[brocko]

^ Child Yuki was one of the most funnest character to watch in the film. The way that she'd growl and laugh all over the place was so energetic and the child VA did an absolute bang up job of bringing that across with her character. I especially liked her very first lines of the flim. "Okaa-san! I'm hungry! *growls* Okaa-san! I'm hungry" That scene coupled with the BGM really was just so fun to watch ^_________^

Teen Ame also had a really deep voice, the change was instantly noticeable after that particularly impressive and nifty timeskip montage (another great and memorable scene for me from the film).

Originally Posted by TinyRedLeaf

Spoiler for my notes about Hana:

...2) No, I think it was the elementary school that was about two hours away from their home. The middle school was likely in another town altogether, hence the need for Yuki to stay at the dormitory, because it would have been impractical to commute....

(3)
More observations:

a) Though it was never directly mentioned, it's strongly hinted that Hana was herself brought up by a single parent. In her case, it was her father. It's very noticeable that Hana didn't have any picture of her mother. She only had a picture of her as a young girl holding her father's hand. The photo was placed prominently on top of her bookshelf when she was still a college student.

Spoiler:

The elementary school was actually only a 30 minute commute away, which I suspect may be a reason why the school bus can still go around picking them up. The middle school being 2.5 hours may very well have been in another town altogether as such a long commute is already bordering on impractical. The travel time alone for a return trip would've been 5 hours each day, and that's not even counting her school hours either.

And about Hana's father, I only noticed that picture on my 2nd watch-through as well. It doesn't get directly shown nor focused on, being in the background and the display time was only very brief too so it was a rather subtle thing to catch.

Originally Posted by TinyRedLeaf

Spoiler for my reply:

I strongly agree. I don't quite understand why so many people feel that the ending was too open-ended....

I think Duckroll put it best, that while everything manages to neatly wrap itself up by the end, the film doesn't actually traditionally build up to a climax which is something already so engrained and expected into the typical audience member. Because it's missing that aspect of traditional film structure, they feel as though it hasn't properly ended yet if it hasn't gone through one, hence the abruptness. I can appreciate that aspect of the film now, after having read the various posts here, so thanks to all the valuable insight here
I don't particularly feel as though the finale was too-opened ended either since the major conflicts within each character is largely resolved. But I can see why people could feel that way as it ends on a 'the story goes on' kind of note when people are usually more accustomed to a 'and so the tale ends here'.

Originally Posted by TinyRedLeaf

Spoiler for Sohei:

He [Sohei] probably envied the other kids at school because they had loving parents, and likely felt the same way about Yuki. That likely explained why he was so anxious to be accepted by everyone at school, including Yuki.

Spoiler:

Adding onto that, you can see him get particularly frustrated when the father of Yuki's friend came to pick her up and offered to take Yuki home as well. That's when he ran off to sulk in the classroom by himself and never came back with the cards that he was supposed to get, probably because he had thought Yuki was gone already having taken up that offer, leaving him alone by himself. You can tell he doesn't particularly enjoy his home life either, since he even hides from the school guard throughout the night.