AKA: 空の青さを知る人よ; "To Those Who Know the Blueness of the Sky"

Genre: Fantasy/Drama/Romance

Length: Movie, 108 minutes

Distributor: Currently available streaming on Netflix.

Content Rating: PG (Mature situations.)

Related Series: N/A

Also Recommended: A Whisker Away

Notes: Directed by Tatsuyuki Nagai, written by Mari Okada

Rating:

Her Blue Sky

Synopsis

When he was around 16 or 17, Shinnosuke Kanamuro was the frontman for a garage band, and sisters Akane Aioi (around his age) and Aoi (then a child) hung around the group; there was, apparently, a thing going between Shinnosuke and Akane. But Shinnosuke walked out of Akane's life, and when he finally returns, 13 years later, he's spiritually broken, a drunk, and, worst of all, a backup musician for an egotistical enka singer named Dankichi Nitobe. But meanwhile, Akane's young sister Aoi- who has aspirations of her own to play bass guitar- finds, hiding in a shrine, a different version of Shinnosuke, looking exactly like he did those 13 years ago.

Review

"She's surly, tactless, and not very smart" - Shinnosuke (well, the "living spirit" version of him), about Aoi.

And that was my chief problem here- that Aoi, who's our main protagonist, is ALL those things. I'd personally add "perpetually enraged" to that list. It's hard to like Aoi at all; yes, some of this is typical adolescent stuff, but it seemed to me that she usually had no clear idea of what she wanted, but was nevertheless always angry at the world because she wasn't getting it. (At one point, she was either part of a love triangle, or a love quadrangle- I'm really not sure which.)

Some of the other characters I liked a lot better. Akane is a sweet and diligent person, who really raised Aoi after their parents' death. I also liked a kid named Masatsugu Nakamura (usually called Tsugu in the movie), the son of a guy named Masamichi (usually called Michinko here.) Michinko was formerly the drummer in Shinnosuke's band, is currently Akane's employer, and himself has an attraction toward Akane, but since he's overweight AND not Akane's First Love, I was inclined to discount his odds with her. Tsugu, though, is marvelously deadpan, and a good counterbalance to Aoi's frequent over-the-top emotionalism (she's a "drama queen" indeed); he becomes her (infinitely more sober) sidekick.

The Shinnosuke at the shrine is deemed a "living spirit", a version of him stuck in his past (and apparently confined to the shrine as well), presumably because of unfinished emotional business. Aoi, meanwhile, runs her wild gamut of emotions about him, AND about Akane, AND about life in general. Still, I was as uncertain as SHE was about how she should proceed, but, as I should have expected, a crisis is invoked to move things toward a resolution- and the resolution chosen was ALSO about what I should have expected.

I really didn't care that much for Shinnosuke's own music, but two soundtrack songs, during what I guess you'd call a literal "flight of fancy" and in the end titles, were pretty enough.

I'm going to rec another Mari Okada-written fantasy about another young girl with some "issues". Not necessarily a better show, but if you like this, you'll probably like that one, too.

I really don't have that much to say about this one, except I found Akane a sweetheart, but her younger sister- the real "star" of the show- I felt had WAY too much 'tude for my tastes. — Allen Moody

Recommended Audience: Netflix says PG, citing "smoking" and "substances" - though I don't recall anyone consuming any illegal "substances". (After all, there WAS a child present.) A character has a somewhat violent altercation with himself, though.