This film tells a story of both friendship and loss. Umi lost her father in the Korean War, his ship having struck a mine. As such she raises the signal flags every morning hoping that in some way she could guide her father home. She looks out at the sea from her garden, longing to once again see her fathers ship. Her flags, though, did not go unseen as she would soon learn. Umi befriends a classmate of hers named Shun. As they grew closer to each other their friendship slowly became more than that. However, a discovery that would soon come to light would complicate matters.
This film is nothing short of a masterpiece. This film having been done by Studio Ghibli is a rather obvious statement. The art style is what you would expect. Bright and colorful it almost absorbs into you. As you take in the pictures and consume their sounds you feel as though you are actually there. The music fit the scenes perfectly, they played on your heart strings and really made you care about the characters and their lives.
The characters, too, were deep. They didn’t fall into those cliche, stereotypical tropes. They were unique and relatable. They actually felt like real people. The writing was also phenomenal. The dialogue fit the scenes like a glove. Each one unique to their respective characters. Their voices, too, fit their characters perfectly.
The story was not sad but rather emotional. Their friendship was something that you actually cared about. You wanted to see how their friendship grew and how it would evolve. What was going to become of them. It had a happy ending and this was one of the few films where I actually cared about what happened to the characters after it ended.
This is a movie that everyone should watch. It is a work of art and one that would really tug on your heart stings. Not too many films can say that.
10 out of 10
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