jivjov posted:

Tomorrow's Leaves Released July 23rd 2021, Directed by Yoshiyuki Momose

Gosh I love the Olympics (Yes, the IOC broadly sucks a whole lot, and what putting on the games tends to do to the host cities sucks too -- I do not /ever/ want to not acknowledge that...but I also really enjoy the idea of the Olympic Games and that's what I'm celebrating here). Bringing together the best of the best from the world over to all join in friendly competition in a whole bunch of events? I love it! So when I learned that Studio Ponoc had done a short film to commemorate the Tokyo 2020 games, I just had to seek it out. And I got really lucky in that its just on YouTube! A novelty for a film review, here's a link to literally just the movie, on the Olympic Channel's YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ie_IkQtZyK4

Clocking in at 8 and a half minutes and without a word of spoken dialog, there's not a whole lot to go over here plot-wise, but at its core this is just a fun little tales about coming together, having joy in competition, and collectively making things better than how you found them. The vibes kinda give me a Tiny Toons Super Sentai feel, in that each of the 5 main characters has an elemental affinity, a regionally specific outfit, and some very pointed character design -- "the large strong boy", "the agile runner girl", etc. and each one has a little friendly element spirit accompanying them. Its simple, lighthearted, doesn't outstay its welcome, and honestly the decision to have no dialog was probably a good one.

This really easily could have been a preachy moralistic piece, or a bland corporate commercial, but instead Studio Ponoc went the route of capturing a feel and a vibe and just having some fun with it. I really like just having a nice little smile at something I'm watching. Use the link I provided, give this a watch, its a fun time.

Up Next: probably a movie I guess