What’s going on, RCL? Back from spring break and about as enthusiastic as a employee in retail, here’s Pierce the Heavens, your weekly source for all things anime! Today we have a single feature because it is a movie I watched over spring break and I am too lazy to write about two. From new director Makoto Shinkai comes Children Who Chase Lost Voices a movie about fantasy, friendship and the meaning of life and death. This review will go a bit more in depth and cover a few more aspects of the movie since I watched it so recently and since I need to fulfill the word minimum.
Children Who Chase Lost Voices tells the tale of a young girl named Asuna who spends a lot of her free time hanging out in the woods in a hide out she made for herself. Asuna’s most prized possession is a blue crystal which she uses as a diode to pick up radio signals. One day she is walking home when she encounters a bear like creature that attacks her. She is saved by a mysterious boy named Shun, who tells her that he comes from a different world named Agartha. Asuna thinks little of this until she meets her substitute teacher who is obsessed with finding Agartha, a place where you can supposedly resurrect the dead.
Lost Voices does a spectacular job of blending philosophical themes with beautiful imagery. The premise of a lost world underneath the earth’s surface is not that compelling by itself, buy Shinkai’s brilliant art direction fleshes it out in a way to make it magical. One key theme of Lost Voices is the inevitability of death. When Asuna and her teacher Mr. Morisaki eventually journey to Agartha, they find it a dying world with ruinous cities and a dwindling population. A major aspect of this theme the film pushes is that it is okay to mourn the dead, but they should be allowed to stay dead, the living are more important.
For the first hour or so of the film, it did not seem like anything special, cheesy dialogue and lack of narrative flow hindered its early game. However, at about the halfway point it really starts to pick up. The narrative becomes more urgent, a fight scene or two happens, and I found myself wanting to know what happens next. The end of the movie was its strongest point; the climax brought the themes of the movie into a dance with the plot and ended it all so well.
The film’s strong suits include its art direction, Shinkai incorporates stunning visuals with magnificent animation which together help to flesh out the lost world of Agartha. The premise of the story is not too unique, but its passable. The themes of life and death were a strong point, a theme that appeared several key times in the movie, not a one time deal yet also not overdone. The story’s weakest point was its characters, which are hastily and shallowly characterized, creating a disconnect with the audience. However, overall Children Who Chase Lost Voices is a strong film and a worthy movie night film.
Nikolas John Plesons says
I gotta say… I’ve never been very into Anime, but maybe I’ll have to check it out. I feel like it is a growing trend and you seem to be pretty passionate about it (haha passion blog man I’m good) but yea enjoyed reading your post and maybe I’ll have to check out some anime sometime soon.
Molly Basilio says
Interesting analysis of the character development. I don’t like it when people skimp out on character development and simply focus on the animation. It happened in the Legend of Korra and it really pissed me off because ATLA was such a good series and they had so much potential to add to it but they didn’t do it justice until the final season in my opinion. Anyways, I keep saying I need to watch all of these. I’m going to go make a list. Good post, I love the snarky comments.