Josee to tora to sakana-tači

I liked the subject matter of this movie, I found the main characters likable, and I got and appreciated most of the important messages the movie wanted to get across. As far as the animation goes, I found some really beautiful and heartfelt moments (for example, the first visit to the beach), and the soundtrack was fine too. The things I did not like about this movie included the initial pacing, the way it was narrated, and the way some of the twists in the second half of the movie were executed. I felt like the introduction could have been less crammed. There are many things going on, a narrative being told, and I can see some important points, however, I thought there could have been some better transitions between some of the situations, that would have added more depth to the subsequent developments, which could have made the whole thing feel more natural. Maybe they should have also slowed the pace down a bit, fleshed out some of the scenes slightly, and stretched them out to make a greater emotional impact. It is hard to describe, however, I got the impression that it just felt like the story jumped around at times instead of the pace changing at the right moment to have the narrative flow better. Then again, the second half has a few moments where I thought it was just unnecessary drama for drama's sake, and that maybe the line, "A sane person could not understand this," was weirdly metatextual, so that the audience could finally relate to something and understand why they were confused in the first place. Also, the final scene failed to have as strong and heartfelt an impact on me as I would have liked, and in truth, the first visit to the beach I mentioned before surpasses it in many ways. However, it is still an interesting and quite likable movie that managed to sort of work in terms of the most important aspects, and actually said what it wanted to say and that appealed to me. So, this time I am joining the I-almost-very-nearly-awarded-it-three-stars-but-I-just-could-not-bring-myself-to team. I am awarding it 6.8/10. (23.06.2021)

Audiovisually a nicely staged piece, I have no problem lumping it into the category of the more successful romances based on their choice of ingredients and spices. Love comes in many forms: it can run up to you, walk up to you, and sometimes even ride a wheelchair. The characteristically quite different duo under the main spotlight are very nicely connected by the "sea" storyline and I like the incorporated symbolism with the world famous fairytale character, The Little Mermaid, who can't walk on land; and if she does, she’ll never escape again. The tactfully and sensitively constructed relationship between Josee and Tsuneo contains classics like mini-escapades, more poignant discoveries about each other, complemented by mischievous jokes about the girl's tsundere character, and through an artfully precise dose of these compositions the first half of the film flows like water. And then, to the "ouch!": we start bolting things together, violently, screechingly, sparks flying with filings, and the plot struggles to generate any natural tension or meaningful challenge without a helpful deus ex machina coming to the rescue. The story kicks a thus far insignificant minor character into stupidly and pointlessly fomenting a conflict, which results in a domino effect that strikes the IQs of nearly everyone so that they also begin start going incomprehensibly bonkers. The point of the fairy tale told was destined, certain, the character went for it, only to bungle it again upon achieving success and thereby fumbling through a final carousel now with dripping clichés and unwelcome coincidences. The sighs start bubbling up to the surface on their own: was that necessary? Even despite the rather satisfying conclusion, the answer is "no". It made me squint my eyes as I watched the closing credits, because although the technically stumbling ending spoiled the impression, the charming scenes in the opening half and the fine lead characters outweighed the overall feelings into positive numbers. I almost, almost, almost gave it three stars, but I just couldn't, so it's a very, very weak four. (23.06.2021)