Garakowa - Restore the World (ガラスの花と壊す世界) is a sci-fi fantasy movie directed by Ishihama Masashi and written by Shimo Fumihiko. The movie premiered worldwide January 2016.
Two anthropomorphic anti-virus programs, Dual and Dorthy, dwell inside of a computer system called Box of Wisdom. The system's function is to backup and store human memories and experiences. They go about surveying the data packets of the memories and deleting any virus abnormalities that arise. After deleting one infected memory Dual discovers that remnants of the memory seem to be affecting her own program. Before they can explore this problem a new program appears named Remo. The anti-virus programs, upon confirming Remo is not a virus or infected, welcome the bewildered girl into their 'lives'.
Remo is clueless as to who or what she is and her purpose. What she does is present the other two with concepts they have never dwelt on; emotions, experiences and how and why one interacts with the world around them. The three explore the endless realities and worlds stored with in the system, building a bond of friendship and sisterhood. The more they explore though, the more they discover the darker sides of humanity and they begin to wonder about their place in the scheme of their computer world.
Its hard to tell what audience this movie is aimed at more; moe loving otaku or tween-age girls. Both markets would be entertained with this interesting and strange tale of disassociation and attempts at immortality and tranquility. I'm not sure myself how much I enjoyed the movie. Some themes I liked, others I did not. One theme I liked was the movies attempt to make the viewer question how we interact with out environment. How much of the way we react to the world around us are guided by our tactile senses and how much are guided by what we are taught?
In the middle of the movie as the three programs are establishing there bond there is a prolonged music video/montage that builds this sisterhood connection. It seemed out of place created a weird break in the mood for me. I half expected Hatsune Miku to show up...
Art wise the character designs reminded me of softened late 90's CLAMP characters. They had frequent costume changes and exuded a level of magical girl. Remo looked like the digital remnants of Menma. The background animation was fantastic and well imagined. All in all the artwork was smooth and high quality.
In the end my reaction to the film is in the middle, it was both good and bad. I'm sure I am not the target audience but that doesn't mean its a horrible film. It tells a simple story with some intriguing and deeper nuggets peppered through out, but it really doesn't get too deep into the world its self. Instead it focuses on these 3 humanoid AI programs and a brief story of their reality and their personal interactions. The story is tried and true dealing with friendship, acceptance and the realization of whats important due to the threat of loss. Shimo previously wrote the screenplay for the amazing Haruhi movie and Ishihama directed the excellent Shin Sekai Yori. The movie isn't really anything like either of those stories in its own right.
Garakowa is currently available streaming on Crunchyroll with no word on any international theatrical or disc release.
Two anthropomorphic anti-virus programs, Dual and Dorthy, dwell inside of a computer system called Box of Wisdom. The system's function is to backup and store human memories and experiences. They go about surveying the data packets of the memories and deleting any virus abnormalities that arise. After deleting one infected memory Dual discovers that remnants of the memory seem to be affecting her own program. Before they can explore this problem a new program appears named Remo. The anti-virus programs, upon confirming Remo is not a virus or infected, welcome the bewildered girl into their 'lives'.
Remo is clueless as to who or what she is and her purpose. What she does is present the other two with concepts they have never dwelt on; emotions, experiences and how and why one interacts with the world around them. The three explore the endless realities and worlds stored with in the system, building a bond of friendship and sisterhood. The more they explore though, the more they discover the darker sides of humanity and they begin to wonder about their place in the scheme of their computer world.
Its hard to tell what audience this movie is aimed at more; moe loving otaku or tween-age girls. Both markets would be entertained with this interesting and strange tale of disassociation and attempts at immortality and tranquility. I'm not sure myself how much I enjoyed the movie. Some themes I liked, others I did not. One theme I liked was the movies attempt to make the viewer question how we interact with out environment. How much of the way we react to the world around us are guided by our tactile senses and how much are guided by what we are taught?
In the middle of the movie as the three programs are establishing there bond there is a prolonged music video/montage that builds this sisterhood connection. It seemed out of place created a weird break in the mood for me. I half expected Hatsune Miku to show up...
Art wise the character designs reminded me of softened late 90's CLAMP characters. They had frequent costume changes and exuded a level of magical girl. Remo looked like the digital remnants of Menma. The background animation was fantastic and well imagined. All in all the artwork was smooth and high quality.
In the end my reaction to the film is in the middle, it was both good and bad. I'm sure I am not the target audience but that doesn't mean its a horrible film. It tells a simple story with some intriguing and deeper nuggets peppered through out, but it really doesn't get too deep into the world its self. Instead it focuses on these 3 humanoid AI programs and a brief story of their reality and their personal interactions. The story is tried and true dealing with friendship, acceptance and the realization of whats important due to the threat of loss. Shimo previously wrote the screenplay for the amazing Haruhi movie and Ishihama directed the excellent Shin Sekai Yori. The movie isn't really anything like either of those stories in its own right.
Garakowa is currently available streaming on Crunchyroll with no word on any international theatrical or disc release.
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