+ Brilliant music that takes a spin on the Western Classics
+ Wonderfully written main characters with great dynamics, and great interactions among them
+ Great story progression (even the smallest details that could be affected by an event were not missed out). (First Half)
- Romance aspect of the show muddies the message the movie is trying to portray
- Loose ends due to an underwhelming ending that focuses on unneeded romance, a contrast with its wonderful first half.
It is common knowledge that words are very powerful. They can inspire, bless, curse, and hurt others. And like anything that’s powerful, it needs to be controlled. There are some who are more open about it, claiming that ‘one should express himself without caring what others think’, while some say that ‘expressing and saying too much shows that you’re weak and emotional’. These are two popular yet contradictory mindsets that people in society have today.
This movie is about expression, it is about a group of friends who find trouble expressing themselves, be it because of a curse, past experience, trauma, or just the personality of the person itself that make them bottle up what they want to express and say. Ultimately, like real life, these feelings if caged for too long could no longer be contained. As shown when the female MC, although mute, shows very explicit emotions through her facial expressions and actions. In some cases, these feelings will explode in a violent eruption, as we can see when the drama of the movie unfolds with the characters yelling at each other about past problems at the top of their voices, not really in anger, but in result of saying something that needs to be said since a long time ago.
One could say that this is illogical, as why would they even need to bottle up their feelings anyway? The movie does well by fleshing out our 4 main heroes, as each of them has their own troubling experiences whenever their emotions are brought up to the surface.
Our main girl, Jun was a chatterbox who excitedly says whatever she sees, feels, and thinks. Her naivety in the end brought an eventual misfortune upon her family. Realizing that her expressive personality is the culprit, she comes to loath it and brought upon an unusual curse upon herself, resulting in her self-isolation from other people to avoid harming them.
The main male lead, Sakagami, embodies the much desired ‘don’t give a damn attitude’ that is deemed as ‘cool’ in this world today. He does not participate but observes the drama that unfold around him, be it among his family or friends. He could see how terrible expressing one’s feelings can be and thus develops a cool and aloof attitude, taking events as they are instead of reacting emotionally towards them.
Natsuki, the highschool girl bottles up her feelings not because of apathy, but in fear of how dangerous confrontation can be. She’s the kind who puts all her problems under the floormat, praying that the vagueness of issues would prevent her already half-burnt- bridges, her relationships, to crumble.
Tasaki shows the all-popular façade of putting on a tough-guy look who seems to be very expressive by shouting and yelling in anger all the time, but is truthfully hiding what he really feels on the inside.
These 4 characters and their personalities show very common ways in how we people today deal with our emotions, be it to avoid them, not giving a damn about them, or to fake them. Kudos to the people who gave these characters so much life that viewers could see a reflection of themselves in.
With such wonderful characters setting the bar for such brilliant writing. The movie maintains that standard with ease as we can see how these 4 characters, who are basically standing on 4 different corners on the personality scale, interact and unknowingly strengthen each other.
It is heart-warming to see throughout the movie that Jun began to trust and embrace her expressive personality once again. It is moving to see Sakagami for once in his life care about the emotions of others after realizing the fact that emotions could bring joy as well. One could yell the word ‘FINALLY’ after Natsuki yells out everything on her mind in a confrontation after she couldn’t bear the vagueness of her relationship in others and we give a round of applause to Tasaki who got rid of his tough guy attitude and instead says what’s really on his mind.
This movie is not receiving any awards for originality, the setting is done in typical anime fashion- in a high school with angsty teenagers. The character growth is predictable, and the theme of the importance of words and expression is a commonly used one that is recycled time and time again. But originality, or unoriginality rather, doesn’t deem quality. The Anthem of the Heart shows brilliant execution by never failing to get its message across. Anime drama tropes like yelling at each other at the top of their voices, isolating one’s self after a realization are usually cliché and cringeworthy, but these are the exact tropes that are perfect for the movie’s setting and are done well. We are given a sense of realism as we see how the 4 friends initially have so much trouble getting along, that when their friendship blossomed some lingering romance comes to the surface leading to unrequited love, and that even though they are close to one another, that doesn’t mean that they are immune to discord forever.
Aside from the 4 main heroes, the story progression is top notch as we can see how the writers are very thorough on how every significant event that happened in the past would influence even the slightest things. A notable example would be:
[SPOILER]
When the divorce of Jun’s family led to not only Jun’s trauma, but also changes in her mother’s attitude and life as she is forced to work for both their living expenses, the struggle to pay the bills as a family upon the father’s departure, Jun’s lack of a social circle due to her communication issues. A notable highlight of this is when Jun finally has the courage to speak to her friends in school, she does not miraculously become able to speak in her very own house and neighbourhood, and understandably so because the root of the whole trauma itself lies there.
[END OF SPOILER]
The Anthem of the Heart also shows that expressing one’s self isn’t limited to verbal conversation, as it also shows how musicals, or the songs played in them rather, could also portray vibrant or sorrowful emotions. Western Classics like ‘Over the Rainbow’, ‘Greensleeve’, and ‘Around the World’ were given a twist. The melodies of these amazing song were combined with lyrics written by Jun to express her past and her thoughts to portray her emotions to the audience. And as mentioned before, things like facial expressions and other things like tears further enhance what emotion that a character is going through.
Despite all its quality, the movie however, failed to maintain a consistency. The ending is in the very spotlight of this issue as it has developed much gripe from the viewers. With the powerful message of the importance of expressing feelings preached to the extent that it is blatantly shoving it in one’s face, the ending takes a huge U-turn on what the whole movie is about.
[Spoiler] It pairs up the 4 friends into 2 lovey dovey couples [End of Spoiler]
One could argue that this is only natural, and indeed there is nothing wrong with that, and this could even be a plus side, but the problem lies not with the romance aspect itself, but the indication that it takes the spotlight over the message that has been shown all along. A notable example would be when
[Spoiler]
Jun, for the first time in her life faces unrequited love, her character growth is thrown in the limelight on how she embraces the heartache and moves forward with life, knowing very well that this is just a result of expressing her feelings. This could be a very important lesson for all of us, that expression doesn’t necessarily bring good results like how it happens in fairy tales, but up comes along Tasaki to confess to her, giving her a happy ending anyway. It’s like the directors and writers completely forbid Jun to suffer, and that she must be paired up to satisfy shippers. What then, is the point of this movie? To see friendship blossom into romance and become couples? Or the other one that has been preached all along?
Not only that, the ending was also a crucial time space that could have been used to tie up the many loose ends of the movie, notably revolving the people around the 4 friends. Jun’s mom, who looked at her daughter with eyes of pity after she can’t speak anymore, was moved to tears after seeing how far her daughter has gone to improve herself. Daiki who was now finally a reliable senpai to his peers could be shown how he treats his friends differently, but instead falls in love with Jun. There are so many small things if portrayed could highlight the end of a very long journey that our young heroes has gone through. But instead, we are given romance that seemed to just be a mere subplot to become the epilogue.
[End of spoiler]
Despite its flaws, this movie still successfully tells the story of how most of us take a step back and avoid expressing ourselves after realizing that our words and expressions can indeed hurt other people. We then let the emotions swell up inside us to avoid those horrible experiences again. As we get close with certain people, the lingering thought for us to take a chance will emerge, and like a child tapping his feet against the sea along the beach, we would take a step forward and a step back, testing the waters until we can accept that these feelings inside us are fine being expressed regardless of it bringing us pain or joy, as it gives something far more comforting- closure.
Yes it is unoriginal, yes the drama and some scenes are predictable, but the Anthem of the Heart, without a doubt, impresses with great execution, and aside from the ending, was of great class. It is a message that is wonderful, and though preached and shared commonly, is a message that people need to be constantly reminded of.
