2016 was a powerful year for anime feature films in Japan. Among the output, three specific films ("Your Name.," "A Silent Voice," and "In This Corner of the World") met international acclaim from critics, and some arguement came about which of the three was the best among them. Certainly "Your Name." got the most universal success, and "A Silent Voice" featured a personally emoitional story highlighting the effects of bullying and disability that got it special attention. Of these three, "In This Corner of the World" is a fictional biographical account of Japanese citizens during the mid-1940's, around the period when the island would be bombed by America during World War II. This isn't the first war-drama surrounding these events in Japan and it won't be the last, but it is still effective material to tell a story around. And for better or for worse, the movie is unorthadox in its editing and art style, making it stand out as an artist's vision while also limiting its appeal."In This Corner of the World" did receive a limited theatrical release in the USA by Funimation, but its dubbed home video release would ultimately come from Shout! Factory in 2017. Anime fans were likely puzzled by this, since the movie was something of a major deal, and Shout! was not known for releasing any other anime works at the time (the closest its catelog had consisted of old American Nickelodean shows). Upon starting the disc, I also saw the "Manga Entertainment" label, which makes the deal more sensible: Manga Entertainment had a very small but still active presense in the USA out of its base in the UK, and every year or so would release such a film in the USA, often partnering with another existing house to actually produce the physical media. The Bluray/DVD combo-pack is surprisingly affordable, includes both the English and Japanese dub, as well as some fascinating interviews with the creators, a digital copy, and a printed preview of the manga the film is based on. Overall, its a lovely release, right down to the subtly pretty disc menu.The film itself is a bit of an oddity to watch, as it doesn't really have a story. The movie consists of many segments, most only about five-minutes long each, edited together with the date at the beginning indicating any jumps in time. The main character is Suzu, a sweet Japanese girl who admits she is a bit of a daydreamer with trouble remembering or focusing, who also has a love and talent for drawing. By 1944, a suitor asks for her hand in marriage, and even though she doesn't recognize the man, she accepts. After moving to her new family, she learns that the marriage was in part to help assist running the house while her husband worked and while her mother was bedridden with a handicap. Slowly she gets accustomed to the new home and becomes a useful housewife through learning to cook and clean. Aside from some brief moments of family drama, nothing in particular happens.Of course, this all occurs around 1944. As Suzu walks through the town to buy food for the family, we see that the town is under ration restrictions, which slowly get worse over time. Suzu's husband works at a low-ranking post in the naval forces. In the distance, Suzu and her new family can see naval boats off the coast practicing for battle. Air raid sirens occur every so often, sometimes as false alarms, sometimes as real threats, and the family hides in their local bomb shelter as practiced each time. It's a fascinating thing to see: there is an air of tension, but the people all act as if this is simply a normal part of their daily lives. They still cook and clean and work and live. They talk casually about local gossip and about family relationships. Each segment of the movie seems to end with a laugh, as the film is mostly lighthearted with clever moments of comedy. This is all fine and admirable, but I waited for a long time for something to actually HAPPEN. It isn't easy to watch through, as there doesn't seem to be any end target for the events, and each segment in general starts and ends rather quickly, making for some very strange pacing. I felt like I was watching an animated version of what newspaper comics would have been published in Japan around this time period (assuming such a thing existed at the time): short jokes and commentary with a quick setup and punchline, simply commenting on the daily lives and unusual developments in living in a lighthearted manner to make the citizens feel better. The film is over two hours long (almost double what it really needed) and I wasn't interested in watching this type of humor for that long.Inevitably, about two-thirds into the movie, tragedy does strike. After numerous false alarms and living normally, characters do die, the first being probably the most effective at making the audience tear up. Suzu herself is physically and emotionally scarred. Initially a one-dimensional compliant Japanese housewife, she suddenly has to deal with loss, guilt, rage and fear. The tragic events then pile up one after the other, both to Suzu's family-in-law, to her original family back in Hiroshima (you can guess what happens there), and to their neighbors. The war ends not long after, much to the frustration of the citizens ("why did we lose so much only to give up the battle?"), who ultimately live on, thankful that the fighting and death would soon be over.
And so, if there is any point to the story (or lack there-of), it's of the resiliance of the Japanese people. Much like the British motto of "keep calm and carry on," many continued living despite the incredible circumstances of the period, mostly because there was simply nothing else that could be done. It reminds us of the horrors of war from groundlevel, and why we should never want to commit such actions again. It's a bit of a chore to get to these themes, but the nice moments of life were necessary to understand the emotional turmoil that would follow. It is to date, I think, the most effective animated World War II drama I've seen.I would compare this movie to "Grave of the Fireflies" and "My Neighbors the Yamadas" in both themes and style. Notice that both of these films are from Studio Ghibli veteran Isao Takahata, which I think is a compliment to director Sunao Katabuchi. He originally became successful after directing "Black Lagoon," a wholly different type of anime, and "In This Corner of the World" further proves he has more range than almost any other director in animation.The animation itself varies a bit, and looks different from any other anime. The backgrounds in particular are incredibly detailed and true to the period, painted in pastel and watercolor, static with no modern camera shots (if they animate at all, it is animated in the way a high-school student might, by adding layered transparent paintings on top and repeating a few frames to show grass or leaves rustling). The character designs and animation... well, this goes back to my comment of this looking like a newspaper comic from the funny pages. All the characters, even the adults, look like big-headed, barefoot, Japanese children. Suzu in particular leans on a cute expression of her eyes closed and smiling mouth timidly open, an expression to show her embaressment when she forgets where to go or forgets someone's name. The expressions are cute and subtle, but the animation is limited, almost to the point of being crude. The visual highlights come from Suzu's background as a talented artist. While she doesn't actually ever pursue it anymore than as a hobby, the film sometimes takes her point of view when seeing events occur: its a inspired scene to see bombs in the sky drawn as splashes of colored paint, or to see Suzu's trauma with her eyes closed as a series of scratches in the dark. These moments only make a few minutes out of the movie, but in this contrast are absolutely beautiful. I was worried that the movie would be about a compliant daydreamer who does nothing but sketch as war surrounds her, but this was an inspired personailty choice for the story being told, and is handled with immense creativity.The music is quite lovely, mostly of sweet Japanese lullaby sounds along the countryside. The English dub feels quite wooden, and for this type of movie it makes sense to want to watch in Japanese anyway... except the Japanese dub didn't sound much better. Any emotion doesn't come until the last third, at which point the actors do a great job, but it doesn't help the beginnings in getting there.I am a bit torn about how I felt watching "In This Corner of the World." It's not the first war drama to set itself for an emotional payoff by filling the first half with distracting sweetness, but its an effective tactic. It's funny enough to be entertaining, but the editing and flow is so jarring that it is difficult to sit through that first half. I think if you feel tired of yet another anime that mentions atomic bombs inspired by the events of World War II, you won't fall for this. On the other hand, if you appreciate that history, you will fall in love with the movie and its characters. I guess all I can say is repeat that this is, to date, the most effect World War II animated film I've seen yet. Even in the most devasated parts of the world, there exist beauty and love that allows life to continue.... in late 2017, reports came out saying that an extended cut with an extra 30 minutes would be made after the success of the film's release. Heck no. The film is already too bloody long, ignore that and just watch the original version. You're welcome.