Orange - JMovie

Again movies about friendship just have something really ‘tear-jerky’ about them that make you take a second look at your life and those around you. In my recent venture into watching such movies I came across a Japanese movie that was brought to life from manga. After watching this movie I can see why it grew so much and became something that had to be shown in other forms of media.

Orange is a movie that somewhat caters to two of my current favorite genres as it covers a bit of sci-fi and romance and creates a curious story that is relatively simple in nature though it actually has a powerful impact in terms of message and feels. At least that is my humble opinion. The story follows Naho Takamiya who has received a strange letter that that seems to be from her future self. In the letter, it details various things that surprise and slightly scare poor Naho who isn’t sure what to do with it at first, but slowly begins to take it seriously as she realizes that in the letter are the regrets her future self has and wants her younger self to change, if possible.

Amongst those regrets Naho discovers that Kakeru Naruse is amongst the most present in all she wants to change and as she slowly begins to learn more about him and eventually, as the letter predicts, falls in love with him she decides to make sure she clears all the regrets around him. It is here she discovers that Kakeru has an ominous future that creates many regrets for her and her group of friends who venture to take Kakeru under their wing.

It is upon finding this out that Naho and the others strive to change Kakeru’s fate as they work to create various memories and experiences with him, in hopes that they can change the future that the letter predicts. However, things don’t always go smoothly as things seem determined to stay the same as predicted and the group of friends struggles to find various ways to stop it. Especially Naho who refuses to let Kakeru go as she realizes how much of a regret it is as it affects her after so many years later.

In the process we see as these teens work to change the mind of a troubled young man who hides his pain and tries to struggle forward without letting others see as he thinks he needs to do everything on his own. Seeing the change as he begins to rely and trust the friends he has pushed aside makes for quite an interesting change in psychology as you witness what a few little things and experiences can do to change one’s mindset and potentially stop them from making very stupid decisions.

I like that the story turned out to be one where active help was sought for a troubled and depressed mind that was growing wary and dejected. Sure it could be seen as a bias way of looking at things as we see things not from the troubled man’s point of view but instead from that of Naho who is effectively a random third party that only gets introduced into his life after things have gone south. Still I feel it’s a relevant point of view as it shows us that those afflicted with their troubles aren’t the only ones who suffer silently and greatly.

The actors did a great job portraying that characters and the mood of the film stayed light and altered accordingly as the story moved along giving you the appropriate idea of how things were meant to be felt and experienced.

Ao no Kanata no Four Rhythm - Anime

There’s just something about watching a sporty anime that gets you all hyped up, don’t you think? This seems to hold true regardless of whether the sport in question even exists in reality as it whizzes through our imagination and comes to life off the screen and into our lives. Funny enough I find this phenomenon doesn’t necessarily ring too true for me with average sport like that stuff that regular people watch…. strange I know, but then I am an otaku so I’ll except my oddities.

In any case, the recent anime I have been watching seem to have a sporty theme to them but the one I’ll review today is the cute harem-esque anime that has a group of at least four girls and two noticeable guys flying around in the sky and no, this is not quidditch I’m referring to.

Ao no Kanata no Four Rhythm takes place on an island where it seems the norm for people to easily get around using these things called ‘Grav shoes’ which allow the people to whiz through the air with nothing but the clothes on their back and these cool tech shoes that seem to grow butterfly wings out their ankles as they take off into the sky.

The story follows a seemingly ditzy pink haired girl by the name of Kurushina Asuka, who has just moved to the island and is fairly new to the idea of flying around and is introduced to it with quite a bang as she gets into her first ‘flying circus’ match within her first few days of getting her own shoes.

Basically what flying circus(FC) is is a prestigious game that uses the grav shoes on a whole other level than what a beginner would be able to do. Luckily for our ditzy, fly-fish-lover newbie it would seem that Asuka has a natural talent for being in the sky and pulls off pro-level techniques that surprise not only those around her, but even herself.

Needless to say she joins the school’s dying FC club, along with a few other members who have just as intriguing stories as Asuka and off we see them go joining competitions and doing battles like a real school club.

The show is pretty decent in terms of storyline and the whole idea behind the technology is interesting for me personally, so that’s pretty cool. Admittedly the whole newbie with ready-to-go talent isn’t new, but the way they integrate it into the story is pretty entertaining, so that’s a winner. Ultimately I have to say I’d recommend this to a newbie with a slightly pervy side, because obviously there is the group of girls flying around in their tightly worn, yet cutely styled outfits. So yeah, a good show.