In Japan, the kappa can be called a well-known yokai, its whole body is green, it looks like a child, but it has a bird-like beak and frog-like limbs, carries a turtle-like carapace, and has a plate of plates on its head, which can be described as extremely strange and unique, often living in rivers and streams. It is rumored that they were once worshipped as river gods by humans, but due to the passage of time and the loss of faith, they gradually degenerated into monsters, and have long lost their former divine prestige. On weekdays, he only takes pleasure in teasing humans, and occasionally does some good deeds on a whim, but I have also heard that some kappa with poor character will attack innocent humans who stay by the river and accidentally drag them into the water and drown.
Therefore, there are many opinions about whether the kappa is good or evil, which also casts a mysterious veil over it. It is the unique charm of kappa that many creators are happy to write into their pens, such as the famous Japanese writer Ryunosuke Wasagawa once wrote a short story "Kappa", which satirizes the social situation and the ugliness of human nature in the Kappa Kingdom. The animated film "Summer of Kappa" introduced in this article also has similarities, depicting the hundreds of people in the fantasy story of spending summer between human teenagers and kappa, although named Kappa, but in order to develop a fairy tale full of fairy tales around kappa, to talk about the complex creature of "man".
The story tells that the teenager Yasuichi Uehara accidentally picks up a turtle-like fossil by the river, and he is curious and takes it home to play with. Unexpectedly, after washing with water, the "turtle" originally embedded in the stone was resurrected, and it was actually a legendary mysterious creature - kappa. The kind Uehara family gave the extremely weak kappa food and shelter and named it "Xiaoku", so that it could live peacefully in this warm family.
Despite the difference between the demons, Kang Yi and Xiao Ku still become close friends and help Xiao Ku find the kappa family that is now alive. However, as time went on, more and more people heard that the Kang family was hiding kappa, and the media and the crowd surrounded the family, disturbing the tranquility of the past. At this time, Xiao Ku found that in today's complicated human society, there seems to be no place for him as a kappa.
In fact, it is not difficult to see that the work is similar to Takahata's "Heisei Tanuki Battle", which is also anthropomorphic animal images and rich emotional changes to indict human destruction of nature, as well as revealing the cruelty of real society and the good and evil side of human nature. Although the theme of the work seems to be environmental protection, man and nature, it is actually more of a large amount of time to show the glory and ugliness of human nature and other more complex aspects of Kappa Xiaoku in human society. The animation uses the perspective of Kappa Xiaoku, through subtle details and psychological changes everywhere, to explain what a person is for the audience.
<h1>Man's wildness is no different from that of beasts</h1>
The German philosopher Nietzsche once said: "Man is a tight rope between animals and supermans, a rope that crosses the abyss." This sentence means that the distance between man and the beast is only between a thought, whether it is a man or a beast that often depends on his own choice, and that a man who succumbs to desire is tantamount to a beast and will eventually fall into the abyss.
The story of the anime "Kappa Summer" begins with a sad tone, Kappa Kokuhara was born in Japan During the Edo period, his father interceded with passing human samurai in order to guard the swamp inhabited by the dragon god for generations, but how did he overhear to hear about the illegal deeds of samurai and merchants, and Kappa's father, who did not know the human accident, still petitioned the samurai. The samurai, on the other hand, feared that the bad things he had committed would be shaken out by the kappa, so in utter fear, hysterically brutally murdered XiaoKu's father.
But before that, Xiao Ku's father had already made it clear to the samurai that he had no intention of informing, and he had strictly apologized to him for abiding by the human etiquette, and Xiao Ku, who heard from the side, wanted to sacrifice all his "possessions", carp that were larger than his own body and were used as precious rations, to the samurai to appease his anger, but he still could not avoid witnessing the tragedy in the light of the blood shadow sword.
From this we can also see the ugliness of human beings, the samurai was taught to always obey morality and maintain a noble personality, but he still could not resist the temptation of the merchant to break the precepts, and in order to cover up his guilt, he even killed innocent lives indiscriminately. The samurai's move is also in stark contrast to the respectful kappa, who becomes ugly like a beast enslaved by his own desires in front of the pure and kind, more human kappa.
Among them, the scene where Xiao Ku presents the carp to the samurai is even more impressive, he originally hoped to exchange his kindness for the equivalent gift of human beings, but how to replace it is full of malice. This is also reminiscent of the deeds of The great navigator Christopher Columbus, who led the team to discover the New World and landed on the island, the local natives welcomed these guests from afar and offered local delicacies and treasures. But Columbus, in the face of the ignorance and backwardness of the natives, wantonly raped and plundered on the island, indiscriminately killing innocents, which can be described as no evil, and the natives certainly could not have imagined that their goodwill was ultimately exchanged for violent destruction. The warriors of The Summer of the Kappa are no different from Columbus, and after crossing the line of moral code in their hearts, they are nothing more than beasts in human skin.
<h1>Vanity and greed blind people's eyes</h1>
Greed is always a chasm that is difficult to fill. In many cases, people are often blinded by vanity and greed, and lose their original sanity. And what these two will eventually breed is a psychology called "selfishness", in which the person concerned will only pay attention to his own feelings and choose to ignore the voices from around him.
The animation also shows this characteristic of people through various scenes, such as the Uehara family, although they initially tried their best to hide the traces of Kappa Xiaoku, out of kindness to let him live in their own homes. But as things gradually leaked out, the Uehara family also chose to break the jar and began to enjoy the magnesium light from the media. Compared with the exposure of the incident and the cool mood, the Uehara family is more concerned about whether they are photogenic and can show off to others, which can be described as ugly. It can also be seen from this that although the Uehara family has a kind heart, it is still inevitable to fall under the impact of various fame and fortune, and people's various postures are also reflected in these rich emotional changes.
At the same time, the vanity and greed of the Uehara family also blinded their eyes, causing them to lose their original judgment.
When the Uehara family was interviewed on TV, Xiao Ku saw his father's arm specimen by chance, which also made him cry bitterly. However, at this time, the staff did not care about XiaoKu's mood at all, and still kept shooting his appearance with the flash, as if he was only a toy to play with. And the professor who collects Kappa's arm is only worried that his collection will be taken away by XiaoKu, regardless of Xiao Cool's emotional desire to retrieve the arm, and human greed and selfishness are also vividly expressed in these actions. Xiao Ku eventually lost his mind, angrily destroyed the camera and rushed out of the venue.
In the process, the Uehara family never came forward to stop the rude behavior of the staff and professors, and after Xiao Ku rushed out of the venue, they still looked at everything that happened in front of them. On the surface, the Uehara family does not seem to be the source of The Anger of Xiao Cool, but in fact they share the guilt of others. Their selfishness and incompetence undoubtedly hurt Xiao Ku, which eventually destroyed the trust relationship that had been established between the two. Whether it was the staff, or the professors, or the Uehara family, they had never given Xiaoku the respect he deserved, and that gesture of not caring about the emotions of others was so ugly.
After the incident, only Abel, the big dog of the Uehara family, remained sane and gave Xiaoku a helping hand. Before the big dog Abel left the venue, he scolded the appearance of the Uehara family, as if he was also satirizing humans. Compared with the human being who is wooden and does not care about the feelings of others, the big dog Abel appears more humane, more like a living human.
<h1>Kindness and respect are prerequisites for love</h1>
Shakespeare once said, "Life is like a flower, and love is the honey of a flower."
The world is wonderful because of love, and the animation "Summer of Kappa" also depicts the cross-racial "love" between the human Uehara family and Kappa Koku with a funny story.
Originally, in the eyes of Kappa Xiaoku, humans were a terrible monster, and they were more fearsome than monsters. Human beings are full of lies, violent and repulsive, and have no reverence for nature, and it is terrible to hurt the mother of the land that gave birth to it at will. However, after meeting the Uehara family, Xiao Ku gradually changed his mind about human beings, understanding that this world is not black and white, and there are still human beings who are as kind as the Uehara family who will give themselves happiness. In the end, Xiao Ku also falls in love with the Uehara family, who are human beings, and promises to meet again one day.
Why is it that the Uehara family and Kappa Xiaoku, who are human beings, can still understand and love each other in the end? In my opinion, it is the kindness and respect of the Uehara family that breaks through this barrier and makes Xiaoku really feel the true feelings of human beings, and these two are the premise of love, otherwise there would be no later story.
In the anime, Yasuichi Uehara travels to Tono City, Iwate Prefecture, to help Koku find his kappa companion, because he hears that there are kappa. During the trip, whenever KangIchi talked to local adults about kappa, they would always say that if they saw kappa, they would grab a bounty of 10 million yen. The scene is not randomly made up by the animation, it is indeed based on real events, in 1991, someone in Tono City saw the so-called kappa, and the local TV station spent tens of millions of bounties to pursue the kappa, but it was fruitless.
The Uehara family must have known about this matter, but they did not have the desire to choose to use Xiaoku in exchange for profit, and Kang Yi tried to hide this matter and was ostracized by his classmates, and the daily life of the family was also affected by this, but they still chose to protect Xiaoku. And when Xiao Ku was discouraged by the pursuit of his partner, Kang Yi still tried his best to encourage him. From these aspects, it is enough to see the brilliance of human nature, the Uehara family is not swallowed up by desire, but exchanges kindness for XiaoKu's trust.
As the American writer Mark Twain put it: "Kindness is a universal language that makes the blind feel and the deaf smell it."
At the same time, the kindness of the Uehara family is not heavy and depressing, and at the end of the story, when Kappa Koku chooses to separate from the Uehara family and decides to live with the yokai partner, they also give Xiaoku full respect, rather than restraining him with so-called "care". It is the Uehara family that has achieved the two prerequisites of kindness and respect that can harvest the love from Kappa Koku.
<h1>Growth is a precious asset for human beings</h1>
In the anime, Uehara's big dog, Arbor, once said that humans are fickle and moody. However, in my opinion, it is precisely because human beings have such rich emotional changes that they can grow and change, and inject new blood and vitality into life. The complexity of people makes the world more colorful.
On this summer day with Kappa, we can also see many people growing from it. Such as the Uehara family, as well as the heroine Kikuchi Sayoko, who does not have much drama, they all learn to grow up from The power of new life from Xiaoku.
Like Yasuichi Uehara, he was originally a twisted and slightly rampaged child, but in the process of getting along with Xiaoku, his mind gradually became delicate, learning to understand the soft and fragile side of others' hearts, and knowing how to protect and respect others. After Xiaoku left, Yasuichi has learned to face his true emotions in his heart, and at the same time can be subtle in the minds of others, which can be known from his attitude towards the girl kikuchi he likes.
Kang Yi from the original shyness to the later frankness, and the opening of his heart with Kikuchi, you can see the changes in his mental maturity. After spending summer time with Xiao Ku, Kang Yi has indeed transformed into a mature man.
On the other hand, kikuchi's changes are also worth playing. Although she is the heroine, Kikuchi does not play much. What she has always shown to people has been a gloomy, suppressed posture of her emotions. Even if he is wronged and bullied, he always responds that he is fine, and he suffers loneliness silently. After seeing the lone kappa Koku, Kikuchi realizes that there is a more lonely and pitiful existence than himself. My previous endurance was nothing more than self-hatred and self-pity, but also an escape. In the end, Kikuchi suddenly became enlightened and decided to change in the future and start a new life.
Compared to Yasuichi's metamorphosis, Kikuchi's growth seems to have come a bit suddenly. But it is precisely this kind of setting that allows the audience to more intuitively feel the complexity of human emotions. Because life is short, it's not surprising when to make a change. The complex and unique side of people can be reflected in these few strokes, which is quite flavorful.
It is because of such complex faces that we have the opportunity to be endowed with spiritual growth, to add richer colors to the world, and to grow up to be a valuable asset for human beings.
<h1>Summary: Comparison with The Changing Tanuki</h1>
"Kappa Summer" is undoubtedly an excellent animated film, telling a warm and touching story in a complete and touching story for more than 140 minutes, with both laughter and tears. The theme of the work also contains deep meaning, using the perspective of kappa to present the audience with a variety of human attitudes and ecological and environmental protection issues, which is deeply understood after watching it.
Also preceded by a similar animated film, the "Changeable Tanuki Cat" directed by Takahata, both of which are also philosophical stories with anthropomorphic animal images. But if I had to choose between the two, I personally prefer the work "Kappa Summer".
Although "The Changeable Tanuki" is about 120 minutes long, it is about twenty minutes less than "Kappa Summer". However, the latter's control of the rhythm of the plot is more appropriate, and during this period, it constantly switches perspectives, telling the story from two different angles, human and kappa, which is very interesting. In contrast, "The Ever-Changing Tanuki" only looks at the problem from the perspective of the tanuki cat, and is more like a unilateral condemnation of humans, which also makes the viewing process feel more lengthy.
On the other hand, although the meaning of the two is similar, the difference in the means of expression makes people have a completely different feeling after watching. "The Changeable Tanuki Cat" seems to be criticizing and mocking humans, giving people a taste of sadness and sadness. "Kappa's Summer" is different, in addition to depicting the ugly side of human nature, it also excavates the hidden brilliance of human nature and gives people a hopeful feeling, which is why I like this work more.
Of course, this is not a criticism of any work, the two have their own advantages. I myself also like Takahata's bland and realistic works, although simple but not lost its charm, what a wonderful word to speak of. But if I had to choose, I would have to vote for Kappa Summer.