After watching it, though, I'm really, really glad I saw it. This is one of the most delightful films I've seen in a long time and I had a big ass smile on my face watching this in the theater. It's funny, crazy but ultimately grounded in what it's trying to do. It takes the usual boring beats of the rogue AI story thread you've heard before and puts a fresh, heartwarming spin on them. Don't get me wrong, it's still extremely anime - if you can't tolerate corny moments you're probably not gonna love this one. In particular, the final third of the film maybe falls just a tad too much into the usual trappings of this story thread.
Personally, I didn't really care, though. The film had me under its spell after five minutes and the charm offensive doesn't let up until the credits roll. A huge part of that is the music - the songs are all lovely and a treat for the ears that fit the film perfectly. I'd be remiss without mentioning that J.C. Staff really give this their all - both in the excellent character design work and fluid animation (particularly impressive during scenes in which characters rotate). It brings the work to life and the result is, once again, delightful. Speaking of the characters, they're all just so like-able. Satomi and Shion, our two main leads, just have outstanding chemistry between them, backed by a great supporting cast. The film also does a pretty nice job at its romance, which is quite sweet, even if it does get a little heavy handed at times. The jokes are all really quite good, too - there's a mix of a bit of slapstick with some really quite funny timing and lines that made me and the audience in the cinema laugh out loud, which I really wasn't expecting.
I watched this in cinema, but hopefully Funimation will put this on their service to stream soon, it's just such a fun watch and I'd like to have the opportunity of watching it in English, as I only saw it subtitled and the dub I hear is extremely solid and they also re-recorded the music in English, which is really interesting.
Sing a Bit of Harmony gets my recommendation, though, it's just such a likable, fun watch that I think has sadly slipped through the cracks as a quiet January release. Not every film has to rise to have the same dramatic or romantic emotional weight as something like Your Name to be fantastic to watch. This is a film that won't work for everyone, but it really did for me.
