I started the review of these two anime films together because I watched them back to back.  It was mid-July and I was out of town  A Silent Voice was on Netflix and The Anthem of the Heart was on a provider I can’t remember at the moment.  It belonged to my host.

The films have many things in common, high school, slice of life, regrets, teens and disability.   They also have differences.   I recommend both are insightful and deep.

A silent Voice [Koe no Katachi]

Directed – Naoko Yamada
Written– Reiko Yoshida
Based on Manga by Yoshistoki One

Shoya Ishida is a former bully who stops himself from committing suicide. After decided to live he attempts to make amends with the person he terrorized in elementary school, a deaf classmate Shoko Nishimiya.

In the flashback, 6th grader Shoya and classmates are introduced to Shoko.   It is them revealed that Shoko is deaf,  the class would have to make an extra effort to communicate with her.   Most of the children feel that it is a burden and some of them speak out about not wanting to adjust what they do just for Shoko’s sake.  Proving to young Shoya that whatever he did to Shoko was justified.  Eventually, the bullying was reported to the principal.  Shoya was singled out as the only perpetrator.   Shoko left the school and Shoya became the next bully victim.  It continued into high school, to the point he has no friends and does not interact with anyone.  He believed he was better off dead.

Shoya first meeting with Shoko is awkward.  However, he continues to visit her and she does not rebuke him.   She is still a friendly girl trying her best.  Shoya is impressed.  It allows him to take action, like helping out a classmate.  That very grateful classmate decides that he and Shoya are friends and makes the effort to maintain the relationship.  At the same time, Shoya is trying to rebuild a relationship with Shoko.  New and old friends are made and the past rears its ugly head.   Shoya and Shoko go threw a lot.  They make it eventually.

This was another anime I had a difficult time reviewing.   I wanted my words to be profound and have meaning.  The anime says many things and I wanted to be someone who was able to convey them.   Overall the anime and manga are about forgiveness, redemption, self-worth, depression.  It questions if it is possible, for any of us to have it.

I remember reading the description for the manga years ago.  I had no inclination to read it then.  I was hitting a burnout phase.  No manga or anime was worth it.  I don’t think so now.   This anime convinced me to read the manga. Because there were aspects of the story that could not be put in the film and could be explored in the book.  Characters that had more depth but weren’t able to be seen in the film.   Thumbs up.

 

 

The Anthem of the Heart [Kokora ga Sakebitagatterunda]         

Directed– Tatsuyuki Nagai
Screenplay– Mari Okada
Story by Choheiwa Busters

Jun Naruse is a high school student who was “cursed” speechless.  When she was a young child, she witnessed and reported on something that caused the break up of her family.  She was told that being mute would keep others from being hurt by her words.   She has not spoken a word out loud for almost 10 years.

Fortunately for Jun, she is not bullied in school.  Her classmates are considerate about her “disability”.  They don’t understand it but they don’t ostracize or penalize her for it.   This is a different issue at home,  Jun’s inability to talk is cause for embarrassment for her mother Izumi.

Events that lead to Jun’s transformation begins when her teacher, Kazuki Joshima, picks Jun and three other students to be part of the social outreach committee.  Takumi Sakagami, the average HS boy, Natsuki Nito, a cheerleader and “perfect girl”, Daiki Tazaki, an injured baseball hero.   All four students would rather not participate in the committee.  Each has their own reasons.  Takumi and Jun both attempt to talk to Mr. Joshima in private.   This is where Takumi is revealed to be a good musician.  His random performance inspires Jun.  She may not be able to speak, but a song is another method to communicate with another person.  Jun can sing.  Her effort inspires Takumi and the whole class to perform a musical for the community.

There is a love trapezoid in this story that is kind of downplayed.  Takumi is liked by Natsuki and Jun.  Daiki likes Natsuki.    Sorry, there might not be a shape to explain this. Takumi and Jun are similar in away. They both experienced the break up of their families.  Jun stopped speaking physically.  Takumi stopped playing music and talking to his friends.

Jun’s desire to express her feelings taught Takumi that it was time for him to deal with his own.

Everything is revealed on the day of the play.   Jun is the star and because of a misunderstanding, she left the play.   The show goes on with Takumi desperately looking for Jun.  When he finds her, they have a discussion, they both express their feelings and he convinces her to come back to the school and perform.

Jun does this to the relief of the whole class.  She is able to let her mother know her true feelings about everything.  This is very important.     The relationship between the four is resolved in a bittersweet way.  It was interesting because it was not expected.   I was annoyed at first and then I adjusted.

The interesting thing about this film is that the musical uses known songs and melodies like Beethoven’s Pathetique, Over the Rainbow from the Wizard of Oz and Around the World, from the movie Around the World in 80’s Days.  They changed the words for the play written by Jun.  I was impressed.   Thumbs up.

Like many films and books, I have seen or read, I wanted to write more.  These two films said interesting things about self-worth and preception.   They were able to convey that overcoming obstacles are not easy,  it can be a painful emotional rollercoaster.  The truth is always best and speaking truth is sometimes difficult.

This is the truth I cannot write any more about this subject.  I recommend both films.  They are some triggers so please be aware if you or someone you know watching with you can be affected.  Overall enjoy.

 

End

Fuse: Memoirs of the Hunter Girl
Directed by Masayuki Miyaji
Screenplay  Ichiro Okouchi
Story by Kazuki Sakuraba  Debut October 2012 (Japan)
Duration 1 hour 49 minutes

Hamaji is a young woman living in the mountains.  She is self-sufficient and an excellent hunter, but very alone.   Her grandfather has died and her brother Dosetsu moved away to the city, a few years ago.

Dosetsu sends a letter to  Hamaji inviting her to the City of Edo.  Hamaji takes the chance to reconnect with her family and change her life.

New to the city Hamaji is awed by everything.  Edo is a big city, and there are people all around.  She is horrified by the heads of wolves on display.  They are called fuse, a wolf in a human form.  They prey on humans and are outlawed by the Lord of the City.

On the Edo Bridge Hamaji meets a white-haired young man wearing a wolf mask.  His name is Shino.  A wild fight ensues and Hamaji is carried away in the crowd.  She becomes completely lost in the city.  Shino takes pity on her and directs her to where her brother might be.

Dosetsu is a ne’er-do-well and plans to use Hamaji’s skill as a hunter to catch the remaining Fuses that are terrorizing the city.  He dresses Hamaji as a boy and uses her hunting skills to hunt the remaining fuse in the city.

Their first hunt is successful.  It changes Dosetsu since he took the head of the fuse.   Hamaji makes an arrangement so that the money earned by the hunt can’t be misused by Dosetsu.

There are a series of events that happen that diverts the attention.  Hamaji meets a girl who wants to be a writer.  The girl is the granddaughter of a great playwright.  Dosetsu’s girlfriend tells him she is pregnant.  Shino and Hamaji meet again and although he is tempted to kill her.  He resists the urge.

This is where the anime went odd to me.  To be honest it has taken me a whole lot of time attempting to write what happened and avoiding it.   I will try here.  It seemed that not all the Fuse were murderous.  Some tried to live like humans.  That did not change the law according to the Lord of the City.

The Lord of the City had a secret that only the great playwright knew.  He attempted to explain it in a play.  The play is what amazon put in the description.  I felt it was false advertising.  It made it difficult for me to write about it.

Especially when it came to the grand event. Which involved Shino, hunters and the castle guards.  It was all extravagant and confusing.    Somewhere in the story, the Lord of the City became lost as a result the Fuse were blamed.  Shino sought out revenge for his kind.  Hamaji sought out to save Shino.   It was a lot to take in.

The resolution was to stop killing out of revenge or fear.  The Lord of the City came to his senses.  Dosetsu plans to be a responsible husband and father.  Shino I believe left the city and Hamaji came of age.  The Playwright’s granddaughter got to write it all in a book.

As I stated before this story gave me the wrong impression about it.  I decided to write about it because I believe it is worth watching.  I plan to catch it again just so I can try to understand what I couldn’t before.  Sometimes, fiction needs a second and third watching or reading to be fully understood.

I don’t have a rating system, in mind.  Thumbs up seem appropriate.

 

End

 

“One day, in retrospect, the years of struggle will strike you as the most beautiful.”
–Sigmund Freud

This is going to sound horrendously weird but when I first attempted college I was put in a remedial English class. I love writing, I have issues with grammar, and I hate tests.  My English professor at LIU Brooklyn campus told me I didn’t belong in the remedial class.   I passed the essay test and he recommends that I take his English 201, which was described as a combined English 101 and 102.  It would be a class worth double the credits of English 101.   I had already wanted to be a writer.  The trauma of having my work read before I felt it was ready had passed and I was back at creating again.   In fact, I had started to develop a story inspired in that classroom.  My teacher and my classmates were intrigued, it was a great feeling, but that is a digression.

 

In English 201, the professor assigned us diverse books to read and report on.  Many of the authors were from New York City.   I don’t think Amy Tan was part of that group, however, her book was part of the curriculum.   She is the author of the acclaimed book Joy Luck Club.   We were given the assignment to read this book and was rewarded with watching the movie.  I am not Asian-American, but I identified more with this story than the others because I am a daughter of parents born elsewhere.  I became a fan of Amy Tan because of this.  I followed the Joy Luck Club with the Kitchen God’s Wife, which I consider to be a badass title. I also read the Hundred Secret Senses and planned to read the Bonesetter’s Daughter but life intervened and I moved away from reading Amy Tan.  I don’t remember what came after this until Wild Seed by Octavia Butler.   By that time, I had my daughter, working a part-time job and attempting college for the second time.

I am writing this because while browsing Youtube a creator made an interesting vlog.   He spoke about his work being compared to another creator and how he was learning to deal with it.  He interviewed his younger sibling and they spoke about comparisons.  It can be annoying and sometimes damaging.  What started this essay is a comment made by another viewer.  In a paraphrase, the person spoke about how damaging it is for parents to compare their children.   I have three sisters and two brothers.  I’m my mother’s fourth child.  My mother compared us to others, not out of malice but it was the way she was raised and depending on the subject she was very competitive.  She thought of it as a motivation to improve.  It was a hit or miss with me.   This only meant it worked when I was 5 years old and learned my cousin two months younger than me was reading.   I was annoyed when I was 16 years old and she compared me to another cousin, who was graduated early from High School.  Sorry, another digression.

The comment from the viewer brought these words to my mind and my memory of The Joy Luck Club.  I didn’t understand my parents until I became one.  I felt the difference after reading the novel and watching the Joy Luck Club movie and having my daughter.

I remember completely siding with daughters- these parents don’t understand what it is like, to live in two cultures; two years later, understanding and siding with the parents- these children don’t understand the sacrifice and the risk we take so they can live.  It took a little longer to understand my parents.   The shift was profound and I have always been aware of it.

I don’t know if the viewer is a parent or not.  I am not judging the comment besides understanding the person may have been compared to a sibling and it hurt them.  I try my best not to compare my child to her cousins.  Only because I understand that it doesn’t always work.  I did my best to give my kid, sound rational reasoning.  Full disclosure that doesn’t always work too.  It is frustrating being a parent.  But we (the ones who care continue.  It is not always obvious to the child why we do the things we do.  Many things will be forgotten or confuse them and then one thing will become clear with time and change the way they think forever.  This understanding of the mystery is what is true satisfaction for a parent.

End 

 

Some Quote Here 

This time of year many people are doing a round-up of the year.  I’m always lamenting this time because I don’t have anything set up, as round up or anything thing else.   I continue to tell myself that I should be advanced enough with this blog to be producing 2-3 essays a month and posting them.  That has not exactly happened.  I can say that the most I have posted are less than 20.

This is the part of my essay where I attempt to tell myself to do better and apologize to the few readers I have out there.  Sorry, not Sorry.  I am not super happy with the results of the end of the year but I am not upset or sad about it.  Although it is at the end of the year, it is not the end of me.  Which I am grateful for.  I  and my family are still reeling from the losses in our family.  There are major changes, however, we are eeking through it all.   I thought by now, I wouldn’t be like that but this is how it is.

Last month I spoke about NaNoWriMo.  I didn’t win.  However, I will continue with this story.  I may even talk about this story on the blog at a later time.  Normally I would put the story aside and wait for the next November.  For this story, I believe that 3 years on NaNo is enough.  On National Novel Writing Month, November 2020, I will start with a brand new fresh story.  My preptober will start in September.

In my previous blogs, I wrote about real life and writing life.  I often wrote like they were enemies.  The one that has the power is the one I feed.  I have tried on several occasions to integrate it.  But it has not worked all the time or it has not paid off.  I’m getting the Sorry, Not Sorry from the universe.  I have another creative project set up to be released next year along with my writing projects.  I still have my day job as a caregiver/personal assistant.   Possibly in mid-December, I will be able to talk/write about 2020 plans/projects.  It all depends on what will be going on with the day-job life and the writing life.  I’ve decided to change the real-life to day-job life because real life is too general.  Writing for me is as real as everything else in the world,  that epiphany is supposed to change my life.  Real-life for me is writing, day-job, wellness, health, etc.  This has been it for the last 5 years.

I think there was a post where I promised not to be a slave to the 500-750 word count.  I have never been good with endings, I will conclude this post by stating, this entry is for December was written today.   I am thinking about accountability.  It may be another blog essay later.   I need to make a note of all the promises made on this post.  If I post again for the month.

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year.