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.

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.

Bubble feels way too derivative from far better told anime stories. It seems oddly random the mix of Parkour with the little mermaid tale using a post-apocalyptic-ish Tokyo, definitely it was what stuck to the wall and the creators just scrapped the very bottom to come up with something.

The visuals are good, the dynamic action set pieces are jaw dropping at some points but the action alone it's no a redeeming quality for a movie that had lots of potential wasted in a nonsensical story that has been told way too many times and barely becomes interesting. Paper thin and stereotypical characters, non-developed background stories, logic that just don't make sense(even in its own universe), and a resolution that was predictable within the first 5 minutes makes Bubble a disappointing experience.

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.

The graphics, visuals and "choreography" are interesting and fun to watch and keep your attention all the way through, but in the end the story is a letdown. No rhyme, reason, or point to this movie. The characters are semi-interesting but not deeply developed.

This is just basic action / adventure anime with a pseudo-romantic story thrown in. It seems the writers / directors were trying to say something, but it never really comes across as being very important. Basically it's just a fairy tale without a lesson to be learned.

I give it 6 stars for being interesting to watch, but it came very close to receiving a "mediocre 5". But had to give it an extra point for good graphics.