REVIEW: BUBBLE

4/5

The Bubble Girl.

100 Mins. Starring: Jun Shison, Riria, Alice Hirose, Mamorou Miyano, Yuki Kaji & Tasuku Hatanaka. Director: Tetsurō Araki. 

Glowing orange emits from Tokyo Tower like it does at night, but something looks like it's drawn into its now orb like middle. Just like tons of tourists during the country's national holiday, Golden Week, right now. Although on closer inspection the skeleton of this structure has more than a few broken bones. Looking like it has been worn away under the sea like all the trains that still run down there (is that the Shonan-Shinjuku line?). All as reeds and grass grow in gullies like fern. Sprouting up amongst Shibuya crossing. Giving it a whole new post-apocalyptic iconic look for this new modern classic anime in the leagues of 'Weathering With You' or 'Your Name'. One whose ante is up with the freewheeling and free running amongst Akihabara of the parkour players that turns this digital world into a real video game like the reality of 'Ready Player One' in this concrete jungle, rooftop-to-rooftop footrace. On your marks, get set. Go watch this amazing new Netflix anime that is the picture of the world famous Tokyo. Real 'Bubble' talk. All the way to the perfect postcard photographs that are worth sticking around for in the post-credits like all Japanese politely do in cinemas. Even when they're not watching the latest Marvel movie in this multiverse of madness. A mix of animation and real world like the 'New Legacy' of LeBron's 'Space Jam', for this movie in a Bubble like the NBA in Disney World. All the way to the real life banners and billboards you can see dotted around Shibuya right now between all the Gucci and Chanel. Like people at the crossing on their cells not realising the light has turned green. Can I go? 

Green days in 'The Garden Of Words', otherwise known as the perfect park that is Shinjuku-Gyoen, that frame-to-frame match-up perfectly from anime to reality. Google it and tell me if you can Pepsi and Cola tell the difference. The steps of 'Your Name' that fans make a cult like pilgrimage to on the Instagram story daily. So many more legendary animes from a Ghibli studio to a 'Tokyo Ghoul:re' manga reply. They all capture Tokyo in artwork cinematics that are as close to the truth as an artists rendition sketching from memory can get. The only thing that looks more convincing is HBO's 'Tokyo Vice' based on Jake Adelstein's book, taking it to the max. But this? This is something else entirely like the post New York times of Will Smith's (we're still sticking by him, not what he did and not shutting him out) 'I Am Legend' garden square that the illuminated Coca-Cola and Samsung billboards turned into just down the road from the basketball Eden of MSG. And then of course there's bubbles. Lots of bubbles. Like the ones you blow on a Spring Day, so good BTS sang a song about it. 'バブル' from Wit Studios and Tetsurō Araki (who gave us something that towers above even Tokyo in the legendary 'Attack On Titan'), is a really fleshed out story for a streaming service losing subscribers, in need of a pick-up boost. The director from Saitama who also gave us 'Death Note' is in a Super Arena of his own. Tetsurō...or should we say Mochizuki Saburō, gives us a beautiful, boundless anime of bubbles for his alias. One that will have you floating in a fever dream of hallucinogenic, before it pops and breaks your heart like soap on the tip of your nose from a childhood memory of the first time you washed up. Your arms soaked in suds like the muse here. 

Life is the bubbles for this anime that takes the concept of Hans Christian Andersen's Disney turned fairytale 'The Little Mermaid' and swims with it, waaaay under the sea like a borrowing 'Arrietty'. But without swallowing too much seawater. Making a splash like Tom Hanks and Daryl Hannah, even without a tail. This Shōnen Jump+ manga adaptation that debuted at the Berlin International Film Festival this February was wrote by 'Psycho-Pass' screenwriter Gen Urobuchi and features moving music to the "ha, ha, ha, ha" (and that's not laughing) haunting harmony that will stay with you from the soundtrack of Hiroyuki Sawano with scores to his name ('Titan', 'Blue Exorcist' and so many, many more). But it's the classic character designs from Takeshi Obata ('Death Note', 'Hikaru no Go') that really soar as the jump around the city and its gravity anomalies like Mario over mushrooms. Watanabe Entertainment's Jun Shison voices Hibiki in his Beats By anime headphones with more than just hearing ultrasensitivity for a movie sensitive to disability like 'A Silent Voice', a year after the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics. Surfing on suds and climbing the tower because he swears he can hear a women's voice. That song comes from new classic character for the movie medium Uta. Voiced by the equally enigmatic star of the future that also goes by just one name. Riria. The brains of the operation Makoto (Alice Hirose, creating a family dynasty with sister Suzu), Mamoru Miyano's Shin and Kai by Yuki Kaji round out the team. As 'Yu-Gi-Oh's' own Tasuku Hatanaka voices a Denki Ninja in this race against the Morticians or Undertakers that's a must win, even if it kills them. Now before the Eve (no, not that one) themed 'Bubble' floats with the swan song from Riria herself that says 'See You, Catch You Later' (or should we say 'Jaa ne, Mata ne' (じゃあね、またね)), you'll float too. It's time to get on this 'Bubble' before it bursts. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Further Filming: 'The Little Mermaid', 'Your Name', 'Weathering With You'.