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In This Corner of the World Movie Review

In This Corner of the World is a 2016 Japanese animated war drama film directed by Sunao Katabuchi. It is an admirable, but rather disappointing movie.

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“Thank you for finding me in this corner of the world“

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A spirited 18-year-old woman is married off to a man she barely knows as she combats the daily struggles of living in Hiroshima during World War II. There is a lot to love here, but also a lot to not care for. Easily the best aspect of the movie is its animation. Wow, was I impressed. I never want hand-drawn anime to go away as it is the most artistic and purely appealing form of animation in the world right now. The almost watercolor quality to its style produced such a beautifully melancholic feel to this picture, which was fitting given the subject matter.

The score is lovely, some imagery is truly artistic and striking while the level of detail is commendable. However, the storytelling left a lot to be desired. I did like the characters quite a bit as the lighthearted nature of the protagonist was beautiful to witness and her optimism was quite relatable to me personally. The marriage scenes are also fine and the entire family of hers was wonderful. The voice acting is great too.

But back to that story. I did not quite care for it. Yes, the tragic and melancholic feel is there and the folk nature to the movie is truly lovely, but you would expect from a movie about Hiroshima to hit you harder emotionally, but you would be mistaken to expect it from this one as the emotion here is incredibly muted, which was an odd choice that did not work for me.

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In This Corner of the World has two distinctly different halves, but for the most part the movie is too slow in both of them. The pacing and the very long runtime prevented me from engaging more with the material. The heartbreak isn’t felt and thus the movie felt lost in every single sequence, and that is the biggest hurdle that it could never overcome.

In This Corner of the World is an anime WWII drama that is at its best in the animation department. The watercolor hand-drawn style felt suitably melancholic given the subject matter and a lot of the imagery is quite artistic. The characterization is also solid. However, the long runtime, slow pace and an oddly emotionally distant tone prevented me from engaging with the film more.

My Rating – 3.5