CinemaSerf

Rating:7/10

"Fujino" is the class favourite when it comes to her four-scene manga that she draws for the weekly school newsletter. Then one afternoon her teacher asks her if she wouldn't mind letting "Kyomoto" have a go. She's never at school - indeed she's routinely called the truant, but he thinks that this might be a way of getting her more involved. How good can she be, thinks "Fujino"? Well it turns out that she's actually pretty good - but she still never shows up. At graduation time, "Fujino" is tasked with delivering the certificate to her unknown rival and that's the start of something that neither girl could readily have anticipated. It's quite an emotionally powerful animation, this one, taking a look at ambition and isolation amongst young people craving for acceptance, purpose and friendship as they start to emerge from childhood and face a much less sympathetic world. The girls have synergies and differences - at times they act as one, at others - well, anything but - and as the short story develops and the timelines shift about a little, we get to know a little of the enigmatic nature of their personalities and just what makes these girls tick. There is a lot of information on the screen - even if you do understand Japanese, and though I'm usually loathe to recommend dubbed versions, it might make it slightly easier to follow if you are not trying to read the top and the bottom of the screen at the same time as watching the simply effective animation. I'm not sure it needs a big screen, but it's worth a watch.

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