within the first few minutes of directing Shoji Kawamoriof mazeThe protagonist Shiori laments that “without smartphones, humankind is doomed.” Judging from what happened later, I suspect Kawamori believed the opposite. Of course, Kawamori is most famous for his lifelong devotion to Macross franchisewhich is characterized by Mecha Most of the productions feature battles, idol singers, and love triangles. If you squint a little, you will find that these major problems also exist in maze. It seems that Hesen has been unable to extricate himself. Whether these elements come together to make a satisfying film is another matter entirely. And his favorite movie, Macross: Do you remember love?is an eternal classic, mazeReliance on modern technology and the anxieties surrounding it became obsolete almost immediately.
At the end of the screening, I put my head in my hands and sighed to myself, “How on earth am I supposed to watch this?” This is a film that is almost inexplicable. Any attempt to summarize the plot would probably leave me rambling incoherently. I guess I’ll have to give it a try. It can be said that maze Not a “good” movie by any means. However, it’s certainly a fun thing to do, and often (unintentionally) hilarious. Watching the Scotland Loves Animation Film Festival with a highly engaged audience is probably the best way to experience it mazebecause without the stunned, disbelieving laughter of my fellow moviegoers, I doubt I would have made it to the end of its bloated, nearly two-hour runtime.
Shiori is supposed to be an audience insert, an anxious high school girl who constantly apologizes for her existence. The daughter of a Titan Judo instructor with one of Ivo Robotnik’s most impressive mustaches, she rejects her family’s focus on self-improvement through martial arts. Instead, she records social media videos with her best female friend, Kirara. Their friendship is somewhat asymmetrical – Kiara is more outgoing and confident, while Shiori is secretly excited that her videos are getting more “likes” from the faceless online masses. In fact, Shiori used a secret anonymous account to spread her negativity out onto the internet rather than accepting it as part of herself.
It’s this heightened jealousy and insecurity that destroys not only their friendship, but Shiori’s identity as well. When the screen of her beloved smartphone cracks, her reality is torn apart, splitting her character in two – the more anxious version trapped in an almost silent Hill– Like an alternative dimension, a shadowy simulation similar to the real world but empty of people, and a more confident “ideal” version that instantly becomes more extroverted. Wearing a VTuber-style two-tone wig, Ideal Shiori aspires to become a modern media superstar and the most popular Japanese high school girl, with the goal of getting 100 million “likes.” She sees her anxious alter ego as a disorder and often taunts her through her apparently cloned smartphone, which appears to be able to make identical calls in the digital world, somehow without generating network errors.
We view the story primarily through the eyes of anxious Shiori. She travels through a dark, ominous liminal space inhabited by other souls who have also been sucked into the digital underworld, where they are disturbingly transformed into the smartphone stickers that most closely match their personalities. The anxious Shiori mainly participates in friend group chats through stickers to hide her true emotions and only communicate superficially. The constant need to be interconnected and communicate with each other proves to be exhausting and exhausting; so when Kirara completely disconnects and ghosts Shiori, who panics, perhaps Kirara too has been sucked into this world and lost her soul. The only thing keeping Shiori from losing her phone was that her smartphone was still charged. Yes, in maze The only thing standing between humans and silent digital emojis is the existence of backup battery packs. I know I get anxious and low on battery when I go out, but maze Take battery anxiety to the extreme.
The human soul is restrained and suppressed by huge industrial equipment that molds the three-dimensional body into a flat image. A large amount of red digital text spurts out from between the thick plates, clearly symbolizing blood. It’s cool imagery, and I wish the movie was a little more heavy-handed. If anything, the aesthetic is similar to recent Hatsune Miku movies colorful stageunfortunately despite noticeably less music.
Anxious Shiori meets Komori, a sad-looking pink bunny sticker man who seems to know a lot about the world – the eventual reveal of his true identity probably meant a huge shock, but I guessed it immediately. This isn’t the movie with the most subtle plot. Komori is funny, especially when he becomes so hapless and useless that Shiori has to put a dog collar and a rope on him, dragging him behind her to float like a balloon and bump into things.
If you weren’t already insane mazeThe central plot later turns completely insane, with evil mastermind Kagami Katsu planning to “liberate everyone’s ideal self” and an anxious Shiori and Komori trying to stop it all…somehow.
Aesthetically, the film has its moments, especially in the digital underworld, which serves as a dark mirror to our own. Unfortunately, all the character animation is done using 3D CG, which, while it does a decent job of simulating 2D animation, lacks any real-life authenticity. The characters move like dolls rather than actual, living, breathing characters. Naturally exaggerated movements like squeeze and stretch, and other techniques that bring character movement to life are often used in traditional animation, but these techniques are almost non-existent. Yes, there’s some pretty entertaining slapstick here and there, as well as interesting character expressions, but it’s nowhere near the spirit and atmosphere of Kawamori’s previous work.
for most mazeThe festival audience sat in silence until some of the crazier plot decisions were met with laughter in disbelief. For the most part, the film is pretty straightforward, which is odd for a story that features a floating pink bunny character and an evil music producer who wants to take over the world. The scene where Kagami takes Ideal Shiori to his bedroom and begins suggestively unzipping his tracksuit top elicits hysterical laughter from the audience, which will become obvious if you’ve seen the movie.
Multiple similar examples littered mazeand it’s hard to tell whether the crazy choices that trigger such hilarity are intentional, which is why this movie is so difficult to review. None of the parts fit together correctly. The angsty Shiori is a rather unappealing, dull protagonist for much of the film, although the fake/ideal version of her is more interesting, and that’s probably the point. Kagami creates a somewhat bland villain whose plan is unclear and seems overly complicated. The rules of the world seem to change at the whim of the author, and crazy things happen mostly out of the blue. It’s like a list of crazy ideas, all strung together without any coherent plan.
i found maze A struggle to endure, but found some aspects very interesting. Maybe my mistake was watching it become cold sober. As one of my fellow festivalgoers pointed out, it’s best to watch it on the boat with at least a few beers. I certainly cannot recommend without reservation mazebut if you’re craving some classic “What am I watching right now?” maze Are there any you cover?
