Audience reviews
20 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
EleonoraViolet
(Originally written on 2025/07/02, the day I finished watching this title)
(Actual score - 9.5/10)
Overall, it was an amazing experience - with a very strong "makes you feel good" vibe.
ARTSTYLE / DESIGNS
- Stunning, absolutely stunning; everything looked realistic enough, but at the same time it all had a very distinct hand-drawn vibe to it, like colored pages from an illustration book. Every single thing - and I mean everything, from backgrounds, through small details in them, to characters themselves & their outfits - was a pleasure to look at, with how beautiful it was.
- The more "stylized" visuals were also present for several different scenes, mostly to demonstrate how Totsuko (one of the MCs) viewed the world around her, and they were equally amazing & beautiful.
- This movi…
Read at the sourceemberreviews
The Colors Within is probably the most “tone piece” style of film we’ve gotten from Naoko Yamada so far. It certainly does have a plot and set of character arcs, but much more emphasis is put on the raw emotion of a given moment and the blindingly gorgeous art direction. Totsuko’s fantastical extrasensory ability to view the “color” of other people adds visual supplement to the turbulent emotions she and the others around her experience, while also simply being cinematically brilliant as an abstract expression of feeling. Whether it’s Yamada’s penchant for inserting breathtaking flower imagery into as many shots as she can, her nostalgic fixation on retro technology, the older style of rock music whose wall of sound completely engulfs the listener, or a parade of the most beautiful example…
Read at the sourcedoitsushine92
BEAUTIFUL movie about bisexuality and growing up religious and guilt and also friendship and love it has me ugly crying i loved it. felt very seen in ways that most movies can't really convey
the art style is beautiful and makes everything look surreal and dreamlike. the music is full of bangers. minimal angst and very heartfelt. the characters were all distinct from one another, i love totsuko the best!
if you like coming of age stories that leave you feeling like things will be alright, then i definitely recommend this
watched this as one of my recommendations from secret santa 2025/2026!
Read at the sourcejlzap
What the synopsis doesn't tell you is that they attend a Catholic school, and religion is a pretty big part in the film. All of the music has religious lyrics, but I will admit their main song is a banger. There are also some definite LGBTQ+ undertones in it. Undertones being true undertones, they really don't play a role in it; and the most obvious hint of it is the post-credits closing scene. The Catholicism and LGBTQ+ undertones do not clash at all, they are their own distinct parts of the film, which I found to be a good thing.
Some drama happens, but overall nothing of huge consequence. There is no wondering what will happen or being scared for the main character. You might feel some sympathy for certain characters at times, but in general it's not tooooo hard-hitting or anything.
I…
Read at the sourceSoulwarfare
This is a beautifully animated film about self-discovery, connection, and creativity through music. The characters are super expressive, and the animation is colourful and vibrant in all the right ways. The relationships are a joy to watch, especially between our two main girls: Totsuko and Kimi. The music is great too, with a strong score and a fantastic performance at the end.
What keeps it from being truly amazing is that it tries to juggle too many storylines without giving them enough time. Totsuko’s Synesthesia feels like it’s just there rather than something meaningful to her character. Kimi hiding the fact that she dropped out of school from her grandmother never really pays off, even though it builds a lot of tension. Rui, the third member of the trio, is the least developed, he…
Read at the sourcenudelmampf
I really don't know why this isn't higher rated... Yes, there is no real plot. It's just the characters and their relationships, and the time they spent together for a part oft their lives. And yeah, much ist left unresolved, but... that's the essence of slice of life, isn't it? And SoL is certainly not the most unpopular anime genre. but somehow this got overlooked.
I really can't recommend it enough: Great and fitting Animation, colors, heartfelt characters, that feel realistic, dialogue that doesn't insult your intelligence, no unnecessary drama.
And at the same time, it feels unique. Naoko Yamadas previous Movie (Liz and the Blue Bird) is the only thing that comes to mind when thinking about the "vibe" the movie has.
SoL at its finest.
Read at the sourceUbinas
Beautiful-looking and a real 'vibe' movie, and although it's plot is a bit indistinct and meanders around quite a bit (maybe a little bit too much), this really helps to get into the characters headspace. Characters are all very likeable, art style is very appealing and the animation is stellar, although the writing is a little weaker as some of their motivations are somewhat unclear and some of the voice acting can be a little over the top at times.
There is nothing really ground-breaking about this movie, although it's very well made but probably not quite at the level of Yamada's earlier movies, but a great watch and very easily recommended!
Read at the sourcespandy
Forsaking god for glorious New Wave music. Naoko Yamada brings her KyoAni pedigree over to Science Saru, this time going back to a more slice-of-life and music orientated story akin to "K-On!" The story is less thematically dense than her previous films ("A Silent Voice", "Liz and the Bluebird") but I was happy with the narrative mostly running on vibes.
The animation and music are impeccable and the three leads are charming enough that I didn't mind how low the stakes were. I was also expecting Totsuko's synesthesia to play a bigger role in the story (which is what the title is referring to) but it's mostly thematic: her friends feel unseen in their environments, but Totsuko's ability to feel their inner colours helps them express themselves.
The instrumental rendition of "Born Slippy"…
Read at the sourceAshParth
Directed by Naoko Yamada, who directed The Silent Voice, which is one of my all-time favorites out there, despite a couple of things that I'd agree with from others. When I've said that, I might make a review of that one in the future if I get the time. She directs this movie, which is more or less a coming-of-age movie while tackling some themes like more than what you were told, more than what you wanted to be and the value of friendship in a form of making a band.
Of course, a little fun fact about the director is that she's responsible for K-On, an anime involving a group of high school friends forming a band, which does make this movie kinda familiar. The difference is that the three main leads are Totsuko, a girl who can see color who is interested in Kimi while keeping it a secret f…
Read at the sourcedograzor
Looks absolutely gorgeous with vibrant visuals and catchy music, and while the plot is very low-stakes and somewhat meandering the characters are all very endearing. The movie has a strangely aimless vibe, although this seems to at least be partially the intention, with the style of introducing and side-lining plot-points that would otherwise be interesting to follow almost being in the 'feature-not-a-bug' category for a Yamada work now...life can be messy, and that's OK!
In summary: A very pleasant movie to watch, and could easily watch it again, although does not scale the heights of Yamada's previous couple of movies. The 'Planets' song is a banger.
Read at the sourceimmosha
Oh, it's an anime about Christian rock.
Kimi no Iro is an amazing entry by Naoko Yamada. It's simply beautiful, ranging from gorgeous use of color (to be expected from the title) to superb character animation we rarely see in movies today. It tells a heartwarming, wholesome story of friendship and coming to terms with escapism. That said, the story itself is sparse and lacks significant conflict - it's more for its main characters to grapple with their teenage problems and growth than anything truly gripping. Thus, most of this video is a visual spectacle carrying you through their lives through vibes alone.
The music is great, both the soundtrack by Ushio and the songs by the characters' band. Catholicism is unsurprisingly not a common presence in anime, and while I was not expecting An…
Read at the sourcebutahime
PREMISE
Yet another band anime this time in the form of an original movie directed by Yamada Naoko. The twist is that the MC has synesthesia and goes to a Catholic school neither of which are portrayed which much weight.
VISUAL
This part is at least okay. The synthesia bits have some nice abstracted water color animation and the production quality of the realist scenes is high – they even manage to have fairly long and detailed dancing and a band performances with no CG but you can’t help but think you are looking at the least imaginative way to portray something so fundamentally based in imagination. Character figures can be expressive but rarely have anything interesting going on so it doesn’t matter. They don’t stand out or look attractive and you have the common Yamada problem of al…
Read at the sourcecarrot75
This movie is very pretty, thats originally why I decided to check it out even if the synopsis didn't convince me. Safe to say I was not dissapointed, this movie is everything I didn't know I needed. It's slow, it's fun, it's very cute at times. It isn't really sad but it made me cry. It made me yearn the kind of relationship we can only have as childs, one without judgement and stress, a friendship that warms your heart. Just with the plot this movie could really move my heart, the thing is, the plot is not alone, the OST that Kensuke Ushio made to accompany every important moment is incredibly well made, and fits it perfectly. For me that would be enough, but once again the plot and the music are not alone, the visuals for this movie are incredible, even if I think the weird kind of syne…
Read at the sourceClannadstan
The Colors within ("Kimi no Iro"), a splendid tale of understanding ourselves.
Kimi no Iro is, without a doubt, THE BEST ANIMATED FILM I’VE EVER SEEN.
The review could end here, but if you want to know more, keep reading. There are slight spoilers of what happens, but I’ll tell you there’s no plot to spoil, it's simply the story of the everyday life of a girl named Totsuko (the blonde one on the poster).
Totsuko suffers from color blindness. But Naoko Yamada’s genius is in not making her disability a limitation or something to pity. Totsuko’s color blindness is used by the director to create a character who "sees the color of people." Because of her condition, the girl associates a color with each person she cares about. Totsuko attends an all-girls Catholic high school, complete with a…
Read at the sourceNagooey
The Colors Within (Kimi no Iro) is cozy, warm, beautiful, and just nice vibes.
The animation feels so delicate and leaves a lingering impression on you, all while showcasing this water'color' aesthetic that beautifully complements the film's themes of self-discovery and emotional expression. Director Naoko Yamada creates a space where the visual and audio direction come together to make a truly emotionally resonant film, where glimpses of her previous works like "A Silent Voice" and "Liz and the Blue Bird" are evident. The tiny nuances of the characters' movements and gestures during interactions, paired with subtle shifts in both non-diegetic and diegetic environmental sounds, along with the incredible atmospheric soundtrack, all build to showcase the masterful direction that makes this…
Read at the sourcedzzthink
For a movie about synesthesia and a band, this movie doesn't really go much into depth on either topic but uses these as a tool to explore the beauty of friendships and artistic expression. It starts off with the main character Totsuko, a somewhat clumsy girl in a Christian school becoming obsessed with the colour of her schoolmate, Kimi, and from there she tries to find out more about her, leading to her wanting to form a band with Kimi and another boy, Rui, who they just happen to meet in a bookshop. Their friendship is somewhat perplexing but the outlet of music seems to give them courage to break away from the stress of personal failures, career pressure, school stress, and the somewhat strict religious conventions of the school, which is the movie's main message, I guess.
The story d…
Read at the sourceAsasphinx
I found this movie through GKIDS and had the chance to go see it in theater. I wasn't drawn in by a trailer, promotional piece or anything, I just saw that theaters were going to air an anime movie and said went to go see it without much of a clue as to what it was even about aside from involving music.
Totsuko, the first main character we meet and are see most of the time is a synesthete, which means she interprets the people she sees in her surroundings through colors. Given the name of the film and there being a character with a condition tying into it I thought there might be more to that aspect but it almost becomes secondary and feels more like a trait she associated with her quirky and playful demeanor.
While speaking of concepts introduced this was also a music anime. I honestl…
Read at the sourceWeLoveYouLain
probably surpasses "look back" as anime film of the year. yamada continues to prove that she is the best working anime director. i don't even think it's close. the colors here are gorgeous and so full of life. but it's not just that. the way yamada captures each moment between her characters is unparalleled. there's no artificial drama; it's simply characters enjoying being in one another's orbit. maybe one could argue it's all a bit slow, but i loved the pace. everything feels genuine and develops naturally. i'm also always a sucker for films that deal with finding one's place, and the way each character goes about this and gradually accepts themselves is so genuine. the music also slaps.
Read at the sourceJustMonika2
(Note: I just finished watching the movie in theatres, but if anything changes I'll make an edit at the end).
This movie is really well executed and the VAs did a great job considering (based on MAL) they don't have any other roles as of yet. The story is pretty heartwarming and I found just enough charm in each character to the extent where they were charming but not annoying. I think how it tackles each individual's situation is pretty realistic for anime standards, and really shows how teens struggle caring about family versus themselves. There isn't any big antagonist; the characters instead are battling against their own feelings.
The music is not my cup of tea and it really captures the "we formed a band as high school students and let's see where this goes" (what I mean by this is…
Read at the sourceStellaLuna9182
Serenity, Serendipity, Warm—these are the feelings that linger with me after watching Naoko Yamada's latest film, 'The Colors Within.' Her films have always been a source of comfort, and this one was no exception.
Having been a long-time fan of Naoko Yamada's films—each one leaving me with a sense of warmth—I was curious to see if 'The Colors Within' would continue that tradition. However, as the film began, I found myself concerned that my non-anime-watching friend might not share the same experience.
In the opening scenes, the pacing felt slower than what I was used to, and there was no immediate hook to pull me in. Unlike the flashy or dramatic openings of many films, this one didn’t start with a bang, which initially left me wondering how it would unfold. To illustrate, in modern su…
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