After his mother "Sayuri Iwamoto" (Mieko Harada) is killed in a car accident and he is left extremely distraught and temporarily crippled, a young boy by the name of "Satoru Iwamoto" (Kanata Hongo) decides to stay in his room rather than venturing outside. Likewise, his father "Kaoru Iwamoto" (Masatoshi Nakamura) is also emotionally impacted by this tragic event and subsequently buries himself in his work as a robotics engineer at his company. To that extent, he eventually comes up with the idea of making a robot through which Satoru can interact with other children his age at the local elementary school from the comfort of his bedroom. At first, not knowing any better, some of the other boy behave rather cruelly to Satoru by taunting him and becoming physically aggressive with the robot. However, after they are publicly chastised in class for their behavior and come to know Satoru a little better, their behavior changes. So much so that Satoru becomes best friends with one particular boy named "Jun Kudo" (Mikako Tabe) who has recently gone through a similar tragedy with the death of his father. However, it's only after he learns that Jun is actually a girl that the emotional bonds between them deepen even further--and this both pleases Satoru and increases his anxieties. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that I typically don't care for movies that cater to younger audiences but, after reading another person's review, decided to give this one a try. That being said, although it is certainly suitable for younger audiences, I can honestly say that it also holds some entertainment value for adults as well as it touches on genuine human emotions during the course of a variety of circumstances and events. Admittedly, there are some scenes which might not resonate as much with American or European audiences, but even so, I thought it was an enjoyable family movie for the most part, and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.
