Hotaru is suffering from melancholia same as Ayanami from Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995). Ayanami Rei had no soul, thus she was sad without knowing why she was sad. Here, Hotaru is dejected, distanced from the real world without knowing why. She wants to understand the cause of her remoteness, why she wants to escape reality, why she wants to touch Gin. Gin is not a real person but a memory. Remember the two children who ran across them in the forest? Saw the similarity between them? The same mask. A mask that hides the identity. A touch that can erase an existence. The moment she understands the cause of her detachment from people, it will disappear. But in the end, it wasn't the touch but the original memory, that erased it. Those two children were them in the past. The forest here is her memory, perhaps on a deeper level even life. Just that instead of the sea of blood, there is a forest of fireflies (again, doesn't it remind of Hotaru No Haka (1988)?) The same boy and girl as The End of Evangelion. Here, the context is much deeper than it seems. Touching your dejection can cause it to disappear, but we don't want that. We don't want to know the cause of our origin, we want to escape reality as much as we can. The ageless love with melancholia. Obviously this film has several different perspectives, from feminism to fragility to desire, but this particular perspective arrested me and made me think how a simple film could be this deep. My original reaction to the film was:
Gosh! What a beautiful, deep, resonant movie! Cherish every moment of it! <3
Depth: 2/2
Importance: 2/2
Relevance: 2/2
Artistry: 2/2
Imagination: 2/2
Total: 10/10
And yes, it was most definitely tear-jerking, although I didn’t really cry. Somewhat mesmerized by the sheer beauty of it. Definitely the most beautiful anime of all time. Seriously, whoever made it, kudos! Arigato for this gem! <3
P.S.: If you wish to know more about the rating scheme above, check out my other two reviews.
