The News Team's Grant White has a new review up on the front page of AnimeSuperhero.com:
"It’s weird to think it has been eight years since I last got to sample a Naoko Yamada production via the amazing A Silent Voice. That film blew me away with it’s simultaneously touching and gripping depiction of adolescence. So I was absolutely intrigued to see what Yamada would offer on that front with The Colors Within.
Usually in my reviews I offer an Act I synopsis to explain the film I’m discussing but that doesn’t really work here. That’s not to say the film doesn’t have a story but it’s more concerned with being a snapshot of adolescence. Three young teenagers (the kind hearted Totsuko, troubled Kimi and gregarious Rui) meet by chance and decide to form a band. It’d be quite easy to imagine the fairly cliche Hollywood version of this and the easy to predict complications that would throw to generate drama but The Colors Within doesn’t walk that path. Each of the trio has their own problem (Totsuko’s synesthesia, Kimi and Rui’s variations of family pressure) but the film sticks firmly to being uplifting throughout.
Totsuko’s synesthesia sadly feels superfluous. It plays a role early on and we see a few creative visuals from it but beyond being used to explain her mild shyness it’s never quite as important as the title seems to imply. This is a shame because one thing it is used for is to drop implications that Totsuko is gay but these are never explored beyond implications. The character is attending a Christian boarding school so it’d be easy to imagine a version of this story which pits her identity against the religion she’s been raised with but the film just doesn’t go there."
Read the full review here.
"Review: “The Colors Within (UK/Éire Theatrical Release)”: Colour Me Impressed"
"It’s weird to think it has been eight years since I last got to sample a Naoko Yamada production via the amazing A Silent Voice. That film blew me away with it’s simultaneously touching and gripping depiction of adolescence. So I was absolutely intrigued to see what Yamada would offer on that front with The Colors Within.
Usually in my reviews I offer an Act I synopsis to explain the film I’m discussing but that doesn’t really work here. That’s not to say the film doesn’t have a story but it’s more concerned with being a snapshot of adolescence. Three young teenagers (the kind hearted Totsuko, troubled Kimi and gregarious Rui) meet by chance and decide to form a band. It’d be quite easy to imagine the fairly cliche Hollywood version of this and the easy to predict complications that would throw to generate drama but The Colors Within doesn’t walk that path. Each of the trio has their own problem (Totsuko’s synesthesia, Kimi and Rui’s variations of family pressure) but the film sticks firmly to being uplifting throughout.
Totsuko’s synesthesia sadly feels superfluous. It plays a role early on and we see a few creative visuals from it but beyond being used to explain her mild shyness it’s never quite as important as the title seems to imply. This is a shame because one thing it is used for is to drop implications that Totsuko is gay but these are never explored beyond implications. The character is attending a Christian boarding school so it’d be easy to imagine a version of this story which pits her identity against the religion she’s been raised with but the film just doesn’t go there."
Read the full review here.
