I was not expecting to enjoy this movie as much as I did. In fact, I wasn’t expecting to watch this at all. I went to my local movie theater with the intent of watching Fortune Favors Lady Nukiko, and if you’re curious about my opinion on that film then you can read my review and analysis for it. However, this is all about the unexpected bonus that accompanied the film called,”Deiji Meets Girl”. Did I stumble across an amazing series, or was it nothing but another brick in the wall?
For starters, this film isn’t even a film at all. Rather it’s a collection of shorts culminating together to make one large piece. In fact, I was thoroughly confused until about the third short. Because before Fortune Favors Lady Nukiko played, there was a foreword by the director and producer of the film. Not long afterwards, there was a message that told the audience to stay tuned after the credits to see a theatrical version of “Deiji Meets Girl”. I figured I’d be watching a theatrical exclusive trailer for an upcoming series, not the entire series itself! (and one that had already aired the year prior at that). Despite my confusion (only bolstered by the abrupt ending of Fortune Favors Lady Nukiko) I was captivated by the unique artstyle this compilation of shorts had.
The visual aesthetic and character designs are what stuck out to me the most. With each character having a shiny glow to them, almost as if they were plastic, with a dark blue (almost purple) outline and shade to them. The series takes place on an island, usually in the dusk hours, which only makes the scenes that much more beautiful.
In this story we follow a girl named Maise Higa, who works at her dad’s hotel. One day, a boy who’s a famous celebrity/performer named Ichiro Suzuki checks in, and not much later strange happenings begin to occur. Such as the entire hotel being enveloped in water, a giant beanstalk that goes through the hotel, or a bunch of mysterious large frog-like figures looking to take Ichiro with them. To my dismay it’s never explained what’s causing these events, or what they have to do with our characters in the first place. I also failed to find any symbolism behind them. So I assume they’re just meant to be weird abstract adventures for the sake of being abstract and fun. Maybe occurrences in this world aren’t completely out of the ordinary. I mean, there’s even a bit where Maise’s relative is a legit medium. Who’s able to sense sorrow in Ichiro just by looking at him through her hand.
The ambiguity to these occurrences is my biggest gripe with the show. Given the length of them, I wasn’t expecting anything too in depth regarding the characters or lore to their world. But I was expecting more of an explanation for why any of this is happening in the first place. Why did Maise accidentally crushing Ichiro’s glass vase cause their environment to go back to normal? Is it all make believe? Is everything we’re witnessing just an exaggeration of events that actually played out? That’s what I assume at least, but even then I’m still left with lingering questions.
So did this series of shorts match the wildebeest of the flick that played before it? No, but it did tonally fall in line with it. While I wouldn’t call it an Iyashikei, it’s still just a series of random events in the lives of the characters we follow. Though I’d say this has a more definitive plot and central conflict than Fortune Favors Lady Nukiko. I admit though that this is a great companion piece to that movie, so kudos to GKIDS for screening these together. As for the movie on its own, if you have 25 or so minutes to kill, using it to watch this would be a great time. Don’t expect anything too life changing from it though. But do expect a very unique visual aesthetic, and some beautiful backgrounds that serve as a nice backdrop to a unique spin on the,”boy meets girl” type of story. Or should I say “Deiji meets Girl”....Who even is “Deiji”?
