Kimi no iro

The Colors Within tells the story of Totsuko Higurashi(Sayu Suzukawa), a young girl who sees colors in anyone's heart, whenever she meets them. She starts a band with her friends namely, Kimi Sakunaga(Akari Takaishi) & Rui Kagehira(Taisei Kido).

The Colors Within is a great film. Director Naoko Yamada has given us a movie that is charming, quite funny & will make you tear up during its last scene. However, it's not as flawless as Look Back(2024) or The Boy and the Heron(2023), two other anime films that I watched recently. The animation is breathtakingly gorgeous & is the highlight of the film. The songs are foot-tapping. The vocal performances are spot on. Sayu Suzukawa is spectacular as Totsuko Higurashi. Akari Takaishi is mind-blowing as Kimi Sakunaga. Taisei Kido is awesome as Rui Kagehira. The supporting cast is brilliant. The Colors Within is a must watch for anime fans. Watch it on the big screen, for a more memorable experience.

Totsuko has the peculiar ability to see people as colors and is drawn to people with a beautiful color. As she searches for a classmate she is drawn to, Totsuko stumbles into a boy she is also drawn to. The three of them create a band together and begin making music. As they go through the creative process, Totsuko discovers that her friends are going through their own struggles, and music is their passion and an outlet.

This coming-of-age anime is unique. The visual representation of how Tosuko perceives people as colors is well done. Overall, the animation is outstanding, from the characters to how they play musical instruments. Many can relate to the story as it deals with growing up, breaking away from expectations, and creating your own path. The film's pace is such that the one hour and forty-one minutes feel that long, starting slowly and moving faster closer to the story's climax. This is a great film, but it might be one that you enjoy from the comfort of your home.

From what I've seen, this is a faith-themed anime film that explores a wondrous story of finding one's purpose through music and experiencing friendship along the way. From director Naoko Yamada of A Silent Voice comes the tale of a teen at an all-girls religious school. Totsuko Higurashi is able to see colors in people, which is a scientific phenomenon she can't explain, giving off an aural effect that best reflects their personalities. She befriends a fellow student named Kimi Sakunaga with an uncertain future herself, but has a passion for guitar. They together then meet a cram school student named Rui, whose ambitions are also music rather than medicine as his family tradition suggests. The three bond and learn about each other's daily lives and personalities, while forming a music band to express themselves in song.

From a religious standpoint, weaving the Catholic faith into this film creates a sense of wisdom, belonging, and a connection. But most importantly symbolizes how it points out the Lord works in mysterious ways. Guides these characters to show they're not alone and have each other with a sense of warmth and comfort, even in their most troubling of times.

I've watched both the Japanese original and the English dub and regardless of the language, the thematic elements convey an emotional response. Totsuko sees colors in people, feels conflicted of pursuing her music passion, and keeping it a secret from her school's nuns by telling white lies. It goes against her beliefs in the church, but she does so out of fear. The songs are also notable standouts. Voice actors Akari Takaishi and Kylie McNeill gave great singing performances as character Kimi in both languages. The latter VA known for the English dub of Mamoru Hosoda's 2021 film Belle still gives a pleasant musical performance that I tend to bob my head to the beat.

While there was some lagging on some scenes that made me not entirely understand what was happening and that the entire movie was not as emotionally impactful as Yamada's 2017 film A Silent Voice, I'm still reeling from the experience. The Colors Within's exploration of real-world situations through friendship and platonic love is so impactful that there's nothing romantic going on and that's okay. The themes of forgiveness and acceptance really resonated with me. Can't wait to see where the filmmakers will go next!

I loved this movie. It had a certain warmth to it-the warmth that Totsuko brought through her honest appreciations, the warmth that rests in newfound friendships, the warmth of forgiveness and acceptance, the warmth of spending time with the ones you love away from the disturbances of life, and the warmth of creating art.

I think about the prayer Totsuko recited: "God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference."

Life is hard, and perhaps it is for the best that, just like the color-viewing free spirit of Totsuko, we too somehow find within us the serenity, courage, and wisdom to go through it.

The Colors Within is tender, mostly adorable, and quite modest compared to other Anime films I've seen over the past several years; even compared to other coming of age stories tinged with longing and/or lots of vibes, what's striking about Yamada's direction is how she isn't forcing you into feeling a certain way through an abundance of style. The colors that Totsuko sees are fantastical but lightly so, and once it's established as a sort of "quirk" you can sink into the story of these three sorta-outsider-ish teens that form a band and who either don't fit in (for Totsuko because of her color sights and also because she can't stay on a bus without getting carsick) or just don't like school so they drop out.

It's a movie based more around vibes than a really propulsive narrative, like the major conflict comes about that Totsuko and Kimi hang out overnight in the dorm and have (checks notes) lots of snacks and listen to that one song from the Trainspotting soundtrack (which becomes the basis of one of their three songs they work on and perform in the climax). But these are vibes that are vulnerable, or it's about how young people have so much vulnerability and social awkwardness until opening up, and there's no one here who stands out even as a threat or close to an antagonist.

And sometimes that's... fine, especially if it's a squishy sort of coming of age story that (a semi running theme for this director after A Silent Voice) is about the effort in apologizing; in this case there's also the fact that it's about the art that can come out of that emotional register, and that's kind of cool. Some of it is so pleasant feeling that it may be easy to nod off (or it was for me), and yet that isn't a problem for me either because you click back in to it once Totsuko dances and that big performance climax comes and it all fits.

So, even as this isn't quite a romance, it is about the love that comes with friendship in a sincere way, and I appreciate the total lack of irony and sweetness at its core.