Her Blue Sky
a review by Benkei
a review by Benkei
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The Story ════ ⋆★⋆ ════ Akane loves her boyfriend Shinno; she stays at his band practices and watches while he aims to become a famous guitarist. Akane's baby sister, Aoi, also enjoys spending time with them and hearing the band music, but due to tragic events, Akane and Shinno had to split up, and now, 13 years later, they get the chance to meet up once again, but Shinno is a totally different person.The story of Her Blue Sky is pretty good. The way that is portrait a teenager love story with grow up adults is pretty well done. I feel like romantic stories with teenagers are often very intense, with feelings bursting out and a general positivity and excitement that is characteristic of adolescence, but Her Blue Sky has a more grounded sense because the characters are grown up. Things aren't as pretty and "lovey dovey" all the time.The pacing is very well done, and as the story progresses, you can really feel the development and conflicts between characters. The only thing that wasn't quite to my taste was the ending, which felt a bit rushed. It used the "credit scene tells the rest" as a resource to explain what happened after the ending, which is common in a lot of movies, but I wanted to actually see it animated.════ ⋆★⋆ ════
The Art ════ ⋆★⋆ ════ The animation is really good. Actions are very fluid, the 3D is very well made, and it really fits the scenes. Backgrounds are absolutely amazing, and that mixes with the story since there's a meaning to showing how beautiful the countryside can be.
Character design was pretty well done. Every character is different from each other, making it easy to spot who's who. The design, especially the hairs, reminded me of Kyoto Animation works such as K-ON! That might be my personal interpretation, but they looked pretty good.
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The Characters ════ ⋆★⋆ ════ There are an average number of characters in this work: Akane, Aoi, Shinno, their band, and a few other supporting characters. They're well done for the purpose of the movie; the character core is well done as the movie has a good coming-of-age characteristic, showing a lot of their past. I feel like a few characters could've been better developed, and in a sense, especially due to the ending, I would like to dream about a sequel.As I always like to talk about the main character, Aoi was pretty good. Her impulsive personality really got the movie going. She sets the pace of the film; when she slows down and allows all thoughts to gather, the film takes on a more dramatic tone. Pretty good quality for an main character.
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The Soundtrack ════ ⋆★⋆ ════ The soundtrack is good. Most of the songs are based on a good mix of percussion instruments like xylophone (or marimba) and bass, guitar, or piano. They mix with the scenes very well, when the drama needs to kick in, you can hear the piano tones in the background blending in the mood, creating the perfect atmosphere.
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Conclusion ════ ⋆★⋆ ════ If you're like me, you skip everything and read only the conclusion because you don't want to get spoiled with other themes. So I will try to be brief on this point:Watch it. The movie isn't long (below 2 hours), but within that time you can experience a very interesting romantic story combined with a very solid overall production. Besides the ending feeling a bit rushed for my personal taste, there's nothing negative for me to say about it.20.5 out of 21 users liked this review
