After being held solely on-line in 2020 as a result of Coronavirus pandemic, 2021 noticed Scotland Loves Anime return to each the Glasgow Movie Theatre and Edinburgh Filmhouse with an thrilling number of movies. Yearly, a small smattering of these compete for the pageant’s two main awards: the illustrious Golden Partridge, debated by an knowledgeable panel of judges, and the viewers award, which is voted on by cinemagoers as they depart the theatre.
This yr’s movies in competitors comprised:
- Belle (dir. Mamoru Hosoda)
- Fortune Favors Woman Nikuko (dir. Ayumu Watanabe)
- Sing a Little bit of Concord (dir. Yasuhiro Yoshiura)
- Over the Sky (dir. Yoshinobu Sena)
Our employees members who attended this yr’s pageant check out the movies in competitors and supply their ideas and impressions.
Sing a Little bit of Concord
Viewers Award Winner
Onosume
Director Yasuhiro Yoshiura (Time of Eve, Patema Inverted) returns to the large display screen with a movie that mixes parts from his earlier work, significantly the deal with synthetic intelligence featured in Time of Eve, with heavy affect from movies corresponding to Disney’s Frozen, to create a bit that Jonathan Clements describes as “Glee meets Ghost in the Shell” which is maybe the most effective description anybody may give it.
The story focuses on highschool lady Satomi and her rising group of pals, who’re introduced collectively by way of their interactions with Shion, a humanoid AI robotic developed by Satomi’s mom, Mitsuko, who’s a proficient AI developer working for the big expertise firm that drives a lot of the experimental autonomous metropolis that they dwell in. Whereas AI and robots are current in all elements of day by day life, the extent of the expertise is mostly on par with what is on the market in actual life though considerably extra widespread, from good houses to autonomous autos and cleansing robots. What the world hasn’t seen nonetheless, is an AI that may behave precisely like a human, and Shion is about to vary that truth as she has been designed to look and behave identical to your common 16-year-old lady. She is put in as a scholar at Satomi’s faculty as a ultimate take a look at to see if she will be able to idiot everybody into considering she is human, though if she’s came upon then the challenge will likely be terminated.
After all, Shion’s cowl is blown on her first day as she will get into an incident and has her robotic innards uncovered. Wanting to guard her mom from dropping her job, Satomi swears her classmates to secrecy and secures their assist in maintaining the truth that Shion is an AI robotic hidden from the remainder of the varsity. That is tough sufficient when Shion goes all-out singing and dancing and making a reputation for herself, however turns into much more so when it turns into obvious that somebody behind the scenes doesn’t need this take a look at to succeed.
On the floor, this movie is a enjoyable and frolicking highschool drama that focuses on the creating friendships and relationships between the primary forged of characters, as every of them muscle groups by way of their present misunderstandings and grievances, helped alongside the best way by Shion pulling them into a wide range of hijinks that facilitate their progress. With highschool dramas being very a lot half and parcel of the anime trade there’s not too a lot new right here, which by itself could be a weak spot, nevertheless it manages to carve a typical template into its personal factor because of the participating characters and the tacky musical numbers which might be peppered all through the movie. Each give it lashings of comedy that basically jelled with the Edinburgh viewers, everybody laughing alongside to the dumb antics and being correctly entertained by the music. The continuing plot thread about Shion (and Satomi for that matter) being extremely influenced by the in-universe equal of Frozen additionally appeared to go down effectively, or at the least everybody appeared to get the joke.
There are some romantic parts in right here too, which assist bind the characters collectively along with utilizing Shion to ascertain the group of pals and so they’re dealt with rather well. Satomi and her childhood buddy and AI nerd Touma each have their eyes on one another, however an incident from their childhood has stored them aside, Aya and Gocchan are a pair going by way of some tough instances, whereas judo membership captain Thunder will get pulled in direction of Shion herself in maybe the most effective scene of the movie that turns judo observe right into a fantastically animated dance sequence. It was simply nice to see every of them bond and are available collectively in a wide range of extremely entertaining methods, and it definitely made that aspect of the movie really feel very achieved.
Beneath all of that there are some extra science fiction-oriented plot threads across the menace {that a} humanoid AI poses to humanity, in addition to taking a look at among the shady working circumstances at large companies, which kind the menace that takes the movie by way of its latter half or so. There are some attention-grabbing moral questions requested right here which do pull the movie in direction of that Ghost within the Shell vibe, however they aren’t actually tackled in as nice a depth as in additional well-known items of dystopian cyberpunk science-fiction. Within the context of the movie general although, I feel it really works superb, and the human qualities proven by Shion earlier within the movie actually drive you to need her to outlive, making the endgame very satisfying, though it’s a little bit foolish.
And I feel that’s the place my general impressions lie. It’s a really foolish however entertaining movie that works rather well when performed in entrance of a cinema viewers that may actually get the tone that the movie goes for, making it no shock that it scooped up the viewers award on the pageant. Some parts would wrestle to face on their very own if taken significantly, nevertheless it has sufficient humour and coronary heart to get round that. Whereas it’s not a masterpiece and definitely not Yoshiura’s greatest, I had numerous enjoyable with this movie and would advocate seeing it when it turns into extra extensively obtainable.
Over the Sky
Onosume
The place on the planet to start out with Over the Sky? This movie, also referred to as Kimi wa Kanata and directed by Yoshinobu Sena, was essentially the most polarising movie of the pageant that had lots of people popping out of it screaming, “What did I just watch?!”.
The story follows Mio Miyamasu, a highschool lady who’s in love together with her childhood buddy Arata Kishimoto, however regardless of hanging out with him rather a lot has but to inform him how she actually feels. When her buddy and classmate Madoka reveals to her that she can also be in love with Arata, Mio turns into jealous however is unable to place her declare on the man she desires. Full of remorse, Mio begins to panic about Madoka making a transfer and rushes out on her bicycle in the course of the evening solely to be concerned in a highway visitors accident.
Whereas Mio initially carries on life is regular, it’s evident that one thing is a bit off, and she or he quickly finds herself transported to a different world. Right here she meets Gimon, a plushie she owns that has come to life, and Kiku-chan, a younger lady in a kimono, who should now information her by way of this unfamiliar world as she strives to return to actuality.
Whereas I wasn’t a extremely large fan of this movie, I hesitate to utterly trash it as there’s the presence of one thing good in right here. The thought of discovering your self in a state of limbo and attempting to cling to life by overcoming your darkest fears is an attention-grabbing one, and definitely offers house for Yoshinobu to put out his concepts on the afterlife in addition to different non secular and supernatural matters (and as just a few fellow viewers commented, could possibly be in comparison with movies funded by a sure non secular cult). But something that he’s attempting to significantly say sadly will get misplaced in a set of complicated and jumbled set items and is slowed down by a set of uninteresting characters.
The complete setup for the plot is slightly typical and could be discovered achieved higher elsewhere, and whereas Mio does present some progress in direction of the top of the movie, she spends most of it working away and as an individual she doesn’t have any explicit depth. We don’t actually know a lot about her other than her love for each the outdated granny that used to run the shop on the native shrine, and her pet goldfish. Fundamental love curiosity Arata is the extra attention-grabbing character right here and it’s a disgrace the main target of the film isn’t on him, as I loved his backstory of being in a household with supernatural powers that permit them to work together with these whose souls find yourself on this limbo state. Whereas he does attempt to save Mio, his efforts don’t have any actual impact on the ultimate consequence, which, though it avoids Mio from turning into an excessive amount of like a damsel in misery, most likely extends the working time of the film for a superb twenty minutes longer than it wanted to be.
There’s the try at making a villain with the addition of Mogari (voiced by fashionable Japanese actor Naoto Takenaka), who’s making an attempt to maintain Mio’s soul in limbo and ship her on to the afterlife, however he’s a tacky pantomime villain at greatest and a sure sequence the place he turns right into a monster simply doesn’t make any sense within the bigger context of the movie. It usually felt like Yoshinobu had taken parts of assorted fashionable anime movies and smashed all of them into one and none of it actually labored. Oh, and keep in mind Madoka? Nicely, she turns into irrelevant to the story fairly rapidly and is forgotten about after her preliminary look.
It doesn’t significantly look nice both, with the director himself admitting he had a restricted price range to work with. There are many nonetheless frames used all through, and results definitely appeared low cost in comparison with different movies that have been exhibiting on the pageant (the distinction between this and Belle for instance, which was lauded for its lovely visuals, is like evening and day). The artwork fashion utilized in some components of the limbo world does assist disguise issues a bit, nevertheless it’s general not one thing fitted to a cinema-sized display screen.
Regardless of all this, with the fitting viewers it does tread into “so bad it’s good” territory and could be a serviceable piece of leisure, because the Edinburgh viewers definitely bought amusing out of its weirdness. Feedback after the very fact targeted on what the director may do with a much bigger price range and possibly a script not written by himself, and I sort of agree in that there’s some potential there, as if the Q&A session is something to go by, the man is definitely very captivated with his work. This bought extra laughs than the precise movie did because of Yoshinobu going into a really detailed, however nonetheless wishy-washy commentary about it, which was so lengthy that numerous it needed to be lower out to make it an acceptable size to indicate within the cinema.
General, this definitely wasn’t my factor, and I might say that is most likely the worst movie at this yr’s pageant, however on the identical time it’s the one that’s most likely going to be remembered essentially the most simply due to how bizarre it was. With the fitting viewers it may be loved and heckled at – simply keep in mind to depart your brains on the door.
Arbalest
I’m not likely positive what to say about Over the Sky, to be sincere. If I have been to place my ideas into just a few phrases I feel merely it could be: it’s a multitude of a movie. Yeah, I feel that works.
Over the Sky has numerous attention-grabbing concepts that would have labored with a bit extra coherency to what was put collectively, and that’s noticeable if you happen to do decide to look at the movie after studying all this, nevertheless it actually simply isn’t put collectively effectively sufficient to allow them to shine by way of and alter this from in the end a nasty movie, into an okay or good movie. The movie’s premise of Mio being whisked to a different world positively wouldn’t sound new or attention-grabbing to anybody, nevertheless it at the least does do a bit in another way right here if you look additional into the movie and that’s okay, actually. My concern actually comes after the transportation to a different world greater than than what got here earlier than it.
Numerous the movie seems like numerous concepts and ideas meshed collectively till you get one thing that sticks, as if the director actually wished to seize one thing, however by no means actually noticed any of them by way of till the top. This in flip induced numerous plot holes to kind in a short time which do dampen the movie simply that bit extra. We maintain getting glimpses of a historical past the 2 major characters have with one another solely to by no means actually get the satisfaction of really seeing what occurs or correctly studying what goes on. What we get as a substitute is that second of “oh, is that all we’re getting?” as a approach to shut off a narrative level that feels prefer it was forgotten about till then.
I need to say the movie was so unhealthy it’s good, however if you look again over it, I feel if you happen to watched this by yourself, you wouldn’t get the identical impression as we did if you watch it with a fairly full cinema laughing at what are supposed to be some severe moments. We now have moments of some characters simply randomly screaming, which you’re given no warning for, or motive for. And one explicit second of one thing like this had the cinema in hysterics. It’s price noting that Mio and Arata’s VAs have been debut roles, and it’s fairly apparent in the best way they arrive throughout, particularly for Mio, that I feel it’s sadly made the actual scenes talked about above all the more severe. Arata’s VA didn’t honest significantly better both.
I don’t really feel like I’ve actually been capable of do significantly better than the movie, to be sincere, it’s a little bit of a messy set of ideas, nevertheless it’s nonetheless probably a superb little bit of enjoyable with the fitting crowd. Although I say that, it’s positively not the worst movie I’ve seen on the pageant, I feel our pretty Purple Cat, Budori Gusuko will ceaselessly maintain that title, nevertheless it positively has a spot on the backside of the record, close to Psychic Faculty Wars for me personally.
Fortune Favors Woman Nikuko
Jury Award Winner
Josh A. Stevens
In a shock twist that completely no-one was anticipating, this yr’s coveted “Golden Partridge” Jury Award went to not Mamoru Hosoda’s Belle, which famously gained over the celebrated Cannes Movie Competition viewers with a 14-minute standing ovation. As an alternative, after an preliminary impasse, the jury’s applause went to Fortune Favors Woman Nikuko, a curious little but large movie from Studio 4°C and Ayumu Watanabe. Once I noticed their earlier movie Youngsters of the Sea on the pageant two years prior, I admittedly scored it straight down the center with a 3 just because my mind overheated attempting to grasp the existential surprise of its final act, and rewatches haven’t helped on that entrance. Should you have been in the identical boat, relaxation assured that Fortune Favors Woman Nikuko is a much more accessible and comprehensible movie! Is it Golden Partridge worthy although? Let’s discover out.
Fortune Favors Woman Nikuko is the story of a mom and daughter who dwell in a houseboat within the harbour of a small, run-down Japanese city. Nikuko is bigger than life in each physique and character, being bubbly to the purpose of embarrassment for Kikuko, who’s quieter and in that awkward time between childhood and adolescence. Regardless of the title of the movie, our focus is definitely the youthful Kikuko, who the pageant’s jury chairman Dr. Jonathan Clements is raring to level out is an unreliable narrator (certainly, I’m unsure how dependable I’d discover somebody who imagines penguins speaking about homicide). Kikuko paints a specific image of her mom as a little bit of a infantile glutton, however like with all youngsters, it quickly turns into clear that Kikuko doesn’t know the total image behind the cheerful veneer of her Totoro-esque caretaker.
To me at the least, this movie seems like a celebration of smaller, extraordinary lives. Fortune Favors Woman Nikuko isn’t about anybody well-known or attempting to save lots of the world. Nikuko and Kikuko are simply folks like us, residing lives like us whose stakes could not trigger Armageddon, however are nonetheless enormous for them. That provides the movie a particular attraction, particularly as a result of it does what it does rather well. Dodging the pitfalls of its premise, Kikuko by no means feels bratty, nor does Nikuko’s cheerfulness outstay its welcome.
The place their story turns into bigger than life is in its presentation, with common bursts of whacky animation and visible metaphors. A few of these jokes about Nikuko’s massive stature can border on childishly fatphobic at instances, nonetheless. To be sincere, that’s half of a bigger subject of mine in regards to the movie’s opening minutes maybe being a bit too juvenile, however as soon as Fortune Favors Woman Nikuko hits its stride, it turns into a healthful but charming story.
I have to confess that getting into, I didn’t anticipate a lot from Fortune Favors Woman Nikuko – particularly given how I’d heard actually nothing about it earlier than. I used to be additionally a bit salty that an ‘In Competition’ slot was taken from Pompo the Cinéphile to accommodate the late addition of Belle (verify our Competition Highlights article for my ideas on Pompo!). Nonetheless, Fortune Favors Woman Nikuko was a welcomed shock and on steadiness, I feel that this movie is aware of what it desires to be, and does that higher than any of the opposite movies in competitors this yr. A shocking, however deserving winner.
Belle
Arbalest
It doesn’t want a lot introduction, actually, nonetheless Belle by Mamoru Hosoda was simply essentially the most hotly anticipated movie of the pageant when it bought introduced because the Thriller Movie in Edinburgh again in September. Whereas it might not have gained the Jury or Viewers Awards, how was it for me? This movie left a powerful sufficient impression that I nonetheless dither between this and The Deer King as my favorite from the pageant. I didn’t anticipate to get pleasure from Belle as a lot as I did once I sat myself in my seat within the filmhouse, however I left with it leaving one hell of an impression on me.
Belle seems like Hosoda’s first “global” launch. And the way this movie flows and involves its conclusion in its ultimate act actually present that effectively. By this I imply that numerous his earlier movies felt like they the place extra what you’d anticipate of a Japanese animated movie, however this felt prefer it actually wished to attraction to a broad viewers, one with a narrative of how the web, for all its flaws and issues, can actually provide you with a second likelihood at life, and enable you to come to phrases with who you’re. A message, I feel, that may be very world and one which isn’t shared usually sufficient.
Belle sees the story of Suzu, a woman in highschool who when she was younger had a love for music, making it and singing it. She did this together with her mom till sooner or later her mom saved a toddler from a raging river and handed away. The occasion induced Suzu to suppose her mom deserted her, and in flip she couldn’t carry herself to sing or make music once more. Suzu then finds U, a digital world the place you’ll be able to create a second life and start anew. Upon creating her avatar, she turns into “Belle” and learns to sing as soon as extra. Mamoru Hosoda has talked about earlier than and did throughout his Q&A that was recorded for the Edinburgh Worldwide Movie Competition that he does take inspiration from Magnificence and The Beast in his works, and that’s very clear right here, particularly after we see the introduction of “The Dragon”. There’s a “Disney” really feel to numerous the movie, extra particularly to the digital world segments that we see. The Magnificence adored by all; The Beast hated by everybody.
What I really like about this movie, although, is the way it actually does present the facility of the web and being given a “second chance”. We’re all entitled to that second likelihood at life, and a life within the digital world could appear unusual to some, nevertheless it positively has the affect to form you into somebody that may take that step ahead to what you need to obtain and be assured once more. Suzu’s life will get turned spherical when she turns into Belle, and whereas she does a superb dose of attempting to cover it from everybody in actual life, you’ll be able to nonetheless see the arrogance it instills in her because the movie goes on. It’s refreshing to see Hosoda’s take on the web when he does cowl it in his movies as a result of he doesn’t need to make all of it gloomy and grim when approaching the topic. And it’s one thing I can actually relate to as effectively; I wouldn’t be the place I’m now with out the connections and classes I discovered about myself on-line.
I really feel I do need to contact upon a smaller topic right here. Whether or not deliberate or not I don’t know, however there’s a bit to be stated about single mother and father mentioning their children. It’s proven all through the movie how Suzu and her father simply can’t join anymore, and whereas it’s not likely touched on a lot, that in itself reveals how robust this may be. Suzu’s father by no means appears to know the best way to method her, and likewise the opposite means spherical. They by no means eat collectively, they by no means speak a lot, however at its coronary heart, you actually see simply how a lot her father actually cares for her in these small interactions. It’s small and refined, nevertheless it actually reveals how a lot love there’s for her right here. There are just a few scenes close to the top of the movie I gained’t go into for spoilers that distinction rather well to Suzu’s scenario together with her father that I feel are price mentioning, as they present two pretty polarising sides of single parenthood, one with the distant care that Suzu has together with her father, after which how issues can go to a special excessive on the opposite.
Lastly, I can’t actually give an impression on the movie with out mentioning the music and the gorgeous visuals. Hosoda’s imaginative and prescient for “U” is spectacular, each particular person’s avatar being distinctive, various and so filled with character. I can see why some say the world itself feels “empty”, however I didn’t see it as that. I noticed it as a clean canvas so that you can create your second life in because the imaginative and prescient U units itself to have. The CG work right here is gorgeous, and if you see the costume modifications Belle has throughout her performances, it actually shines by way of much more. Even in the actual world, the place the colors really feel extra true to life, muted in some methods, it’s a splendidly crafted piece of animation all spherical. The music and the songs carried out are magical as effectively. On the coronary heart of them, they present Suzu’s innermost ideas, her drives and fears, her confidence, and at instances her nerves. It’s such a strong movie for me that I can’t advocate it sufficient.
Over the Sky will likely be screened as a part of Sheffield Loves Anime between 19-21 November, 2021, and in chosen Showcase and Picturehouse cinemas between 4-5 December, 2021 as a part of the We Love Anime touring program.
