Sing a Bit of Harmony

So... I did not expect this, but I didn't like Sing a Bit of Harmony as much as I've wanted to. Even now, I consider Time of Eve to be a quintessential cosy Sci-Fi and one of the better examples of playing with AI-related ideas (even transhumanist ones to some extent) in the medium. Harmonie and Aquatic Language were also really nice. And I tend to overrate everything slightly musical in nature too. Everything was looking favourable at first. Heck, if I were to compile my 10 favourite movies in a top, more than half would be musicals. But the main difference between those andour culprit is the fact that the formers couldn't be summed up by a reductionist as *drum roll, please* 'Platitudes: The Almost-Musical' West Side Story was innovative, equally actual from a political POV today as it was back then, thought-provoking even, for it is not a simple LEFT good, RIGHT bad. La La Land's cinematography was on point, the songs were memorable and I still listen to them even now, almost 6 years later. And it had Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling in there. Moulin Rouge? I remember it being the first movie that made me feel really emotional and it's 10 times cheesier, dumber and less natural when it comes to human interactions. But I don't hate it either. It's cute, it's nice, it's an adventure about a singing robot-waifu making friends with your average group of high-schoolers. It's not a bad movie by any means. Actually all of them had great music, besides Sing a Bit of Harmony. Having given those 3 examples, I feel like I have created some sort of pattern for what makes a good musical in my book. I feel like this movie fails in these aspects. The message, despite being quite morally-heavy, is not that interesting and neither is it thought-provoking, for it doesn't bring anything new regarding the topic. However, I'll be fair: It's a nice message and raising awareness about the corporate-AI relationship won't get old anytime soon. It might also be someone else's first contact with the idea and it might change his life completely. Who knows? So... Let's say this part is serviceable. Next, the songs. I'm sorry, but this is nowhere near Belle even, which has aired recently. I have watched it twice already and I don't think there has been a single song that managed to escape the 'generic musical' mould you'd see in a middle school recital. I get it, it's supposed to be about high schoolers so it's fitting, but I genuinely don't care. Anthem of the Heart was in exactly the same spot, yet I really liked its songs, I found them memorable - here only the martial arts sequence one was quite close; actually that was one of the best scenes in this movie and it also had a nice transition thrown in there. It has plenty of energy, it is vibrant, it was a great hook for me, even 40 mins into the movie. But everything was sort of thrown away when we switched to the next scene. The voice acting is nice and the sound design is not lacking in any aspects, but if a musical fails to deliver on songs, I'm not gonna be the biggest fan. This is, by far, my biggest issue with this movie. I mean.. I'd even go as far as claiming that I like Annie get your gun more just because it had a really, REALLY good song, in spite of the ideological garbage that that movie is. How about the cinematography? Don't get me wrong. It looks good overall, the animation is solid and there are some nice catches here and there, but they are few and far between. Dune was good because it was very orange. Zhang Yimou's movies are good because they are very red and so on (obviously kidding). But this movie was neither orange, nor red. Heck, Belle played a lot with the shots, it made great use of stills and close-ups, of long-shots, of everything. They were a part of the story. This one's most memorable cinematographic achievement was the fact that the videocalls were low quality and pixelated. Just like in real life. The future is grim. It doesn't matter if we have AI close to passing the Turing or the Coffee test, we will still have shitty internet connection and FHD-only videocalls. A point could also be made in favour of blue in some sequences, but when the scene switches, the emotion meant to be felt remains the same, yet you have a vividly-coloured, unfiltered shot, I don't think the point stands. Lastly... emotion. In essence, the first half of the movie is a human drama involving a group of high-schoolers. Great. It's just like Hibike Euphonium and I can't watch Hibike without bawling my eyes out every few eps. The main difference is that this one lacks the solid cast of characters and that affects the world in itself. You'll say 'but this is limited by its run time, you dummy'. Moulin Rouge is equally limited and it is a very simple story. Yet it makes an over-the-top setup presented in a similar way feel more tangible than a simple, every day one most of us have been a part of: high-school. A human drama is at its best when we can believe in the world and characters. It relies on keeping you high-key engaged emotionally or at least mentally. If a movie or a series lacks a hook and you never become truly engaged in the first place, it will be hard to fully appreciate it. Satine has this allure to her, she's very charismatic and you can understand everyone's obsession with her. It's easy to get charmed by a courtesan and that role fits Nicole Kidman like a glove. It all boils down to the fact that I couldn't care about what happened, and probably didn't like the movie that much overall because no matter how nice a world you build, I'd dock a few points if the inhabitants are uninteresting. And it's not all about charisma or the like. You can have a more 'supportive' personality steal the show like Kumiko in Hibike. I couldn't find an anchor - someone to care about. The interactions between said characters have much more depth than your average romcom tou (not to diminish the latter's value) and I appreciate that, but does that really matter if you don't care about the ones interacting? That would work for me in a non-character-driven drama where the story is top-notch or the world is very interesting in itself. I'm sure that I would have liked it so much more if there was at least one character I'd root for. In spite of my random rambling, I don't hate it. I do, in fact, sort of like it. It is also a movie about a group of friends, one which happens to contain a not-so-sentient AI (more of them?). It's a pretty good human drama at times... and then the police gets involved and THEY'VE GOT A MOPED INSIDE THE BUILDING and the battery's dead. Timeout. A confession, which becomes one of the funniest scenes from the movie for some reason, being a prime example of the limitations Boolean logic suffers from. And then every AI around suddenly understands what's happened to one of their own and they decide to switch sides. It's The Terminator all over again, but with dance and music. And laser beams. You get the point, it's a fun movie. But it fails as a musical in my book. And it also doesn't have either Ryan Gosling or Emma Stone in it. 6 out of OH YES OH YES OH YES WE BOTH OH YES WE BOTH OH YES WE BOTH REACHED FOR THE GUN THE GUN THE GUN THE GUN OH YES WE BOTH REACHED FOR THE GUN, a pretty good movie, but a pretty bad musical. Of course, if you take it as satire, it's another story. But you need to understand what makes a good musical in order to satirize it. If you don't, all you end up with is a pointless parody that should at least be funny. Edit: was a 5 because I cannot count anything that goes beyond 1 hand, it gets complicated :V The individual scores given to each aspect reflected something else.

Sing a Bit of Harmony was a film that got sandwiched in with Vivy -Fluorite Eye's Song- and Belle in 2021 with its focus on AI and technology within a near-future setting. The name Yatsuhiro Yoshiura may ring a bell to some folks as he was the director behind the highly acclaimed 2008 ONA, Time of Eve, with its mundane focus on androids and exploring how life would seem from their perspective as they secretly have gained sentience. Sing a Bit of Harmony dabbles into somewhat similar elements of exploring a near-future setting with technology as a company is testing out a new AI-programmed robotnamed Shion to attempt having her blend in with students at a high school as loner student Satomi, who attends the school, is the daughter of Shion's lead programmer and finds her life getting hectic with Shion attempting to give her "happiness." This film has a number of the familiar drama beats you may see from other coming-of-age films that include a lonely teenager being an outcast and another character coming along to help liven up their lives and improve their interactions with others, this chemistry focused on with Satomi and Shion. The AI focus comes into play with exploring the bond between humans and technology with Shion's attempts to bond with Satomi and several of her classmates, as her infectious energy and antics clash with the otherwise mundane environment from her human companions who believably react to her outrageous behavior. This does make things feel a bit different from most sci-fi titles that depict AI as being logical and to the point in their interactions with others, as Shion's lively personality and inability to blend in with students due to unintentionally showing off her inhuman abilities does add some additional dimension to her character with her efforts to make others happy. Elements of Shion's character hint to a more closer connection she has to Satomi than expected that the film does explore as things progress with it. Outside of the focus on the main duo, there is focus on some of the issues affecting several of Satomi's classmates that Shion gets herself involved in as well, notably Satomi's childhood friend and talented engineer Toma. The film has enough time to flesh out and provide some sort of resolution to these issues, though it does get a bit clumsy with handling moments of teenage angst affecting the characters. Overall in spite of having some typical elements of a coming-of-age drama, Yoshiura's touch on the genre with Sing a Bit of Harmony makes Shion's lively character quite different from typical depictions of AI in media and offers some solid exploration on the idea of humans and technology having positive relationships with one another, even if feeling a little romanticized compared to his earlier work on Time of Eve. I'd at least give it a watch, even if it doesn't completely break any new ground as far as its coming-of-age drama elements go.

The way of drawing AI that goes into everyday life in Japan is very natural. Looking at the director's create history "Eve no Jikan", I understood. A nice idea movie that lets AI (Shion) sing a musical song. There are some scenes where I'm nervous, but the end is fun. Sci-fi, juvenile, musical, the best combination of movies. Shion has become the most beloved character by combining both voice and drawing. For me and for the characters. And, as is often the case with other movies, if you understand the situation and watch it a second time, it will be able to watch the movie evenmore freshly. Currently December 2021. It has been more than a month since it was released in Japan, and the number of screening halls has decreased. However, the weekend screen is crowded with fans who have heard high praise. In Tokyo, the movie sound director (Yoshikazu Iwanami) goes to some screens himself to adjust the sound, so that the fans can hear her voice well. This movie is loved by so many fans and staff. I sincerely hope that this movie will be released in the world.