Keiichi Hara
Keiichi Hara is known primarily for directing most of the Doraemon and Crayon Shin-Chan TV shows and movies, but has in recent years taken to directing original anime feature films as well. His original films are much more weighty and serious in tone than the series he handled, so don’t take his pedigree for excellent children’s programming as a sign of the general appropriateness of his original movies.
Summer Days with Coo (2007)
Kappa no Kū to Natsuyasumi (河童のクゥと夏休み) (lit. “Summer Vacation with Coo the Kappa“)
While most of the images that you’ll find of this movie, including the one above, make it look like a lovely family film, Summer Days with Coo is actually not a movie I would recommend for younger children. Both quite long at 138 minutes and quite emotionally draining, Summer Days with Coo is a largely bittersweet movie with perhaps the most believable (albeit archetypal) characters of any anime movie I’ve seen, even considering its portrayal of several different kinds of mythical Japanese creatures. The story follows a young kappa named Coo as he ends up being taken from the kappas’ heyday in the Edo period into modern day Tokyo and how he impacts the average suburban Japanese family that accidentally revives him. The story could have made for an average family anime movie, but Hara instead finely focuses the movie on both the pains and the joys inherent in the many relationships portrayed therein. Throughout the movie the audience is spared no small pain or awkwardness of the characters and you can tell that each situation was mulled over laboriously to imagine how it would occur if it was happening in real life. It can be emotionally draining to watch, but there’s a lot to like in Hara’s first purely original animated feature; it’s not really a family movie, but a worthy one for anime buffs and drama connoisseurs alike.
Colorful (2010)
Karafuru (カラフル)
Keiichi Hara returns with another very long (but only 126 minutes this time) anime movie about depressing subject matter called Colorful. The plot follows a wayward soul who is given a second chance at life (and being included in the cycle of reincarnation) by a short silver-haired ethereal boy claiming to be following orders from The Boss (God). The soul is put into the body of a troubled middle-school boy named Makoto Kobayashi who had just committed suicide and is given the task of learning what heinous actions it committed in its previous life. In addition to the major task of remembrance, the soul is also challenged to learn to appreciate the gift of living and the reasons that Makoto had ended his life. If these conditions aren’t met in a couple of months the soul is at risk of vanishing into nothingness. At its most depressing, Colorful is very depressing indeed dealing not only with the immediate theme of suicide, but also with the kind of mental and spiritual tortures that accumulate over a lifetime to lead someone to commit such an act. What is shown through Colorful though, in contrast with the more pessimistic-feeling Summer Days with Coo, is the true worth of all the joys and pains of life and how while they don’t make life easy they make it genuinely precious. I found myself laughing much more than I expected to throughout the movie, even though those laughs were surrounded on all sides by a deep melancholy. The slower parts of the film (and there are a few as this is no action movie) are invigorated by the lively art, beautiful backgrounds, and the sometimes intrusively emotional soundtrack, making it a worthwhile ride even during the occasions that the movie’s length becomes palpable. A special film indeed, if you have the 126 minutes to spare and are able to deal with a heaping helping of sorrow along with your laughs you’re sure to enjoy Colorful.