I am not in the target audience for this anime.
Not because it's for children, oh no. On the contrary, the best thing I got out of this was a quick Japanese color lesson and some fun animation. No, this anime isn't for me because I've actually lived in the city and the country, and also know how being a freelance artist works. And this combination of knowledge gave me no choice but to hate with a burning passion the character this movie apparently expects my sympathy to be with: Himeno's father.
"Oh, I'm going to move my young child away from a walkable environment and her social circle to a dilapidated house in the middle of nowhere because I'm spellbound by the romanticism of the country. My excuse is I want a bigger studio for my art, despite the fact that I've barely gotten my career off the ground, but I'm still going to act like we absolutely had to move because of my job. Oh, and I'm so desperate for this that I bought a house that's falling apart so badly that if some weird colorful butt ninjas hadn't shown up, we would have lived in squalor at best or died at worst."
Most other people probably won't be filled with the passionate ire for a kids' parents in a silly cartoon about the color wheel, and I am aware how ridiculous I likely sound if anybody ever reads this, but here I am saying Himeno was right: She should be able to spend time with her friends at a convenience store.
Cities are good, actually. Also, they happen to be where most artists live because there are actually, you know, other people to sell their artwork to. Just saying. |