Bâan: The Boundary of Adulthood

The creators of the anime Bâan: The Boundary of Adulthood have done the best job they could, from animation and music to visual storytelling, all around. But this kind of story cannot be told within 19 minutes. No matter how much effort was put in by every person involved, the anime is destined to cause mixed feelings. The anime didn't resonate with me. I've never experienced homesickness. But I've never experienced a lot of things anime usually depict. So what's the difference? Obviously, length. One standard episode is not enough to empathise with characters whos experience is so different from mine. The story feels complete,but so quick, that it slips out of my hands. Nonetheless, I enjoyed watching Bâan. The anime was created with a lot of love and passion, it felt with every second of animation. The music goes straight to my collection. The voice acting was perfect. The characters felt alive. The world of the anime was interesting enough that I would like to visit it personally, or at least watch another anime in the same universe. And maybe one day, when I will be far away from home, I will rewatch this anime and I will be able to catch the feelings that were poured into Bâan.

Very happy for Gigguk to see an ambitious project to fruition. I love his content and promise to deliver from the heart. Baan however? It's. Okay. Just okay. Not bad, but I don't feel as if I've gained anything from the experience. The ups here is definitely the Quality that goes with Baan. I can tell that great care was put into the animation, the designs, the music, the desire to deliver some decency in its presentation for the most part. As an artist myself, I can definitely appreciate the thought and care that went into the design of things as a whole! However, the "story" is justa tad too disjointed. It connects, but it's weak... likely due to the time constraint of 18 minutes (Though I've seen AMAZING stories told in single anime episodes or less before this). Focusing a little too hard on the cute girly's side and not so much the male protagonist. Things are glossed over, disjointed in continuity, or rather there's little explanation for what few characters appear. There's no emotion to really feel in such a short time span. It needs more to really stand out as something worth recommending. I will always appreciate this attempt nonetheless. It's every anime lover's dream to see their own ideas or story in an animated form! I believe if Gigguk wants Baan to succeed and not be a one note project, the story needs to be made in written novel or possibly manga form. Because as it stands, I can't fall in love with these characters past a character design point.

Well, it's alright. The animation looks nice. Design of the characters is pleasant to the eye, though not very unique or original. Music is actually really good. That's about it. There is no real story here, only some ideas that could result in one. Fragments of something that could become a plot, but nothing else. For a short film, I expected something told in a better way, a self-contained plot that operated on its own terms. Unfortunately, this isn't the case. Bâan is more of a conglomeration of various ideas and more or less overused tropes. It definitely has some originality, but nothing stands outbecause it's not an 18-minute film with a unique idea, but rather plot points from a series told in one episode. I'd like to see this idea expanded, but as it is, it's just mid tbh. I could also nitpick the main theme. As I understand it, it's a story about finding one's bearings in a new reality. However, the film fails to present this in a credible or insightful way. Like Garnt, I don't live in my country of origin; I emigrated at age 11. I felt lonely, had no friends, didn't understand the language, and struggled at school. Bâan doesn't capture those feelings at all. Maybe this film aims for something different, and I shouldn't have had such expectations, but based on the previews, I did. Rin looks more like a college graduate on a job hunt than someone experiencing another world. Daichi, on the other hand, looks like he's gone camping in the woods. And while we're at it, why is this an Isekai, besides Garnt's love of the genre? Daichi could have gone on vacation to China, and the entire "plot" could have remained the same. Anyway, I could complain about it, but I won't. That's definitely not what I did. So yes, these are issues worth discussing, but the film's length makes it difficult for me to seriously consider criticizing the plot elements, because, as I mentioned above, they don't add up to a coherent story.

The harsh truth: Bâan isn't very good. It's fine. And that's okay. This comes in two parts. The first part is Bâan as an anime. And as said, it's not fantastic. I get glimpses of the vision that was intended here. In effect, this is an isekai where two people live different lives: one in a fantasy landscape, and one in a modern world. They're each trying to find "their place." As the creator himself said, Bâan means "home." Thus, the two primary protagonists are both finding their version of home. The film is definitely very inspired. I'm detecting a lot of Matoko Shinkai in itsDNA. It wants these big images, these grand vistas, and these stunning shots. It also wants to evoke a lot of wholesomeness and emotion. A lot of the scenes are not trying to be anyhting special - it's more about showing growth, learning, and emotional reaction to those experiences. There's a lot of things that happen in a short runtime. But we get this full arc, mostly focusing on the female protagonist, where she tries to find home, perhaps gets a bit disillusioned, and then eventually finds a realization of the place she needs to be. I'd be lying if the emphasis on food, similar to directors like Shinkai and Miyazaki, didn't get me a little choked up at the end. But on the face of it, this is a very direct, functional story about finding oneself in a complicated world. Now the problems. It's easy to say Bâan struggles with its runtime, and that's very understandable. It's a short indie production, but it's REALLY short, barely clocking in at around 15 minutes. It's really hard to tell a cohesive, big, emotionally deep fantasy story in that runtime. This is like watching a full film in fast-forward; blink and you'll miss a detail. However lovingly that detail was crafted, it's only on screen for a second, and you can only take that one second to appreciate it. However, the runtime is not the issue. Because there are plenty of anime that are fantastic with an even shorter runtime. You can tell a great story with any length of time. The key is knowing HOW to tell that story in that runtime, and Bâan does not know how to tell its story quickly. It wants to have all the dense worldbuilding, these deep character moments, emotional reflection, thoughtful scenes, laid back scenes, wholesomeness. And it just doesn't have the time. So it feels like a lot of the scene is wasted. It's like the reader's digest of the actual story, and you're barely getting the snippets as a viewer. If the script was tightened, if details were cut, and if worldbuilding was sacrificed, this could have been better. the nuts and bolts could have been tightened, because there is a good story somewhere in here. We just saw a small portion of what was on offer. It's like someone trying to rush a five-course meal. We didn't need a feast; just give us one good plate, and we would have been happy. Instead, we got a sloppy feast. I think the real pity therein is that Bâan could have been good. It had potential. It just wasn't there, delivered by a desperation to tell a bigger story than it could. It's sad when that happens, but it happens, even in some of the best case scenarios. That's part one: an anime that had lots of dreams that it couldn't live up to. Then there is part 2. Because the reality is, this is an indie animation, built from the ground up on an original concept, basically funded off of hopes and dreams. This was someone's attempt to make something. And that is so commendable. As a creator myself, I see so much heart in this story, so many untold stories as well, so much left to say and do. But eventually, you have to publish. No matter how beautiful your little creation is, if it doesn't exist, and people like me can't rip it to shreds for all its faults, then it just doesn't exist. The limitations of the product came to be, and we got what we got. But it was bold to try this hard, and it is commendable to try. Few try, even fewer have the resources to bring something of this quality to realization. And we can bicker on the actual quality, but again... this exists. How many other indie creators are making anime short films? Not many, I can tell you that. If you like indie projects, this deserves a lot of praise. It's not good, but it's not bad either; there's a lot of soul, and there are lots of people who could learn from this. It's awesome that exists, even with its faults. It's just a pity we couldn't see more of the true intentions that no doubt exist just beyond the boundary of what was shown.