Out and About: Eigakan
Welcome to Out and About.
Actually, it would be more appropriate to say: Welcome back.
Completing a single review for LofZOdyssey – Anime Reviews requires many hours of sitting in front of my computer. As such, there are often not many chances to go outside. My Out and About series was an attempt to leave my workspace and find anime — as the name suggests — out and about in the real world.
Seeing how I have only done two Out and About posts and the last one was over two years ago, it’s reasonable to assume things have not gone as intended.
That changes now.
I still plan to attend anime events and locations whenever possible. Yet instead of waiting for those instances to show up, why not take advantage of something much more accessible? Since I live in Japan, I have the opportunity to go to movie theaters and watch anime films on the big screen.
This is Out and About: Eigakan (eigakan being Japanese for movie theater).
However, there are a few obstacles before me.
Surprise, there are no English subtitles at Japanese theaters. Although I do know some Japanese, I don’t know nearly enough to give a proper rundown of a film’s positives and negatives.
Thus, Out and About: Eigakan is not a review series. I will not be recommending anything about the movies I watch in this format — yet.
Any film I see in theaters will get a proper review once I have access to an English translation.
Out and About: Eigakan is to be a mix of personal thoughts, impressions, and a way for me to improve my own Japanese language ability.
In these posts, I will give a synopsis based on my understanding of the film. I will also comment on the parts of the movie I found promising, as well as mention the moments where further clarification is necessary.
Let’s get started.
Out and About: Eigakan – Mirai no Mirai
***Warning, the following may contain spoilers for Mirai no Mirai. Reader discretion is advised.***
I just got out of Mirai no Mirai.
To the best of my understanding, Mirai no Mirai is the story of a young boy named Kun (voiced by Moka Kamishiraishi).
At the start of the movie, Kun had just become an older brother upon the birth of his sister, Mirai. Unfortunately, being the toddler that he was, Kun couldn’t understand why his mother and father were giving all their time and attention to the new baby instead of him.
Throughout the film, an upset Kun had many mystical interactions with various unlikely people. This included the personification of his dog (question mark), his ancestors, and of all people, an older Mirai (voiced by Haru Kuroki). Through these meetings, Kun learned how much his parents loved him and how important it was for him to never forget that.
To make a long story short, Mirai no Mirai was a film about family, and I really want to get my hands on an English subbed version. I say that because, based on what I could catch, I don’t think I liked this movie.
Don’t get me wrong, there were aspects of Mirai no Mirai I know were lost in translation.
For example, I have no idea why Kun had his mystical meetings.
While watching the film, I was working under the impression that these moments were hyper-realistic figments of a small boy’s imagination that were capable of interacting with the world around them. With that already being a stretch, things got even more complicated when Kun started “imagining” people he would have had no business knowing and, therefore, couldn’t have imagined them in the first place.
The point is, this was a critical detail I didn’t understand due to the language barrier. Luckily, this was not the reason why this film didn’t sit well with me.
Before I get into what did bother me, I have to mention how beautifully animated this movie was. This was something I expected going in because I very much enjoyed Mirai no Mirai’s director Mamoru Hosoda’s other works Wolf Children and The Boy and the Beast.
Side note: I should probably get around to reviewing those movies.
Another outstanding aspect of Mirai no Mirai was Kun’s meetings with everyone past, future, and fantastical. I particularly liked when Kun first met the older version of Mirai. Kun’s final adventure was also a fascinating segment, even though it was a little nightmarish.
These parts were great teaching moments for Kun. These were opportunities for this young boy to see how much of a brat he was being. His parents didn’t reprimand him because they liked doing it. Mom and Dad didn’t ignore him to take care of little Mirai because they loved her more. Kun needed to realize the world didn’t revolve around him.
Kun meeting all these people was a pathway for him to grow up a little. And the lack of that was the thing that bugged me about this movie.
Kun never seemed to learn from these experiences. He always reverted back to his selfishness and completely ignored everything he went through. There was no gradual progression. It was only at the end when everything finally sank in. From where I was sitting, this kind of made the entire film pointless.
But you know what? I could be wrong. We will just have to wait and see.
Thank you all so much for reading. Please comment down below if you have anything to say – positive or negative – about this post. Also, if you have seen the film, I would love to hear your thoughts.
Be sure to follow me here and on all my social media sites so that you don’t miss when I post my official Anime Eiga Review: Mirai no Mirai.
I’m LofZOdyssey, and I will see you next time.
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