Totto-chan, the Little Girl at the Window

Review summary: A story from before the war to during the war. However, this is a story that goes beyond that. The core of this story is Totto-chan's life. I think this is one of the best animated films. Check out the characters and art background images in the trailer. It's a lot of effort. Who should watch: People who have seen "Kono Sekai no Katasumi ni (In This Corner of the World)". People who like foreshadowing. Who should not watch: This movie shows everyday life, so it can be boring for people who want to enjoy the highs and lows of their emotions. This is ananime adaptation of Tetsuko Kuroyanagi's autobiographical novel. There is probably no one in Japan who doesn't know her, who is also active as an actress, entertainer, and TV show host. The novel has been translated into over 20 languages and over 25 million copies have been published. (+) It's fun to watch the characters The characters are cute. It seems like they are trying to give it a Showa feel. And it moves well. In particular, the main character, Totto-chan (=Tetsuko Kuroyanagi), runs around freely. You can clearly see her free-spirited personality. (+) Create amazing art backgrounds It seems like they tried to faithfully reproduce it. The director interviewed her. The inside of the house and school are also depicted in detail. Art backgrounds is drawn in poster color on drawing paper. (+) Easy to notice story Totto-chan is a rich girl. I didn't know about the daily life of wealthy families in pre-war Tokyo (though the war was actually started). There have been several animated movies based on World War II, but most of them are from local cities, including Hiroshima. Therefore, There were many things I learned for the first time. Western architecture is stylish, rich. This story takes place before and during the war. In other words, we can see that the situation is gradually becoming a state of war. This is subtly revealed in the background and facial expressions, and can be noticed by those watching the movie. Sorry, I couldn't find any negative points ... Well, IMPORTANT points of this movie: Anti-war is just one element of this story. The core of this story is Totto-chan's life. This movie based on her autobiography. Totto-chan is free-spirited. She causes trouble to her teacher and is forced to transfer her school. At the new school, Totto-chan grows up freely and in accordance with the school's educational policy. And she interacts with her disabled friend. This is the main storyline. In Director's interview says: People with disabilities may have been exposed to discrimination, and children's freedom was taken away in Japan at the time. So, children with disabilities must have suffered even more psychologically. When people from overseas see this movie, I would be happy if they could empathize with the situation that children were in at the time, rather than just seeing it as a Japanese anti-war movie. Finally, here are my impressions. This movie has no emotional ups and downs. Therefore, it may feel a little boring at times. I was the same. But, when I quietly came to a realization from the movie, I felt a pain in my heart. It's a movie with a lot of hooks that tug at your heartstrings. I think Totto-chan will expand your world.

Just aired in my country and obviously I had to instantly give it a go. And this anime instantly exceeding my expectations, I cried at the theater because I failed to hold my tears. BUT, I am a slice of life enjoyer and I strongly believe this anime isn't for everyone, if you didn't like slow pacing or SoL, I suggest that you skip this anime, I think people who only watches shounen will fell asleep. But yeah, animation is charming and story is great but very depressing, this anime will put you through some sort of mixed emotion and you will probably think that thankfullyyou're not living through that period of time. There are some scenes that you need to pay attention to so that some of the climax/key scenes will have effects on you and oh, I think movie has an upperhand if compared with it's 2 other similar movies, it's based on an autobiography so 75% of this movie is definitely true and that makes it more depressing. Kono Sekai no Katasumi Ni and Grave of the Fireflies has some sort of "Playing victim" vibes to them but not this anime, this anime is the most anti-war movie you could get from Japan. But it's still somewhat has resemblance to Grave of the Fireflies because it took children's PoV. My emotion is still mixed, I wrote this right after I watched it so pardon me for this quick review. It's a 10/10 from me, might gonna watch the Blu-Ray once it's released only to watch for the "Key scenes" though sadly, I wish I can enjoy this movie again like I did today but usually 2nd watch through is gonna be quite normal.

I am not a slice of life show enjoyer. But the show was certainly a masterpiece. I’m surprised it doesn’t average at least 8.6 or 8.7. I thought grave of the fireflies was also a masterpiece, but this show is better. Perhaps it took some of the problems and criticisms of grave of the fireflies and added a more grown-up more reasonable show together. The movie is clearly anti war, but it doesn’t hit you over the head with that fact. Instead it immerses, you in the world and lets you see the effects of wartime propaganda on the population. Characters and character developmentwere both superb. Every character seemed realistic, a very impressive accomplishment. Happy to add this to my list of masterpieces I can recommend others watch.

Genuinely surprised this movie was offered as part of the inflight entertainment system. Some scenes surely must have raised some eyebrows with the passengers who traveled besides me. That said, I am a sucker for these types of movies. The movie starts out with excellent world-building, only to have the world be completely destroyed by the end of the movie. It's a tearjerker for sure. What prevents me from rating it higher is that there were no moments that blew my mind, like plot twists or random moments in the movie that suddenly make sense afterwards. What I expected happened, and admittedly a little bit more.