MIRAI

Japan, 2018, 98 minutes, Colour.
Directed by Hosoda Mamoru.


Mirai is an unusual Japanese anime film from the director of Wolf Children, The Boy and the Beast.

While the film is about children, it may be too difficult for a children’s audience. Rather, with the attention on relationships between parents and children, children growing up, it may be more effective for an adult audience.

The animation style is what might expect from such a film, with its layouts, the touches of realism, the elements of fantasy, the human characters.

The focus of on the film is a little boy, Kun, doted on by his parents. But then, along comes his little sister, Mirai, whom he then sees as a rival. The parents give too much attention to her. In his tantrums, he also has wild imaginative sequences, his dog turning into a human, his mother in the past, his dead great-grandfather as a motorcycle rider. But his sister also comes from the future, helping him.

There is a culmination in the railway station, quite vast, escalators, the train.

So, something of a curiosity item.

1. Japanese animation? Anime? The director and his career? Reality and fantasy?

2. The animation style, layout, touches of realism, the characters?

3. The title, focus, the younger sister, her interventions? Appearing over different times in her life?

4. The playing with time, going back to the past, the grandfather, the mother, the dog? Kun and his present? His going into the future, especially seeing his sister?

5. The boy, his relationship with his parents, the father and his work? His expectations? The details of family life?

6. The parents, the relationship with their children, the birth of Mirai?

7. The effect of new ride on Kun, seeing her as a rival, his parents’ attention on her rather than him?

8. His treatment of his sister? The challenges? Her coming from the future and its effect?

9. The pet dog, the man, the tail and an urge to play catch? His mother as a little girl, the great-grandfather and his riding the motorbike?

10. The combination, the climax in the railway station, size, escalators, the train like a dragon? The effect of these episodes?

11. A film for a young audience? An older audience?