This movie resonates with me as I can relate to Ishida about not being able to face my classmates anymore, not because I used to bully a disabled classmate, but ironically because I was a disabled student.
I developed a rare neuromuscular condition in the 11th grade that gave me constant unfathomable pain every day. It became too debilitating to the point where standing became a gruesome task and attending school was even more so. Even on days when I could manage to trudge to class, I couldn't concentrate on the lessons at all, resulting in my marks plummeting rapidly.
Meanwhile, the rest of the grade fought through college-level classes (as this is the only curriculum my high school offers), and I could often hear them complaining about how stressed and sleep-deprived they are, panicking over tests and deadlines, and worrying about getting into their dream college.
They all underwent intense physical, mental, intellectual, and emotional challenges for two years to rightfully earn their diplomas and look forward to a bright future, while I only graduated because I did a few supplemental assignments. So compared to all that they've done, I just BSed my way out of high school and I can't be rightfully equal to them.
As of this video, my symptoms have mostly subsided, so anyone in the streets can't even tell that I almost had to depend on a wheelchair. But now every time I unexpectedly see or hear something similar to my school's name or the terms used in the curriculum, I get flashbacks to those last two years of high school; and if I ever see anyone in my grade who's not one of the few friends that stuck with me, I try to avoid them because I can't help but feel guilty for dodging all the work they had to slave through and yet end up graduating alongside them.
BUT THAT'S ENOUGH SAD BACKSTORY FOR NOW!!! Let's get back to the review!
The plot is VERY realistic, as it could happen anywhere with a school, a disabled student, and an insensitive student. I've seen so many Japanese news reports of a student committing suicide due to bullying, and NHK even made a documentary of these rates increasing nowadays, so I think that's what inspired this story. Add a disability into the fray, and you've got yourself a pretty serious and heartwrenching story that will please all the politically correct, human rights preaching audience members out there, even if they aren't anime fans!
About the art, well what can I say except that it's pretty detailed? I mean, look at Nishimiya's hair movements when she tries to speak! And look at the setting with the river, the buildings, and the sunset sky!
This scene, in particular, is pretty clever. The movie constantly pushes a romantic relationship between Ishida and Nishimiya, and this was supposed to be the climax where it becomes official. But as they built the tension up for this scene, they made it look as if Ishida takes on the "male protagonist who is unaware of his female counterpart's feelings toward him" cliché, when it's actually much more. Ishida says "The moon? Yeah, it's beautiful," as he mishears Nishimiya's confession that she likes him (Suki) for her saying "Moon" (Tsuki), but this is a reference to Natsume Souseki's novels where characters confess their love by saying "The moon is beautiful, isn't it?" So Ishida is portrayed to indirectly confess that he reciprocates Nishimiya's feelings, and he does in fact like her as well! Brilliant!
A couple of gripes I have about this movie is that it feels long with so many arcs, and for such a long plotline, there wasn't really any character development for those in the group of friends. Yeah, OK, they're minor characters, but at least we saw their origins and their involvement in the group. Mashiba Satoshi, though (the one with the reddish orange hair), he seemed like he came out of nowhere and was there for the sake of being there as a regular ol' anti-bully supporter. Even Ishida calls him out for being a kibitzer who's completely uninvolved in the scandal. The wiki says he acts out violently whenever he sees bullying due to his past of being bullied, so it's too bad this wasn't really focused on and events of random bullying were not included for him to act out, because he just seems like a flat character now.
Granted, this story is based on a manga, which from what I understand, has SO MUCH MORE content that was excluded from the movie. I had a feeling it was so when I noticed how long the movie was with so many story arcs, and I guess the producer and writers tried to fit as much story as they could, but given the allotted duration, some omitting had to have been inevitable. With that being said, I'd like this remarkable story to be fully realized for what it's worth, so I'm hoping that an anime series that covers everything in the manga will be in the works sometime soon.
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