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Nov 23, 2016
A "Slice of Life" in Kure and Hiroshima in 1940s, Involving Love, Laughter, Fantasy, Hope, and Death.
The protagonist is a nonchalant (at least on the surface) and a bit dreamy ordinary girl who loves to draw and paint. She is raised in Hiroshima and marries into a family of a young man employed in the naval town of Kure,
The movies goes into great detail showing the life of an ordinary family of that time. It starts as a great slice of life, of her old-style marriage with a new husband, sharing life with in-laws and communicating with neighbors. There are happy, sweet, and tender
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moments although the life is set in wartime, and the hardship gradually creeps into life. The relationship with the sister-in-law is a bit fictitious, but the protagonist forms a solid bond with the family and the relationship to her little niece is just beautiful.
And I will stop there, as it would be a great spoiler.
I will only add that air raid scenes were really terrifying, although it was not right in your face bloody. The reason why almost excessive showing of daily life was necessary becomes evident when the war becomes very personal and relate-able to the protagonist, and you are shown what war can do to people leaving emotional and physical scars. The effects of the A Bomb is not directly shown apart from a later brief horrifying scene (as the protagonist was in Kure, 30-40km away from Hiroshima), but depicted as a culmination of personal tragedies in a mass scale (if one could feel the great tormenting pain and sorrow of losing a loved one in Kure which was attacked by conventional incendiary bombings, then imagining the tragedy of hundreds of thousands lives lost in Hiroshima can evoke fear and despair without showing it right in the face).
I groaned in the theater as shedding tears was not enough to control my emotions. After the film finished I was in the streets with Christmas lights and happy faces around among families and friends. The world felt very ordinary yet very fragile. I kept on half-weeping on the train heading home.
This is a very well done film with a distinct art-style (it is realistic but it's a reality only achieved by animation and not a photoshop production using photographs or rotoscope), thorough research in history, and passion. I don't know if this film is the best of all war films, but I think it is one of the best animated films produced dealing with war (I can't say which is better- the Grave of Fireflies, or this).
This should be seen at theaters with a wide screen and good audio.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Sep 19, 2016
Note: I watched it at the Toho Cinema Complex in Ario Nishiarai (*I had thought I could have been the only person on this review list who had really watched it at a cinema in Japan after reading a particularly harsh review, but I was wrong).
A quick overview: Koe no Katachi is a very well done film, although not without shortcomings, and which has dealt with (a) complex issue(s), and which leaves the viewer with questions but no easy conclusions. It is a powerful enough film to remember and ponder over, and people may draw different lessons, or perhaps none.
Pros: The sound and vision (KnK
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is top-notch Japanimation. I dare say that in some aspects, it is better than a Ghibli film). The ambient piano background music really matches with parts of the film, and the use of marimbas and even silence at the dramatic climax worked out well. Shoko Nishimiya is adorable when she has that half-proud and half-shy face when she does ponytail. Cute, but elegantly done and not unpleasant. However, was this better than Tamako Loves Story - I cannot tell. There were recognizably magical rooftop sequences in Yamada's K-On! and at the classroom and school ground with Midori in Tamako Love Story. I am not sure whether KnK had such "magic" moment despite its very fluid art.
Voice actors have all done a great job. Saori Hayami, Yuki Aoi, Miyu Irino were expectedly good, and Kaneko Yuki (who played Midori in Tamako) was a great pick for Ueno, another difficult character.
Con: I feel that the original manga's theme was very challenging for a very young manga artist to deal with; I also felt that some themes weren't fully explored or developed properly. Besides the bullying/redemption theme, there is an attachment/detachment in relationship theme, and on top of that, a male-female friendship and romance theme. Those themes coexisted and had resonated against each other for sure, but it's not done in a well-calculated and clear-cut way. That was the main issue of the serial manga, and to explore those themes, the manga author had to involve the characters to comes to terms with each other in a slightly forced situation (like the movie club and the event of going to a theme park).
Although the story line of the movie club was completely cut and altered, the theme park sequence was saved for the film- which still felt forced. However, I felt that Reiko Yoshida has done a nearly perfect job with script-writing and editing the story to be able to fit in for a two hours film. My only grievance is that the reason behind Nishimiya's decision at the climax was not convincingly told (which was as in the manga- but the Manga fully told Shoko's mother's sufferings of being divorced because of her child's disabilities and sis Yuzuru's side story of being bullied because of the same reason- so there was a more natural reason why Shoko should have cumulative feeling of guilt that she was making other people involved with her unhappy [and not just that sense of guilt towards breaking up Shoya's relationship with others]). Viewers might be puzzled then why Shoko had to make that decision in the climax (as it was already not exactly written convincingly to start with in the original manga).
Final verdict: Having written down the cons, this is a very challenging work of art (yes, "art", which is not simple "entertainment"), and it did choke my heart at several moments. This won't be everyone's favorite, as it deals with a serious and dark issue, and as it's not all straightforward (as in Tamako Love Story) - but it leaves viewers questioning about their own relationship with other people in the past and present.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Dec 6, 2014
Tamako Market broadcast in 2013 was a rather unfortunate TV series which had great potentials, initially greeted with high expectations, but didn't win hearts and minds of many people in the end. In fact, it was considered as the KyoAni's worst flop since Munto, and haters of KyoAni were very active in dissing the series, which was actually among the most popular ones in a generally poor season.
Unexpectedly, Director Yamada (K-On! series director) and her team made a truly successful comeback with Tamako Love Story movie in 2014, achieving satisfactory sales and receiving an art award. Seen from hindsight, as a combined franchise, Tamako
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Market & Love Story is a very enjoyable watch. Tamako Love Story is a serious masterpiece and the highest reach of Japanimation of the 2010s as much as Shaft's Madoka Rebellion is. Tamako Market can be viewed as an etude or a prelude to the best work that KyoAni ever produced; there are advance hints and references here and there which adds great depth to the movie.
I admit that Tamako Market was not very straightforward in telling a story and at times the KyoAni staffs were not very good at materializing ideas. The handling of the sub-story of finding the bride for the prince was too rushed with an abrupt ending while time was wasted in a mediocre haunted house episode which was irrelevant and out of place. Partly I blame this on some scriptwriters in certain episodes (particularly the one who screwed up also at writing a script for Red Data Girl of PA Works). It's a pity, as Yoshida Reiko was good as always and Hanada-sensei also showed his craftiness in handling slice-of-life.
There were some memorable Episodes in the series, such as Midori (the blond girl) having difficulty with her own complex emotions towards Tamako in Episode 2, and Shiori (the badminton girl with glasses) overcoming her social anxiety disorder and befriending with Tamako in Episode 3. Kanna (the carpenter's daughter) was always the most eccentric but also perceptive throughout the series; she's my favorite supporting character who really shined in the later Tamako Love Story movie. Anko (Tamako's little sister) is one of the cutest girls ever drawn by KyoAni, and her love story in Episode 4 and 9 intertwined with the story of their deceased mother were the most successful in the TV series. Actually, the climax Episode 9 is one of the greatest episodes KyoAni has ever made, a true "Kami-kai (God's Episode)" (in Japanese slang), which laid solid foundation to the Love Story movie. In Episode 9 we see glimpse of how much impact the loss of mother must have had on Tamako and her family (although we see no painful scenes), and how much love and tenderness is hidden behind the usually stubborn Mamedai (Tamako's father). Mochizou (Tamako's friend living across the street) here is a guy with a heart of gold and assists Anko's love; he is rewarded in return by Tamako giving him a birthday cake (with Anko's reminder to her about his birthday).
I believe the main shortcoming of the TV series was the lack of straightforward catharsis. The death of mother, adoration of motherhood, love of the family and caring neighborhood is one of the penetrating themes but it's not shown straightforwardly. Showing the actual tragedy must have been deliberately avoided, but it could have given us a more deeper understanding of the character of Tamako (compare this with Episode 6 of Tari Tari produced by PA Works which did a great job in making the series memorable and heroine's character likable by revealing the heartbreaking story of the mother's death). The viewers were left until Tamako Love Story to fully understand the makings of Tamako's character. With Tamako Love Story, we get to see the bitter side of youth and "look at life from both sides now".
Another shortcoming was the lack of good conclusion to the romance of Mochizou and Tamako and Midori (as well as Choi and the Prince), which left the viewers with the feeling that the series was somehow aborted and left incomplete. Haters hated it, and fans thought it needed to be finished off with a second series or an OVA. Practically no one expected that we'll be given instead a full new movie and that a love story between Mochizou and Tamako; practically no one expected it to become a modern classic ... but that's another story.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Apr 28, 2014
I saw it. It was a small, nice, pleasant, sweet, and touching film.
And it's Anko-chan Pero Pero throughout - cute girls doing cute things.
As anticipated, Kyoto Animation delivers when it comes to simple human drama of teens' friendship and maturing - and Director Naoko Yamada now successfully adds a guy (!), as well as families, and some good people in the neighborhood (although this mix probably didn't come out too well in the TV series). Yamada proves herself again as a director capable of delicate handling of emotions; by depicting a girl sitting alone in a classroom on a table in silence, the Director lets
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you share her mixed emotions of sorrow, slight regret, and fulfillment.
But the girl won't be left alone by herself for too long, as she has a good friend who wants to "go up with her to a higher ground and overcome" an obstacle. How to overcome obstacles in life is probably the "hidden" theme of the movie (Yamada probably felt that it needed to be tackled after making K-On!). Isaac Newton and his answers to how he overcame his obstacle and found the gravitation theory ("By always thinking unto them") was quoted as a reference (and hence the title of the ending song- Principle; also the story behind the visuals in the ED song of the TV series with the Sun and Moon and Tamako with a different sort of face is now revealed).
My favorite line in the movie: "Bitter memories are proof that you did something".
Some ways of presentation ("camera work") that Yamada uses, and the way things are told covertly might not appeal to everyone, but I personally enjoy that as originality and creativity- it keeps the movie fresh from banality. Overall, it's an "ordinary" love story, a pure and innocent one, with which anyone with a heart and memory can sympathize (and writhe in shyness and embarrassment). You would almost certainly have a Mochizo or Tamako (or perhaps a Midori - lez or no lez, that's not the matter) inside you.
It's not a big film but it's heartwarming. If you've liked the small film by Ghibli like Mimi O Sumasebai, you might see Tamako Love Story as Kyoto Animation's reply to a sort of similar theme. Go see it, or buy a BD/DVD release (should be released in the later half of 2014).
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Jul 26, 2013
Kaze Tachinu is a work of art intended for adult audiences. No, this is not a movie in praise of war or denial of people involved in war. If you want a clear-cut movie which is kind enough to tell you who's the good and the bad guys, then sit back and enjoy watching Pearl Harbor (2001) with a Coke and popcorn instead.
Although the message is quite straightforward, and easy to relate to for people living in uncertain times (including Japan still affected by the 3.11 Earthquake in Tohoku Region), it might not be for other people, especially for very young audiences.
The story, partly
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non-fiction, evolves around a young mechanical designer whose dream was to build beautiful airplanes. He ultimately succeeds in building fully up-to-date planes, but which went to war, and none came back.
His personal life is set in Japan when people were facing great uncertainty after the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, the Great Depression, and preparation for the war with China, then America, and Britain, and Netherlands, and the Soviets ... He and his colleagues do what they do best and what they are supposed to do under those circumstances: make planes. Just do it.
His life enters into a new stage when he meets again accidentally with the girl whose life he saved during the earthquake. Their beautiful romance and eventual marriage is however overshadowed by her disease (tuberculosis, which was incurable at that time), and war.
If you are expecting a hero in active struggle against a huge evil system, you won't find in this film. Nor would you find a heroine whose decision could be easily understood by contemporaries (or perhaps none other than herself; read also the lyrics of the ending song). However, they are hero and heroines of ordinary real life, at the time when life ended abruptly and wasted meaninglessly. There's even Special Higher Police arresting you for your thoughts and private relations, and public objections to the military controlled government often resulted in death by torture in prison at those times.
If so, how can life can be lived?
This is the question that Miyzaki poses to the audience. It is not a readily answerable question, and you would be tested your imagination of what the hero, Horikoshi Jiro, and the heroine, Naoko, must have thought when they are off screen and out of camera.
Actually, then and now, people's life does end abruptly, and if not properly lived, rather meaninglessly.
When the wind rises, you would have to attempt to live.
"Le vent se lève, il faut tenter de vivre" (Paul Valery, introduced in Japan by Hori Tatsuo- whose autobiographic romance novel is partly incorporated into the movie)
People suffer in time of crisis and uncertainty. Lives are ended abruptly. But you have to live the life that you are given, and use your best effort in doing so in daily life. That is Miyazaki's "last will and testament" (as he jokes) to the contemporary Japanese who are still socially shaken by the impact of the Earthquake, and when growing conflicts with a neighbor is provoking jingoists' calls for arms.
Final words: Kaze Tachinu is a thought-provoking movie with both beautiful and horrifying moments. This might not be my most favorite work (need more innocent fantasies like Totoro and the Castle in the Sky: Laputa), but it is definitely one of Miyazaki's finest works and one that he clearly needed to present now. It is one of his boldest and most experimental.
9/10. Well done.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Apr 6, 2013
I saw in a movie theater in Shinjuku (WALD9) just yesterday.
My expectation wasn't very high; I knew that the movie duration wasn't too long (66 min), and I knew that the story wasn't a simple continuation from the last episode of the TV series. I thought if it was mildly entertaining that would be enough.
I was wrong.
Animation art direction was P.A. Works at its best. It captures well the good scenes from Yunosagi (largely based on the real Yuwaku Onsen town).
The story was surprisingly good and actually quite emotionally moving; never thought it could be that good. Music was the familiar
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Hana-Iro touching soundtrack with a new ending song by nano.RIPE (I like the crude-but-charming vocal; at least she has originality). All the main characters have their fair share of appearances except for Ko-chan (but he'll be Ohana's boyfriend in the end, as we all know).
It's a great fan-service for sure but this movie was much more than that.
It's a story of family (hint: the heroine's name).
I am also a fan of K-On! Series and loved its Movie. Perhaps as a work of pop art though, the Movie of Hanasaku Iroha might be better overall. If you liked the series, there is no way that you'll be very disappointed.
I'm impressed.
Well done P.A. Works. Well done.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Jan 1, 2012
I've seen it. Finally.
I got a postcard of Mio's lyric version of the good bye song, Tenshi ni Furetayo (We've Touched an Angel) at the entrance of the theatre. 3-time repeaters in Japan gets a random raw K-on film strip as a present, by the way.
K-on! the movie has become a phenomenal hit for an animated film here in Japan. In my honest opinion, it was not "fantastic" that went over my expectations but it was predictably "very good".
It was fairly entertaining and rewarding for K-on! fans. It should be enjoyable to first viewers of the series as well. K-on! is not meant
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to be hilarious or exciting, though. It does not have shocking "fan services" like in other moe animes as the director and the chief designer are young women.
The movie evolves around the graduation trip of the five HTT members to London, and a plan to give Azusa kitty something nice for farewell present. The girls are the same as usual, kinda cute and do small silly things right from the beginning. Tonchan the turtle is there (and I found it very cute that Azusa feeds it from the pink metal box in a caring way), as well as Ui the perfect little sister and Jun her free and easy friend. We get to see that the Hirasawa sisters actually have nice parents. Sawachan plays an important role while the girls are in London, a multi-ethnic city. The mob girls in the class all have their distinct personalities and some gets lines of phrases.
A bit of humor throughout. A bit of sobbing at the end also, as we all know everything good must end.
A good ending PV with Mio as lead vocal, arguably the best in K-on! series.
Bravos to Kyoani and Ms Naoko Yamada the director of the series.
There are some good live moments as well.
Songs played live (if my memory is correct):
Hikari (Light) featuring Death Devil.
Curry nochi Rice (Rice afterwards Curry).
Gohanwa Okazu (Rice is Side Dish as well).
U&I (Ui, you and I).
Tenshini Furetayo (We've Touched an Angel).
Unfortunately, there isn't an announcement of Season 3 at the moment. The highschool days ended beautifully for the four and Azu-cat's succession as the President of the club was already implied in the series. Diector Ms.Yamada has said that she's a fan of k-on as high school girls, whereas Kakifly's original manga has restarted earlier in 2011 with 1) Azusa's new highschool band, the Wakaba (Young Leaf) Girls, and 2) HTT four playing at university.
However, I suspect that Kyoani and TBS will announce the start of Season 3 later on in 2012 or 2013 after the bluray release. It should have the 3 additional rival musicians at university and 2 old friends of Azusa and 2 newcomers at highschool.
Hint: the chief designer Ms. Horiguchi commented on a magazine that for the new year 2012, she'd like to see Azusa acting like an upper grader (which she does in Kakifly's manga: we are stunned by Jun's suspect boyfriend, Azusa's singing ability, Austrian freshman drummer girl named Saito, popularity of Fuwa Fuwa Time at university, transgender looking guitarist, Mugi's ability of becoming an average citizen, etc...).
K-on is over! Long live K-on !!!
Buy the bluray and send messages to TBS if you really want Season 3.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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