Forum - View topicMore Than Miss Hokusai: Director Keiichi Hara's Fantastical Movies
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Zendervai
 Posts: 203 |
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I watched The Wonderland with a friend of mine over Christmas and the conclusion that we came to was that it was an excessively chill fantasy travelogue that had no idea how to handle its villain or plot. Most of the characters actually accomplish very little and the villain’s motivation is super poorly explained, especially with the “twist” involved. Oh, and for some reason, we get an explanation for how the two worlds diverged and it makes absolutely no sense in the context of stuff later in the movie.
We enjoyed it, but the drama and tension were almost absurdly low stakes for most of it and it might have been a bit better if it actually was just a fantasy travelogue and didn’t include a heinous villain who just didn’t fit the tone at all. |
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Doctorkev
 Posts: 87 Location: Scotland |
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I totally agree with your criticisms. I wrote a review of The Wonderland on my own blog over two years ago (after watching it in the cinema) that reflects your points, especially regarding the villain. On rewatching it again recently to prepare for writing this article, I think I became much softer on it. It's a fun, if unsubstantial and very chilled fantasy movie. My daughter who was 14 at the time really enjoyed it. You can read my initial thoughts on it here: https://medium.com/anitay-official/birthday-wonderland-review-scotland-loves-anime-cbb074f47a1b |
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Dark Mac
Posts: 323 |
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Summer Days with Coo was bad and Colorful was terrible, IMO. It's no wonder no one cares about this guy if this is what he's giving us.
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joemuszynski
Posts: 60 |
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Will disagree with all comments and thank the writer of this. COO is a favorite of mine, Colorful is very good, and Wonderland is pure fluff, but lots of fun. And I think I like Miss Hokusai more than the writer! I think lack of recognition is mostly because these films are all very different from each other. But if all commenting don’t much like these works, I guess it’s further proof that I like things no one else does. Oh well!
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Zendervai
Posts: 203 |
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I think my overall opinion on the director is that he clearly has a full on masterpiece in him, but I don't think he's quite managed to get there yet.
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Ralph Snackshi
Posts: 23 |
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Thank you for this great article! I was already planning on revisiting 'Miss Hokusai' but you've definitely convinced me to do the same for his other films. It's a shame 'Colorful' is out of print, hopefully it can get a license rescue in the near future. I remember really digging 'Coo' when I first saw it. I loved how it smashed the 'kid hides weird creature from parents' trope in the first ten minutes by having the parents find out and just roll with it. It's almost like Hara or the original author read 'Save the Cat' by Blake Snyder, got a chuckle out of it and threw it in the trash.
While I agree with Zendervai that his best work is yet to come, I think Hara has still managed to build a unique, solid filmography and deserves a larger audience. He's not trying to chase trends or become 'the next Shinkai' or whoever, he's making the films he wants to make and that alone should be celebrated. |
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bonbonsrus
 Posts: 1537 Location: Michigan, USA |
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Thanks for the great highlight article! I loved Colorful, it was very emotionally moving from my memory, and Miss Hokusai was interesting, so I will put Coo and Wonderland on my find and watch list. I see it was on Tubi at some point, I will download that ap to see what anime is on it, if any, anymore.
Not sure I'll remember this director to the degree I remember others, but it's nice to highlight one directors works like this! |
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