Finishing off my AniMAY series by focusing on a new release for Netflix. The film in question is Bubble (2022), and not only is this the most recent film I have reviewed for this series but it is also the first film I have seen where I had no prior knowledge of the director’s work, in this case, Tetsuro Araki. By that, I mean no first-hand knowledge, as I am very aware of Death Note and Attack on Titan as series but I have not seen them. So, I was quite excited to get into it and see what Araki had to offer, and I won’t hold back from giving you my thoughts any longer. The film is set in a dystopian Tokyo, that has been mostly abandoned after millions of bubbles mysteriously appeared and were closely followed by a mysterious explosion that flooded the majority of the city while also having an effect on the gravity in the city. The only people still in the city are youths who use the city as a playground and a place to compete in a team-based parkour competition in which they bet food and supplies. One of these youths, Hibiki (Jun Shison), is drawn to the centre of the city where the explosion took place by a song only, he can hear, and after meeting a mysterious girl, Uta (Emi Lo), he believes he may be able to finally understand why.
Critically this film is getting very mixed reviews. A lot of the more negative reviews point to the narrative and characters as being major issues in the film, and I do agree with this. In terms of the characters, this is much more stereotypically anime than any of the other films I have reviewed this month, maybe more in design than personality, but a little so in that regard too. When it comes to the characters, there isn’t anyone who is all that interesting and they are all pretty one note. Certain characters who belong to the main group I couldn’t even begin to describe to you because they are kind of just there. But this isn’t as much of an issue to me as the narrative and how the film goes about telling it. There are two moments very early in the film where the film gets across exposition in order to explain the world we are in and it is so, so clunky. When the film tells you about the bubbles incident that destroyed Tokyo it seemingly comes outs of nowhere and is told in a narrated flashback, seemingly happening in a character’s head as they remember. I think the actual flashback sequence could have worked better if it was the first thing we see in the film as a prologue, but having it happen when it does feels very odd. The second moment of clunky exposition comes earlier and would also have been saved if it was rolled into a prologue. The film knows it needs to explain the parkour game that is central to the narrative, but it does it but just having a random character say they are not entirely sure about the rules followed by a list of the rules that sounds like it is being read straight of a board game manual. The main issue with the narrative however is that it is just kind of all over the place. It has this parkour rivalry going on that just seems to sort itself out despite a kidnapping, a romance that is going on, and a possible end of world scenario looming in the background. It also has this ‘Little Mermaid’ parallel which is fine, but it needs to keep reminding you that it is what is going for and the delivery of which is also clunky.
But, with all that being said, I still find myself landing on the side of liking the film rather than disliking it. Yes, it does have quite big narrative issues, but I still found myself swept up in it towards the end. If I’m being perfectly honest, I think a good amount of that is because of the film's score which I think is great. It is a brilliant mix of grand orchestral scores, heavy percussion, and low key, almost ethereal sounds which all add to every scene they are a part of. It is the first film I have seen in a little while where the score came to the fore and I really noticed it and its effect on the film. But the real selling point for this film, and the one thing that even the reviews that are negative towards the film will point out, is the visuals. In terms of its animation and visuals, the film is really excellent. There were a couple moments towards the beginning where the animation for the parkour sequences looked a little janky, but either I got used to this or it improved as the film went along because these sequences were some of the more impressive moments throughout the film. But it was the environment that the film created that I really loved. I love a visual of sprawling urban areas overtaken by nature, and this film has plenty of that. And the fact the film takes place in an area where the field of gravity has been affected means that the world can have buildings at weird angles and debris floating slowly through the atmosphere which just adds a bit of visual flair. And the film uses colour wonderfully. It was reminiscent of Makoto Shinkai’s work, which is a style that I find visually fantastic. If I am to come back to this film, it is going to be for these visuals.
This film is currently sitting on a 50% critical response on Rotten Tomatoes, and I can totally see why the film is having this polarising response. The narrative and characters are definitely issues within the film, which I can probably show best by telling you how long I struggled to write a synopsis that encapsulated the narrative while not rambling, and I am not sure I was able to do that. But, if like me you can get past these issues and get bought into the romance of the film then, alongside a great score and some incredible visuals then there is a lot to get out of this, and overall it worked for me.
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