La chance sourit à madame Nikuko

Based on a novel by Kanako Nishi, Fortune Favors Nikuko-chan (or Nikuko-chan of the Fishing Harbor) is a coming of age story actually about the daughter, Kikuko.

It begins with Kikuko's understanding of her family situation, that her overweight mother ran into some bad misfortunes, resulting in being a low-income single mother. There are some difficult girl group situations at school. There's a boy, with a tic. But more importantly, there's a gentle navigation through these growing pains with some light humor. Such is a normal day, the best kind of days in life.

The end culminates in a climax, affirming the love between mother and daughter, through the thick and thin.

From an animated production standpoint, it is well-made. The direction is nuanced, letting the audience feel what Kikuko is going through. The soundtrack provides a delicate touch. The portrayal of life in the countryside and yakinuku-ya is charming and nostalgic.

If anything, the abrupt ending could have been a bit more poignant. But all in all, a great production by Studio 4°C.

Director Ayumu Watanabe (Kaijû no kodomo / Children of the Sea) heads up the heirs of Studio Ghibli, here deploying people drawn in the style of Takahata's Hôhokekyo tonari no Yamada-kun/ My Neighbors the Yamadas or Omohide poro poro / Only Yesterday against realistic backgrounds for a coming of age soaper - the combination is unfamiliar and works out pretty well.

Boyish Kikuko (voice Cocomi) tells us the story of traveling with her obese mother (Shinobu Ôtake) who pairs with a succession of no hopers. Mother and daughter land up living in a boat moored next to the small harbor cafe where Nikutu has a job. It looks like mum is pairing with another loser, making constant secret 'phone calls.

Like Hana Sugisaki in Her Love Boils Bathwater, which this film's plot echoes at times, Kikuko is having a rough time with school mean girls. The boys are a dumb bunch she passes on her way home, excepting Ninomiya (Natsuki Hanae) whose way of dealing with life is pulling faces when no one is watching. The young people bond.

The justification for animation is in the blob caricature of the gross mother, sometimes squashing other information out of the frame, crying rivers of tears and preparing and eating massive meals.

One of the film's dominant features is this emphasis on food, from the opening with the butcher working on choice cuts through the fried bread breakfasts and celebratory steak and noodle meals. This is not a good movie for vegetarians.

Personally I don't find drawn food all that apertising.

More intriguing is the detail of the tiny port village. This element is dominated by the winning, big-hearted mother, who we keep on expecting to have a heart attack. The plot revelation inverts our estimate of her

These mix with the coming of age theme all to produce something unexpected and winning.

There are better animés about but this one is still pretty good.

This film is kind of one of those movies about nothing in particular, sure its narrative is strung along by the worries and growing pains of its female teenage protogonist; but you could easily miss 5 or 10 minutes at a time and still understand perfectly whats going on.

However the simplistic beauty is all part of the charm. The characters and wonderfully drawn animation provide a powerful, and somehow nostalgic sense of place and time. To some degree, we've all experienced the the feelings and emotions this film conjures so subtly throughout its runtime.

Be prepared to smile, laugh and probably cry, over this sweet and heartfelt snapshot into the life Lady Nikuko.