The movie goes scrolls through an anthology consisting of the transition into adulthood from several points of view, almost like an autobiography that narrates itself.
The first story titled “Sunny Breakfast” mirrors Xiao Ming, a young adult who reminisces on his life decisions as he desperately searches for the perfect bowl of noodles that's yet to remind him with his long lost tasteful youth. On many occurrences, the steam escaping his hot and fresh bowl of noodles foggs everything else starting from his childhood crush, everyday struggles in life between chores and school highlighting his grandmother's love for him. A bowl of noodles that not only encapsulates his childhood memories that seem to have faded out and lost its taste with the passing years but also represents his unconditional love and connection with his sickly aging grandmother.
Compared to the two other stories, “A Little Fashion Show” was sandwiched too tightly that it couldn't be expressed freely in the given time and widely different vibe of the other two stories.
While the two other stories have somewhat of a similar setting to them, with both parties coming from rough, poor to below-average living conditions, this one flashes all the broadway lights at one of the top lifestyles between fame and wealth.
Although the vibe in this one might not be as captivating and as relatable to others, the meat o the story resides on the relationship of two sisters as weight on a famous fashion icon obscures a lot of their desires to share love and prosper. Two individuals where one has talent but no front to make it whilst the other is the complete opposite but with so much success that it starts eating away at her ego and degrading her self-esteem and confidence.
The movie concludes with the third and last story named “Shanghai Love”, a young sparkling beginning to an innocent love that gets lost between the stubbornness and determination from both parties.
It was because of this particular peek into two childhood friends that made people call out Shikioriori as a 5-Centimeters Per Seconds rip-off, some even calling its second coming or its redemption, but the romance element was the least captivating thing about it for me, instead, the display of parenting was the real hook.
Both Limo and Yu grow up in similar circumstances only for one of them to have been born into an intolerant parent that would turn to violence as a show of his parenting, an entire night of taking a beating, and then in the morning no tears to be shed but the grave marks left all over the face and the body. A harrowing reminder of how things went in people's daily lives and everybody still acted as nothing happened.
Some call Shikioriori an unoriented narrative that doesn't know where it's going but in my eyes, the tripartite bit-sized look into the characters it presented was what made the best of it. The real seller for me was the last scene where all parties were revealed to have been present in the same waiting area in some airport, waiting for the next flight in anticipation, revealing that no matter how far and unrelated they were, their stories managed to intersect at some point uniting all of these different people while they reminisce on their lives up until that point before they go their separate ways until another unfated encounter.
Story (8/10):
Art (9/10):
Sound (8.5/10):
Characters (8/10):
Enjoyment (8.7/10):
Overall (8.44/10):
