Yep. The hype was real. Mirai
no Mirai (literally translated into English as Mirai of the Future), or just Mirai,
is the best anime film of 2018. And if I
had seen it last year, it would have had a place within the top ten of my annual favorite movies list.
Mirai follows a preschooler named Kun who has become used to being
the center of his parents’ attention.
But when his baby sister Mirai arrived, their attention shifted to
her. This upsets Kun greatly, and being
somewhat of a whiny brat, he would often lash and throw tantrums at his
family. During one of these outbursts,
he storms off into the garden at the middle of their house wherein he
encounters their dog Yukko in human form and a middle-school-aged Mirai who
came from the future. Since then, every
time he gets into a fight with his family, he takes refuge in the magical
garden, which whisks him away to meet family members at different time
periods. Through these adventures, Kun
learns important lessons that help him improve his relationship with his family.
This anime film is an absolute
gem. Compared to Mamoru Hosada’s past offerings, it’s not exactly that deep. And
for that, it’s probably Hosada’s most digestible and most kid-friendly film to
date (not counting the Digimon and One Piece movies he helmed). However, for a kids’ film, it’s still quite
versatile and sophisticated. It even has
elements – particularly in the third act – that will scare and unsettle young
audiences.
Nevertheless, its tremendous
appeal lies on being wonderfully whimsical, which adults and children alike
will appreciate. Although the familial aspects it explores may
be a bit of clichéd, the perspective from which they are shown – i.e. Kun’s character arc – is pretty much refreshing.
In addition, its warm, slow-paced storytelling has this endearingly old-school
feel to it.
And, as usual from anime films, all
of the above is visually brought about by exquisite hand-drawn animation. There are a few CGI parts where I feel stick
out a bit poorly, but only very slightly, that they don’t really compromise the
overall quality.
All in all, I love Mirai.
I still think that Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse deserves to win Best Animated in the upcoming Academy
Awards. But I won’t mind the slightest if Mirai somehow wins instead.
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