Great concept, poor execution.
Everything that relates to the production value of this movie is subpar: the voice acting, the sound design, the animation... There's nothing excellent here, there's really nothing good here.
The voice acting sounds awkward at times. Japanese voice acting is known for being great, but here nearly every line feels emotionless, and the main characters sound like they're whispering very loudly instead of just talking. Which is something I can only assume is an artistic choice? I suppose it fits the theme of the movie, but it sounds bad. Notably, Anzai Chika's performance as Kobayashi was actually pretty great.
The music and sound design on this thing are also not great. It sounds so quiet, so empty. Once again, this must have been by design, as it fits the theme, but it sucks! It makes the whole movie feel bland and faceless. Just because it's about a secret and escaping others doesn't mean the movie should be empty.
The animation is somewhat decent. It's not a very distinct style, and some frames look horrible. There's also some scenes with 3D animation that are very not good. Still, for the most part it's OK.
That being said, this is definitely not a bad movie. It's a very interesting concept. Personally, I love time-related movies (like Tenet and The Girl Who Leapt Through Time), and the idea of being able to stop time for a short duration is cool.
The relationship between the two main characters is also great, and very engaging. Murakami's whole personality, or lack thereof, really made me think... I wonder if there really are people that act this way. Personally, I related to Moritani WAY more, feeling overwhelmed and just wanting to run away. Murakami's whole ordeal felt very odd to me, but it was still very emotionally compelling. I think it was conveyed in a very nice way.
The conclusion was a bit underwhelming though, probably as a consequence of this running for only 1 hour. Still, it didn't leave a sour taste in my mouth or anything, I just wish there was more to the story. I suppose that's actually a compliment to the plot, in a way.
^I^ ^related^ ^to^ ^Moritani's^ ^perverted^ ^tendencies^ ^too.^
What do you think?
Rating: 3/5
