Blog #7: July Anime Film Reviews

by Midday

The Legend of Guskou Budori (2012)
Yes, as the (2012) implies, this is actually the second film adaptation of the 50-page folktale-like short story by Miyazawa Kenji, done by the staff that made the animation film for The Legend of the Galactic Railroad. Funny, I didn't realize they both started with "Legend" in English.

This was originally intended to be released in 2009, but due to problems including bankruptcy, this project was in hibernation mode until the Japanese government began to fund its production about a year ago. Despite the difficulties, the production met a fulfilling completion.

The animation staff is well known for using feline imagery of the supposedly human characters, in order to emphasize the avant-garde aspect of the fantasy genre to which these stories would fall under. It is not about the cat, but more so about not using humans, that makes this separation from human reality possible.

Like most avant-garde or surreal fantasy fiction, the story and concept are very difficult to follow, in a vector that is completely different from piecing together the puzzle of a mystery. You really have to think outside the box in order to catch the connections between the dream-like series of events that the director attempts to convey. I believe the director did a quintessential job in delineating the abstract concepts of his interpretation of the folktale.

By that, I mean the original short story is, not exactly inconclusive, but very open to liberal interpretation. It is only a 50-page story after all, and the texts within that short span seem to have little direct or linear connections with each other, much like excerpts of frames from discontinuous takes. On top of that, the director used his author's license to change the ending of the story to a more diabolical yet satisfying conclusion. Unlike most adaptations that drastically alter the story, this one is more than acceptable, so I would recommend you watch this even if you like the original. It will give you a deeper understanding of Japanese literature.

Unfortunately, I can only go about giving roundabout explanations to avoid spoilers. If this has caught your attention, the movie has been airing since July 7th. I watched this at Cinema Sunshine Ikebukuro. The screen for this movie is small there, so I would suggest you get 3rd-row seats for the best viewing experience.

The Wolf Children Ame and Yuki
This is the newest anime movie by the rising director Mamoru Hosoda, who has become famous for Summer Wars and The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. The character design is by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, who is well known for the Evangelion series. This anime film had its world premiere at Paris, a month prior to the initial airing in Japan. This anime film was probably the film I was looking forward to most this year.

The most significant part of this anime is the natural scenery. All of the settings illustrated actually exist in Japan, and the mountains are located in Kamiichi Village of Toyama Prefecture. With a combination of photographic image rendering and cg-assisted free drawing, the nature is rematerialized within the anime exactly as it would be in the real world. The raindrops gathering on the lotus leaves, the children sliding down the snowy mountainside, the wolf howling with the sunrise backing the mountain summit, the animals thriving in the forest... These scenes undoubtedly leave a lasting impression on the viewer.

Generic spoiler in white. Highlight it to read.

Perhaps it was because of my very high expectations, but to be blunt, I didn't think this film was all that great. The director makes an ambitious attempt to convey family love in the style of an oriental folktale through the narration of the daughter, as shown in the trailer.

First, the story is very unbalanced, with many inequalities between the directing emphasis of the son and the daughter. The son's story is much more extraordinary, much more intense in terms of expression, much more impressive than the daughter as a whole. Moreover, the daughter's story seems very half-done, given that her story ends with no input on her communication with other humans thereafter.

There is also a conflict between the given flow of events and the moral motif. At one point, she seems to have blended with the farmers in the vicinity, but they don't come out at all after the mother realizes it. There were many parts they could have played, but conclusively speaking, it was always the mother fighting everything on her own.

Rather, probably the greatest factor is that the mother, who is the only human in the family, seems to have been the most supernatural in terms of what she is forced to overcome. In fact, it would be safe to say that this is one of those inscrutable Japanese folktales with an illogical and matter-of-fact ending. There is absolutely no depiction of family bonds whatsoever, and is simply just a mother working an unrealistic load for many years without physically or mentally breaking down, only to have her children leave her breaking the family apart. I mean look at all the work she has done. No normal human female would be able to do anything so much without dying from overworking and stress. She must be half goddess to be stronger than the father who died pitifully and went to the town dump from failing to catch a bird and falling into the river. The mother may be satisfied with the ending, but it's not exactly a satisfying ending for us, much like the kinds of endings you would get from Japanese folktales. All-in-all, Summer Wars was much better, much more amazing in story development. However, I still wish to look forward to Hosoda director's future films, because many find much potential in his works, including this one.

I watched this movie at Shinjuku Wald 9, but it's airing pretty much everywhere. Because of the vast scenery, I highly recommend getting tickets for a screen the size of at least theater 9 at Shinjku Wald 9. I would also like some feedback from people who have watched it. Feel free to comment here after reading the above spoiler.


Some June anime movies include Library Wars: the Wings of Liberty and BLOOD-C: The Last Dark. Both are sequels that bring the TV series closer to an end. I recommend you watch them if you have watched the TV series.

There is one major August anime movie coming up, and that's Code Geass: Akito, the Forgotten Country. This is not a third season, but rather a 3-chapter side story that occurs in between seasons 1 and 2 of the TV series. Code Geass is one of the top ten animes in the world and is most certainly a major hit in Japan as well. Although C2 and Lelouch aren't in the fray this time, it'll no doubt be something interesting to look out for.