{"id":1547,"date":"2019-06-17T22:00:40","date_gmt":"2019-06-17T13:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/biggestinjapan.com\/?p=1547"},"modified":"2019-06-14T14:23:21","modified_gmt":"2019-06-14T05:23:21","slug":"children-of-the-sea-is-unspeakably-beautiful-and-unnecessarily-dense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/biggestinjapan.com\/index.php\/2019\/06\/17\/children-of-the-sea-is-unspeakably-beautiful-and-unnecessarily-dense\/","title":{"rendered":"Children of the Sea<\/i> is Unspeakably Beautiful and Unnecessarily Dense"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you ever wondered what the anime equivalent to 2001: A Space Odyssey<\/em> would be, then look no further.<\/p>\n

\"\"Image source: \u6620\u753b\u300e\u6d77\u7363\u306e\u5b50\u4f9b\u300f\u516c\u5f0f<\/a> on Twitter<\/em><\/p>\n

Children of the Sea<\/em> is the story of junior high school girl Ruka and the strange boys living at her local aquarium, Sora and Riku. What starts as the story of an odd friendship with these two boys who seem more at home in water than on dry land turns into a supernatural tale that enters the realm of the inexplicable by the time that the ending credits roll.<\/p>\n

There is a lot about Children of the Sea<\/em> that doesn\u2019t fit the current mold for anime\u2014or films in general for that matter. To start with, the pacing is painfully, laboriously slow. There are many scenes with little or no dialogue and the film is committed to spending as much time showing off its visuals as possible.<\/p>\n

\"\"Image source: \u6620\u753b\u300e\u6d77\u7363\u306e\u5b50\u4f9b\u300f\u516c\u5f0f<\/a> on Twitter<\/em><\/p>\n

In a lot of ways, it feels like the film is all flash and no substance\u2014especially in the second half. It doesn\u2019t help that Children of the Sea<\/em> feels no impetus to explain what is actually going on. Oh, sure, the myriad of random exposition characters we focus on from time to time have one crackpot theory or another, but there is nothing to say that any of them are correct.<\/p>\n

Now, that\u2019s not to say you aren\u2019t given enough to make your own theories\u2014after all, we basically know everything Ruka knows by the end of the film. However, you\u2019ve got your work cut out for you when it comes to interpreting the visual storytelling present in the film\u2019s climax if you want to get anything meaningful out of it.<\/p>\n

\"\"Image source: \u6620\u753b\u300e\u6d77\u7363\u306e\u5b50\u4f9b\u300f\u516c\u5f0f<\/a> on Twitter<\/em><\/p>\n

As for the characters, Ruka is part of a family in mid-collapse. Her mother sits at home drinking all day and her father escapes to work so he never has to come home. This has caused Ruka to become a problem child at school, acting out violently whenever she perceives she\u2019s being treated unfairly. This leaves her friendless at school.<\/p>\n

Then suddenly, she makes a connection with Umi. Not only is he happy to be around her, but he actively seeks her out. On the other hand, her relationship with Sora is of the more antagonistic kind. Sora clearly sees her as an intruder into his relationship with Umi but at the same time can\u2019t help but notice she is more clued into what is going on, more than the adults anyway.<\/p>\n

\"\"Image source: \u6620\u753b\u300e\u6d77\u7363\u306e\u5b50\u4f9b\u300f\u516c\u5f0f<\/a> on Twitter<\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s not hard to see what Ruka\u2019s character arc is: she is emotionally stabilized by her friendship with Umi and Sora so that she is able to make friends at her school by the time the film ends. What\u2019s not so clear is how exactly this comes to pass. After all, Ruka is the only character in the film to receive any development at all.<\/p>\n

\"\"Image source: \u6620\u753b\u300e\u6d77\u7363\u306e\u5b50\u4f9b\u300f\u516c\u5f0f<\/a> on Twitter<\/em><\/p>\n

Umi and Sora, while interesting, are plot devices that move the story forward more than anything else. They are puzzles to be solved\u2014puzzles we never explicitly get the answers to. The rest of the characters in the film are either the fleeting connections Ruka has to her once normal life or the aforementioned walking exposition dumps.<\/p>\n

Even on the thematic front, it\u2019s hard to say what the film\u2019s message is\u2014beyond \u201cthe ocean is really damn pretty, you guys.\u201d And really, it\u2019s clear that the film isn\u2019t as concerned with things like plot, characters, and themes as it is with looking as beautiful as possible for two hours. And on that front, it most definitely succeeds.<\/p>\n