MovieWarfare

  I like a lot of Mari Okada’s work including Anohana, Maquia and O Maidens in Your Savage Season. However, I came out of “The Anthem of the Heart” with very mixed feelings. It is a high school drama that feels a bit half-baked. The drama mostly revolves around the main girl, Jun Naruse, who cannot speak because of an event that occurred in the past. This is an interesting premise but the problem is that this is not the main focus as much as it should. Instead, we have a lot of romance subplots with other supporting characters that just aren’t developed enough. The third act and even the ending felt incredibly forced as well. I do give props for not being predictable and being a decent message but the execution is kind of poor. This premise feels like it would be better as an anime series than a movie. That way, the supporting characters and even the romance could be more developed. The movie does have great animation, character design and music. Unfortunately, if you wa

  This is a personal preference but I find it difficult to love a movie when all the main characters are just terrible human beings. Despite Challengers being exactly that, I ended up liking this one. An engaging love triangle story with tons of drama. Great cinematography and unique camera work. An electrifying soundtrack and terrific performances from everyone. The characters are unfortunately all very unlikeable and this can be a problem to enjoying this. However, if you can get past that or accept this then there is a pretty entertaining Tennis movie here.