ANI-MOVIES, *Mirai

Being the only non-Ghibli anime movie to be nominated for an Oscar, Mirai was directed by Mamoru Hosoda of Summer Wars fame. Produced by Studio Chizu, the 2018 movie used elements from Hosoda's previous title The Girl Who Leapt Through Time into a new time travel fantasy feature for all ages.

Kun is a playful 4-year-old who gets some competition for his parents' affection with his newborn sister. The baby Mirai(which is Japanese for "future")is taking up most of the family's time with their second child, and the Kun is naturally jealous of her for this. The boy goes out to the garden of the house that his family built enclosing a tree where he meets a humanized version of his dog Yukko, revealing that there is something enchanted concerning this tree. Kun gets a visit from a teenage Mirai from the future who convinces him to put away a pair of dolls which is a Japanese tradition concerning a girl's marriage. Somehow being able to go along with all the weirdness, Kun soon gets sent back in time to meet his mother as a girl, and then later on his great-grandfather after WWII. A visit from Kun's future self leads him to a realize that Mirai has a place in his family as her future self shows him how the tree in the garden literally acts as a family tree with its mysterious power.

Mirai is shown from the point of view of a toddler with none of the adult characters having any given names. It doesn't make Kun out to be a likable protagonist, but then he's only 4 as his perception on the bigger world is still developing so any criticisms about him being a brat should add his age to the equation. The anime is an original idea by Hosoda and the creators at Studio Chizu where their vision expands into a diverse feature with the various timelines Kun visits. As a movie, this might not seem as memorable as a Ghibli presentation, although it does help the viewer appreciate the ties to their family both past and future.