Colorful (Movie)

Let me get this straight, I'm not good at writing reviews so I apologize in advance if it's not good.
Anyways, Colorful is a really meaningful movie to me but if you're someone that's not patient don't watch it. There aren't a lot of talking and at the beginning you'll be like what's happening? Wed. Thurs. Fri.!! (If you understands what that mean. If you don't just look at the first letter of each word). It's really confusing until the end of the movie and tbh it did get on my nerves cause I had no clue what it's talking about until the last ... part. I'm not gonna spoil anything to you so to briefly explain this an anonymous guy ghost was given another chance to live and he was living in another guys body who apparently committed suicide but failed(sucker!!!, no offence) and stuff happens. The thing that made me like it was this quote,"people are hurting each other because the world is too colorful to distinguish the true color of themselves from others." There's just something so special about it that made me............... forget it I have no idea what I'm talking about. XD

So this actually confused me as I had watched an anime of this name before and was rather off put by it. For those that didn’t read my review of Colorful (The anime), let me give you a word that described it… Perverted. The whole anime was about guys trying to see women’s bodies and just being complete creeps about it. The artwork was not that great and just made the characters look even creepier with the jagged lines and sort of spots of color. As with that, I thought that the movie was going to be the exact same way. Boy was I wrong; ... in fact this show was absolutely nothing like that anime and is only connected to it by name alone.

Let me set the stage just as the movie started us out with. We start out in the first person perspective of a person walking though a rather hazy looking transit room. It’s gloomy and almost has this strange grunge about the people and walls but there really isn’t anything that stands out. There is nothing to show where we are, who we are, or even why we are in a place like that. There is a strange gray boy standing in front of us and he tells us that we had won a chance to atone for our past discretions. It turns out we are in the land of the dead and if we do not atone for the things we did in our past, we will not be able to be reborn again into the land of the living. We are then forced by this little boy to possess a young boy named Makoto Kobayashi, a young boy who had committed suicide by overdosing on some pills. And here is where we are given a chance to fix things. Once our main character takes over Makoto’s life, we are finally given a third person perspective on all the things he does.

Now, given the way this story started out, you would think they would head more into the supernatural mystery side of the genre, wouldn’t you? Well, strangely enough, you would be wrong in that aspect. What we get is more of a modern day slice of life of a middle school boy who is just trying to get by. The only supernatural thing around him would be the strange ‘angel’ or the gray little boy who goes by the name of Purapura. Purapura tended to be more of an informational character to help us learn more about Makoto’s back story and sometimes ended up being sort of a conscience for the Makoto we follow. The most interesting part about all this is that our main character that was given no name before he was put into Makoto’s body actually seems like he is right at home after a while.

The amazing thing about this show is that it seems to dive into the psychology of a young boy having to go through a lot of tough times. We are given information from Purapura about the problems that Makoto had to go through. Things I would be very surprised a child could deal with on their own. He was bulled, had his crush seen going into a shady hotel with an older man, saw his mother having an affair, had a father who rarely was at home, an older brother who barely spoke to him, and just overall was alone with no friends. Looking at the psychological aspect of his life, it was no wonder he chose a way out. And in this, I guess it might be time to bring out a rather sad story of my own.

You see, I was a lot like this main character growing up. I had problems keeping friends, fought with my mother many times, had a younger brother who seemed to always belittle me as I am very bad when it comes to computers, and my father was always busy with work so I sometimes would rarely see him. I wasn’t exceptionally good at school although I wasn’t the worst one in the class and was always so sensitive about stuff that probably shouldn’t have bothered me. I started to cut myself to feel something different then the pain I felt inside, and even almost killed myself as well. I just felt alone for so long and couldn’t understand why. About a year ago, I was diagnosed with BPD, Borderline Personality Disorder, which helped to explain some of the reasons why I felt so out of touch with the world, but this was when I was 25 years old. For those 25 years before, I had no idea what was wrong with me. I think that because of my experience, I feel a bit more connected to the main character, or at least Makoto himself. In fact, there is a line in this show that might be considered a little bit of a spoiler, but its one that jumped out at me that became very dear to my heart. Our main character says this, ‘…People are not just monochromatic; they all have so many colors to them. It’s fine to have many beautiful colors… for a long time, I didn’t know my true colors and was at a loss.’ For someone with BPD, this stands out a lot as my different personalities feel like those different colors and it was hard for me to believe that it was normal to have them.

The artwork is really simple and mostly on the subtle side. We don’t get splashes of bright colors or the normal anime tropes of huge eyes, girls in small skirts, and even strange colored hair. In that way, I consider it more real life then most anime even if the design of the characters is bland. None of the characters really stand out though and sometimes get lost within the background including our main character. This would probably be a bad thing if the story didn’t seem to make more sense as to why he was lost within the world he seemed to be in himself. Even with this, there is a fine line between the world of the dead and the living as the world of the dead looked even more run down and depressing then the world of the living. The world of the dead looked hazy, with sort of this murky brown while the world of the living did have some sharper looking lines and was a bit cleaner to see.

The dubbed voices are… alright I guess. Again, they don’t stand out just as the characters don’t really stand out that much. I think that the lip sink is fairly good at some parts of the show while in other parts they seemed to lose it. I blame the fact that when the character is overly distort, their mouth tends to move much more freely and seem to express their words fuller. The words they are saying in the movie are actually from the Japanese sound track I believe so it can tend to lose it when it was transferred over to the dub. Still, with all those problems, the dubbed voice actors did a really good job putting Emotion into their characters. I was extremely surprised when I found out that Greg Ayres did the voice of Makoto because he was able to get the right soft of tone for a boy who had not hit puberty yet was not annoying when he got so emotional.

So this show might be a bit boring for those who love fast passed stuff or those that are really into the supernatural aspect, but I still think this is a show that many people should watch at least once. The show has a really beautiful story to it and a very deep meaning that really needs to be explored. In this way, you might actually be able to see why everyone is so colorful and except who you are.

I've never felt the need to write a review about anime before, but colorful was an melodramatic waste of time The main character is a spoiled brat. It was very hard to sympathize with a whiney self absorbed teenger who has very few redeemable qualities. The moral lessons are shallow and predictable. All the conflict in the stories is concluded in the expected fashion. It is just another boring coming of age story with a new twist on it it. I would not suggest this anime to people who enjoy larger than life characters, or cool animation styles.

I went into Colorful not knowing what to expect. I hadn't watched any previews beforehand, or read any synopsis. The only thing I knew about the film was the front cover, with a boy laying in flowers. Well, the movie that I watched ended up being more interesting than that, but I still feel it has some flaws. Let's discuss.

Story - 6/10 (Concept - 10/10; Setting - 7/10; Structure - 5/10; Pacing - 5/10; Theme - 9/10)

The story has a really interesting setup. A person is revived from what appears to be "purgatory" at the beginning of the film. He then has to fill ... the shoes of a middle-school student who recently committed suicide, all while trying to prove that he's worthy of living in this kid's shoes after what happened to him.
Things start off well, with the plot being rolled out at a good pace, but after the beginning moments of the film, things start to slow down quite a bit, all the way up to the ending. Each scene feels like it overstays it's welcome just a little bit, making the whole middle of the film feel quite slowly-paced.
This isn't helped by the poor structure of the film, where things seem to happen without any cause or reason. Throughout the film, there isn't really an arc to the story. There's no consistent buildup to the climax, it's more like a bunch of peaks & valleys between dramatic moments and casual moments, with a bunch of different story threads intersecting one another, and no clear, concise plotline.
The film ends up redeeming itself by the end by tying all of those various plotlines up into a neat little package, with a good theme as the bow on top. However, despite the film having some interesting moments, getting to the end of it felt like a bit of a chore.

Characters - 8/10

Helping to alleviate some of that slow pacing and messy through-line of the story are the interesting cast of characters. Both the main and supporting cast consists of a bunch of enjoyable characters who are fun to watch on screen, while also having unique and diverse personality traits. There are a few characters who end up having a conflict, and while this is interesting, it also doesn't actually seem to develop them all that much. I thought the characters worked well for the duration of the story, but in the long run aren't very memorable. Still, they work for the moments that they're shown in, and I'd say they're the films second strongest point.

Art - 9/10 (Artstyle - 9/10; Animation - 9/10)

The film's strongest point would be the art. The backgrounds are detailed and gorgeous, and look very realistic. The characters are designed with a lot of realism, but they all still have defining characteristics that make them stand out and easy to tell apart. However, I think the artstyle, while good, isn't my favorite. It works well for the subject matter, but it's lacking a bit of... warmth, I suppose.
The animation is also really well done, with nicely done, subtle, realistic movement throughout. Characters emote nicely, with various expressions that help to make each scene just a bit more captivating. However, while everything was very solid and clearly done by masterful animators, there weren't any jaw-dropping moments with the animation, it was all very consistent, without any one scene or shot standing out, which I suppose may have been a conscious choice by the director.

Sound - 8/10 (Soundtrack - 9/10; Voice Acting - 8/10)

The soundtrack in the film was fantastic! The songs used in different scenes conveyed the tone of the scene perfectly, while also avoiding sounding like a score and instead sounding more like actual music, which made the soundtrack a lot more noticeable. However, it wasn't noticeable enough to distract me from the dialogue in a scene.
That dialogue was spoken by a cast of voice actors that definitely breathed some life into the characters, but perhaps not as much as one would hope. I watched the original Japanese dub, and while the important scenes all had really great performances, I felt like there were some moments in-between where the performances fell a little bit flat. Not flat enough to be jarring, but just enough to make those scenes somewhat more boring than the other ones. Some of the lines also sounded like they were recorded with a fan on in the background... and it's very noticeable in quiet scenes where the only thing being heard is a character's voice and they keep muting the dialogue track in-between each spoken line. That was somewhat distracting, but not too big of an issue.

Enjoyment - 7/10

Overall, Colorful is an interesting film with interesting characters and an interesting story. However, it has a few major flaws that keep it from being perfect. The inconsistent structure of the plotline, and the somewhat slow pacing of many of the scenes are both flaws that seem to bring the rest of the elements of the film down a notch. It's enjoyable, and worth checking out, but I probably wouldn't watch it again.

Overall - 8/10

This worthwhile movie explores the importance of valuing ones life despite the hardships one would frequently confront in it. This theme is explored through a lost soul who occupies the body of a teenage boy who took his life through suicide and must figure out the sin that led him to his death as he experiences the boy's life. Colorful delivers enough depth at exploring the life of Makoto and the relationships he had with his family and classmates prior to his death. The movie isn't afraid at pulling its punches with exploring both the good and bad sides of living as we come to ... see Makoto being an outcast at his school and having some serious problems within his family, as well as the soul within him coming to value the bonds he comes to establish with those that care for Makoto despite the shortcomings he had prior. Some have commented on Makoto coming across as unlikeable at points during scenes where he lashed out at others and distanced himself from school and family. Yet considering how miserable his life was before his suicide attempt, his anger towards life in general seemed justified given what he discovers about those close to him. Yet his character does gradually get better when he comes to find a few classmates that care for him and coming to learn that his family still cares for him despite the problems they had prior.

The only element to the movie I found lacking was focus on Purapura's character as he only appears frequently during most moments when Makoto was venting at his family and classmates with the spirit reprimanding him for his actions, as well as not being able to learn very much about his character. Compared to what I seen with Makoto establishing bonds with his family and classmates, I couldn't find myself buying Makoto's connection to Purapura due to this minimal focus.

In terms of presentation, Colorful makes use of subdued color tones in depicting its down-to-earth and realistic look into Makoto's problems. Scenery is highly detailed featuring vast shots of city and forest landscapes. While character designs and animation aren't too impressive quality-wise, characters are drawn in realistic detail and move about at a fluid pace, as well as while in vehicles. The animation highlight for me in the movie was the beginning featuring a first person perspective of the lost soul being in line in the afterlife with its abstract style and lifeless look at lost souls prepared to exit the cycle of reincarnation. The movie's soundtrack is just as subdued in tone featuring piano, stringed and low-key brass music played in both dramatic and joyful moments, which fits perfectly with Colorful's varying moods of tense and happier moments.

Overall, Colorful made quite the impression on me thanks to its meaningful message on valuing life and not being afraid at tackling some shaky social issues that effected Makoto such as bullying, marital affair and compensated dating. Those looking for a worthwhile down-to-earth drama should be willing to give this movie a shot.

I watched this movie as an "nothing expected" attitude, and oh boy was i even hitted hard with the feelings! Now the art for the movie was.... well the landscape = beautiful characters = ewwhh god. I kinda knew how the story was going to end from the start (i hope i wasn't the only one) but in the end it felt like the story was just there to support everything else, i believe you can relate to even one of the characters in this movie, it provides these "i know how you feel" thinks and is overall really emotional movie, made me even cry ... few times >.>....
Overall: Movie had really nice emotional feeling to it, music really was astonishing making some of the movie feel really amazing! now as you can think of bad and good about story and characters aaaand art, i would still recommend this movie for everyone to watch, it didn't really have boring parts and was very enjoyable.

This anime was a very amusing anime, it had a harsh reality aspect to it, and for some reason I always like those, it also had a "deep life lesson" that I 100% agreed with, and for that I feel everyone should watch this anime, whether you love, or hate anime. I watched this anime a few months back and so after coming across it again I thought why not do a review, and set everything as 10, however I do not remember the music and sound. So I decided to re-watch the anime itself.

Story
So a soul gets places inside the body of a boy ... who committed suicide, now just this part tells you the story will be a sad and depressing one. There will be happy times, sad times, and times that will annoy the hell out of you.
The story was very interesting and made me really think, as I said at the top you don't have to love anime to understand the meaning of this anime.

Art
The art is done spectacular for this anime, it does an amazing job portraying all the emotions. When they run through the run I can practically feel the wind going through my hair and the rain drops pouring down on me.

Sound
Now the sound in this anime was very well done, and everything played at just the right moment. It made the whole anime so much more dramatic. I really enjoyed every bit of it. I feel there was a little bit of everything mixed in the sound, sadness, happiness. It was as if someone was sitting there playing the instruments right in my living room.

Character
The character development was amazing. I don't know if I am talking about just the main character, but by the end of the anime I could feel some kind of connection to piratically every character. There were times I wish I could have smacked half the characters, but that is life. We don't always get what we want and it all was very unexpected when a character did anything.

Enjoyment
So enjoyment. Did I really enjoy this anime? As I mentioned in character there was times when I wanted to smack some of thee characters, but I really did enjoy the anime. I enjoyed every single second of it. I loved the story and how it developed along with the characters, I liked how the art and music made the anime give off so much more emotion. The anime is a very deep life lesson anime and again anyone would enjoy or at least not regret watching this anime.

Overall
So overall I think I stated it in my enjoyment. I find the anime one of the best anime I have seen, mainly because of the story and the fact I don't see anime like this often. So I recommend anyone to watch. I apologize for my lack of grammar and spelling, and also if I repeated anything. I hope I at least convince someone to watch this anime. I give a 10/10

Oh my god, what a boring stooorrrryyyyyyyy

This movie starts off great. The main character arrives at the after-life metro (?) station and they don't have a body. They don't have a voice. The movie's point of view is THEIRS, which means that basically they're "the camera". That made me feel like I was that character, so I liked that straight off the bat.

But then the "real" movie starts when they possess Makoto's body and Makoto goes back to his home with his family. God, what a boring family. What a boring life.

I didn't feel sympathy for any of the characters. After over an hour of ... movie, all I really "knew" about them was their appearance and what their "role" in the story was (the girl that makoto liked, his mom, his dad, his brother, this weird ugly chick in his art class, and that's about it). There was no depth to them OR makoto.

The plot, if there were any, moved slower than a sleeping sloth. I literally fell asleep THREE TIMES while trying to watch this movie, and whenever I caught myself dozing off, I had to figure out at which moment I was last awake (because the story is so mundane, so every scene looks exactly the same as many others you've already watched before).

And the art? it's ugly. I'm sorry for the brutal honesty, but IT IS UGLY. At least Koe no Katachi (which I disliked as well) was very pretty. THIS adds to the whole "boring" atmosphere the movie has going on.

So... the idea of the story is interesting, but the execution left a lot be desired.

Colorful begins cooler than possibly any anime I have ever seen. A young boy, who is an angel speaks to you, yes, you, the viewer. You, or I, when I watched it, have died and either of us must be placed into another body as a test and show our worth to get a second chance at life. The film is engrossed in gorgeous colors. The flowers on the trees pop and are just as memorable and the unique introduction to the film. The viewer is placed into the body of a young boy who has tried to commit suicide, but this confuses the occupying ... soul because the life seems wonderful and ideal with no obvious problems, but the suicide hints at an underlying problem. Since the viewer is given a body, the film doesn't take place through our eyes anymore and shifts to a third person where we observe rather than live the character first hand throughout the entire film. Being 100% interactive seems like it would be impossible to accomplish in film anyway... otherwise, it would be a first person video game. We need a plot. The boy that the soul is placed into is named Makoto, and the soul begins to discover himself through Makoto's body and at Makoto's expense, as there are no real consequences for the dead soul and only for the body he occupies. He has a set time though that he must prove himself or else both the boy dies and the soul gets no second chance at life. Nobody understands Makoto, and Makoto, as he exists in this current states sees this, but he is unempathetic to others that are misunderstood, like the "dorky girl" that tries to speak to him, with big dorky glasses. He doesn't know her life and what hardships she's faced, but he seems to be totally self involved and pushes her off, despite her approaching him. The occupant begins to take advantage and changes his appearance and people begin to appreciate him, especially the "cool kids" and "hot girl." With this, he becomes superficial and gets caught up in trivial matters. He likes the "hot girl" based mostly on her looks, as the attention she has shown him thus far been incredibly shallow. He likes her, but she is terrible. She prostitutes herself for money, though nothing states that she must. In fact, she says it's because she wants this nice things that come from it. She isn't faced into it by any pimp or by poverty. Later, he counsels her through her wishing to die, and explains that everybody feels that way at some point or another, as by this point, he does understand, because he sees that Makoto's life was indeed, not so colorful and joyous. His mother cheated on his father, and the occupying soul treats her horribly. He fixes this when, on a fishing trip with his father, his father, without exposing that he knows of the affair, reveals that he has been at fault in somewhat abandoning the family and the mother, working far too often and too long. All of this instills a since of deeper understanding within Makoto, humbling him. He understands that everybody has some self-torment. The girl is very submissive into believing him after he tells her "everybody does that!" with a smile, letting her know that everybody can often feel so gleeful and gay one day, and other just wish nothing more than death. The scene is sort of genetic that she is so much like "okay, you're right, I won't argue with what you say. I'm fine" (this isn't exactly how it goes.) It is undramatic and lame. There has been an unfinished canvas that the original Makoto started throughout the whole film that the occupying soul has not touched, but he suddenly does once this depression and conflict sits in. He has had no reason to touch it, but now, he gets a compulsive spark to seek and create art, as it is therapy. The film comes full circle and it is revealed that the occupying soul was indeed the boy the entire time, and he had to be ignorant to this to make things right. Through his lack of knowledge, he has made a friend, which he never had before, has become more understanding of his parents and siblings, and he is more confident in his future. He decides which school he wants to attend and is respectful of his peers and empathetic.
The movie, if only visually, is worth the watch. Each body of water looks exceptionally realistic and gorgeous. The backdrops are all beautiful and colorful. Maybe the film is called colorful because the boy turns a grey life into one of color, or maybe the film is called colorful because the colors are something to marvel at, and can even distract from the characters themselves and plot. You may need to rewind a bit and pause for ravishing stills.

I was a bit skeptical when I was deciding whether to watch this anime or not as the art wasnt brilliant at first look and it was 2 hours long, but after reading the two top convincing reviews I decided to give this anime a shot. And honestly, this was the best decision I've ever made.

The way they explored the concept of afterlife and the philosophy of "rebirth" which was very lightheartedly introduced but at the same time the depth of what they were saying was simply mind blowing and astonishing. It really shows you from perspective how simple things can affect someone and ... how many people change because they realise their true feelings.

Our protagonist, the unknown amnesiac spirit lives through the daily life of makoto and he's given a time period where he has to realise his "sin" and in this movie we see how this spirit--- in the body of kobanyashi makoto--- sees the several variety of emotions and how he deals with them.

STORY - 10
The plot was very well written, in my opinion (and several others) because I personally was in a similar situation a few weeks ago. It really shows you the life of this teenager and for many young teenagers, they'd be able to feel and see the consequences they end up in.
The animators really did drill the message that was intended and to me this was simply breathtakingly peaceful.

ART - 8
The art deserves a special mention since it wasnt the usual "moe"/"quality" effect, but it felt very adequate to the plot and you get over this hurdle pretty much in the first 1/2 minutes of the movie. I loved the art personally as it was aesthetically pleasing.

SOUND - 8
I suppose I could say that the sound just went through me because I was too busy paying attention to the plot--- though the anime ending [Aozora by miwa] was so refreshing.

CHARACTER - 9
Again, the characters were very well justified and I think they did justice to the plot and how we could easily understand each character in a short period of time is also worth mentioning here. Quite realistic as I've myself seen people with characteristics in real life,myself included.

ENJOYMENT - 10
It gives off the melancholic ambience and the sort of just self reflecting moments inbetween the movie .

OVERALL - 10
Fantastic!

This movie opened up a lot in me (for real), it was just that good. Words can't express how good of a story this was.

The story revolves around a spirit who got an "internship" to get into the body of Makoto Kobayashi who just committed suicide. The spirit must make use of this internship for his good and find out the reason why Makoto committed suicide. This game of internship gives us a colorful story of that family and how it revolves around the emotion of MC.

The movie is a glorious one, the story is beautiful. At first, you may seem to hate MC(the reason ... why many drop this) but he gradually grows in us in a very good way, the story shows us the value of life, friendship, and forgiveness. You may feel uneasy in the beginning but it ends in a much satisfying way.:)

Based on the first person narrative by Mori Eto, Colorful is a film directed by Keiichi Hara that details the story of a soul that committed a grave sin. The soul is chosen to have a second chance at life to remember the sin it committed. It possesses the body of a 14 year old boy who committed suicide, named Makoto Kobayashi. During its stay at earth, through the eyes of Makoto, the soul begins to realize and accept the circumstances of real life and begins to learn that about the harshness and beauty of reality through the colors of humanity.

It is a beautiful movie ... that is worth to try, especially if you like drama and supernatural things. However, it is roughly 2 hours long, and very slow paced, so if you are someone with a lack of attention and prefer something fast paced with action, don't watch this. There are parts that detail the banality of real life, which do make it boring in between. The animation is gorgeous with clear attention to detail, so that is a definite plus. All in all, this is a good movie if you have a lot of time and patience, and if you are a deep thinker.

What if you were given a chance to live again only if you remember your sin? Remorse is what we feel for our sins that we committed after we watch this movie. This movie reminds us that despitethe fact this movie had a happy ending because the main protagonist was given another chance, we won't be given a chance to rectify our mistakes after we've died. That is why even if we manage to make mistakes now we should try to fix them rather than avoiding and doing nothing about it and we should make our life's colorful.

Story: 9 - (The protagonist is shown as ... a unnamed character even though his name is revealed later I won't use it because it's a spoiler so I'll just refer him as 'I'). This story starts of when 'I' died and was kicked out of the reincarnation cycle because 'I' commited a sin. 'I' was told that 'I' won a lottery and will be given a chance to live again if 'I' remember my sin. His spirit possessed the body of a boy named Makoto who commited suicide. 'I' started to realise that the true colors of anyone can't be distinguished. I (lol) found this story quite different and amazing while it explores the troubling yet somewhat realistic life of Makoto. I think this movie is quite underrated and it should receive more attention.

Art: 9 - Though i'm not particularly a fan of this art style but it goes along perfectly with this ty[e of story as it feels even more realistic.

Sound: 8 - Not too memorable but it fits in the story while not oddly sticking out so it's satisfactory.

Character: 9 - There were no strong, amazing or even any specifically memorable characters but these characters bring out the potential of the story because if any of the characters had a different personality then that would've affected the story in some sort of way too. And that's why I like the way how the characters support the story.

Enjoyment: 9 - Depending on people's choices they may not 'enjoy' this series but they'll like and understand it even though I enjoyed, liked and understood the meaning of this series. In any case, it's enjoyable as long as you like dramas otherwise its just a 'nice' series.

People who liked: Haibane Renmei, Angel Beats! and AnoHana will 'like' or 'enjoy' this series as it gives off a similar aura to these animes.

Overall: 9 - Overall its worth a watch but if you dont 'like' or 'understand' or artistic/deep stories then don't watch it.

Expect no gunfights, bastard boyfriends or manly men trying to pierce the heavens. Based on an award-winning novel, the movie's also gotten a fair share of recognition, and I can see why.

Fourteen-year old Kobayashi Makoto has just committed suicide. Meanwhile, a soul carrying a heavy, unknown sin is suddenly chosen to go back to life in Makoto's body as a 'trial' to try and find out what it did, and how to redeem itself. Everything else is unwritten.

It is said that there's nothing harder to work on than a blank canvas, and the soul finds out the hard way. In a way, we do, ... too. While the story itself is nothing breathtaking, the way the concept and themes are handled is arguably the best aspect of the movie. To me, few things are less satisfying than a work of art that will never truly end--the sort of movie, book, game to leave a mark and change my views on life. I can safely say Colorful achieved it.

The animation, I'll admit, was nothing really stunning. The CG could be off-putting at times along with the real-life backgrounds. However, the art style itself turned out to be very pleasant, more leaned to a realistic style. The soundtrack was spot-on. Along the art, it effectively conveyed a tranquil, somber atmosphere, greatly complimenting the story's themes. Compared to the other aspects of the movie, though, it almost seemed a bit lackluster.

I can't say much about the characters without spoiling. Aside from the main character, most of them have very little screen time except for the nameless spirit guiding 'it' and Sano, an outcast that always seems to be following 'Makoto'. However, they still managed to achieve a significant amount of depth, as most of their problems were implicit and left up to interpretation. The main character can come off as cold and even cruel at times, and 'it' should. It only makes its own development all the more outstanding.

The twist at the end was, as every trope and trick nowadays, fairly predictable. And certainly fitting. It really does go along the rest of the movie in a way no other ending would.

To me, it's not a work to be taken lightly. If watched correctly, it will leave you thinking. What does it really mean to be alive? To breathe? To exist?
As an extra, the fact Makoto was an artist only made it all more symbolic. Colorful, as a whole, really twisted the ways in which I see the world--and the hues.

One of those great mundane coming-of-age stories, set in an anime-film format that really treasures those mundane social quirks that are often cast away in pursuit of deranged romanticism, though I wouldn't ever go as far as to call anything "realistic".

A pure pleasure to watch though - the art may not be outstanding - but it's a great work nonetheless. It touches you, and you can't help but feel involved with the characters as they evolve during this colorful 2-hour movie.

Definitely worth watching, wish there were more of these kind of stories.

Colorful is not for everyone, let's just get that out there.

This movie is NOT for an audience that is used to fast-paced, can't catch your breathe action adventure animation.
The drama is not over the top, its subtle yet intense
The character stand out as being normal in the sense that they could be anyone. This movie is a depiction of real life, not entertainment only. Meaning?
It's slow-paced, builds up its characters, and is full of subtly nuances. And if you're the type of person that likes slice of life or has a learning for human existence, this is your movie! If not, you'll have a ... hard time following this film or will become bored half way in.

I'd say it's only for audiences who have an open mind and are fascinated with the metaphysical notions and philosophical notions of death. Colorful touches you because you relate to the character's weaknesses and insecurities. You see yourself in them because they aren't perfect. This movie digs deep into the inner facets of human life. How we humans are so flawed yet because of our imperfections make us "colorful" or "beautifully human"
In the end, I guess hope prevails.

A guy died, thrown into an after life, then given a second chance? Yeah, it's been done multiple times.

So what makes this one special? No fun adventures, No intriguing mystery cases, No supernatural powers, so what's the difference that this movie has to offer?
For me, the strongest part of that makes this movie stand out in my memory is, ironically, the Simplicity of it.

The story tells a guy who had died, ended up in an afterlife, and given a second chance. The second chance is to be reincarnated in a body of a boy who had just tried to commit suicide, and continue to live ... in that boy's body until he remembers what sin he has committed.
As he went on living in that boy's body, he discovered many things in that boy's life: His Friends, His Bullies, His Parents, His Sibling, His Family's Conflicts, and so many more. He saw many things and also learn many things. And that's why the this movie is "Colorful".

The title itself captures perfectly what the creators meaning to show: Life is Colorful.
There are so many things in life. There are moments when you can laugh freely, when feel confused and betrayed, when you fight with someone you love, when you cried all day, when surprised at something you didn't know of someone close to you, when you discover new things and new people, and when you excited about facing tomorrow. Life isn't a Dull grey, is not also Black & White.
Life is full of Colors, if you keep your eyes open and moving forward. That's the message of this movie.

Story aside, watching the MC's development was a fun ride for me. I enjoyed the story too much to the point in the middle of it I even forgot the Big Problem: What was the Sin the MC committed? Well, I won't spoil you for that.
If you're a fan of stories about Philosophy of Life, stories that can make you Cry, or stories that focused on Character Development, I recommend this for you.
But if you're looking for fun adventures, discoveries, mysteries, or complicated drama, sadly this story has little to offer to you.
Overall, it was an enjoyable 2 hours for me. The art style and soundtracks are also pleasant. I'm giving it a solid 9.

I don't feel like writing a big review but after watching this movie I felt like I needed to say something. This is one of the most beautiful and well made movies I ever seen. Due to their high teen suicide rate, I think watching this movie should be mandatory in every school in Japan. That is all.

I was expecting a confusing and mind bending story but what I got was a some what peaceful and what seemed to be realistic story. The movie led you threw a story of a spirit trying to figure out who the boy who he was now in the body of and also himself. The movie kept my interest the whole time and felt sad when it ended as if I was one of the characters. I definitely recommend this movie!

I've been putting off watching this movie for a while. The poster and synopsis weren't that much inspiring for me... In fact, they were averting me somehow.
So, from the start I hadn't hopes up. Nevertheless, I've got quite more than initially I could expect.

The story is grim. Mostly quite realistic, laying the whole concept and of reincarnation aside. The way story's evolving is well made. You're getting smoothly involved with all characters and events around them. More you watch, more you become interested in.
Well, I should say, I didn't enjoy it much. I mean, I haven't got a sense of beauty, which I ... get when I watch Shinkai films, for example. Colourful is different. I've got another things in exchange.
You should expect some serious stuff.

Generally, animation's good. Though, there were few CGI moments which didn't blend in perfectly. Also, backgrounds are poorly done. I've noticed using real-life footages in a number of backgrounds. To be honest, It strikes the eye just a little bit but still is distracting. Ah, it doesn't matter whatsoever.
Animation of facial expressions is great. It was pretty easy to discern what emotions characters feel at particular moments.

I especially loved few OST-s here. Listening to them right now :)
There's nothing to complain here about. Maybe, just the fact that main hero's voice is hella irritating. Probably, it's only my issue, so don't pay attention to this.

Characters feel like really alive. Colorful, like it was said in the film. Most probably, you won't like any of them. But what more importaint, I'm almost certain, you're gonna feel bad for them. I felt pretty much bad for them. Colourful will make you think what would you feel and do in their places.

Like I wrote overhead, I didn't enjoy it much. However, I did enjoy the idea, the simple but deep thought It was trying to convey me.
I don't remember last time I was getting so emotional while watching anime.

To sum it up, I'm glad I've watched it. It was totally worth. I won't forget Makoto's words.
I would higly recommend to give it a try, but not for everyone.