Plot – 9/10
It’s short, concise and well executed – everything you need in a film. Hotaru Takegawa is a young 6-year-old child who has found herself lost in the “Forest of the Mountain God”. A strange, masked man approaches the crying child and asks her if she requires any help, following this Hotaru declares she is saved and runs to hug her unknown saviour. However, this is when the main plot point is revealed, the man – Gin – is a spirit of sorts and cannot be touched by a human otherwise he will disappear. Throughout the rest of the film, we see the time they spend together during each summer and the time they spend longing for each other at school or in the forest respectfully. As each summer passes their relationship grows, and by the time Hotaru enters High School she’s invited to the “Spirit Summer Festival” by Gin and the movie ends with a controversial but fitting ending that manages to be a tearjerker and a happy ending at the same time. The plot has nothing wrong with it - I enjoyed this sweet little story a lot, but I don’t think it’s a perfect masterpiece by any means.
Characters – 8/10
There are 2, maybe 3, characters that have any sort of significance throughout the story – resulting in it a little hard to mess 2 main characters up. Hotaru Takegawa is a character we see age from 6 to 15, she has a developing personality and appearance at each stage so it’s a little hard to summarise but she’s an interesting character who couldn’t really have many improvements given the situation. The masked Gin is a very interesting character; he first describes himself a spirit, later he opens up about his background. His character leaves plenty of room for mystery and intrigue and in general would struggle to leave any complaints. I definitely enjoyed the growing dynamic between the 2 as the film progressed. The other few characters in the background say about 20 lines collectively but aren’t boring characters for the little screentime they get.
Art & Animation – 8/10
The characters are in the good old style of “we don’t have much budget - early 2010s” but the backgrounds could probably have been ripped straight out of an art museum. They look amazing and the style used fits the show perfectly and really gets the film off the ground visually.
Sound & Music - 9/10
100% on the better side of anime music. The background music is great. I can’t really describe music well, but I can say you will notice it’s impact when watching.
Closing Thoughts
Unfortunately no stupid jokes this review, but this film is a very strong one no matter the length. If you enjoy any side or genre of anime, I’d probably recommend this to you as a good start to see the length to which the stories in anime can express and show emotions in any duration of time.
Score – 9/10
