With a Purposeful and Educational Direction, Children Who Chase Lost Voices Shows That Nature And Humankind Exist In Adversary

Anime

TV-14

Directed by Makoto Shinkai

Streaming on HBO Max

Feats of animation can be very magical. They can take people beyond what’s common and normal. The ways in which animation can move beyond normality and into the fantasies that only the mind can capture are astounding. Children Who Chase Lost Voices From Deep Below flips through like a storybook, with fantastical scenes that sweep you away.

               The film guides its audience through various scenes in nature, with the spirit world at its helm. It doesn’t hold back on the beasts or the magic. The momentum pushing the plot forward comes from the environment in the film more than the characters, and it is filled with the spirits of nature.

               Nature to this film is a spiritual experience. It’s something that leaves a lot to the imagination. The world that god created is larger than the one that humans could make in some ways, and the things you can find out there are beyond human comprehension.

               It takes animation to be able to put into perspective some aspects of the world that are farther out of reach. What an animator can do to make good nature scenes is an interesting topic. In Children Who Chase Lost Voices, the subtleties are what drives the animation.

               There are various techniques used, including clips and loops, but not all of the nature is placed in the box. The freehand techniques used to make more variant clips gives a lot more depth to the personality of the animation. Different water techniques are used that give life to the nature. Including but not limited to linework variation and traditional loops.

               Linework variation gives an improvised feel to the artwork. It also gives it the god-given feel that nature really has. Changing up the lines makes for the animation to have a certain kind of shiftiness that alters the offerings. It brings the animation to life.

               Creatures galore in this film. Butterflies, fish, and more. They are interspersed with the nature and have their own sense of direction. They are separated from human society and given their own space. Some stand out more than others. Some are in the backdrop, and some are given their own scenes.

               Humanity in this picture is depicted with flaws, with violence, and with greed. Nature is given a certain innocence and that innocence is protected by guardians. Sometimes those are physical beings, and sometimes they are metaphysical. The fact that nature is given the transcendence to follow through life with its own rules apart from humanity gives humanity a distant feel.

               The farther the characters go on their adventure, the deeper into the mix they get. The drama unfolds like it would on a long journey. The physical exhaustion that the characters undertake builds to the breaking point. Everything is laid out so that you can feel the toils of the adventure.

               The boundaries that the characters overcome and the barriers that they traverse are filled with hardship. The scenes show the vastness of the world and how beings fit into nature. The human exploration of such places can take its toll on people. Nature has a way of protecting itself from outsiders.

               All in all, the film has a special kind of arc. It is far from your traditional anime feature. Revolving around nature instead of humanity gives the whole piece a converse faculty that institutes beliefs in education. It certainly has a purpose, and it never loses sight of its vision. There is drama that is well-suited to the situations placed in the film, and it unfolds with the natural psychology that the film sets out to depict.