'Mirai' Is Wonderfully Whimsical

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.