Dayu

Dayu (or Big Storm) is a rather unheard of Chinese donghua that just came into Canadian theatres for some reason, but after stumbling upon it on MAL a month ago I figured I'd check it out. It's a creative piece of media with stunning visuals, interesting worldbuilding, great voice acting, and an incomprehensible storyline. Nonetheless, it's a captivating and charming movie that reflects the unique Chinese donghua industry as it continues to grow, and while I wouldn't outright recommend it, I wouldn't discourage anyone from watching it either.

Story (4/10)
The story of Dayu is extremely hard to follow, especially for those who don't already know the ... language. It tells the story of an orphan boy, Mantou, and his adoptive guardian who are seeking out a mythical ship (called the Big Black Boat?) which was said to house monsters after some catastrophe back in the day that drove out a tribe of nocturnal people and their creatures or something of the sort. They had many treasures aboard the boat and Mantou's guardian, who's somewhat of a dad to him, is looking for it. Along the way, there are different parties who have different motivations and backstories who all contribute to the unraveling of the mystery.

To begin, the movie's pacing was weird. Every time it seemed like we would get into some action, it would end really quickly and go back to the characters loitering around. Many of the workings of the monsters was also not explained, and not in a way that was satisfying like in soft world building, but in a way that left the audience more confused than curious. Even when the action finally happened, the climax felt unsatisfying and unexplained. Ultimately, there didn't seem to be an end goal for the movie, which made it end off on a confusing note. The story is characterized by loose motivations and attempts at mystery that worked against it rather than to enhance it, as I believe it could have been a brilliant tale if they structured & paced it better and made character motivations clearer.

Art (10/10)
The art and animation of the movie was S T U N N I N G
The colours were insanely beautiful and fit perfectly into the sequences, and it melded a mix of hand drawn, animated, and CGI together seamlessly. The art is also reminiscent of children's drawings--heavily stylized characters, but the buildings and scenery were very much the opposite and drawn to perfection. Visually alone, it's a stunner of a movie that stands out more than any anime movie I've seen in a while.

Sound (9/10)
The music of the movie blew me away too. It was never too much nor too little, but just enough to complement the scenes. The voice acting was stellar as well, which surprised me. It was very natural, like humans talking, but still with enough drama to make the dialogue interesting. The characters often have big reactions and these are all voiced in a way that's convincing and not annoying.

Character (6/10)
I wish they gave me a reason to care about the characters beyond the main duo. Their dynamic was interesting, with an interesting backstory and it was clear that the writers worked on their bond the most out of any in the movie. The other characters however, were lacking. I enjoyed that most characters were given a distinct personality, but beyond that their motives were unclear. What did they truly want? How would they act upon these motives? How are they connected with the happenings of the Boat and the history surrounding the monster takeover? The characters are mostly surface-level and do little to connect the audience to them.

Enjoyment (7/10)
While I bashed on the story and characters a decent amount, the movie itself was pretty fun to watch overall (besides the obvious confusion the entirety of the runtime). The movie has a decent sense of humour and makes good use of it, and isn't afraid to have its characters do weird things that are entirely human. The art brings the movie together, and the mystery is interesting enough until it eventually flops, though it did have potential. The two main characters have enough chemistry to drive the movie forward, however as their interactions decrease over the runtime it loses its appeal as well. But as far as enjoyment goes, following Mantou along on his journey was a fun way to spend around 2 hours of my day.