I've watched my fair share of animes that made me cry in my life: Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica, Ano Hana, You Lie in April, Grave of Fireflies, Your Name (not sure about the last one but we'll include it anyway.) Unlike Hotarubi no Mori e, they took more time for me to become invested; it took several episodes or extra minutes for those to tell a story, to develop the plot, and for me to fall in love with the characters. In less than an hour, Hotarubi no Mori e does all that. It had me laughing, uwu-ing, and crying in that timeframe. It delivered so much in so little time, and I'm left hungry for more!
The story follows a girl name Hotaru Takegawa, who visits her uncle every summer. In the summer of her sixth year, she got lost in an ancient forest, rumored to be inhabited by spirits. While lost, she encounters and befriends a masked forest spirit named Gin, who'll disappear if he touches a human, or if a human touches him: they explain why, don't worry. Gin and Hotaru grow close over the years, as Hotaru spend every day of summer with Gin in the forest.
As the anime progresses, viewers see their relationship blossom and viewers root for them. I am iffy with the pacing because I found it slow in the beginning, but it was too fast the closer it got to the end. I was thinking about Kepler's Law while writing that, ew... I wish some "young Hotaru" scenes were omitted and replaced with teenaged Hotaru or an epilogue. There's nothing spectacular about the art: the character design isn't unique, nor is the color gorgeous, a la Your Name. It's simple, cute, and charming. I liked how Japanese mythology, yokai/spirits, was incorporated because I find it fascinating; I also seldom see it in western works. It's a sweet and beautiful anime with such an unsatisfying ending! I want a sequel badly, or maybe a little update
Oh. My. Gumdrops! I just heard about this the other day and was planning to sit down and watch it!!!
ReplyDeleteDO IT NOW!
DeleteHaha, I will!!
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