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I found the time! I mentioned beforehand on my Twitter that there may not be blogs for this week, but I did manage to find time in my hectic schedule to write on up. I will not promise that there will be blogs the following week, I am still pushing through midterms and major assignments. If you do not see a post next Wednesday or Saturday, expect Sunday to be jam-packed with blog posts!

ALRIGHT! Today, I am continuing on with my movie review spree. But today we’re going to be talking about Hotarubi no Mori e, which in my opinion has one of the saddest endings to an Anime movie that I have ever seen. Let’s get on with the review.

Story: 9/10
The romance story of a forbidden love seemed very unoriginal after years of silly soap dramas reusing the plot over and over again. But a sprinkle of supernatural and innocence made Hotarubi no Mori e different from the others, and better. The love story between the two main characters was so pure, hanging only on feelings and personality since any form of skin touch was not allowed.

This made the emotions draw out better, easier to sympathize with. Despite the movie only being 45 minutes, the pacing went really well. About every point in the relationship was shown and the final conclusion was a huge bang. I thought it was unexpected, which I’m sure was what the writers were going for. I ended up getting way more emotional than I initially thought I was, which really shows how the movie was able to grow on you. It was a wonderful film and I just wanna watch it again and again.

Characters: 8/10
Only two characters you need to care about here: Hotaro and Gin.Atn the beginning of the movie, Hotaro was still a typical little anime girl. I wasn’t sure what to think of her. But you follow her as she grows into a high school student and she ends up slowly growing on you. Her perspective on Gin’s supernatural life is similar to how we’re seeing him. You end up sympathizing with how she feels and is dealing with the big issue in the movie.

While plain, Hotaro was still lovable and easy to relate to. Gin was a unique character. His spell of being unable to come into contact with no human and his entire being was filled with mysteriousness. I wanted to learn more about him and was intrigued as much as Hotaro was. In the end, it touched my heart seeing how these two bonded together. I wish they had different scenes of interaction, but given the limits they gave, the movie had about as much as it could.

Sound: 8/10
The sounds of Hotari no Mori e were pretty well done. The soundtrack was a treat for my ears and was very pleasant to listen to. It amplified the emotions, especially the climax scene, incredibly well. It filled the movie with happiness, lightheartedness, and sadness to create a more dramatic effect. The closing song tied the whole movie together and created a sense of calm and closure. While not being too amazing to be remembered, the soundtrack was still great.

Animation: 8/10
The animation was in my opinion, alright. Nothing too high quality came out from this movie. The characters were colored a bit flat but still had a sense of life to them. However, Hotari still had many beautiful backdrops that were lovely to look at when the time came. The animation wasn’t so bad that I wanted to gauge my eyes out, but it also wasn’t incredibly praiseworthy my – if you know what I mean.

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