If you are feeling lost about life, I suggest that you spend 120 minutes carefully watching this anime masterpiece about childhood fragments.
Why is it a film of broken thoughts, because the whole film revolves around the memories of Myoko, a 27-year-old writer who works in Tokyo, on her way back from the city to the countryside during her ten days off vacation, and what happened after returning to the countryside.
On the train to the countryside, Myoko constantly thinks of everything that happened when she was in the fifth grade: picky eating, exchanging food with classmates, the hot topic of the whole class when the girl comes to menstruation, the crush of the boy next door, the beating by her father because of her willfulness... Although not everyone's childhood is like this, at least, the fragments of describing childhood, every detail can make me feel immersed! Why does a 27-year-old girl still remember the little things of more than a decade ago? I think it is probably the innocence that flowed in the ordinary years, which has always been the original intention of Myoko who never gave up and did not want to give up!
Came to pick her up at the station is with his compatriot Toshio who is two years younger than him, through the time the two spent together in the car, Myoko found that Toshio is a very interesting young man, after returning to her hometown, Myoko began her peasant life, and enjoyed it, it seems that the years in addition to her growth, did not change her preferences, such as liking the countryside, liking farming...
When they were busy with farm work together, Myoko also shared her childhood with Toshio, it seems that every time she sees a scenery of her hometown, she can recall endless memories, and those thoughts that make her feel hesitant and uneasy are also resolved under the guidance of Toshio's humor, and Myoko is even surprised to find that she and Toshio still have many of the same preferences, the two get along very well, and feel the passage of time in the morning sun and sunset.
Soon, Myoko's vacation is coming to an end, and on the eve of her departure, Toshio's grandmother and mother suddenly talk about the idea of hoping that Myoko can be with Toshio, which reminds Myoko of a small story that happened to her and the boy next door in the fifth grade, and also makes her face up to her inner thoughts, she is sure that she wants to hold Toshio's hand at this time, and even fantasizes about going out to farm with Toshio every day.
But in the end, she chose to return to the city where she worked, Tokyo. Probably she herself realized that she seemed to be with her fifth-grade self, and many childhood memories resonated with Toshio, and she wasn't sure if this resonance would always exist, so before getting on the bus, Myoko said to Toshio: Next time I won't come back with the fifth grade class...
Seemingly separated, but full of mysteries of reunion, this is probably the expectation that Takahata Left Us!
I highly recommend that you who are confused watch this anime, not only because of how healing the picture is, as follows:
And even more because before you watch it, you can't imagine what a quiet film it is. It's like when you are very thirsty, a spring that flows slowly in the mountains. Let you taste the purest beauty of life.
If you're still tired after watching it, remember the song that Toshio and Myoko sang in the sunset: If it doesn't work out today, there's tomorrow; if it doesn't work out tomorrow, there's the day after tomorrow; wherever you go, there's tomorrow. ~