Nerawareta Gakuen (Sunrise, movie)

[Folenfant]

Originally Posted by cyth

Let's just say that the animation really isn't the biggest problem here. Once you'll watch the whole thing, I believe you could agree with me on at least that point. Seeing though as how you've already established yourself as its defender though (even though you haven't fully watched it yet), I have my doubts about your future honesty!

I'm always skeptical when it comes to negative reactions to Sunrise productions because I've come to notice over the years their works get far more scrutiny and harsh reactions than most and to be honest I rarely find it deserved and if I do usually not to the degree they get. If the movie has issues I plan on acknowledging them, not singling them out and making them my sole focus in reacting. I find too much of that sort of thing happens already.

[Kanon]

Is anybody familiar with the original novel by Mayumura Taku? I've been told this movie is a sequel to it, kind of like what they did with Tokikake. If it's true, it could explain why some plot points are confusing.

[Flawfinder]

What the crap was that? This movie was every single bland romance cliche in the book, except with beautiful animation and excellent cinematography. Unfortunately, that lost its appeal around the 1-hour mark and I was left with a movie that had little to do with psychic powers, no wars or any real conflict, and a bullshit ending that nullified much of the emotional buildup. It felt like a better animated, worse everything else version of The Girl Who Leapt Through Time.

Oh, and let's beat up the main character ten or more times because he said something stupid, because it was so funny the first time.

PS: Also dude, if you can't hear a girl say that she loves you when she screams it about twenty times, you fail.

[-Sho-]

Even if the animation was too excessive & story was blank , i still enjoyed it for the characters & the bit of romance.
Glad that Seki will realize how lucky he's to get such a beautiful Natsuki girl.(except the punchingbag parts...)

[pagan poor]

So if you haven't read the original novel, then much of the ending makes little sense? I guess it's all about the animation and romance then. The rest of it.. uh, yeah.

[Lantern]

Originally Posted by Kanon

Is anybody familiar with the original novel by Mayumura Taku? I've been told this movie is a sequel to it, kind of like what they did with Tokikake. If it's true, it could explain why some plot points are confusing.

All I can say is, without at least some idea of how the 'world' runs based on the original novel, the plot is nigh impossible to understand.

I watched it blind the first time, and ended up with a face full of '????'
Then after reading some explanation regarding how 'psychics' and 'time traveling' work in this world setting (Seki's grandpa/Kyogoku's father relationship is entirely optional to understand this film imo), my second watch made a lot more sense.

[Folenfant]

Originally Posted by Revan21

I was paying attention as much as I could but I still did not understand several parts, like

Spoiler for Huh?:

- what was all that about the small Natsuki travelling back in time and getting hurt instead of Ken. When did that happen and how (the injury), how could she travel back anyway and what power did she loose?
- what was Kyogoku talking about with his 'father' - and if the squirel was his father who's the Professor Kyogoku the animal was refering to earlier? Grandpa? - that his father could not send Kyogoku's mother back to that time because he was already there?
- why did the grandpa die when Ken disappeared
- and where did Ken disappear to? He just took Kyogoku back to the future, dropped him off and came back?
- what was the meaning behind the whole issue with the cellphones? It looked like it was that Yamagawa girl's personal vendetta and Kyogoku had no real interest in it, but then how did it serve the main characters interests?

I was okay with most of the movie but that last 10minutes were confusing as Hell

I believe I can sort of try to answer your questions now:

Spoiler for answers to questions:

-There's a scene of dialogue around the one hour mark where Kenji and Natsuki muse over how one of them got hurt crawling into the other windows one time. Kenji seems to think it was Natsuki that got hurt doing this, but Natsuki insists it was him and there's some confusion. Natsuki goes to insist that they were talking over the string phone, but then Kahori interrupts them to thank Kenji for looking after her after what happened with Yamagawa and the conversation moves toward what to do about Kyogoku. That's as far as the actual discussion gets and as for how that happened or what that scene with her remembering travelling back in time to save him I have no idea. Must have been something from the original novel since this is apparently a sequel.

- Ken's grandpa knew Kyogoku's father apparently and by the sounds of it they quarreled in the original story and apparently their mother was related to it all. This movie seems to be a followup to those events. Also I think Grandpa was saying to Kyogoku that he could live in this time and potentially meet his mother (the other half he was referring to), but Kenji chose not to. Probably good because it'd likely create a time paradox that way.

- He's alive in the credits, I think it's implied that the two of them leaving managed to create a time shift whereby nobody ever developed psychic powers in the present time and that they're all better off for it with everything returning to a more natural state. Though Kenji returning with one of those familiars kind of throws a monkey wrench into that theory after the fact. Again I think the time travel is absolutely the most confusingly handled aspect of the movie.

-At first the whole cell phone thing seems to have started off as an issue regarding something that happened to that one Yamagawa girl on the student council, my guess is an embarrassing photo that got out that was drove her to consider suicide.

After she was awakened by Kyogoku though it's implied she took it a step further with her new found knowledge and lease on life and pushed forward an outright ban on carrying them on school premises because she saw them as an impure/imperfect/false form of communication with others that was a sham compared to their psychic telepathic powers that allowed the psychics to truly understand each others thoughts and feelings and prevent conflict and misery like cell phones apparently causes her.

Basically the way I see it it's a power trip thing where she feels she is doing the students a favor and that the only way to survive in the future is to get rid of such imperfect devices now and attempt to awaken. She's a lot more militant than Kyogoku whose goal seems to be to avoid conflict with present timers if he can. It still feels like he's imposing his will on others though just the same with the idle threats and subtle manipulations he makes like with Kahori so I think the whole purity of motive and thought thing comes into question. If they really have evolved to the point Yamagawa claims why such an approach as there's when it comes to non-psychics?

Spoiler for Thoughts on movie as a whole:

Of course the irony in all this psychic stuff and one of the things I think the movie is trying to convey (along with the whole living in ones own present and natural world instead of worrying about the past or what become of the future) is that it's Natsuki, the one person professed absolutely to 100% not be a psychic at any point that seems to have the greatest empathy with others and their feelings and most embodies the Shakespeare quote about mirrors not Kyogoku despite what he espouses. It's the Psychics that are the actors I believe (there's reason for me to believe that their presence in that time may even somehow be the cause of the calamity that Kyogoku talks about in the first place and that with all of that having apparently been rewritten by Kyogoku's decision that may never even come to pass) because while the film has to tread into metaphysical sci-fi territory to convey it they are the actors as while they can read other peoples thoughts and feelings and react to them and pass it off as natural charisma they are mostly just imposing their will on others and playing a part in passing it off as those peoples true desires through manipulations. That sort of thing leads to conflict and resistance and in the end Kyogoku realizes this and forgoes his mission. There is a huge difference between knowing peoples inner thoughts and desires and understanding them. That's something only a person themselves can truly understand by looking within. I think that's ultimately the core theme of the movie.

That said I do think the whole time travel thing was kind of needlessly confusing, especially since a lot of events that were mentioned to have happened or will happen we never actually see in the movie so can't really relate to like the cataclysm that forces migration to the moon, Natsuki's apparently saving Kenji's life as some sort of time loop thing in the past, Kyogoku's father and Kenji's grandfathers argument and how Kyogoku's mother ties into all of it and just what Kenji did when he took Kyogoku back to the future anyway to apparently fix the current timeline. I can only assume this is because the movie assumes you read the original book and will be able to relate to those things, but that's a pretty big assumption no matter how popular the book may have been. I also do think at times the romantic stuff gets too sappy for my tastes (I had this problem with some of Shinkai's films too I should mention), particularly the doomed relationship between Kahori and Kyogoku, which he seems to understand is an impossibility but for whatever reason she clings to him anyway like the goody two shoes little ojou she is . For those issues that crop up towards the final act I kind of have to dock the movie a bit.

As for the whole animation thing, still disagree 100% that it in any way detracts from the film and I still think the core themes of the movie as well as some of the visual symbolism and the tie ins with concept from A Mid Summer Nights Dream (between this and Zetsuen no Tempest mashing up Shakespeare with complex time travelling super power stories seems like a thing in 2012 anime) is fairly well interwoven into the events of the story and ultimately well realized. I think a 7.5/10 would be my final overall score for Nerawareta Gakuen.

Originally Posted by pagan poor

So if you haven't read the original novel, then much of the ending makes little sense? I guess it's all about the animation and romance then. The rest of it.. uh, yeah.

It seems almost a certainty that in order to fully understand certain aspects of the storyline like Kyogokus mission and Kenji and Natsuki's apparent flirtation with time travel somewhere down the line you'd have needed to have read the original novel.

[Nachtwandler]

BTW. Someone knows than ED single comes?

[Kazu-kun]

Originally Posted by Nachtwandler

BTW. Someone knows than ED single comes?

Watanabe Mayu 3rd Single "Hikaru Monotachi" (Those who glow)
Release date: Nov 21th, 2012


The song is called “Sayonara no Hashi”

Also, you can watch the actual PV here:

http://alive.in.th/watch_video.php?v=5X452GGNHKGR

[Westlo]

Originally Posted by Folenfant

I'm always skeptical when it comes to negative reactions to Sunrise productions because I've come to notice over the years their works get far more scrutiny and harsh reactions than most and to be honest I rarely find it deserved and if I do usually not to the degree they get. If the movie has issues I plan on acknowledging them, not singling them out and making them my sole focus in reacting. I find too much of that sort of thing happens already.

And like I've told you before most of those harsh reactions are set to sequels that people are disappointed in because they like the originals (Destiny, R2, Otome, 00 Movie) as well as Gundam fans being pricks in general (SEED, 00, AGE), though you can't argue they have been wrong with the last few series... It's not like you see these extreme reactions for Love Live, Horizon, Tiger & Bunny, believe it or not there isn't a massive agenda against Sunrise. You'll get the "this is mecha, it sucks" crowd, so what, moe anime gets the same shit slung at it, so does harem, yuri etc.

[Nachtwandler]

Kazu-kun

Oh. Really. I just forgot that I have it.

[Folenfant]

Originally Posted by Westlo

And like I've told you before most of those harsh reactions are set to sequels that people are disappointed in because they like the originals (Destiny, R2, Otome, 00 Movie) as well as Gundam fans being pricks in general (SEED, 00, AGE), though you can't argue they have been wrong with the last few series... It's not like you see these extreme reactions for Love Live, Horizon, Tiger & Bunny, believe it or not there isn't a massive agenda against Sunrise. You'll get the "this is mecha, it sucks" crowd, so what, moe anime gets the same shit slung at it, so does harem, yuri etc.

I'll just say I think it is the ultimate destiny of all large and passionate fandoms to render themselves pettily unhappy on some level and leave it at that.

[Revan21]

After having slept on it, I now think the movie has pretty much showed the middle finger to the entire sci-fi genre and saying 'Why so serious?'

That would explain Natsuki's trial scene which is the height of the conflict and just about when everything should have gone to hell, bursts in Kenji, diffuses the situation by showing off a bit, then laughs the whole thing off. Upon exiting the room arrives Kyogoku, all set to have their meaningful battle but Kenji immediately shuts him down and suggests that they should have a 'beach episode' instead. And after that even Kyogoku realizes that the whole thing is pointless

To me, with all his ditzyness Kenji now represents the carefreeness that a child should have. He and his friends are all young and foolish, there are meaningless romcom relationships between them, and they are having the happiest time of their lives. At this point, why should they be concerned with the fate of the Earth or the entire human race? Have the adults think about that, because it should not be the childrens problem. And the sci-fi genre where the fate of the world always rests on the shoulders of teenagers, can take a hike

Originally Posted by Folenfant

I believe I can sort of try to answer your questions now:

Thanks for clearing some of that up.
I must have missed that scene in the credits

It's still strange though, that the grandpa is able to seal Kenji's psychic powers, although the explanation and the reason for that must be in the novel.

From what I've read in the movie's summary,

Spoiler for Movie Spoiler:

it was Kenji's grandma who was the psychic, to the point that she could actually travel through time simply by will, much like in TGWLTT. That would explain how Natsuki was able to travel at a very young age and how Kenji took Kyogoku home without the hourglass device.

There was also another girl in that story with similar powers (she probably got hers from Kyogoku's father), who was in confrontation with Kenji's grandma and introduced some fasict system to their school, banning all fun. It's pretty much the same as Kyogoku and Yamagawa, but as it turns out, Kyogoku's father must have took that girl back with him to the future after they have lost - snatching a school girl from the past, smooth

[Dop]

Well I quite liked that. It was very pretty, shiny, glittery, and had obviously graduated from the J.J. Abrams school of ridiculous lens flare. While I'm not entirely sure it all made sense it was still enjoyable. Although reading previous comments I guess it would make more sense to people who had read the original novel?

I did love the comic way the big Student Council confrontation was handled, and then the beach scene. There was I thinking that sitting on the beach in the pouring rain was just a British thing!

I'd not noticeably heard anything about this in advance, so it came as a pleasant surprise.

[cyth]

Originally Posted by Revan21

That would explain Natsuki's trial scene which is the height of the conflict and just about when everything should have gone to hell, bursts in Kenji, diffuses the situation by showing off a bit, then laughs the whole thing off. Upon exiting the room arrives Kyogoku, all set to have their meaningful battle but Kenji immediately shuts him down and suggests that they should have a 'beach episode' instead. And after that even Kyogoku realizes that the whole thing is pointless

Pretty much this is what I meant with it making fun out of any attempt to create serious animation. I can't respect such works. Although it is true so many sci-fi try so hard and fall flat on their face because their direction and dramaturgy is botched up or severely lacking. I can appreciate criticism, but not when it's executed in an even more pointless manner than the rest of them.

[Haak]

I'm actually glad the trial scene ended the way it did since:
1) It was funny as hell.
2) I thought they were being overdramatic about the whole thing to begin with so I'm glad it wasn't taken too seriously.

What i did mind though was that were was absolutely no follow up. So are those students still psychic or something? I'm pretty sure that's gonna create major issues somewhere down the line. Is the school still full of Phone-Nazis? That was never resolved at all.

And ultimately i don't even know what the purpose of the whole phone thing was. What were they trying to explore there? My best guess is that the story meant for psychic communication to be analogous to mobile phones in that they can alienate people who don't have them but honestly I'm not sure why that's a subject worthy of consideration in the first place. How often does that ever become a serious problem? I suppose it's a serious issue when it's related to bullying but then in that case the issue should be about the bullying itself. The whole ban at the start was stupid to begin with since it's not going to prevent bullying the story was pretty dead set on portraying it as the wise solution what with the only detractors being portrayed as petulant girls (I wish that girl had more screentime btw. ) or only angry due to group mentality or whatever the student council members were getting at.

[Julio C]

The movie was a bit a confusing, but I kinda understood some parts. I really like this movie, the characters were so fun. The art style was just way out there, very well done. The animation was top notch. This one of the best looking animated movies I ever seen. I love the colors and lighting.

[iceaco]

So it looks like this movie's going to be a hit or miss depending on the viewers. Kind of the feeling I get from Paprika.
I hope someone will drop by this forum and tell us the relevant stuff from the novel to explain the story, but otherwise I really enjoyed it.
There'll be some viewers that can't link the points together and can't enjoy the story, but I'm surprised how delicately it was woven. It wasn't like 'oh, so that's why this happen' but it's more like.. after a few seconds.. 'wait.. That's what that meant?!'

Anyways, I do have a few questions,

Spoiler:

So Kenji didn't keep Kyogoku in the current era? And Harukawa's pretty much ditched?
How is Kyogoku related to kenji? His alternate future self? His alternate-universe half-brother? If i guess it close.. who's Ken's little sister? Is she a psychic? She was floating - I thought she was gonna be deleted.

[Aesthetic Shampoo]

Cell phones? That was one stupid movie.

[Pocari_Sweat]

I am thoroughly confused to what the point of this movie was.

At first I thought it was going to be an animated J/K-drama-esque melodrama romance (with minimal supernatural elements) but what we got instead was something that was actually heavy on the sci-fi/supernatural elements and trying to take the plot seriously whilst having every J/K-drama romance cliche in the book and being very loud and obnoxious. No restrain or subtlety whatsoever.

Now if it was a straight romance I probably would have guiltily liked it as I -can- have a soft spot for sappy stories at times if its in a romanticized format (and then probs just bash it for lulz like I do with Anohana and the like ) but the plot little or no friggin sense to the point where I felt it just pointless and it completely ruined the movie. In the end it seemed like someone mashed Shinkai's art style (it was very pretty albeit TOO MUCH LENS FLARE AND SAKURA SPAM) with the plot of Girl Who Leapt Through Time but ended up trainwrecking like Guilty Crown or Valverave.

Quite disappointing. Talking about Shinkai... seriously, he somewhat disappointed me with Garden of Words and but this ended up being like 3x worse. FML. Do I have to put my faith on out of all people Mari Okada's Nagi no Asu Kara in fall for my romance fix? That doesn't even look good on the PVs