Bubble (2022)

Bubble is an effervescent piece of heartfelt sci-fi that’s as refreshing as its cast and concepts.

This isn’t the least interesting story I’ve ever seen told in anime, but it’s right up there. The dialogue’s of the “I wish I had parents! To talk me OUTTA things like this!” school.

Bubble is tender, even meditative. But its best ideas are sadly swept away amid a wave of half-formed ones.

A sports anime focused around a group of orphans which makes the conscious decision to compete over basic necessities instead of participating in everyday society is the seed of a fruitful idea. But instead of playing to his strengths Araki has settled for lowest common denominator storytelling.

Unfortunately, despite all this talent, Bubble never amounts to something wholly unique—falling into predictable tropes and a narrative that ends up being a little too self-serious for a parkour adventure with bubbles.

Genuinely loved this film when it came out, and still do to this day. The music, story, animation, there's so much to enjoy. If you haven't already, I HIGHLY recommend giving this a watch (Uta X Hibiki is a banger BTW)

Bubble wears its influences on its sleeve. This is distinctly inspired by the recent works of Makoto Shinkai(Your Name, Weathering With You), with its stunning use of digital techniques to bring these stunning worlds to life. The central concept of freerunning around a broken, flooded and low-gravity version of Tokyo is incredibly imaginative and leads to the best portrayal of the artform that is parkour since Mirror's Edge in 2008. While never truly reaching the heights of films such as Weathering With You, Bubble takes the concept of a supernatural force keeping young lovers apart and adds its own unique spin, to create one of the most high-flying, yet grounded tales I've seen told in anime.

Vinaigrette, which does not work if you have seen many anime. I still give it a high rating for the beautiful soundtrack and animations.

Quite the disappointment from Araki, Bubble just has nothing to justify its existence for me. I see a lot of praise for the visuals and there are a few moments of pretty artistic backgrounds but for the most part, the visuals are generic or even straight-up ugly - the same goes for the animation. The voice acting in both the original Japanese and English were also subpar at best. Worst of all is that the story, outside of a couple of unique elements that don't add up to much, is filled with oversaturated beats and bland characters that we've seen more times than I care to think about.

Netflix has been investing in a lot of original anime projects and Bubble (2022) is one of them. This project had big build up when it was announced that Wit Studio, who animated the first 3 seasons of Attack on Titan, was involved in this movie. It also had the director and producer of the first 3 seasons of Attack on Titan and legendary writer, Gen Urobochi, of Madoka Magica and Psycho pass fame was writing for Bubble (2022). It was also revealed one of the best anime composers, Sawano Hiroyuki, was going to compose for this film. It just screamed amazing! So imagine my disappointment after watching this film when it turned out to be quite bland. Yes the animation is phenomenal, the music score is god tier and the world itself is pretty interesting. However, the plot is just a very typical boy meets girl situation and it never goes beyond that whatsoever. The characters are just generic, one dimensional and forgettable. I never connect or root for the main characters and the supporting characters just end up being there for the sake of it. There isn't anything at stake until the last 30 minutes of the film. The first 100 is just a slow pace drag of occasional things happening. It's a shame that with all these industry veterans, this is the best they came up with. At least the visuals and music is astoundingly good.

The combination of action, fiction and romance is enough to please anime fans; the fact that it is slightly inspired by a classic tale does not detract for a moment. The melancholic ending may not make everyone happy but it is not a factor against it either. For a weekend without pretensions.