🇬🇧🇺🇸🇨🇦🇦🇺 English Diary, 3rd of July 2024 Movie Review Three weeks ago, I settled into my new workplace and found myself in a whole different atmosphere after a year and half in Vietnam. Laying on the bed of my new home, I watched this movie put aside for months. It had been three years or so since I knew of its existence. But I knew the manga it was based upon from my university years. Back then, it was perhaps the first I appreciated from its author, Inio Asano, and I was blown away by the majesty of both its graphics and story. However I have to say, years have gone by and I had somehow forgotten the impression of it. Still, after discovering the eponymous song of the Asian Kung Fu Generation 3 years ago I knew I had to watch it someday. Before writing a review, I looked at other people’s opinions on various websites and found something was lacking for most critics. Empathy, perhaps. The tediousness of the film was often mentioned in them, as well as the lesser impact of the film compared to the original manga. However, a highly personal context played its part when I watched this film. I had just left a whole previous life, bittersweet memories of people and a whole routine in Hanoi, Vietnam. Many adventures of yesterday now flowing in the ether. The soundtrack, being all about quiet acoustic ballads and post-rock-like instrumentals, encouraged me to sink even lower (or higher, in a way) in the catharsis while watching. The soberness of the characters’ tragedy and the absence of grandeur or over-dramatization may have felt ‘boring’ for some viewers, but on my behalf, it was crushing and of all beauty. If you feel all lost in the awful miracle that this world is, you may find this movie touching too. To me, it's a pinnacle of what art is meant to be.