ANI-MOVIES, *Children Who Chase Lost Voices

For Makoto Shinkai's third full-length anime movie, the future director of Your Name wrote an original story for it, although you will notice a great deal is borrowed from the works of Studio Ghibli. Children Who Chase Lost Voices is technically Shinkai's only isekai motion picture, and a large portion of it reflects Ghibli movies like Castle In The Sky, Princess Mononoke, and particularly Goro Miyazaki's Tales From Earthsea which is strange as most hardcore otaku were turned off by it. This was Shinkai's first fantasy movie as most of the prior ones had sci-fi elements, and his production company of Comix Wave Films brought its A-game with the jaw-dropping landscapes and striking sky backdrops. Unlike most of Shinkai's other movies, there is superb detail given to some of the film's action sequences which makes you with the director would eventually head up a shonen project. The major theme of the story is learning to let go of those who have passed on and how this compulsive need can drive people to cross entire worlds to make the pain stop.

Asuna is a responsible girl who learned to take care of herself since her father died and her mother is a full-time nurse. Whenever she's not at school, Asuna has her own little sanctuary in the mountains, but one day she encounters a mysterious beast on a bridge, although she is saved by a young boy named Shun who claims to be from the country of Agartha. Asuna later learns Shun's corpse was found in the woods, while at the same time a substitute teacher Morisaki takes over her class and starts mentions the fictional land of Agartha which is supposed to by underneath the surface that is connected to the Hollow Earth belief. Asuna then runs into a lad named Shin who is Shun's younger brother who came to collect a crystal Shun left behind. The two of them are attacked by a military organization labeled Arch Angel which Morisaki is an agent of and is bent on finding Agartha. Shun and Asuna make it to the hidden door to Agartha where Morisaki follows them leaving the other Arch Angel soldiers behind as he came to this magical realm to find a way to resurrect his deceased wife. Shun parts ways from them as he returns the crystal, but it turns out Aauna had a similar crystal of her own left behind by her father, so know he has to track them down while avoiding other hunters sent to capture the topsiders. Asuna and Morisaki now journey to a place called the Gate of Life and Death where wishes can be granted, and Asuna wants to find a way to be reunited with Shin, despite the endless army of shadow monsters that pursue them.

Children Who Chase Lost Voices shows why Makoto Shinkai has often been called the "next Miyazaki", even though for this film its more Goro Miyazaki than his father Hayao. The film lacks slightly from pacing issues and not having a definitive direction as you don't always know where the plot is going with a new story element is added every few minutes. The inner world of Agartha is something out of an RPG daydream which could have used a few more random encounters or the occasional boss battle to liven things up a little. Asuna is an interesting protagonist who in the end isn't as determined as she thinks she is in her quest, although her mentor figure of Morisaki is seriously in this for himself but with some moments of care for Asuna. This was the longest of Shinkai's films to date when it's clear it could have been trimmed by at least ten minutes. If you've seen any fantasy anime, then you'll find something familiar here, but its major draw is Shinkai's unparalleled cinematic perspective.