Movie Review: The Magical World of Kurokami no Otome: “The Night Is Short, Walk on Girl” (Yuasa Masaaki)

I wrote this article in Japanese and translated it into English using ChatGPT. I also used ChatGPT to create the English article title. I did my best to correct any translation mistakes, but please let me know if you find any errors. By the way, I did not use ChatGPT when writing the Japanese article. The entire article was written from scratch by me, Saikawa Goto.

Introduction

Movies and books covered in this article

What I want to convey in this article

I think the touch of the art perfectly expresses the “lack of realism” in Morimi Tomihiko’s works.

Three takeaways from this article

Self-introduction article

The quotes used in this article are based on notes taken at the movie theater from movies in Japanese and are not direct quotes from the foreign language original movies, even if they exist.

What Makes the Movie “The Night Is Short, Walk on Girl,” Which Wonderfully Captures Morimi Tomihiko’s Worldview?

It was a really great movie.

I already liked Morimi Tomihiko’s works and “The Night Is Short, Walk on Girl” is one of my favorites. Usually, when a novel is adapted into a movie, I often feel like it’s a bit different, but I felt that this film condensed the best of Morimi Tomihiko’s work, yet was able to stand on its own separately as an animated film. I think it’s a wonderful adaptation of a work that has an original story.

Exquisitely Expressing a Lack of Realism through the Touch of the Art

I think the biggest appeal of Morimi Tomihiko’s work is the “lack of realism”. Rather than a world view that is so far removed from reality that it can be called “fantasy”, it basically takes place in “Kyoto” and naturally creates “mysterious scenes” that cannot exist in reality. It’s also exquisite that the stage is set in “Kyoto”. This is because the town has a history and style that makes one wonder if the “mysteriousness” depicted by Morimi Tomihiko could really exist.

If Morimi Tomihiko’s works were to be adapted into a live-action film, I think it would be difficult to balance “realism” and “fantasy.” This is because the “lack of a sense of reality” is the greatest attraction, but if a real person plays the role, it functions as a great “sense of reality.”

That’s why I think the technique of “anime” is very appropriate.

Furthermore, I felt that the “touch of the art” in this movie was exquisite in emphasizing the “lack of realism.” I have no knowledge or sense of art or illustration, but let me write down what I felt.

Overall, the characters are drawn with very simple lines, which is why the parts that are emphasized excessively stand out so much. Especially with the characters, our eyes are naturally drawn to the emphasized parts, which make their characteristics stand out. We can quickly tell whether a character is a “mob” without any exaggeration and whether an exaggerated character is “weird” thanks to that exaggeration. Morimi Tomihiko’s works feature a variety of characters that can only be called “weird,” but I felt that the overall touch of the art conveyed that in an instant.

On the other hand, I felt that there was quite a variation in the way things other than characters were drawn. At the used book market, they draw the spines of books realistically, but there are also scenes where cherry blossoms blooming along the river are drawn like art. By changing the way the background is drawn, we can immediately feel the importance and seriousness of each scene, which is a very good effect.

Also, this work has quite a few “flashback scenes,” which are developed in a unique style. I think it was very good in terms of regularly changing scenes and creating a sense of rhythm.

Honestly, Morimi Tomihiko’s works don’t have a special storyline in particular. I’m not saying that to criticize it, but I’m always amazed that it’s still an enjoyable read even though there isn’t really a special storyline to follow. However, the fact that there isn’t a special storyline also means that it can’t create rhythm through the development of the story. Therefore, I felt that the rhythm is created not by the “story” itself, but by the “art” itself.

Additionally, it could be said that this distinctive style of art also becomes a defining element of the work itself.

I read something once that referred to translation of “maman” of the beginning of Camus’ “The stranger” as “MAMAN” as “it becomes difficult to imagine any other translation being appropriate.” (In Japanese, “maman” is generally translated as “母 (HAHA)” or “ママ (MAMA),” but in the Japanese translation of ‘The Stranger’, the unusual term “ママン (MAMAN)” is being used.) Or, I have heard that the famous work known as “星の王子さま (Prince of Star)” in Japan would be “小さな王子さま (Little Prince)” if the original French title is faithfully translated, but it is because of giving it the title “星の王子さま (Prince of Star)” that the work has become so well known.

In the same way, with Morimi Tomihiko’s work being visualized with the touch of the art like this film, it no longer feels like any other approach would be appropriate. The style was just perfect for the story.

Introduction of the Movie Plot

Before introducing the plot, let me point out one big difference between the original work and the movie.

The original work is a collection of four short stories, each depicting the events of “Spring”, “Summer”, “Autumn”, and “Winter”. However, in the movie, various episodes that appear in the original work are connected and reconstructed as “an event of one night”. The atmosphere of the original story, where time moves slowly along with the frustration of the main character, was good, but I also felt that the film, which was reborn as a speedy story by compressing it as “an overnight event,” was also wonderful.

Now, let’s introduce the plot.

The main characters in the story are “SENPAI” and “Kurokami no Otome,” the black-haired maiden.

“SENPAI” was completely captivated by his junior, “Kurokami no Otome,” whom he met a year ago. He fell deeply in love with her and has been carrying out “Operation NA-KA-ME” ever since. This stands for “‘NARUBEKU’ (as much as possible) ‘KANOJONO’ (her) ‘MENITOMARU’ (attract attention),” and involves repeatedly executing strategies that seem like chance encounters in various situations.

Even though his friend, who is the head of the school festival committee, says he’s just “doing roundabout ways,” and his friend, the “PANTSU SOUBANCHO,” encourages him to express his feelings, “SENPAI” continues to spend his days just doing roundabout ways.

On the night of a certain wedding where both “SENPAI” and “Kurokami no Otome” were invited, “SENPAI” was determined to sit next to “Kurokami no Otome” at the after-party. However, surprisingly, “Kurokami no Otome” didn’t attend the after-party and wandered around asking for alcohol in Ponto-cho. She spent the night at the bar, rolling out the “OTOMODACHI punch” because of getting touched on the chest by Shunga collector, drinking at Pontocho with “Higuchi-kun” and “Hanuki-san,” who became her acquaintances, and thinking about “Fake Denki Bran,” which is talked about as a phantom sake.

As they stumbled around, her heavy drinking caught the attention of others and she was challenged to a drinking contest with “Rihaku-san,” who appeared on a three-story train. It was a truly strange night.

On the other hand, “SENPAI” has lost sight of “Kurokami no Otome”. While being stolen his pants and harassed by an old man who kept carp, he finally finds “Kurokami no Otome”, but he can only stand by as a mere supporting character beside her, who becomes the center of attention wherever she goes.

He struggles to catch her attention at used book markets and school festivals…

Movie Review

When I read the original work, I felt it too, but I just love “Kurokami no Otome”. If there was really a woman like her in real life, I think I would fall in love with her.

Let me try to explain the atmosphere of “Kurokami no Otome” a little bit. She quickly focuses on things that interest her, but her vision is never narrow and she can easily adapt to changing situations. She doesn’t feel lonely when acting alone, and she can easily make friends with anyone, without doing anything special, she naturally becomes the center of attention. She is indifferent to the attention directed at herself, but she is not cold to others and has her own interests. She is not restricted by common sense, doesn’t hesitate to behave however she wants, and can easily overcome unusual situations even though she doesn’t have a strong will or determination.

She seems like quite a wonderful person.

Regardless of gender, it’s a rare existence that we don’t see in reality, but I can’t help feeling that it would be nice if there were such a person.

There are many other attractive people besides “SENPAI” and “Kurokami no Otome,” and I am drawn to such “eccentric” people and can stay in that world without getting bored. I was even moved to want to enter and live in the world that Morimi Tomihiko creates, which has almost lack of reality.

The story has strange developments from beginning to end, but with the style of the art that is “lack of reality” and characters that are clearly unrealistic, we are immediately dragged into a “different world” and do not feel any discomfort with the “strangeness”. Even though the story is set in the real world of “Kyoto”, because none of the characters question the “strangeness” in front of them, we will quickly get the feeling of “that’s just how it is” early on.

I felt that the anime adaptation of Morimi Tomihiko’s novel perfectly captures those aspects.

I found it very interesting how parts of “SENPAI’s” thoughts were visualized, especially the battle between “reason” and “instinct” at the end was impressive. In any case, “SENPAI” is always struggling, but it’s fun to see how his struggles get tangled up and he can’t move.

I think I was grinning throughout the whole time watching it, and I’m glad I found a work that made my heart flutter after a long time. I think it was a great watch.

Conclusion

I’m not very knowledgeable about anime and movies, but the film director Yuasa Masaaki of “The Night Is Short, Walk on Girl” seems to be quite famous in that world. Recently, he also worked on “Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!” which has also been highly acclaimed.

Really, it was so interesting!