Christine Kapenda

WARNING: THERE MAY BE SOME SPOILERS This movie was stunning in so many ways. I give it a 4/5 because i think it was a little too long as some scenes were dragged in my opinion. However, it was still amazing nonetheless. Here are some of my thoughts on the movie I really enjoyed how they tackled the topic of grief. From my understanding of the movie, I feel like Noppo represents the memories that Natsume had and Kosuke represents the future. this was very apparent when their old building was sinking and the kids were trying to build a raft. When Natsume asked if Noppo was coming along, everyone (except Reina) was quite hesitant. after much contemplation, they decided to bring him along but when Noppo decided to remain behind, Natsume was met with a choice One, to either keep moving forward or two, to remain behind. And she chose to remain. I think these scenes really symbolized the stage of grief she was in. Natsume was not ready to let go of all the memories she had. She actively chose to remain in the past even though everyone forced her to move forward. Natsume's character Natsume had a sadly relatable character. she was someone who felt like she couldn't express her emotions as she felt that she would be a burden to the people around her. She, I believe resulted from her childhood trauma of her parents splitting up. she always took the blame for everything because she felt that everything was happening because of her mere existence. Reina's character Another character that also stood out to me was Reina, mainly because of bitter she was to Natsume most of the time. I feel like Reina was an extension of Natsume. She sort of symbolized how Natsume felt about herself and possibly talked to herself. this is why whenever Reina accused her of it being her fault on countless occasions, Natsume never really stood up for herself, because she genuinely believed it was true. Kosuke's character Not to forget Kosuke who was also grieving as well and was lowkey consumed with guilt and regret as he felt things could have ended up differently. I feel like he also struggled with his emotions by acting like nothing really bothered him. Throughout the movie, they go through challenges and countless storms that helped them heal and get to understand each other. However, grief was not the only topic in this movie, there was also the topic of friendship and much more. I just decided to focus more on grief :) Also, I know I focused more on how these characters were sort of centered around Natsume but there weren't really. I think the perspective of grief, it might appear that way. If you reached this far, thank you for reading. It really means a lot that you took the time to read what I thought of this anime movie regardless of whether you agree with me or not.