Director: Testuro Akari
Year: 2022
Genre: Action/Adventure
When watching this, I was amazed by its visuals. It's certainly visually pleasing to watch. However, I feel like the story lacks a bit.
The story is about Tokyo being a place for parkours with bubbles forming in the city. The main character Hibiki meets a girl when he plummets into the sea and is saved by Uta.
Let's get the negatives out of the way - One question which came up to me whilst watching this is how the bubbles formed in the city. And why is parkour a way of life to survive? I guess that bit is understood because the bubbles are easy for you to stand on. Another thing I wanted to say is, is this film a romance or an adventure/action film? There's a relationship with Hibiki and Uta which showcases the chemistry with each other. While watching it, the relationship between the pair just lacked that something.
The story's foundation just lacked that finesse. I would say that the concept is interesting, I was excited to watch this film based on its trailer, but the story didn't deliver. It had a weak storytelling element to it. I felt that this film was just focusing more on its visuals to get people to watch the film. I had moments where I did not want to watch it and I had to force myself to finish off this film. It didn't strike to me watch this film all in one go.
Take another film like Your Name, for example, Mitsuha and Taki is one of my favourite duos in any anime film. They showcase their chemistry with each other despite there being some scenes where they don't meet; however, they eventually meet a few times. People had a reason to get behind them, and they wanted the best for them. Hibiki and Uka just lacked that chemistry. It was just awkward watching them bond with each other. On the topic of characters, did any of the other characters have a purpose in the film? I feel like they were just there and just didn't have any foundation for them.
It's such as shame that the team took their time to make the film visually amazing to watch, the cinematography is good, and the detailings of characters, and scenes of the characters running, were some of the things which stood out to me. This film almost reminds me of Weathering with You where it's another good example of Visuals over story.
The music in the film was good, I like how the music was composed. It's just such a shame to know that the narrative element of the film was lacking.
Would I recommend you to watch it? For me, I would say this film is not to say it's the worst; however, if they had worked a bit more in the story, this film would have the potential to be a quality film.
Rating: 3.5/10
wa 3.5/10? steady ah