Kaijuu no Kodomo

Ruka Azumi's ordinary summer vacation revolves around spending all her time on the handball court to avoid her only housemate, her alcoholic mother. When an incident at practice leads to Ruka's exclusion from the handball team, she is forced to find other outlets to enjoy herself, eventually winding up at the aquarium where her father works. There, she meets Umi, a mysterious boy raised by dugongs who is being kept at the aquarium in order to research his strange water-dependent body.

Ruka and Umi become fast friends, and the pair is soon ed by Sora, Umi's brother who also has an unusual relationship with the ocean. Together, the trio explore a dazzling undersea world while learning about a peculiar "festival" that all sea creatures around the world are preparing for.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Sora Main

Uragami, Seishuu Japanese

Azumi, Ruka Main

Ashida, Mana Japanese

Umi Main

Ishibashi, Hiiro Japanese

Anglade ing

Morisaki, Win Japanese

Dede ing

Fuji, Sumiko Japanese

Cusack, Jim ing

Tanaka, Min Japanese

Azumi, Kanako ing

Aoi, Yuu Japanese

Azumi, Masaaki ing

Inagaki, Gorou Japanese

Tanaka, Eiko Producer

Watanabe, Ayumu Director, Storyboard

Kasamatsu, Kouji Sound Director

Kino, Hanasaki Script

Reviews

Jun 7, 2019

yenbus

Recommended

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!

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Feb 25, 2020

johnbradshaw

Mixed Feelings

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 main lead and some minor side characters that doesn't leave much of an impression. But what I want to talk about is their dialogues, they always sound so vague and as invalid as possible. I figured that maybe the director wanted to remain the mystery to the end but even then, there's really no answer, no explanations of any kind and that really hangs me over the middle.

As mentioned above, Kaijuu no Kodomo has one of the best animation I've ever seen. As comparable as Ufotable, Kyoani or Ghibli's works. Everything looks so fluid and beautifully detailed. Especially the characters' eyes and the scenery of the sea, they looks so lively but still remain the uniqueness of animated story. The music is also very reminiscent and bring a lots contribution in the overall tender and mysterious tone of the anime.

Imo, no matter how great the animation can be, if its story fails to make the same impact, it's just such a shame because pieces of animation that's as beautiful as Children of the Sea is so rare to find nowadays. So if you're all for the story like me, Kaijuu no Kodomo is just not worth it.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Mar 28, 2023

nozomiEX

Not Recommended

Funny

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 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 completely oblivious to how pompous it is.

I really can't stress how cartoonishly self-aggrandizing this is. Don't bother watching it if you at all intend to pay attention. There are nice visual sequences in here but it's only surface-deep. This would be completely boring and unremarkable if it weren't for how outrageously pretentious it is.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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