Given the premise of this film, it seems like it's going to be a band of crazy kids stuck on an apartment in the middle of the ocean. I interpreted that as a fun little romp, a silly adventure where the kids struggle, but bond, grow up, and have a unique time in their lives.
That... is not what happens. This film is surprisingly dark. It's more akin to a less dense version of Lord of the Flies mixed with Life of Pi than a cute, fun adventure movie. The kids are actually struggling here. They have to ration meals, struggle to survive, use their wits, and strain against the stress of their situation. Injury and chance of death is very real in this world. People's heads get bashed, people fall into glass, or slip off metal sharp metal poles. Starvation looms, tensions flare, life is on the line.
Look at the pictures and all the promotional material for this show. Would you say that description above matches it? This is the core problem: what looks, at first, to be a lighthearted and fun adventure is actual a survival story. And if your expectations aren't aligned with that, you're going to be a bit confused by the genre division.
But there are other issues at play. Namely that the screenplay is exceptionally convoluted and bloated. The reason for this seems to be that they came up with the core concept for the film, and had a strong idea of the ending, but had no idea how to fill the second act of the film. This film has it all. Of course the survival aspects are present, including all the struggles that come with that genre. But there's also shintoism, fantasy magic, light romantic tension, character drama, childlike joie de vivre, ghosts, nostalgic drama... there is so MUCH in this film, so many things that the film wants to say and address. And the problem with Drifting Home, just like other films that want to say a lot, is that it's hard to fit so many different, disparate topics and ideas into one film and make things cohesive.
At its core, Drifting Home is a character drama. It's about the kids doing everything they can to survive while also straining against each other's personalities. The problem is, the screenplay is a bit incompetent in this regard. The way Drifting Home interprets drama and conflict is through arguments. A problem will arise ("we're running out of food"), so the kids start to argue. The argument will talk about how there's no food, someone will say "we'll make it work," and then a third-party will say "we have to work together." Then everyone agrees to do their best. But then, hey, no food again, and the exact same argument happens, in the exact same way, just featuring different characters; then the argument gets resolved in the same way, everyone goes back to normal, until the next thing spawning an argument. The arguments also don't really change a lot; it's not like there are new problems that the kids argue about, it's the same core problems of trying to survive that always inflame tensions. This makes the arguing itself extremely repetitive and annoying, because you remember this same problem being resolved 10 minutes ago, but now they're just fighting again. It becomes nonsensical.
There's also an issue that the cast is quite large as well. Seven is a crowd, and although everyone has a foil to bounce off of, trying to characterize and give everyone a valuable arc in the film is a struggle within the screenplay. There's a whole lot of talking, yelling, brooding, etc., and much of this is inconsequential to the broader plot the film is delivering. This muddies everything, making delivering conclusions on everyone's arcs difficult. There's a scene near the end where all the characters have this emotional moment regarding themselves as characters. The problem is, it happens so suddenly, that it's over after a second, and feels extremely unfulfilling, because it doesn't feel like we had enough time to learn about everyone's personal situation for the moment to really pay off.
This is because a deeper core of this movie is the relationship between the two protagonists: Kousuke and Natsume. They're childhood friends, and childhood sweethearts, but also straining under the shared relationship of Kousuke's grandfather who passed away many years before. But because this film is a survival film, that core premise takes a back seat to them working together to survive. As such, we don't get enough time to see these characters emotionally bonding in a way that doesn't involve tension or conflict. The present day has left them both emotionally fraught, so it's difficult for them to act like real friends, especially in a survival situation; but we, as viewers, WANT TO SEE THAT, because we know they care about each other, and never get the opportunity to experience that outside of a couple scenes here and there, or outside of flashbacks.
That isn't to say the film is all bad. It nails the visual aesthetics, and all the character designs are amazing. The animation is stunning as ever, which is to be expected from Studio Colorido and Ishida himself. There's also quite a lot of expertly crafted CG, which is rare in anime.
But a few good compliments and a nice initial vibe cannot combat the weight of a messy screenplay, which inevitably drags this film down from being better than it could have been. It's an unfortunate sophomore slump for an otherwise ultra talented director, and is a strong example of "telling not showing" and how a bloated screenplay can really drag down an experience. If this film had focused on its core ideals: nostalgia, drama, and character bonding, this would have been a fantastic experience. Unfortunately, it throws everything including the kitchen sink into the mix as well, along with an overly mature and dangerous tone, which drags down the entire production.
