Mirai

CluelessGamer Apr 11, 2019

6

The trailer selected specific clips and edited them together in such a way to suggest this film would be some sort of [grand, magical, early-coming of age] story. It's not. I realized half way through watching it that those clips we were shown in the trailer? That's it. That was all the film had. And they are connected, poorly, in such a way that feels random, and thus, meaningless.  What is the motivation of this story? I guess...for the MC (child of 4?) to ...be less of a brat. And that's fine, but where are the stakes? The stakes are...???? Because while this motive is extremely grounded in how true to life it is in its simiplicty, it's for some reason being delivered with this larger than life magical aspect. And that doesn't work. There is no call to adventure, it just randomly happens. After a while it starts to feel like we get prepped for what family member we're about to learn more about by whoever the MC is saying "I don't like X" in this tantrum. And that would have been fine, if it were presented as such. But instead we have magic shit going on. And it does nothing. It's literally no different from the family sitting down with the MC and going through the photo album as a framing device, and the stories being exactly that. But instead, there's some magic happeneing. And I don't know why, because it's not used at all. The film establishes the magic is...magical. The parents are reacting to the weird stuff that is happening. They even take time to explain and SHOW that future Mirai and baby Mirai cannot be in the same place at the same time.  This seems like a classic setup, character get's stuck in the wrong timline after going with a single purpose to make some small change. Goal is now to fix that, the stakes are obvious, but this can be as lazy writing as the "arbitrary time limit or else X won't happen" or the characters can simply accidentally go to a different chunk of their family history, not their present, and therefore they are required to journey through the family history.  But nope, that's not what this film is. If you come for an adventure, you will be disappointed. If you come ready to sit in on some realistic snippets of a first child reacting to a younger sibling, with some heartfelt family history along the way? You'll like this just fine.

Fluffs Feb 15, 2019

9

Kun is having a hard time adapting to the arrival of his little sister and is often causing trouble for his parents by throwing tantrums. One day he meets a girl named Mirai, who happens to be his little sister who came to visit him from the future... This movie was a wonderful portrayal of a childhood, filled with sibling rivalry and love, power of imagination and a nice display of challenges being a working parent comes with. I found the title and synopsis to be a bit misleading - while Mirai is the reason these events are unfolding, her older brother is the star of the show and the story follows him closely.  Animation is top notch - from character designs to scenery shots, nothing was lacking and it was very detailed in most of the situations. Colors are lovely, happy and they go well with the characters' personalities and situations they find themselves in.  Sound, voice acting, soundtrack were great for the most part, only thing that was out of the place was the English sequence in the park (from the tourist lady), but that was only for a few seconds. Now, on to characters: they were my favorite part of this movie. Kun's personality was so fun, innocent and bubbly, in spite of his tantrums. His parents are very relatable, young couple, working mother, stay at home dad (switching up the traditional gender roles?), who are trying to figure out a way to raise their children properly without spoiling them too much. Overall, I give it 9/10, story itself wasn't very exciting, but it was a wonderfully relaxing and cheerful movie. Don't expect big plot twists, this movie was meant to warm up your heart ^^

Inu230 Mar 1, 2019

8

This anime focuses on how a new addition to the family changes everything: parental attention, money strain, lack of sleep, crushing responsibilities, festering anger, and scheduling dilemas. What’s a four year old to do when no one seems to care about him and his needs or wants anymore? Get a visit from the present, the future, and the past. Traveling through the fabric of time with his imouto, Kun realizes things that most adults struggle with and the decision the creators had in selecting such a young child as the main character was pretty ingenious. Through his eyes viewers see things as a selfish creature dependent upon others does. When those who have always been there seem not to be concerned about your existence because someone else has stolen their affection it can become impossible to maintain your emotions. Throwing tantrums in an attempt to gain back even a moment of interest from someone you love is not only inevitable it’s evolutionarily sound, at least temporarily or as a starting point to learning what can be done to resume the relationship(s). This anime did not shy away from the constant threat of loneliness Kun feels thanks to Mirai rather it throws it right in the audience’s face and hounds their ears. While the synopsis focuses on Kun meeting Mirai the other members of his family Kun’s blessed with seeing and interacting with are just as - if not more - important. Kun not only gets to see how his arrival in the family changed another member’s life for the worse, he also gets to interact with ancestors who passed before he was born. Overall this anime isn’t just about siblings - the rivalry of the youngest getting all the attention or about why Mirai came back from the future - those are parts of the whole, it’s about the entire family unit. From those who existed generations ago to those currently living and those in the future who suffer or prosper due to the actions of the past. And it’s about the ever-changing yet stability of family - whatever form that might be. For anyone who’s ever felt like they were being replaced, whether it’s because they unwillingly became an elder sibling or not should consider watching this anime. While it might not make the top 10 for entertainment it does contain messages that people should at least consider watching. Quick summary: The crying seems never to stop. The father is a hero. The mother could use a smack to two (thousand) in the face. Yukko suffered in silence for far too long.