Bubble

This latest Netflix original anime by WIT Studio, having ensemble big names involved is brilliant with regards to its animation, however felt short in terms of storyline.

Tetsuro Araki, the renowed director behing Shingeki no Kyojin directs this dystopain sci-fi version of 'A Littler mermaid'. The characters felt a little underdeveloped, given the screentime of mere 100 minutes. While the movie bears influences of the classic fairy tale, they are rather loose, and at some parts, do seem to be shoehorned into the plot.

The animated feature, helmed by Studio WIT, is a breathtaking sight to behold, with its striking, vibrant colours breathing life into the desolated, forgotten city of Tokyo. The visual design also changes nicely to reflect the atmosphere of specific scenarios: action scenes get louder, bolder hues, domestic moments feature softer lighting, and intense sequences welcome ominous, darker colour mixing. Meanwhile, the landscape boasts details that allude to real-world Tokyo, such as Animate stores, Japanese ferries, and the star of the show, the Tokyo Tower.

The soundtrack gets a mention as well, as it was unique and melodious in its own way. The cinematography was amazing, capturing the parkour sport effectively. It's unfortunate that Bubble couldn't reach its narrative potential, because it excels everywhere else.

At the core of it, Bubble is a visually-gripping anime movie that presents an innovative and interesting premise, but couldn't deliver the best to its potential. I would recommend Bubble for a one time watch, due to its outstanding animation and cinematography

My Rating : 7/10.

This film is gorgeous. Absolutely gorgeous. It has some of the best animation and music I have ever witnessed. The physics-defying scenery, parkour races and flashbacks create a very colourful and dynamic atmosphere.

However, it barely had any story. The characters are just stand-ins for typical anime tropes, the romance is forced and there seems to be no overall "point". The entire plot could be described in two sentences without any loss of detail.

The animation is nice and the parkour scenes, while not instructive or realistic in any way, are fluid and nicely done. However the characters and the plot are so derivative!! And not of The Little Mermaid, which a character has to read and then incessantly quote from, just in case we're really dumb and don't get it, but of every Japanese anime ever. Lovely innocent child-like magical girl? Check. Kind, shy, weird and skillful boy? Check. Group of diverse (in the Japanese way) nakamas that will help the hero reach the goal? Check. Magical unexplained phenomena that people treat by leaving and eventually using it as a parkour course where no one seems to actually die? Check. Old mentor-san to guide the energy of youth? Check. Overly cautious (which in this case would have been reasonable) adult woman to contrast the power of youthful feeling? Check. World changing events that somehow have to have the main characters as the main cause and center? Check.

Bottom line: felt like a money grab, rather than an anime. Not that anime is not made for money, and not like most of them are not utterly crap, but it was like a toilet scrubber made of gold. So much potential wasted on an opaque and pointless story.

Coming into 2022, this anime was one of my most anticipated movies. We have the director of Attack on Titan Season 1-3 and Death Note, WIT studio, writer of Fate/Zero, and the composer of Attack on Titan coming together to make this sci-fi action thriller.

Let's get the obvious out of the way. The animation was breathtakingly gorgeous. There was never a boring shot. Every single frame and motion was jaw-droppingly beautiful. WIT studio poured their heart out to make this masterpiece of animation. Just like in other anime from WIT like Vivy: Fluorite Eye's Song, the close-up animation of character's face was distinctly angelic. Those moments were special, and I'm still in awe.

However, sadly the story did not deserve such godlike animation. There's a blend of Little Mermaid, spiral, bubbles, and parkour. Unfortunately these elements did not work out very well. The first half of the movie felt like it was going nowhere. The characters were mostly uninteresting, which made the emotional scenes less impactful. The encompassing theme of this movie just did not land.

Overall, I don't think it's bad, as I still had a good time, but with this much power dedicated to make this supposedly masterpiece, Bubble was still a disappointment. 7-7.5/10.

This was a beautiful movie. One of the reasons I love anime is because of the beautiful graphics. I loved the design of uta and the setting of having the overgtrown tokyo where kids play parkour was interesting, It was emotional and kept me entertained to the end. What a beautiful film.