


I have a feeling i'm a person that doesn't have "Standards" in anime when ether it's being Cynical or just there for having fun. I for one not the kind of person who can tell right away when Something is Style over Substance, especially when it's in something i am enjoying to the fullest like the Majority of Trigger's works. but i can clearly tell you that Fireworks has No Style, Nor Substance. because let me tell you, this is a Mess
At first it doesn't actually doesn't seem to be a Bad Movie. it's animated by Studio Shaft which has a decent track record of good shows and movies (including Madoka Magica which is one of my favorites), had a pretty Great music video to follow it's Hype, it has the Producer of Your Name in it, as it was advertised in Trailers and Posters of the film, and all of that sounds like it could be a great movie right? No.
Fireworks is probably the Worst Anime movie i have ever seen in my life that's on par with Ni No Kuni so you know it's gonna be quite a Disaster

so what's the Story about? well it has 3 plots that connects into a Grander story.. i think,
these 2 Plots are:
Plot No. 1 - Nazuma's Parent problems and romance with Norimichi. also a Love Triangle with Yusuke too with a Sphere that can travel through time
Plot No. 2 - Norimichi's class mates wants to blow up some Fireworks cause they wanna see if they're Flat or Round
Before we get deeper onto the Main Characters and Story, let's talk about it's Presentation instead
the Animation is Awful. the Trailers made the animation look great and almost on par with other beautiful anime films like A Silent Voice... but in the actual movie, the 2D animated scenes are really mediocre looking especially for how each and every scene for some reason the characters faces and body proportions are really off and inconsistent to each other. sure there are some nice looking shots and animation bits but it's mostly flat, and don't get me started on the 3D animation... it just doesn't mix well with the already less than pleasing 2D animation and feels like such a Distraction to the viewer. it's not like in Promare were both 2D and 3D animation mixes up well with each other giving it a Beautiful Stylish touch to the film, Fireworks is like "The Scorpion King" levels of unpleasant visuals.
aside from that, the voice acting is surprisingly bad along side Dialogue that reeks of poorly written. these are all good actors and yet it feels as if the Direction on it is not even trying to make it feel more emotional or stronger than it is which is terrible. the Soundtrack is forgettable at best and at worst Sappy and on the nose with no flair to it
Anyway back to the Story and Characters
Plot No. 1 - Norimichi's friends wants to throw some Fireworks because they wanna know if the Fireworks on the Sky are Flat or Round. i wished i was making that up but yeah this is plot 1 and that's about it. feels like it has no impact or really any importance to the plot cause they just wanna see the Fireworks if they are Flat or Round and that's like... boringly dumb, and there's also a "Haha" funny joke about the friends about the Teacher's chest Size and it was just dumb and uncomfortable at best..
Plot No. 2 - Nazuma is in love with Norimichi so she decides to call him and Yusuke (aka the worst character of the whole movie but we'll get to that later) into a Swimming contest and Yusuke wins but in reality she wanted Norimichi because Yusuke doesn't really show off that he has feelings for her as we see her running away from her Mother so it seems like she's in quite the trouble but we don't know quite yet why.. maybe is it abuse?
and then there's the Marble that is the driving force that keeps the movie going. so whenever you throw this Ball as far as you can, it can make you travel back to the previous point you mention as the Ball is thrown like say "I wanted to be there with her and give a hand!" and then you go back into that moment from where you were so you could change the future. the Rules of how to use the sphere is very straight forward but.. what is this thing made of and how does it can even do that? guess what? The movie never explains about it and it's a huge Plot Hole that can ruin someone's experience on wanting to know more about it. i'm not into being too picky with Plot Holes but this was the first movie to bother me the MOST about it
Now onto the Characters. everyone is literally forgettable and serves nothing aside from moving the plot forward to whatever it goes into. only 3 characters here matters aka the "Love Triangle"
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This is Norimichi. he has no personality aside from being a main character that doesn't have anything special inside of him aside from being another "Pretty boy" Main character which is somehow even more bland than other Main characters who are considered "Tiring" and "Boring" in animes recently. he also can't make up his mind sometimes like when he's about to go out with Nazuma because of the Date thingy but at his house he's like "I can't cause i'm too scared" but then a minute later he decides to go out with her anyways so like... what was the point of that scene? so yeah he's not the WORST Main character ever written but man is he a Boring character
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Nazuma is just yet another Generic female character and there's barely any sort of good character development or story that i could follow about her to make me care about it.. her plot about her mother forcing her to go away with her whenever they go to a new place cause she got a new Boyfriend like... ok??? there's also this one kinda cute scene on the Train when she's talking to Norimichi about her "Feelings" and how she wants to be a Singing Idol and again, why should i care when this character barely have made me invested on her because of Parenting issues.. and the Music and scene itself isn't even Powerful or good because of that HORRIBLE part where everything simply turns into a CGI Fairy Tale and it's Horrifying :')
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and then you have Yusuke. i HATE Yusuke with a loving passion. you know that "First" time on the timeline that he wins instead of Norimichi? well when Nazuma asks for his help while hanging out with his Friends, when she goes away with her mom by Force he just Laughs at her like "Ha. Girls they're so silly am i right??" and on the other time line where Norimichi wins, Yusuke gets so jealous with Norimichi that at one point he gets unecessarily mad at him that, at one point when he sees Norimichi and Nazuma together on the Lighthouse he PUSHES THEM FROM THE LIGHTHOUSE TO LET THEM DIE!! i mean of course they don't actually die because they had the Time Travel Sphere but if it happened without it, i'd confirm that Yusuke is a Horrible person by this scene alone, and the others before it. I can't see a single person who enjoys this character who would legit kill his own friends because of Love. he's the main reason i hate this movie so much..
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As for the Ending? well.. i don't even know what the Hell happened and i don't care about it. but to keep things simple, the Time Travel Sphere that the main characters had was simply left off laying around the Beach and then a guy who was responsible for the Fireworks just like... put the thing on the Fireworks launcher, fires to the Sky and... glasses containing people's desires starts to fall from the Sky and i'm supposed to feel anything about it? even the Music that, i'll admit it's very beautiful, doesn't make the scene any more interest or strong. and then at the end of the movie we see the Teacher calling the students names and when they call up Norimichi and Nazuma's name they don't respond cause they disappeared or run away? who knows if this was a Bittersweet ending or not, cause the Entire experience was a Spicy Trash Fire if you ask me
I'm sorry if my Review will end up feeling complicated and a bit hard to follow with my mediocre English and I really hate being overly negative with something like this and i know how there's so many people who loved this movie and i respect that. anyone can enjoy this movie regardless of what i say to them or not. Anyone can love a anime as much as they want... i Loved Space Patrol Luluco for crying out loud, and that's one of the least talked Trigger animes out there since people mostly talk about their other stuff.. but i'm sorry. this Movie was shockingly terrible as every minute felt like an annoyance, sign of Boredom or just lacking enjoyment on the Plot
it may not be the Worst movie ever made overall as there's plenty of worst animated or just overall movies in general that deserve worse.. but this is almost as bad as those for me..
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