ANI-MOVIES, *The House Of The Lost On The Cape

Eleven Arts has a good track record at taking non-Ghibli anime movies and giving them a professional English release. While some of their releases are connected to existing franchises like Boruto and Gintama, others such as Penguin Highway and the heartbreaking A Silent Voice manage to pull their own weight among the more well-known titles. Based on Sachiko Kashiwaba's novel, The House Of The Lost On The Cape first came out in 2014 as a book for children about the 2011 disasters that hit Japan which was also the inspiration for Shin Godzilla, although this anime film came out in 2021 as part of a project to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the disaster. The actual book didn't get an English release until fall of last year, but the anime was released in American theaters a year prior to that. The anime film was done by Davis Production who also animated some of the Jojo series, Fire Force, and the recent Urusei Yatsura remake. The best way to describe the film upfront is that it is a less whimsical version of My Neighbor Tortoro where youngsters encounter spirits for the first time.

Just after the Tohoku tsunami, runaway teenager Yui finds her way to a shelter while coming across Hiyori, a little girl whose parents were previously killed in an auto accident and was sent to live with some extended family that perished in the tsunami leaving the poor lass psychologically mute. The two estranged girls get tagged by the elderly Kiwa claiming to be their grandmother. The three then head across the devastated landscape to Kiwa's place known as a mayoiga which is an abandoned house where most of the basic needs of its inhabitants are provided for by helpful spirits which Kiwa calls Fushigitto, or yokai to the less-seasoned otaku. Yui seems skeptical at first to the house's supernatural hospitality, even though Hiyori begins to open up to spirits. Yui does grow to like living in the small town off the coast, especially since she gets a part-time job and a free scooter out of the whole deal. Kiwa introduces the girls to their first physical spirits, a friendly clan of kappa that she has investigate an underwater shrine that was broken open from the tsunami unleashing an evil snake demon called Red Eyes. The sinister spirit was sealed away long ago with the help of the local Fushigitto, but now its loose again and slowly feeding off the townsfolk's latent negative feelings that were building up from the disaster. The Fushigitto from all over combine their resources to stop Red-Eyes' return, even though it might lead to a horrible sacrifice.

The House Of The Lost On The Cape is already a mouthful of a title for your average American viewer to swallow, but what really kept the film from gaining more success is how Eleven Arts might have billed it as a family feature. There is some serious character trauma, especially Yui and Hiyori's dire family background which prevents the film from ending up next to Hello Kitty in a children's movie lineup. The dub is surprisingly good, with the drawback being that there is no subtitle track given in the streaming edition that lets you what Hiyori is saying when she writes down her dialogue due to her muteness. Davis Production did a commendable job on the animation, despite the fact that some panning shots go on longer than they needed to, and the entire design of the film completely shifts whenever Kiwa starts a flashback sequence treating it like a dark fairy tale. If you have to watch this film, you would be better off possibly with the physical release of it as you have more of a choice in seeing all the subtitles making for a better viewing experience.