====================
Journey to Agartha
====================
:CreationDate: 2014-03-19 12:02:57
:Id: anime/review/agartha
:tags: - anime
- review
:rating: 3
:original: http://www.easternkicks.com/reviews/journey-to-agartha
You've probably heard of SHINKAI Makoto (新海 誠), or at least seen
some of his works: "Voices of a Distant Star", "The Place Promised in
Our Early Days" (also known as "Beyond the Clouds, the Promised
Place"), "5 Centimeters per Second". They're all very introspective
stories, where the main focus is on the characters' feelings.
"Agartha" is the story of Asuna, who lost her father years before, and
whose mother works long hours and night shifts. Asuna also appears to
have few friends at school. She spends most of her time taking care of
the house, and what little free time she has left she spends listening
on a crystal radio, using a strange crystal her father left her. One
day, she hears a haunting music, and she's later attacked by a
monstrous bear-like creature. Shun, a boy with clearly super-human
abilities saves her. Trying to find him again, she's dragged by her
substitute teacher, Morisaki, into a journey in the mysterious
underground land of Agartha, where it's said that dead people can be
brought back to life. During the journey she'll meet Shun's brother
Shin, and through many dangers and hard choices, they will all grow
and learn.
"Agartha" should, again, be a character-centric work, but I couldn't
really connect with Asuna, Shin, or Morisaki. Shinkai style works very
well with slow stories and contemplative atmospheres, and this movie
is paced a bit too fast for that. Sure, trying to film this story at
the same pace as "Promised Place" would probably have made it
unwatchable… because there is not really much going on inside the
characters and between them: they're all trying to come to terms with
the death of a loved one. They interact relatively little with each
other, and the consequences of their interactions are not as large as
could be hoped for.
On the other hand, the drawings and the animation are gorgeous. Some
scenes are reminiscent of Laputa, others of Mononoke; there's the
distinct impression that Shinkai is trying to imitate Studio Ghibli,
and CoMix Wave Films rises up to the challenge,
visually. Disappointingly, as I said above, the story and the
emotional impact are not at the same level.
In the end, this is a very good looking movie, with a
not-very-inventive plot, and much less emotion than Shinkai's previous
works. Not bad, just below expectations.
