Drifting Home review: Netflix’s anime celebrates change, with a fantasy spin

As a child, moving to a new home was less of an adventure and more like facing the destruction of the known world. That apocalyptic feel should seem overly dramatic in hindsight, but penguin highway Director Hiroyasu Ishida takes it seriously and gives it a surprisingly literal face in his second anime feature. drift homeis currently streaming on Netflix. drift home‘s elementary school protagonists, Kousuke and Natsume, when they come to terms with the loss of their former apartment, suddenly take them and their friends on board and head to the middle of the ocean.

In a neighborhood on the verge of regeneration, where old housing complexes are gradually being replaced by new water towers and industrial buildings, Kamonomiya Danchi is a remnant of post-war growth in the 1960s. Kousuke and Natsume used to live in these “haunted apartments,” which are now slated for demolition and are reportedly occupied only by ghosts. From the beginning, the slow disappearance of their home clearly symbolizes a friendship threatened by change and time. People drifted apart.

The beautifully simple opening sequence traces the friendship they once had, going back to a time when the neighborhood was thriving. Scaffolding, mold, rust and weathering fade away as the shot moves past. After a brief preparation at school, Kousuke and some friends embark on a journey in search of a ghost that supposedly haunts an old apartment. Instead, they run into Natsume and her strange new friend Noppo, who claims to be a former resident.

Eventually, a sudden downpour pulls them out of the real world, and the dilapidated apartment complex begins to drift like a raft on the sea, seemingly without hope of salvation.alike penguin highway, Ishida stages an early coming-of-age tale in which the world disappears abruptly but seamlessly on the porous border between fantasy and mediocrity. It’s a magical moment that feels like real magic combined with a concise edit. That sense of eerieness persists throughout the film, thanks to Ishida and co-writer Morimori’s excellent instincts for not getting bogged down in the mechanics of what’s going on. Stories are simply driven by emotion, not explanation.

The journey becomes both a trip down memory lane and a last-ditch conflict about what’s going on between two old friends. As they grope towards mutual understanding, their friendship grows stronger due to their shared relationship with Kousuke’s recently deceased grandfather Yasuji, who has lived in the apartment since it was first built. Yasuji involved both children in hobby photography, taking the place of Natsume’s own dysfunctional family. Natsume reaches the limits of his friendship. Natsume has a hard time letting go of her attachment to that place, which could cost her and her future relationship with Kousuke.

At this point in life, change is shockingly new to the two children, so leaving the place and the memories it contains is like removing the limbs, an idea Ishida and Mori play in the script. is.The symbolism of young people becoming drifters at a temporary point in their lives – even the specific idea of ​​impossibly drifted buildings – is seen over and over again in the anime and most recently in the series. sunny boydirected by Shingo Natsume.

However drift home Mr. Ishida and Mr. Mori also asked: What if the feelings the characters had for this place were mutual? Noppo is the creepiest touch of magic in the movie. He’s a lanky, vaguely creepy boy who looks like the personification of an apartment complex. While Noppo’s true nature has been widely reported, the depth of connection Noppo has with his children is novel and moving. So does the extent of his pain. He laments being abandoned.

The entire complex’s personification—who has his own journey to reconcile the process of losing Kousuke and Natsume to their new apartment—threatens no small amount of banality. His skin is regenerated by plants. It’s like an abandoned building disappearing under grass, moss and mold. Through Noppo, the existence of this post-war architecture becomes something ephemeral, and it is interesting and often moving to see Ishida grapple with how children confront these ideas of impermanence for people and places. .

Ikemen animation production by Studio Colorido (penguin highway, whisker away) does a lot to sell its outlandish premise. Structures move and break with incredible weight, while the driving action is about buildings floating on the sea like rafts. Akihiro Nagae’s designs remain realistic even when presented to children as fantastical. Photorealistic background art contrasts modernity with mid-century post-war architecture, but Ishida’s direction is not obsessed with realism. It never contradicts the film’s sense of crisis when the director utilizes broad and sometimes springy physical comedy in the character’s interactions with these environments: Use to reach the adjacent floating building and smash through the tin.Bounce around the room below like a pinball.

In exploring both childish whimsy and sensitivity, drift home continue Ishida’s work penguin highway: Both films show an equal hand in portraying children in all their capacity for selfishness, selflessness and even wisdom. Moments of enlightenment are interspersed with incredibly immature impulses. Even his seemingly grown-up perceptions quickly fit into more childish feelings.

Image: Netflix

Again, Ishida is interested in the quarrels and conflicts of the characters, but neither side is necessarily wrong. , the film journeys towards them becoming more self-aware of their emotions and more empathetic towards their friends as they let go of the short-sighted worldview that comes with childhood. One girl, Reyna, increasingly shifts to the focus of the film, but is amusingly contradicted in this way — she poses as an adult, pragmatic member of the group, but a rollercoaster Although she makes herself look big by constantly bragging about her upcoming trip to Florida (sometimes even wearing a Miami T-shirt as a constant reminder), the fuss is Kousuke’s. It soon becomes apparent that this is a childish bid for attention. As a result, she becomes eager to shoot Natsume down at every opportunity. is a window into the persuasive approach of

I have enough energy drift home Spending two hours in one place with minimal background doesn’t really feel like overkill. The apartment feels spacious and the kids will pass by other abandoned buildings that are opportunities for adventure.The movie can’t sustain the plot as much as it does penguin highway‘s funny bird hijinks, especially by gradually unleashing its film’s scientific approach to fantasy. drift home Children make up for the lack of process with very real dangers, as they need to forage for food to survive as castaways.

Despite the generally strong character work, Ishida and Mori hurt more from panic and often yell at each other, causing them to repeatedly punch notes among the other characters. Affects a decrease in revenue. But at least moments like that feel like a pretty incredible portrayal of kids stranded alone, especially in the middle of a food-scavenging battle against time.

The overall journey is smartly and sensitively accomplished, but there are some points. drift home Feels a little lost at sea (appropriately!) as its characters wrestle between youthful impulses and empathy for their friends. Either way, the film deserves credit for its patient commitment to unlocking children’s feelings for each other, buildings, and other relics of their past as they learn how to carry attachments and memories to new places.

drift home Currently streaming on Netflix.