesn't make sense. And their parents agree! Right after some certain event, their parents told them that there's nothing that stopping those young couples from marrying each other even after their remarry.

What's that certain event though? Uh.... Guys, prepare for impact. Brace!

"I got an idea! Just use that machine to get into parallel world where our parent are not divorce" [Common trope counter (Alternate Timeline?): 3]
*they both in the machine* (Wait, how did they be able to get into their parent's lab room after runaway from home???)
Actually, this is good starting point, the execution letter on is terrible though

They both get into parallel world, male side on his home with family, female side in the middle of the road while seeing her parents on the sidewalk (ah shit here we go again). They both take a moment to realize a situation. Male side running from home immediately after realizing it to find female, female side is still taking some time to realize the situation (IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD).

And then, "Truck-kun has entered the chat"
You know how it goes next. She got hit by some car or truck while walking to her parents at sidewalk after realizing the situation [Common trope counter (Look Both Ways): 4]

Immediately, male wake up. This time in the machine without knowing the situation. The female side however is not breathing and later on, brain death. [Common trope counter (Trapped in Another World?): 5] (Not sure what it's called but definitely a trope)

Congratulations, this is where everything begin. How does it sound like? To sum it up, she died in parallel world by car accident during their time in parallel world which affected the current one too. And yes! This will be the main point of what the movie will be about for around the next 60 minutes since then, to rescue her!

Goddamn it. I want you to open facepalm image of your choice right now because that's literally my reaction after all of these. This is stupid. They could've been playing about timeline during their time in that parallel world. The opportunity is right in front of their door. Instead, they choose a cheap way and it's probably one of the most unintentionally stupid way to execute Truck-kun trope, by standing IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD. Like seriously, there are probably millions better way than this.

The rest 60 minutes is of course about rescuing her. The timeline of it is... kinda confusing and concerning. It involved countless amount of time that MC get into parallel world, then back to the world, then back to another parallel world, then went to the same world again, and again. It's too much to the point where I don't know which one is the world of the main story and which one is the parallel world. Maybe sci-fi is not my thing, but it's more likely that it suck at storytelling.

Even at the crucial point, I don't know if that was the parallel world or was it the world that MC was originally from. The timeline that I can connect together and still make sense is that MC met another girl (Kazune), they both compete to create a machine/theory that can possibly get Shiori back. Then they marry each other(?), went back to another parallel world then, it ended? However, this is very oversimplified and definitely missed some important turning point. I can't included any switch between parallel world, in which at one point MC become a kid, before they even know Shiori, to make sure that Shiori will be safe in that parallel without meeting him. In which, that parallel is the one that he married(?) with Kazune. However, he and Kazune still recalled about plan to rescue Shiori, in their 60(!) and it another parallel world where he didn't know Shiori? There are at least 4 switch between the world that accident happened and the parallel world which might even have more than 1 parallel world. Good luck trying to understand that, cause I won't anymore. I'm losing my mind and sanity trying to figure out while writing this.

Notice how I put "(?)" every time I talked about marrying between MC and Kazune? Because I'm not even sure if they actually marrying each other or not. And if yes, did they do it just for society and for the research? Because they don't seem to be a couple. MC still ask about her wedding ring in the end, the family consisted of only them and Kazune in their elder but they have a kid at other point during their adult age. This might mean that there are 2 parallel world at this timeframe. Oh. My. God. Why is it so hard to understand the whole thing?

Due to the extreme complex of the timeline, it's impossible to actually review or talking about this section in detail more than this. I have no idea what's going on anymore especially during the ending part which also seem like a crucial part. All I can say is that, their storytelling suck!

So the reward for the best at mixing up common tropes together shall go to them. They managed to use every single commonly overused tropes that they could yet still make it look watchable, kinda. Actually, I want to go to parallel world where I get my money and my time back so that I can watch "The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes", another anime movie that seem promising and also available in this movie festival that I attended although at more expensive price.

But let's set that aside, this thing is not that bad to watch, right? I mean it have some decent reason to watch it. It's possibly the first anime that have two actual parallel world in real life, one is part 1 and the other one is part 2. It's also not that terrible especially if you have better brain than me. Animation is also okay although kinda dated, like what you would expected from TMS especially if you've watched Fruits Basket before because it kinda have somewhat similar art style. The story is probably considered decent at the first half if you can ignore the overused tropes that will keep spamming on your face. The second half seem to required big brain to understand but I think it might be enjoyable for some especially for sci-fi enjoyer?

However, I believe that I've seen sci-fi anime that have done a better job. Notably, "Hello World" did better job in my opinion. While it's not as complex, it still have a strong sci-fi theme revolving around time manipulation. It also did as better job than this. By reducing the complexity of some part when possible but also by more competent storytelling. Which is not the case here. We have overcomplicated story with not-so-great storytelling combined with complexity of parallel world.

So to sum it up, it's not exactly the worst watch that I had. However, if I can go into parallel world and get my time and money back, I would do it. Recommend to watch? Maybe if you want your brain to have a workout and have plenty of free time, assuming that you also want to throw your money away if you're watching it in your local cinema (I assume not yet for most people). Would I watch it again though? Definitely not.