"Summer Time Machine Blues" - Review

A group of friends are part of the "Sci-Fi Club", not because they are fans of science fiction, but because the recreation room has the only working air conditioning unit in the school. After a baseball game, a few strange events occur, culminating in the remote control for the air conditioning unit breaking. Despondent, all seems lost... But when a time machine arrives, accompanied by a strange boy in a bowl haircut, the gang get an idea: they can use this time machine to return to the past, retrieve the remote before it was broken, and resume sitting pretty in an air conditioned room! Unfortunately, time travel has consequences...

It took me way too long to realise that this title was a pun. This movie is delightful. A tight, sharply written adaptation of a stage play, and a sweet ensemble piece about teenagers on a hot day. The time travel is wound like a tight spring, coming to a satisfying ending with a neat bow up on top, and the performances, whilst broad, are good. The always lovely Juri Ueno (from "Swing Girls", side note: please watch "Swing Girls", that's a great movie) is a welcome standout, and lead actor Eita anchors it sweetly. The Professor is a fun character too. It's saturated with the brightness of the sunshine, and simply staged, but its small scale and low stakes plot are endearing. I really rather enjoy this as a light hearted affair, and it's perfectly harmless, witty afternoon viewing.

"7 Days War" - Review

It's summer time, and Mamoru Suzuhara has a confession to make: he is deeply in love with wealthy classmate Aya Chiyono, and has been for a long time. Every year on her birthday, he purchases her a gift, but never has the courage to give it to her. But when he finds out that her father is moving to Tokyo, from their small country town, and that he will never get a chance to see her again: Mamoru throws caution to the wind! He convinces Aya to run away with him for a few days, to camp out at an abandoned factory, and she is elated enough with the idea and agrees! But things don't go quite according to plan - since it's her birthday, Aya decides to bring her friends along: popular, ever-video-streaming Saki; popular confident jock Ogata; the mysterious and quiet Honjo (whom nobody is entirely sure why he is here...); and perky, upbeat, sporty and best girl Kaori; and what Mamoru hoped would be a confession of love between two friends turns into a crowded final farewell between a lot of Aya's friends he doesn't really know... Further complications are hurled into the mix when the gang find a young Thai boy hiding in the abandoned factory, on the run from immigration officials; and with nothing left to lose this Summer, Mamoru and Aya decide to take a stand for this boy. Over the course of this last stand, these mismatched kids inadvertently tap into the zeitgeist and become unlikely heroes, and secrets begin to pour out into the open as this matter becomes more and more complicated...

This movie only got a UK release this year, which is both a shame (as it's quite sweet and fun) but also understandable (as it's rather slight and a bit odd). It's a pretty movie, lots of gorgeous watercolour shots and backgrounds, and the animation is slick and smooth. The character designs are charming and convey the personalities well enough, yet they spring forth out of their shells and grow over the course of the feature. They begin somewhat as archetypes, but reveal depth and rounded layers, particularly Kaori and Honjo. The revelations are earned, and pile onto an ever-escalating plot, where the antics and shenanigans are excellent, yet grounded: rivet guns and mining carts and assorted silliness are deployed in the seige against the adults, in a very "Home Alone" crossed with "Rio Bravo" sort of way. The escalation feels natural.
The movie ends up being about teenage rebellion, fighting the status quo and breaking free of the traditions and exepectations thrust upon us. It tackles it fairly well for the most part, though with a little brute force and blunt trauma in one monologue. The true high point, however, comes in its excellent subversions of the "confession of love" which plagues these sorts of dramas. The twist is absolutely fantastic, and the payoff will have you pumping the air with glee.