Director: Isao Takahata
- Mellow, understated but very poignant.
- Feels very simple but with a quivering sincerity that still feels very relevant.
- Looks at urban life with a sense of apathy, but not hatred – while it faces quiet rural life with empathy, romanticism but also caution.
- Beautiful animation, naturally. The contrast of the fuzzy, vignetted watercolors in the flashbacks and the crisp, vibrant colors from the present time work wonderfully.
- The narrative maintains a sense of struggle without having a villain or antagonist that is a person, but instead itβs this ever present sense of dissatisfaction and anxieties that canβt easily be resolved.