Written and directed by Makoto Shinkai

Starring Hisako Kanemoto, Kazuhiko Inoue, Miyu Irino, Rina Hidaka, Fumiko Orikasa, Sumi Shimamoto, Junko Takeuchi, Kanae Itou, and Tamio Ohki

This touching and sorrowful tale proves to be a compelling entry in Makoto Shinkai’s oeuvre while being evocative of Studio Ghibli’s work. It’s interesting to go through reviews for this and see just how many people accuse it of doing a poor job at ripping off the Studio Ghibli/Hayao Miyazaki style, because while those sources of inspiration do radiate from this movie (I also recently saw Princess Mononoke for the first time, which amplifies the number of times where I’m thinking of Ghibli and Miyazaki while looking at this fantasy world in Children Who Chase Lost Voices and the lore and creatures that populate it), I believe Shinkai’s writing and direction is able to carve out a suitable space in which this film can exist and stand up on its own as an emotionally affecting display of his artistry. Approximately the first hour progresses along decently enough as it’s setting up the pieces for this tale and its characters, with Mimi deserving plenty of my love. Oh yes, that adorable little feline! There’s a moment where Asuna literally tosses the cat away while talking with someone, and it makes me want to reach out and give Mimi a cuddle to protect her from such careless behavior.

Then we have the second hour building on top of that progress and taking ahold of my heart as it deals with the age-old theme of grief. I’ve seen narratives handle this so many times, but I’ll always be down for it, and what this movie does is portray the importance of accepting its place in our mortal world. It conveys how unhealthy it is for us to act like we can cling onto the past and fight to resurrect it—an action that perverts the natural order of things. No, no, we have to figure out how to move onward into the future and appreciate the limited amount of time that we have in our unpredictable lives. We need to focus on the loved ones who are still around and who we should be connecting with as much as possible before we cross over the line into whatever awaits us next (if anything at all). The third act especially allows those emotions to run through me all the way up to the last few minutes. I wasn’t too hampered by the issue that some other viewers had with what they pointed out as a lack of character motivation. They felt like the writing wasn’t devoting a lot of time to fleshing out these characters and the choices they’re making. I don’t know, maybe I’d pick up on that more strongly during a revisit, but for now, I’ll say that I wasn’t noticing this aspect. Nope, I care about the people in this story and the interconnected paths that they head down, with the animation, of course, offering up a whole bunch of gorgeousness for me to gobble up. Yes, it’s all Ghibli-esque, but that’s not really bothering me as I let this tale’s visuals swallow me up, especially anything to do with the fantasy realm of Agartha. Oh yes, and the creatures! They captivate me, like the shadowy and unnerving Izoku, the daunting Quetzlcoatls, and the deer with ribbon-like antlers. That deer only shows up for a bit, but it’s still a memorable part of this landscape. It also reminds me of the Forest Spirit from Princess Mononoke.

All in all, I may be ambivalent over Shinkai’s filmography, with Your Name and 5 Centimeters per Second earning my love in contrast to my disappointment towards Weathering with You and Suzume. But thankfully, Children Who Chase Lost Voices is a Shinkai movie to which I can give my compliments. I’ll add on that I did have a solidly charming time with The Place Promised in Our Early Days, too.

My final rating: 4 out of 5 stars