Reviews

Synopsis: 17 y/o Rin is trapped in a position of physical stasis where in her head she experiences a simulated reality where she's essentially the "God", and has the ability to create whatever she wants through her magical iPad. In her imaginary world she's the only one, she's alone (Side note: however since she has the ability to create and change her world, wouldn't it be possible to create life?). During one of her uneventful days she sees a swing. Knowing that she hadn't drawn it, she curiously touches it where she recovers some of her memories. Her simulation begins reciprocating her memories before she was in stasis. She sees her and her father going about their lives. We then learn that seven years before the earth would soon come into contact with another celestial body, thus ending the existence of life on earth. Like any good father, he creates a mini space ship in his awesome lab he has in his house and send her off to space. These memories she regains gives her motivation to move forward in her seemingly hopeless situation.

Before getting into the review itself, this review (like any other) is subjective and based on my personal thought process while watching this short. I won't go into depth over any topic I deem important such as sound and art. I'll TRY to keep it short.

Story(7/10):
The story reminded me of Superman, don't know why. The story wasn't as amazing as it's many cultist fans praise it to be. Unlike most anime, most of the story telling is done through animation where there is a paragraph of dialogue at most. It did a good job of hooking me in during the opening sequence and keeping me hooked throughout through the animation. If this story included more dialogue and exposition, I would've lost interest halfway through. I do enjoy how they foreshadowed events in the very beginning, just to ensure us that the blissful atmosphere in the beginning isn't what it seems. The analogy I'd like to use to describe the story is a pancake, or even a crepe (whatever you like better). The story itself doesn't have any underlying themes or messages. It's mostly about reflection, and that your worst moments can be used a motivation to move forward. Other than that I can't think of anything, almost cookie cutter in a sense. It had a somewhat generic bittersweet ending too.

Art(9.5)
A-1 is always good, especially when it comes to character's facial expressions. There were VERY little complaints I had about the animation, aside from that terrible CG scene in the with the mountain rock thingy that was bad. Personally, I couldn't have seen any other studio doing this project besides A-1 Pictures, because of the fact that this was a story told through animation. There isn't much I can say about character designs besides generic. Not saying her character looked bad (far from it). She just wasn't that creative of a character. Any japanese artist could've created her, I just wish Porter would've took more time in making her more unique, being that he's one of few westerners to be able to collaborate with an amazing studio such as A-1 Pictures.

Sound(6):
Sorry, I didn't really like Shelter. I was never an EDM guy, but I guess I understand why people liked it. I think a more instrumental song would've gone with it better, maybe a piano version would've been good.

Character(8):
I was emotionally attached to Rin throughout the story, mostly because I just felt bad for her. Since there is not exposition, you can't really resonate with her beyond the fact that you feel bad cause she's alone. There's no dialogue involved where we can learn more about her that makes her no different from us. Still, I prefer it this way. This isn't a story that's supposed to make you reflect upon yourself, in other words it's not thought provoking (not in a bad way). You're simply attached to the fact that its her story that your watching.

Overall(8):
I don't like associating numbers with anime, despite the fact that I do it all the time. I use it more as a ranking system in my own head to see which one I liked more. In the end all that matters is whether I liked a show or not, where sometimes I just happen to like on more.
That being said I did like Shelter; however, people really over hyped this for me. Hearing everyone call it a masterpiece, perfect and using other extremely subjective adjectives to described it made my expectations for this to skyrocket. Maybe if I hadn't listened to any of it, I wouldn't have been as disappointed as I was, but I doubt that. Too many people get caught up in the hype, but if you were to take a second and step back and really process and analyze this short's story, you could point out small flaws throughout. I'm not bashing it whatsoever, not in the slightest. I'm just pointing out how people really have to analyze what there watching in this now over-saturated-market-of-mediocrity in the anime industry.
All that matters in the end is your interpretation, and the story you take while watching shelter, as long as you have justification other than, "It was so sad," or "Porter Robinson is so good!" (sorry for this rant)
Even if you don't end up liking it, you'd be missing out if you don't watch it, so I highly recommend you go and watch it!!


PS: Sorry for my tangent during the end, I'm just unhappy on how people can automatically call something a master piece without proper justification. That's the best way I can put my feelings into words. This was one of first reviews so excuse and grammatical inconsistencies or conflicting ideas etc. Other than that I hope you guys found this helpful.