Audience reviews
20 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
HERMIT_PAIMON
Fantastic, top of the line, hand drawn-C.G.I. hybrid animation, and a story that was so much bigger than I was expecting. I thought I was in for a little story about some kids swimming around with dolphins, and whales. What I got was something more thematically inline with "Tree of LIfe" .
It's a bit slow, but if you accept that and let yourself ride along then it's pretty good. Or you could just watch it in pieces.
4 degree studios really performed well in terms of art , music literally every details . Problem is that many people dislike children of sea because of poor plot theme ...It's too much philosphical for auidence who aren't into anime for a long time or in philosphical subjects/theories . So, there is always room to improve .
Looking forward to watch more work from this studio…
Read at the sourcetonaruto044
What the f did I just watch?
I honestly got 0 clue on what I just witnessed. Universe spiralling into the sea? The kid's now the universe???? Wtf? I don't really understand a single thing going on in this movie.
I might be stupid, but someone please tell me what the past 1:30-ish hour have told me. The story - confusing, the dialogue - convoluted, the characters - completely impossible to understand.
They show us concepts that we weren't explained to: The party? What party? We are the same as the universe? Wtf? What are you even talking about? The wind carries the memories? Ok this honestly sounded pretty cool, but put into context wtf????
Honestly I felt like if it weren't for my friend watching along I would've dropped around ~40 minutes in. The only things got going for it is the vi…
Read at the sourceSiaksx
I dove into "Kaijuu no Kodomo" with an open mind and came out truly mesmerized. I've read several reviews where people expressed disappointment with the storyline, but for me, it was captivating. The themes explored in the movie, like the parallels with birth and the poetic notion of us being part of the vast universe, were both romantic and inspiring.
Regarding the characters, I did feel a tinge of longing for more depth in the side characters. However, this might be an intentional reflection of the transient nature of childhood and adolescence – friends coming and going, parents grappling with their children's emotional landscapes. It's a thought-provoking perspective.
Watching this movie was like experiencing the sea itself. At times, I felt a peaceful calmness, and at others, I was c…
Read at the sourcenozomiEX
Kaijuu no Kodomo is the personification of a teenager smoking weed for the first time and spilling into incoherent babble about life and the universe. "Duuuuuuuuuuuuuude the seas and the stars are one... We're all, like, totally connected." Without any hint of self-awareness, prattling on about romantic-sounding yet entirely vacuous germs of ideas about "listening to the song on the winds," "we're all made of the same matter... whoaaaaaa..." and other such flowery, inconsequential drivel. The characters and plot are superficially there to laboriously drone on about shallow musings on life and the universe. What little there is in terms of narrative in the first half entirely falls away for a second half of self-indulgent spectacle, pretty to look at but utterly devoid of any substance, yet…
Read at the sourcepollyspocket
I really tried to like this because it's been awhile since I've seen a good anime movie, but wow this movie is really boring.
I read an entire article about the impact fast fashion has on the planet with the movie on in the background and didn't even realize until after.
There's nothing hooking you in at all it's just so boring, not only is it boring, the original looking art to imitate the mangas art style can be wildly unsettling sometimes and even hard to look at sometimes so it was off putting sometimes.
the music is.....like not there? when it is its boring and sleep inducing.
ASMR during the rain scene though? 10/10
Read at the sourcelizzziziz
a breathtaking dream. this was what the movie felt like to me.
first quarter of the movie was pretty simple. *first quarter*. you have your main character ruka who is struggling with her relationships both at home and at school. she goes to her father's workplace, the aquarium, a place she's always took interest and peace in and she meets an energetic boy there, umi. she quickly learns that umi isn't exactly "normal" as apparently he was found with his brother, sora in a beach and was said to be raised by dugong's so they had to be in water a lot.
things started to go from 1 to a 50 to a 100 to a full fucking thousand after that. it went from kids and the ocean to meteors, a sea festival, to quantum shit, to the full fucking universe. crazy shit. didnt understand a single thing after tha…
Read at the sourceCureFaith
What an absolute spectacle. This is the sort of film that gently draws you in by the hand, stroking you with gentle breezes, lapping at your bare toes as the distant calls of whales echo by your ears.
And then proceeds to faceplant you into the sand and screech like a dying seagull as you hallucinate from a lack of oxygen.
For the first hour of the film I was completely hooked! Ruka, Umi and Sora are familiar but enjoyable archetypes, and no time is wasted in building a bond between the trio and getting into the mystery. The side characters have next to no focus, but they work into the setting well enough to not take away from the story. And, of course, with every frame being pure eye candy, you easily lose yourself to the world and watch the plot flow with the waves...until the plot b…
Read at the sourcepsuedonymph
I love Children of the Sea.
I love its saturated palette. Joe Hisaishi’s atmospheric music. Acid-trip cinematography. Sublime art. A surreal plot that will bend your mind to the ends of the universe, but then back again to return perfectly to its origin, where everything settles beautifully.
This will be a full interpretation of every plot-relevant event. Please use this review as a guide for your own thoughts, rather than a concrete explanation.
Initially, Ruka is a young girl stranded on an island with the entire Pacific sprawling before her, stranded by her frustrations of growing up and communicating with others.
She struggles with communicating her feelings and understanding her own wants. She balls up in anticipation for a long, uneventful summer vacation.
Soon after, in her f…
Read at the sourcelethargilistic
I've gotta be real: there were a lot of scenes in this that were screaming "this movie looks beautiful" at me without backing it up at all. And, looking around a bit, it seems to have a reputation for its visuals. I don't get that at all. The movie was really ugly for me, from the character designs to the poorly composited set pieces. Its CG work looked particularly embarrassing.
To be fair, it was done no favors by my bad internet connection. The poor stream made it look muddy. But if it had better taste, that wouldn't have mattered.
And the story? A jumbled mess. A joke.
I gave up on it and I won't be looking back.
Read at the sourceaueft
Children of the Sea's high commitment to pretty nonsense, both visually and thematically, results in an unsatisfying viewing experience.
Children of the Sea might be worth watching for the sheer verve of its occasionally
resplendent visuals. The raw, complex lineart gives the depictions a real sense of texture, and the shear density of the aquatic wildlife in the frame is impressive. Much of that wildlife is rendered using CG, but it is generally integrated pretty well enough so that way that the high fidelity of the CG art contrasts with the more impressionistic traditional art reads as an artistic flourish. However, integration of CG is much less successful during the myriad of cuts with extremely dynamic cameras moving through highly detailed 3d environments.
The storytelling is plea…
Read at the sourceO2-Sama
this is my first review so sorry if there's a mistake.
POSSIBLY LITTLE SPOILER
Art-10
In my opinion this movie has an art of indulging eyes throughout the scene presented with a details view on the beach and ocean as well as subtle movements in animatio so, no complaints in this art style.
Music-10
as well as the music that accompanies the story during a sea diving scene or when a character experiences something magical in this story, a background sound that really matches all scenes. I give a 10/10 score on music. Voice acting-8 (I hate the father, lol)
while for voice acting there are no problems. All actors match the characters being played. except for one, the main character's father who will later be explained below.
Character-7 (Is because side characters)
all three protagonist…
Read at the sourcerejectedmoney
This is going to be a very long review of Kaijuu no Kodomo because it is very awesome, hands down, one of the best anime movies that I have seen in my entire life. Even for the people who do not really watch anime, I'm still going to recommend watching this movie. Because for me, this is a masterpiece, with overall 10/10. The review might contain a personal interpretation of this movie, so I would like to apologize or you may correct me if I don't correctly interpret this movie, especially the message contains within it.
[THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILER!]
STORY 10/10: Firstly, there are a lot of beautiful messages that this movie has delivered and it is being packaged in such a beautiful and poetic manner. For me, there is no scene that has gone to waste, every movement, action, and convers…
Read at the sourcejohnbradshaw
Studio 4°C is very much a formidable studio in term of animation. Their movies often have a creative art style with realistic character designs and a light cold tone of color choices. Therefore, it's always a treat watching their works. But sadly, I can't say that the stories they offered are just as inspiring. And unfortunately, Kaijuu no Kodomo or Children of the Sea, as beautiful as it may look, is not an exception.
Normally, this will be the part where I'm spoiling the story a little bit to help guiding the viewer into the anime. But this time, the story is just too incomprehensible or quite frankly, a mess. And I really think that it's better for you to find out yourselves.
For the length of a movie, the cast is reasonably rounded and works quite well. We got introduced to the 3 ma…
Read at the sourcezoarch_vanderman
So...
This movie was a ride to say the least. I walked into this expecting what I read in the synopsis, but the synopsis did NOT prepare me for what I actually viewed.
Story- 4
It was going just fine in the beginning; there were fish, oceans, kids talking about a ghost of the sea, just as the synopsis said. But then, that all changed. I tried to understand what was actually happening and catch the meaning, but from that whale consumption scene to end of the movie, all I picked up was...METEOR, THE MEANING OF LIFE, BIRTH... THE UNIVERSE!!! I couldn't follow along then.
Art- 9
The animation was beautiful. The ocean scenes, the fish, the rain illusions especially. The camera movements through me off a little at certain scenes, but overall, it was amazing.
Sound- 9
I didn't focus on the m…
Read at the sourceRacioo
This movie was... interesting. This is a short review of the movie I watched, and here are the ratings:
STORY: 5/10
The story was decent the first hour, but after that, a lot of weird things started happening, and I still can not figure out what they were trying to tell. If you were to ask me about what the plot was then for the first hour I would say: "Whale is having a party and is inviting people, including some special kids." while for the other hour of the movie, I can honestly only say: "Ruka is all over the place while yelling "Umi-kun!" every 5 minutes or so.
ART: 11/10
The art and animation style of this movie is so different from your normal animes. Everything looks stunning and everything constantly sparkles and moves. I have honestly never seen animation this good before, an…
Read at the sourceMeganeBaka
From the everyday, to the simple, to the surreal and eccentric, visually and audibly - Kaijuu no Kodomo was absolutely artistically stunning. The artistic visuals and beautifully composed music was the best part of the film. These two elements blended seamlessly to create such a vibrant and well-designed world, with use of colour and music really visualising different tones and environments perfectly.
Ultimately though, Kaijuu no Kodomo was slightly disappointing. Leading up to this film's release in my country, I was pretty excited and anticipating a similar enjoyment to the first time I ever watched films like Wolf Children or Your Name. With their stunning artistic styles and soundtracks, I was expecting Kaijuu no Kodomo to join these two fantastic films in glory. Unfortunately it did…
Read at the sourceJellyNeko
Children of the Sea is a rather strange film. You won't find a gripping plot or compelling characters in it; in fact, they are actually rather simple and barely worth a mention. You will never find yourself gripping the edge of your seat in anxiety or screaming in elation. Because this isn't really a film - it's a mission statement told through an audiovisual medium.
The director, Ayumu Watanabe, and the author Daisuke Igarashi, have managed to express the vastness of our universe and the infinite potential it holds. They show us how they see the world: how we humans are but cells in an infinite cosmic being, our roles as stewards of that universe rather than researchers who seek to split it apart down to the last atom; how to live is to communicate and how communication is how we are see…
Read at the sourcefillyy
Children of the Sea presents a story that is very metaphorical and is something that should be appreciated for its visual presentation. The quality of this anime film is rather inconsistent. I loved some scenes and was generally amazed by the effort put into the most important scenes, but other scenes just felt rushed and lazily done. The story is really metaphorical, so if you are the kind of person to turn your brain off while watching films, don't watch this film. You will be bored. However, if you are the type to analyse a film while watching it and after watching it while digesting the plot of the film you just watched, then this might be the film for you.
Some things are animated rather sloppily, but for the most part, the animation is pretty decent. There is a scene that goes on fo…
Read at the source5h1take
RIGHT OFF THE BAT!!! THIS REVIEW IS NOT SPOILER FREE!!!!!!!
Not gonna lie I originally posted this review/report in a twitter thread but it's so detailed it deserves to be a review here. Due to this though, it's not in the standard review form.
Report: Children of the Sea (film)
Aaaaaaa I loved the film so so much (non manga reader) Overall it was a very solid movie (cont. SPOILERS)
Disclaimer: this is all opinion!!! You can disagree!!! You can agree!!!
Storyline
The story was easy enough to follow but I could tell they'd removed a number of other plotlines in order to fit the main story into a short 110 minutes. The biggest example being the hinted abuse, exploitation and mistreated of Umi and Sora by the oceanographers. This missing plotline then tied in with the science of the b…
Read at the sourceyenbus
Breathtaking and seamless animation. I'm glad they translated Igarashi Daisuke's art to the big screen pretty well. The art and the soundtrack is absolutely beautiful and I'm also a sucker for animes with the ocean/summer days/ fantasy aesthetic themes (reminded me of the anime Nagi no Asukara). Seeing it on the big screen gave me that same chest expanding feeling whenever I see amazing animation alongside moving soundtracks.
Honestly, the storyline lost me a little bit but I'm not gonna say I wasn't entertained and absorbed. I would still highly recommend for the imagery. Can't wait until it is released in English to rewatch it!
Read at the source