カラフル

COLORFUL

MOVIE

MOVIE
Dubbed
SOURCE
OTHER
RELEASE
August 21, 2010
LENGTH
127 min

DESCRIPTION

"I" died and was kicked out of the cycle of reincarnation because of the sin "I" committed. An angel told me that "I" won a lottery and he gave me a chance to remember the sin. My spirit possessed the body of the 14-year-old boy Makoto, who committed suicide and "I" tried to recollect my memory. "I" felt distressed by the terrible circumstances of Makoto and the fact that "I" was borrowing his body. "I" have started to realize that people are hurting each other because the world is too colorful to distinguish the true color of themselves from others.

Based on an award-winning first person narrative novel by Mori Eto. The movie won several awards in Japan.

CAST

Makoto Kobayashi
Kazato Tomizawa
Purapura
Michael
Saotome
Jingi Irie
Shouko Sano
Aoi Miyazaki
Hiroka Kuwabara
Akina Minami
Makoto no Haha
Kumiko Asou
Makoto no Chichi
Katsumi Takahashi
Mitsuru Kobayashi
Akiyoshi Nakao
Classmate
Yuuki Ogoe

REVIEWS

FestivalsOfComf
90/100
Colorful's story direction is presented in narration & show/don't tell with no otaku tropes around which is a plus.
Setting expectations:
- This review is being written under a subjective lens and mainly enjoyment.
- If you come to expect opinions from a very critical sense, wrong place. A lot of people online come to expect reviews as such, this review ain’t gonna be like that. I just like to talk about anime I enjoy. And so this review is about such things. Sorry if this ain't what you're looking for.
Verdict

Colorful ~ The Motion Picture is a film released in 2010 from Sunrise Studios and Ascension. Based on a Japanese novel from Mori Eto, this movie has also won some awards in film festivals.

Overall, I would personally rate this a 9/10 on my scale. If you have the 2 hours and are in the mood for a film in an animated format, check it out and form your own opinion about it.

As for the why, that following review explains about it. I’ll try to keep spoilers to a minimum! When making this review, I watched this in subtitles.

Important Background

I believe to gain maximum enjoyment from this film, you have to understand some aspects of Japanese society’s culture in terms of their values, relationships, beliefs, and structure. If I watched this film without understanding some aspects of Japanese culture then I probably will not get certain scenes and why they are important.

Does this mean you shouldn’t watch this film without understanding some cultural aspects? No! You can infer why certain aspects are important because the story is resonant everywhere in all societies anyways (albeit in certain societies in the South-east Asian countries lol). Considering the good presentation, you can pick up what’s confusing and look up why certain things are confusing. We all have to start from somewhere anyways.

Maybe the dubbed version of the film was able to successfully localize/translate the intricacies of its setting and characters, someone else will have to comment about that.

The Review

Since I talked about the presentation earlier, I’ll talk about it here. I think the way the story is unravelled by the Colorful production team was outstanding in terms of its pacing. I have never felt like the story dragged at any parts. Everything felt relevant and the story had a lot of themes to tell. Its soundtrack really complemented certain scenes alongside the animation. This animation is movie quality for sure and nothing felt out of place unless you’re so absolutely abhorrent to CG assets but don’t let that blind you from what it’s trying to tell. And what I think gives the movie a huge plus is the fact that it utilizes a good mix of narration & show don’t tell. I’m a fan of show don’t tell directing and so it was a very welcome surprise to see it utilized in the movie.

Another positive for me is that I barely saw any anime-ism tropes that plague a lot of anime today. While I do enjoy those tropes, sometimes it can become too saturated for one's taste which is understandable. So, if you’re sick of anime-ism tropes but want to see a nice story told, check this out. While it has a supernatural aspect to it, it’s not like taken to extremes and a lot of the film feels super grounded in what it’s trying to tell.

Alongside the stellar animation and story are the voice actors. They really helped sell the scenes and I think they deserve praise for their efforts. It worked in tandem with the body language the animators made. I really enjoyed the voice acting performance from everyone.

It was an overall satisfying experience and I don’t have much complaints personally. This movie may not be for everyone but I say it’s worth checking out if you’re ever in the mood for these types of stories. Our tastes evolve over time after all. Hope you have a good time and thanks for reading the review!

The section below is me talking about spoilers because I want to talk about it. I wouldn’t recommend reading it if you haven’t seen the film before as it may hinder your enjoyment from knowing things you shouldn't ahead of time.

Spoiler-talk

This film is honestly a great case for showing how important it is to have characterization and just be empathetic of people in general. The entire point of the film is that everyone is colorful and there’s more to people than meets the eye. I believe this understanding is missing in conflicts in the world. While emotions are valid, it’s the empathetic feeling that I find most people miss out/ignore from all sides.

Anyways, did you like that theme/title drop during Makoto’s console of Hiroka in the Art room? I sure did. It actually confused me a bit on why Hiroka was so confused and what she was talking about until I realized she’s confused about who she is as an individual in middle school. Part of growing up really.

It seemed a little bit obvious about how people are 3-dimensional and it’s not uncommon in certain stories. I just liked the way they presented this theme and story. It felt raw with how it executed its scenes and knowing how the Japanese are like with getting into a better academic program, how reputation is tied to who you’re associated with, cram school, bullying, communal culture, etc. It really elevates the type of empathy that isn’t seen in many Western films I’ve seen really. Felt like its own unique thing. Though I’m a huge af weeb lol.

I think it was also a nice commentary about the social structure in their society. They cannot talk about certain subjects but they have to face it eventually as they’re important issues. It’s only with grit and facing things forward are you able to tackle challenges that go your way. This will turn things ugly. Nobody wants to talk about how your wife had an affair, how you neglected your family to work so much that your own child attempted suicide, how your little brother is suffering academically and generally overall unhappy. These are very taboo subjects to bring up about. It was super respectful and realistic about these portrayals of said subjects especially in a Japanese context.

We value so much on academics but not on the other talents of individuals and it really comes into question about us as a society on how we value other people. Everybody is colorful in their own right but why do we only value certain colors over others? Why does everyone have to be a certain color? We’re all ugly, bitter, and at the same time - beautiful. A range of personality traits to form a character overall.

In a way, it’s a theme about a person’s humanity and the respect for them as an individual. A simple story about how even the littlest of good gestures can go a long way for helping people out. I saw someone mention in the forums how if you relate a lot, it will impact a lot and I think that’s why I’ve been thrilled about it. The little moments and bonds you have with people can matter a lot to certain individuals. It may feel like nothing on the other side (which I also too have experienced), but it’s something that is cherished.

This film had a lot going with it and I don’t know if I was able to successfully unpack it all, maybe someone will. Hell, I enjoyed that aspect where it said a lot but didn’t push it down my throat. Maybe I’ll rewatch it in the future. The final line of being alive and what it means to be alive feels similar to other anime. Of course, that’s just one way of looking at things but yeah, it’s nice.

I hope the people reading this know that “You’re alive and kicking.” There’s a lot of awful things in this world but there are also a lot of good things too even if the world is all bleak. This is all like a painting in a way haha.

If you somehow managed to make it to the end, thanks for reading. If you like talking about anime, hmu, I always love talking about anime.

I tend to write long essays in general for these reviews and I know it can be a chore so I do appreciate you taking the time especially with the attention span of people’s being so little haha.
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KarniSingh
94/100
Even the darkest night will end and sun will rise. Colorful explores this quote with a deeply moving story and narration
SPOILERS AHEAD

Summary-
A soul wakes up in the body of suicide victim Makoto and must find a way to fit into his existence. The soul must unravel two mysteries - the secret of the great sin it committed in its previous life and why Makoto committed suicide.

REVIEW-
When starting this movie I was expecting something of a mystery kind of story about soul finding out why makoto committed suicide but what I saw far exceeded my expectations. Its definitely one of the most peak slice of life drama I have watched till now.
Its about realizing your mistakes and forgiving your loved ones.

CHARACTERS-
The story starts slowly trying to build its characters introducing us with an interesting character purapura. He is one of those characters who is just trying to do his job while maintaining a barrier with the protagonist.
Then their are other characters hiroka and shoko. These two characters are shown totally opposite to each other with Hiroka being considered beautiful and shoko as ugly. Our protagonist in start as everyone else focuses more on Hiroka and tries to gain her attention while ignoring shoko. But shoko is shown as caring while Hiroka is shown as a gold digger. And both the characters works great in enhancing the story. Then comes makoto's family in which u will specially hate his mother for what she has done, but u will also empathize with her in the end. Then comes his brother who behaves like the most generic brother most of the people have, cares for u but doesn't say anything and loves u deep down his heart but never show it. The last character which is saotome,the most innocent and the best character of all. The character who redeems makoto in the end and gives him a reason to live. Every characters arc ended in a really good way as makoto remembering why he committed suicide and moving forward with it, Hiroka realizing his mistakes and same goes for makoto's mother who also realized her mistakes. Purapura who found a friend in makoto but sadly it also has to the end and he had to return in his world.

LESSONS I LEARNED-
1. Suicide is never an option. This is the most common message you are gonna take from this movie. But it is the most important too.
2. Everyone doesn't want to be different. Makoto in the end have a monologue in which he says he wants to live a normal life he doesn't want to be different. He wants to go to college,make friends, have fun and nothing else. This is quite a message to take. Its obviously not for everyone but it just wants to tell that there are many who doesn't want to live a different life they just want to enjoy there day to day life and are happy in that. So we should respect their decision and doesn't treat them as aimless.
3. Your existence is defined by your loved ones. They are the ones who makes you who you are now. So always take care of them and respect them. There are chances that they will do mistakes but forgiving someone is really important though it's hard too.
OST-
Background music is really soothing and enhances the feelings of a scene.

OVERALL-
Overall, this movie is an amazing viewing experience. Sunrise did an amazing job with this. Im glad I took the time to watch it.
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Leoz3r
90/100
Acknowledgement, Forgiveness, and How We Can Find Our Own Colors in Our Lives.
__SPOILER FREE__
These days, we mostly have anime shows or movies that tackle rehabilitation with something that can say that we have learned something, and it is something that will affect us for a long period. "Colorful" is a movie from 2010, and I think it has an amazing portrayal of depression, suicide, forgiveness, acceptance, and how we should understand the meaning of living even with our different perspectives, even sorely just for our happiness, as long as we know we are not hurting someone. It deeply shows me how one person in our lives can change us, and even that change can start with you, helping other people, and being the person you want to be.

The movie starts from the perspective of one character, and as he is walking right to the light, there are people everywhere. We see one person who is very different from the others. That one person walks towards us and speaks and explains that we are a soul who has died after committing a great sin but is given another chance to return to the world, making us a lucky soul. He wants to deny it, but he must return. We woke up, and it was an unfamiliar ceiling, but as we looked around, we guessed that we were in a hospital. We see someone who we don’t know who they were, and we don't know who we are either, but we have to do this called "internship", which if we succeed in doing, we are granted to be reincarnated.

After a while, he learns that the person where he is right now tried committing suicide, which explains why he was in a hospital last time. Even though it is a happy family, we later learn that it is just a facade that they tried to put up, and after knowing the truth, he becomes aloof and starts to question what this internship is about and why he is the person who has to be there.

This is where I think the movie starts with its narrative, and it shows the very truth of how a family, school, and society respond to suicide. We are aware that suicide should be given full attention if someone is planning on doing it, and that is why it should have been an open discussion even though we know talking about this with a family is very hard, so we tend to try and open up with other people we know besides them because the majority of depression starts with our family, followed by school or other experiences, and that is why we are thankful now that there are people who are open to discussion like this. Finding help professionally is sometimes hard, but without doing it, maybe this one call can change our lives.

__Characters and Symbolism: __
I hated the main character after watching an hour of the movie because I see him as a selfish person who only tries to look for meaning from above and doesn’t try to understand the situation he is in. Like he even said in the movie himself, he is an idiot (not a big spoiler). But that changes because of one character who completely helps the main character develop. I don’t always try to look for symbolism when watching an anime, but I notice that this character who becomes later on friends with the MC always wears green as it symbolizes life, as for the MC, at the start of the movie he had green clothing, but as we progressed, he started wearing dark clothing as I think he became more distant around people. And this character, particularly, is how I think one person in our lives can change us. Maybe that one friend or person who is there is more than enough for us, and we know they are there if we have any problems or need their support. It is amazing how some characters we see in the movie have this clothing, and it is that person who tries to be there with the MC to understand, to open her heart, and to learn how to forgive.

The best scene for me, without spoiling it, is where four people are gathered, we feel the atmosphere and the awkwardness toward each character, a topic has been brought up, and it is about choosing a high school that would be good for him. We can see they’re hiding their true emotions deep inside, but the MC learns how to open up and decide for himself. He is scared he might not get what he wants, but without trying it, he will not know. He said his piece and said what he wanted, and for the first time, we see them understanding each other and letting their emotions go. After a while, everyone has calmed down, smiling and sharing a nice meal. This is, I think, the most powerful scene in the movie, where we see the true colors of our characters.

After finishing the movie, I learned something. It might be very cliche, but it is something I always want to be reminded of. You may have a different viewpoint in this film, and for me, we humans may have a different color in our own lives; it might be a dark color such as gray because of our own experience too, because we tend to change our color of life, maybe being a nihilistic version of ourselves. Some might be a very light color, such as pink, staying optimistic about the problems we encounter. But we can’t deny that somewhere in our lives, we wish for something good to happen. It might not be right now, but maybe somewhere in the future. We wish for that color in our lives, but maybe we already did but did not notice, and that is for our lives to be this colorful.
__Feel free to share any opinions. Thanks for reading.__
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