Hal ~ The Movie

Konnichiwa~ 

“What if your lover died, you lost your will to live, and a robot was sent to you that looked like your lost lover?”

I recently watched the animated film Hal directed by Ryotaro Makihara. It is based off the manga Hal by Ayase Umi, which I have not read, so I can’t really say how accurately it follows it. The manga is only 1 volume long though, so I feel it couldn’t have left much out. It is completely scanlated for those who are interested, I might get around to reading it later, for now I am satisfied with beautiful movie. Let’s begin:

The story takes place in a technologically advanced society in which robots can be programmed to behave just like humans. They appear and move very humanistic, and it’s even possible to change their outer appearance so that they look completely human.

The android Q01 does just this in order to help a forlorn heart recover from the death of their lover.

After Hal’s death, Kurumi has lost the will to live. Her concerned grandfather begs Q01 to replace “Hal”, hoping that his presence will help her come to terms with Hal’s death and move forward. As the android takes of care of her, he learns about human life, Hal’s life, and Kurumi’s feelings for him. At first she keeps her distance, disgusted by the gesture. But gradually, she begins to open up to robot Hal. A heartwarming romance, but probably not in the sense you’re thinking. It focuses more on real Hal’s relationship with Kurumi

I’m not a very big fan of sci-fi: I don’t read stories about aliens and usually avoid stories about androids. But I kept hearing great things about this film, so I decided to check it out and I’m glad I did. Robot Hal is so sweet and adorably simple. He genuinely wants to bring Kurumi happiness, wants the bright smile he sees in old photographs to return. He’s kind and friendly, able to make friends with nearly everyone he interacts with. He is rather cautious about the original Hal, wondering who the person he has “replaced” was. He

learns from others that he was energetic, rather short-tempered, and because of his past, insecure about how little money he had. Overall though, he seemed to have been a kind person. A person Kurumi desperately wanted to protect: she appears most gentle when thinking of Hal and what he had to endure. She was a compassionate person, very cheerful and popular in their small community. But that isn’t the girl Hal is dealing with. He knows she once existed because of pictures from before the accident, but the one he sees now is cold, apathetic, and disinterested in the world around her.

The movie’s art and animation are beautiful. I saw the original manga art before watching the movie and was a little worried that they animators were going to ruin its cute, modern-shoujo style. The scenes were beautiful, my favorite was part of the climax so I can’t really describe it, but it was very emotional and well done.

I highly recommend this movie, its cute and heartwarming. The love Hal and Kurumi had for each other is endearing and after watching it, it easily became one of my favorite romances. I hope you watch it or read the manga

Bye-bye

~Nadeshiko-chan

Kagerou Days: Hibaya Amamiya

Konnichiwa~

Time for Hibaya’s story! His story begins in Heat-Haze and continues in Moon-Viewing Recital. Hibaya came to the city to attend a summer school with his childhood friend and crush Hiyori. Now there’s something I need to explain before I continue. When Mary left her little house in the forest and met the Mekakushi Dan, she began changing the present reality. Mary, besides her “Eye Contact” ability, has the “Combining Eyes” ability, which is the ability to “unify” all of the snakes. How that’s going to affect the Mekakushi Dan and the present reality is unknown. But we do know how its caused several time loops on August 14th. Now lets continue with Heat-Haze. Hibaya on August 14th is spending a summer day with Hiyori. She chases after a cat she was petting and is hit by a truck. Hibaya looks down at her bloody dead body in horror before someone whispers “This is all real” and wakes up on August 14th. He feels troubled by how similar things are to his dream, he stops her from getting hit the truck, but she still dies. He wakes up again, see’s her die again, wake up again, and so and so forth. He relives that day again and again, as he says “This cycle has repeated for decades. I realized that a long time ago” He comes to the conclusion that the only way to end this cycle, is to sacrifice himself. As he dies, he see’s a white figure, similar to the black one that had been haunting him, behind Hiyori. Hiyori wakes up crying, saying she’s failed once again. From my understanding, just like how Hibaya has seen her die again and again, Hiyori has seen him die again and again, but they only have memory of the days when the other died. They are just like the dark Shintarou from Lost Time Memory, trapped in a painful time loop. Out of all there songs, this is the most intense: the agony of having to watch the one you love die again and again, its frightening just thinking about it. I showed it to Ms. Lee Min Ho and felt a little guilty because she looked so sad throughout it.

Now lets move on to Otsukimi Recital, one of the newest Kagerou Day’s videos. Now in the story timeline/universe, Hibaya and Hiyori were involved in an accident. Both of them died, but Hibaya entered the Kagerou Daze, gained the Eye-Focusing ability, and came back to life with his new red eyes. His ability allows him to see things from a “bird-eyes view”, which I now think is because if he can see from that angle, then maybe he’ll be able to catch dangers before they take someone else from him. After the accident En spots him with Konoha, I”m not sure how much time passes before he joins the Mekakushi Dan, but when he does he catches the attention of Momo. Hibaya has a huge emotional scar because of Hiyori’s death. The fact he couldn’t save the girl he loved haunts him. Though Momo doesn’t know all the details, she wants to cheer him up. The song and video are super cute and touching! Compared to Heat-Haze, the mood is obviously a lot lighter. Its also quite touching because there are sad moments: Hibaya’s guilt, grief, and fear. But he’s determined to become stronger. I was captivated by Heat-Haze, but Hibaya’s character has been a sort of mystery to me. Since he hasn’t come in the manga yet, I didn’t really think about him and his connection to the Mekakushi Dan. After watching this though, I’m eager to see his chapters and his story!

That’s all for today. Though there is a reference to the accident in Konoha’s State of the World, I’m saving that song for my En and Konoha post, along with 2 other songs. Look forward to it.

Bye-bye

~Nadeshiko-chan