It’s easy to see why Colourful is an award-winning anime. It’s the sort of feature-length that would appeal to judges.
We start in a way station; somewhere between somewhere else, with people – or shapes of people – shuffling around before taking a line, getting a mysterious ticket and moving on. There’s an exception; a nearly monochromatic school boy with tufty grey hair that could either be the subtle suggestion of angel wings or devil horns intercepts one of the shuffling people shapes with an alternative assignment.
The soul, we are told, committed a terrible sin in its life. It must now fight for its chance to re-enter the cycle of life and death. Failure to follow the assignment will result in the soul being removed from the cycle and failure in the assignment will also result in the soul never being reborn again.
The assignment given to the reluctant soul is to take over the body of Makoto Kobayashi. Makoto committed suicide, overdosing on drugs, and the film really starts when doctors and family are surprised when the boy’s pulse mysteriously restarts from the hospital bed. If there’s a connection with the boy and the real-life Nobel winning Makoto Koayashi; I’m not smart enough to figure it out.
It would easy to think of Colourful as some sort of supernatural story from the synopsis. It isn’t. Sure; the strange schoolboy guide turns up throughout – encouraging the soul to consider carefully its actions and to remember what crime it committed in the first place in order to earn this punishment ‘mission’. The grey coloured child, though, blends is very well as just another of the characters the soul in Makoto needs to talk to.
Colourful is actually a film about relationships and loneliness. This is not an action film. This is not a mystery whodunit. This is a film about a journey and in many ways the body of Makoto is the vessel. It’s not a road movie. It’s a human movie. Normally that’s not my cup of tea – give me laser robots in a battle against flying alien vampires – but Colourful demanded my attention.
Some of the scenes in Colourful are unbelievable. We’re promised that all the images are drawn. Yet some of the background looks photographic. The image associated with this post is an example of one. They’re not common. In fact, these photo-real cells are unusual and yet play a role in the story – these are moments of clarity, grounding and understanding.
I surprise myself by recommending Colourful. I enjoyed it. I can imagine plenty of days when I wouldn’t have and I can imagine many anime fans who wouldn’t appreciate it. Nevertheless, it worked for me and I suspect its magic will appeal to most native geeks too.
