Kagami no Kojou

My first impression. The foreshadowing is wonderful. Reminds me of my childhood. A slightly dark story continues, but at the end you can see the path of light.

- Great foreshadowing
As written in the story synopsis, this is the story of seven junior high school students who are unable to go to school due to various problems, and the castle's master, who wears a wolf mask.
The original novel was released in 2017. In 2018, the bookstore grand prize (given to the book that bookstores want to sell the most). Many people admire this story.

I saw the movie without reading the original novel. Until the middle of ... the story, there are scenes that calm down, but overall it's dark. There is also fear. However, at the end, the foreshadowing gathers and the heart trembles at the ending. By the middle of the movie, I kind of figured out the trick of the movie. When I finally figured out that it was the right answer, my emotions were greatly elevated. It may be a simple, common trick. But a wonderful script that could make use of that trick.

I think fans of the original novel will be happy with this movie. Of course, the original author is also pleased (details will be described later). I want to read the original novel as soon as possible.

- Character expressions and clothes
Junior high school students who are unable to do not go to school. The theme is a little heavy. Sometimes they darken their faces, sometimes they get scared. But they also have times when their hearts soften, and times when they have courage. Many facial expressions are drawn. Personally, I like how the character's clothes change with the seasons. Of course, the everyday world and castles are also wonderful.


Well,
In my reviews, I often write about what it looked like when it was released in Japan. This time, I was able to participate in a talk event with director Keiichi Hara and author Miduki Tsujimura.
Director Keiichi Hara has been join in many Japanese animations, including the Crayon Shin-chan movie. The original author of Miduki Tsujimura is a popular writer. Her novels are often turned into drama series and movies.

## After that, little spoilers





There were various talk topics, but I would like to tell MAL two things.

1. In the middle of the movie, characters say great lines. (That is, I highly recommend watching with subtitles.) At the talk event, I was able to see the post-recorded script, but the lines was handwritten. In other words, a lines that was added at the director's idea during recording. The director apparently recorded it as Plan B, but he realized it worked as a foreshadowing, so it was used.

2. "Anywhere door" shoes problem. They go back and forth between the room and the castle through mirrors. Like Doraemon and Nobita. When Tujimura wrote the novel he wasn't thinking about shoes. However, Director Hara prepared shoes in front of the mirror. Tsujimura seems to have been impressed by this. This is with Doraemon!
Tsujimura says he loved Hara's anime since he was a kid. Especially Chimpui. (Tsujimura has also written a script for a Doraemon movie [Doraemon the Movie: Nobita's Chronicle of the Moon Exploration (movie 2-14)] ). Director Hara has participated in Doraemon and other Fujiko F. Fujio animations for many years.
Tsujimura was thrilled to be working with one of his favorite animators, Hara. Great anime makes great animators for future.


A personal story at the end of the review.
I thought back to my childhood. There were times when I was sad. It's a small thing now, but I remember the feeling. Children's world is small because what they can do with their power is limited. Especially Japanese children. I remember struggling too. What I can do is release that littleness.
And do the exact same thing for me as an adult.

“Lonely Castle in the Mirror” is what happens when You have a pretty nice idea with a twist and absolutely butcher the drama in it.

At first glance You might think we will follow seven different characters on their journeys. That’s a negative. We see the plot and follow mostly one of them, our MC - Kokoro Anzai. One day, while avoiding school she is transported through the mirror into a castle in the middle of nowhere. There she meets six more young teenagers and a mysterious girl, clothed in a red dress and a wolf’s mask.
They are given a challenge: Enter the room that ... cannot be entered by finding a key. There will be granted one wish. They have about a year to do so.
That’s the premise and I think it’s pretty solid. Mixing red riding hood with a little bit of Alice through the looking glass and The Wolf And The Seven Little Goats (which turned out to be a real story for kids. I did not know that. You learn something everyday) to create a world that needs little explanation apart from “Just roll with it”. I think that’s one of the most solid world buildings I’ve seen. You don’t need more. You know the rules of the real world and You know the rules of fairy tales and fables. That’s it. Thanks to that the movie can concentrate more on the plot itself.

The plot… yeah… here’s where we start to stumble.
Despite having seven characters that are pretty unique when it comes to background and reasons to avoid school the movie does jack shit with all but three. Kokoro, Aki and Rion are the only ones that are given at least some time to get to know. The rest are just there to fill space. Yes, we get to know each person’s reason but it’s done in such a half-assed way that You won’t get to care that much. Shame because I would love to know more about them. That said, Aki's trauma isn’t treated too well. It’s just used as a catalyst for the last act. Nothing more, nothing less. Due to the fact that her experience is pretty serious (more so than most others) I think it’s a disservice to the character and the situation itself. The only trauma that’s played… adequate (no way I’m calling it well written, it’s not) is Kokoro’s. I won’t spoil it but it gives a pretty nice view of her reasons to avoid school.
The rest of the traumas are done in a very cheap way to make us give a damn. Some sob moments with sad music in the background. Lazy, unoriginal and done far too late in the movie to make me care.

I think the movie's biggest problem is the size of the cast. There are too many characters for a 2 hour movie. There is no way the writers could do them justice. I get that it’s an adaptation of the book but making the cast smaller ( I would say, max 5) and giving all of them more time to shine would work wonders for the overall plot. As it stands the characters are too one dimensional (apart from our MC of course) and useless. Most don’t drive the plot forward or even help with world building. They are just there. Shame cause I think most of them had potential. Of course there are characters that were written to the story only to be token characters and You can tell from the start.

Now for, probably, the best part of the movie - the mystery. There are actually two. One is the room of wishes, the other is related to the characters. I really have little to complain about any of them. There were clues to solve both. Some better than others and the most important one (referring to the character one) was given not by background but by framing. I actually appreciate that. What I didn't like is how the characters are basically morons. If they would just ask basic questions about each other, they could decipher one of the secrets before the halfway point. I get they all have their reasons to avoid talking about themselves but even at the halfway point, when they know each other for over 6 months now, they still barely know anything. Since it’s shown that they interact with each other on a pretty close basis I have a hard time believing no one spilled the beans about themselves sooner.

The last problem I personally have with the script is the lack of tension for all but the third act. They have a deadline to achieve their goal. They all have a reason to do so (some better than others) and yet everything is framed like it’s a summer camp. There is only one scene when they are actively looking for the key and even that is killed by flirting. Tension is present in just one scene. One tiny scene at the start of the third act. That’s all. Even the events after it that should be nerve wrecking, given the situation, are pretty laid back.

Now… after all that You might think that this movie is a waste of time. It’s not. It is a pretty solid, middle of the road story about troubled youths. Their struggles, fears and hopes. The interactions between the characters (at least the characters that were given some better material) are pretty enjoyable and worth the time. Even some scenes that are there just to show how close everyone became aren’t all that bad.

Would I recommend this?
Not with a clear conscience. It’s not bad, but there are so many better movies out there that this one is for people that don’t mind mediocrity in writing.

It's a good movie showing the consequences of bullying and it offers a path to recover from it.

Each character has his own reason to drop school, even though it's hardly shown. The movie mainly focus on Kokoro's experience, how she feel and how she's dealing with it. I find it very accurate to reality.

What I find quite new and interesting is how Kokoro's mother is reacting to events. She's extremely supportive, don't push her daughter and reassure her every time it's needed. It could be quite a lesson to parents whose child is being bullied.

It's a shame that the pace is so slow ... at the beginning, it takes time to reach to the main part.

Animation is amazing, music is great.

I think the film is definitely worth watching.

I wish more “kids” movies like this were as emotionally intelligent. Absolutely outdid my pretty mid expectations. Almost all the characters were memorable - surprising for a movie like this. I thought I wouldn’t like something like the lil epilogue but it was quite clever with the foreshadowing. I don't think it's wrong to complain about it being formulaic when the visceral nature of Kokoro's story is quite unique. Aki's story was also good if a bit more formulaic. Subaru was extremely unmemorable. Moe's role was left somewhat unexplained considering how important she was to the conclusion. These are minor complaints, though, and they only ... make me want to read the novel. Exactly the kind of movie I wish I saw in middle school (though I doubt I would have liked it then).

Lonely Castle in the Mirror is another anime film focused on a troubled teen overcoming her personal issues through some extraordinary means, in this case entering a parallel world in a castle through her bedroom mirror where she encounters six other teens having their own personal troubles. There are two main elements explored throughout this film's run: exploring the personal issues of each of the characters and the mystery surrounding the alternate world that the seven are able to enter.

For the first one, the seven teens share a common dilemma in that they have their personal traumas impacting their lives to varying degrees. The ... film addresses school bullying and parental abuse in exploring the problems faced by each of the seven teens throughout Lonely Castle's nearly two hour run. It makes a point to mention that while overcoming said traumas aren't easy, there are lifelines available to provide support for those affected. For example in the case of our main character Kokoro, there is a teacher at a special school for bullied kids who goes above and beyond to convince Kokoro that she is available to support her where needed. The other element to this is that the cohabitation that Kokoro and the teens have with one another in the castle provides an environment where they can be themselves and being around those with similar experiences allow them to be in a comfortable environment free from the personal problems impacting their lives. The support that the seven provide one another serves as a vital source of character development for each of them to overcome their personal issues throughout the film.

With the focus on the alternate world, the teens are also tasked by a mysterious girl in a wolf mask called the Wolf Queen to find a hidden room that can grant their wish within a year. While exploring the personal problems of each of the characters, Lonely Castle also drops hints of the true nature of the mysterious castle and different elements of it as the seven are also trying to find clues regarding how they are able to come together, the location of a key needed for the hidden room, the identity of the Wolf Queen, and the location of the hidden room they are trying to seek out. The fact that the teens have a year to solve this mystery also provides this angle of the story a sense of urgency as they have that limited time to both solve the mystery and overcome their personal traumas. These layers of mystery help add more depth to the film's storytelling which, combined with the developments of its seven main characters, gives Lonely Castle tight enough pacing with its storytelling where I didn't feel as if it was padding things out or dabbling into too much for its two hour run.

If there is a weakness to Lonely Castle for me, it would have to be its predictability. There have been enough coming-of-age drama anime films in recent years that have come out with a similar focus on troubled teens overcoming their issues with some sort of extraordinary means and the storytelling beats for this focus are rather easy to pick up on. This also carries over into the mystery surrounding the castle as the plot twists it offers up are quite easy to sort out when you dabble into the bits of foreshadowing offered up throughout the film's run.

Still in spite of said predictability, Lonely Castle in the Mirror offers up a tight narrative in its main focuses on the personal issues affecting its characters and the mystery surrounding the castle that serves as their escape from the troubles they each face. Its exploration of how issues like bullying and parental abuse impact a teen's psyche is relatable and the film makes a point to show that there are adults who care about helping them instead of trying to "fix" them. It doesn't break any new ground as far as its storytelling goes, but I wouldn't say I regret the time I spent seeing this film.

I was really disappointed with this adaptation from manga/book to anime. So many details were missing, even important ones. It's a shame because the book is really good. Watching it, you don't even get to know the main character properly. Of course, she doesn't talk much, but she has a lot of inner monologues that build up her character. The other characters have as much personality, which is a shame. Everything is so random, and the pacing is even worse because the movie is so rushed. Let's not talk about the animation.
I wouldn't recommend this movie, and I'd rather suggest reading the book. I ... haven't read the manga, so I can't really say anything about it.

This movie has a Lonely Castle uses fairy tales like The Little Red Riding Hood and The Wolf and the Seven Goats.
The mystery genre referred to here is actually a puzzle. So that the fall of this genre feels better, try to always think like "why..." & "how could...". That way, you can feel and judge well. Your curiosity will be answered when you are nearing the end of the movie. while watching you have to be patient and have to remember that there are always puzzles. Well that's all there is to say because most of this story is prone to spoilers.

Well that's all ... that can be said because some of them contain spoilers. I think this is sufficient as a review.

Thanks for reading. Hope you liked this review and can watch it soon.

Note: I guarantee you will enjoy watching if you follow what I suggest.
9/10

7/10
-Unclear theme and muddled plotting
-Sloppy, dues-ex-machina world building
+Relatable heroine with interesting backstory
+Fun, colorful cast of characters

Upon first glance, Lonely Castle and the Mirror sets itself up as a fantastical adventure—seven lonely children get whisked away to a magical castle where their wishes can be granted. The initial concept is promising as it opens the door to discuss themes of escapism vs reality, finding courage to face adversity, self sacrifice, etc. Our heroine Kokoro is sympathetic and easy to relate to, the colors in the film are whimsical, and there’s a fun mystery, all a recipe for success.

So what went wrong? Unfortunately the ... movie’s plotting and story beats are not well defined. With three fourths of the movie surrounded by a large cast the pacing is uneven, leading to a rushed and weak climax. The story fails to show Kokoro from growing as a character and learning her theme, which wasn’t clearly defined to begin with. Is her lesson learning courage to face reality? Is it be careful what you wish for? The viewer will be left scratching their head. Animation and sound is about on-par with a TV-episode, nothing extraordinary, but nothing bad, which is questionable as this is supposed to be a feature film.

Lonely Castle has a lot of great concepts which unfortunately were poorly executed. What could have been a compelling coming of age film ends up being a muddled joyride.

A story at it's core full of potential unfortunately hindered by it's pacing and script which are, for lack of a better word... shit

Although i did ultimately enjoy this movie, i feel like it missed by a long shot how great it could've been
It tries to showcase emotional and even tough themes, but these lose their depth and instead come off as exagerated and/or melodramatic thanks to mediocre writing and directing

The first half is paced extreamly badly, with the characters actions feeling so slow a snail could run a marathon before the scene ends
It's also very dialogue focused, like i mentioned before, the script's quality ... is questionable, so not a good combination

Second half is when things finally start to get a little more interesting, we slowly start to learn about the mysteries of the castle and follow the characters on their quest to solve it
The mystery side of things i'd say is the best part of this movie, leaving various clues around almost like it's inviting it's audience on a treasure hunt, although most clues seem quite simplistic if you're paying close attention, their layout is very well done and effective

We unfortunately only really get to know the characters (exept for MC who's story is dragged thruout the movie) towards the end, this i think contributes to dampening the emotional payoff of the ending

Overall a movie you might enjoy if you're not picky about writing and don't mind waiting a while for the fun to start

TLDR: After watching the movie I honestly felt like it was a waste of time. Was it a good movie? It was fine. Is it worth watching? Only if you have time, there are a lot of anime/movies to watch rather than watching this one. If you have not watched Wonder Egg Priority then watch that instead, both have quite a similar story and setting and in my opinion the latter did it better. Watch this movie only if you have spare time(which means you dont have any anime back log, go clear your back log first... I am pretty sure that decade old anime ... which is still in your to watch list is worth watching more than this)

Now for an in depth review. The movie is about seven students who are not going to school due to their problems, so they are transported to a fantasy world where they empathise with one another and through the power of friendship, empathy and sacrifice they overcome their challenges. If this looks similar or heard, then yes this plot is similar to Wonder Egg Priority (the name is repeated a lot as i cannot help but compare the two so i will be usnig WEP as an abbrivation). Though WEP came in 2021 and the novel for this came before WEP and WEP strayed away from the plot a lot and is still incomplete, I still feel WEP did a better job in doing what this movie wanted to do in almost all aspects (from story and characters to animation and sound) and here's why...

The movie takes a unique take and addresses the issues faced by students in school which makes them feel like not attending the school. It has a very diverse cast each facing a different issue but the movie did not do justice to any other character other than the MC. None of the issues were addressed or explored. The supporting characters did not feel like they developed, maybe if it was not a movie and was an anime series of like 12 to 24 episodes exploring each and everyones stories, then that anime could have achieved something. What WEP does right in this case is that it explores all its character better than this. It felt like it was a lot of wasted potential as the movie could have explored more darker sides of the issues and it could have addressed them properly.

Experience: 6/10
The first 20 minutes or so of the movie were not captivating at all, i pushed through till like 30 minutes to get the interest built up slightly. the Ecperience was not bad but was not worth spending 1hr 20 mins on (I watched it at 1.5x) there are better movies/animes that i could have watched in this time.

Story: 6/10
The story tried to explore a really unexplored area of life which is a great thing but the story itself lacked in what it was trying to achieve. There was almost no tension built for the final act in the first two acts of the movie. The Final act felt forced, trying to shove down something which was not built up for.

Characters: 4/10
The most disappointing part of the movie was its characters. Though it had quiet a large and diverse caste, none of them other than the MC were explored, their issues were given like 15 to 20 seconds of screen time. The characters should have been explored more. In the end, the character development felt like it was forced and did not make any powerful impact. Even the MC was not explored completely. This is the part that lacked the most in the movie.

Art and Animation: 8/10
As you can expect from a movie the art and animation was theatre grade. The colors were vibrant and animation was smooth. The art style was not something unique but was fairly good.

Sound: 6/10
The OST and ED were pretty okay-ish. Nothing too standing out nor somthing that you will notice or remember unless you are specifically looking for it.

Overall: 6/10
Apart from Art and Animation, all of the aspects could have been improved. Would not recommend to watch this at all. watch only if you have spare time (spare time as in there is definitely no other anume for you to watch in your watchlist).

The movie is based on a Novel written by Tsujimura Mizuki in 2017, I do not have the knowledge if the whole novel was adapted here or a portion of it, I would guess that the movie covers a majority if not entirely the story of it.

The main theme of the movie is involved within the very old fairy tale from 1812 of Grimm Brothers "Der Wolf und die sieben jungen Geißlein" - "The Wolf and the Seven Young Goats" which is very well known worlwide a fairy tale of a mother goat leaving her 7 children at home the wolf make 3 attempts to ... enter the house, eats 6 of them while the 7th was hidden in a big grandfather clock, later the others are saved by cutting the wolf's stomach and the wolf's stomach is replaced by rocks. I guess we've all heard/read it one day. Aswell as there is little reference towards Little Red Riding Hood, especially that Mr. Wolf is portrayed similarly to a fusion of Wolf and Red Hood.

As much as the movie isn't fully like that fairy tale it goes around that theme and it is hinted to us in few ways. Also in the show there is an appearance of classical music piece "Träumerei" by Schumann I would recommend to check the reimagined lyrics for that song as it does relate to the show itself, that is a very nice detail within this movie.

The first part introduces us to Kokoro whom is the main girl who find out that her mirror was glowing up, by touching it she discovered a realm with a castle in which we are introduced to 6 other teenagers and Mr. Wolf, who declares the rules, if you break them there will appear a wolf and will eat every single person who was in the castle when the rule was broken.
The movie goes highly around the bullying problem and it's results, as for victims they needed some time to even reveal their problems.

Characters are fine, they could be a little bit more lively.
Music is fine.
Animation is good, it isn't the series about fights or action so flashy animation is not needed here, the portrayal of wolf at the very first shot felt kinda weird.
The ending of wraping up and showcasing the connections between characters was pretty nice.

I did enjoy the show and I have personally rated it 9/10, I guess my personal rating based on enjoyment might be slightly too high, although I think this movie deserves a scoring of 7 or 8, especially if you're a fan of dialogue-based movies with barely any kind of actions. If you're a fan of action type of movies with some fights, this movie will not satisfy you.

Best anime movie I've watched this year (2023). I watched it at the Indonesia Japanese Film Festival 2023 (JFF) and it's certainly my favorite movie at the festival.

I have so much thought but I can't say it properly for the movie. This movie has been a rollercoaster of emotions.

This is one of the most memorable anime movies for me, thanks to the loneliness, hopelessness, bullying, escapism, and anti-social issues that they bring. As for the plot and conclusion, the storytelling is done beautifully and the conclusion, as well as the settlement for each question that arises from the plot, has been answered and portrayed clearly, ... resulting in such a satisfying ending.

The art style is neat and decent, although not memorable. The OST fits perfectly with the movies and the color grading is properly used throughout the movie, fitting every scene that each character participates in.

Each of the characters has a relatable story that will make us sympathize with them, their struggles and their escapism from the cruel reality that they have suffered have brought so many emotions to everyone in the theater. The beginning feels like a wholesome fantasy anime movie that we are usually familiar with Miyazaki, but this is a bit heavy with all the sensitive and relatable daily life issues.

Man, I cry a bit during each of the characters' struggles. They have suffered a lot. Since this is much identical to the real world we currently live in, I can feel the emotions running through my body.

Thank you JFF 2023 for bringing this movie!

It's a great story about basically 9 people who suffered greatly when they were young and how they overcame their struggles.
It's not an action anime. It's not really a fantasy either. It's pretty much a straight forward message to the young kids who are struggling while growing up, while going to school - the most important thing in your life is to hear others, so that they could hear you as well, that not everyone will be your friend but that you have to look for friends in order to find them, since they maybe right near you but if you don't look hard enough ... and don't overcome your fears then you may never find them.

It's a very nice romantic story.

The art is great. The only question I had is that one of the girls(Kokoro) is called ugly by the girls in her school, while she is drawn very beautifully and looks extremely cute. So that made me chuckle. The rest of the cast with the exception of the fat kid looked good as well and it was kind of hard to believe that they would have problems with the other kids in school.

There are a couple of plot twists throughout the story but all of them become obvious before they happen. Fortunately this doesn't ruin the story because the story is not about plot twists at all. It's about people and how they treat each other, how they get along and how they go on to live with their past.

The only thing that I didn't like is that we don't get to see what happens to the main characters in the future, except for Aki. They only tell about what happens to Aki. The future of the rest of the characters stays untold. At least in the anime. I'm not going to read the book, since I don't like that kind of books, but I like that kind of anime.

I liked the simplicity of the message and that the creators of this anime didn't overload the story with the unnecessary bullshit. Anime looks very pure and all lolis are extremely cute. There's no retarded music and there's absolutely no silly bullshit that sometimes happens in anime when the director is trying to be funny.

The anime is not perfect.. but it kinda suits the atmosphere of the story where nobody is perfect.
So 8 out 10 is a fair score for this anime.

Obviously you should watch it. It's good for everyone. I can't imagine that anyone wouldn't associate with the characters. We all went through hard times in school.

Absolute sleeper of a gem.

Bit of a slow burn - but perfectly paced for it's genre - this brilliantly accurate depictions of trauma, and how individuals react and cope to such, make you question if the author themself had first hand experience in living a tragic upbringing.
And it's superb to see mental health treated with respect by the adult characters, especially since Japan is reasonably culturally conservative in that area (at the time of this review), meaning that the movie's themes and uplifting messages make for much needed representation on screen.

Character archetypes are on the simpler side, but do their job in aiding the story ... and theme.
The animation is decent, with any jankiness attributed to the scene's "camera angle" being tricky to animate on (e.g. spiral staircase), but never being questionable enough to take you out of the moment.

The music really accompanies each sequence's tone well, although unsurprising due to the composer having worked for KyoAni in the past.

Overall, a movie worth watching if the themes and drama genre are up your alley - particularly if you're an older individual who's already come and gone through the tumultuous time of adolescence and can look back on it all.

For me, this movie is an 8 or a 9 out of 10, depending on how harsh one's scoring system is.