Sep 16, 2020
Hotarubi no Mori e is by no means perfect, yet still leaves you feeling perturbed throughout the movie and out of sorts when its finished. The plot itself ultimately outlines itself in the first 10 minutes, leaving you to wait anxiously for the twist. Unfortunately, the overall story lays itself out pretty clearly, giving you a transparent wax job on that already see through melancholic future. As for the characters, they feel like they came from those amazing mini 5-10 minute movies between the ads at the Cinemas that leave you feeling lost and amazed, further spurring on your hype for the movie ahead.
...
In addition, the art and sound tie in so well with both the characters and the story, being simple yet mysterious and calming, almost pressing you to go on with the story. Although the story might be lacking, the anxiousness and overall emotional impact of the movie pairs great with it.
DISCLAIMER - MAJOR SPOILERS
Although Gin and Hotaru are together for around 5-10 summers, Gin never ages, whereas Hotaru proceeded to go through elementary, middle, to end up in high school, where the story ends. This gives the pretense that their relationship is eventually going to break apart either when Hotaru gets a family, a job, and inevitably die, all before Gin ever turns 30 or when Gin incidentally touches a human, killing his fragile magic-supported body. This idea gives this story an eerie, almost realistic edge, on the point where everything ends, and that time stops for no one. At the end of the movie, when Gin touches a human not knowingly, the reality began to set in, almost as if it were all a dream taking you down an emotional almost realistic rabbit hole. The ending was bittersweet, yet the thought that winter always comes to take away summer was also a great metaphor for this idea of overall idea that everything has to end. I gave this movie a 10 because of the idea that this movie puts off, and how it portrays this thought through a short, well-paced, 45 minute movie.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all
