Children Who Chase Lost Voices - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Children Who Chase Lost Voices



Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:


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Movie
As I mentioned in my 5 Centimeters Per Second review, Makato Shinkai is what I would consider a successor, or contemporary of the two Miyazaki’s. The man made most of his films in his 20s and early 30s (this one being early 30s) and OBVIOUSLY took huge inspirations from Hayao Miyazaki’s works. Children Who Chase Lost Voices is a wonderful folktale style fantasy, taking bits and pieces from Princess Mononoke, some from Spirited Away and some from Nadia as well. It’s a bit less known than the Studio Ghibli fantasy flicks, but unless you knew going in that this was a separate studio and director, you might never have known the tones being so similar. Previously released under Sentai Studios in 2012, this 2011 film gets new life thanks to Shout Factory as the defacto Gkids distributor with what looks like an identical release to the STUPIDLY out of print Sentai disc.

The film begins with her heroine Asuna, a young school girl who spends most of her time alone and by herself. Her mother is a widow, and having to work and take care of the house leaves Asuna pretty much to do what she wants. Which ends up being household tasks and meekly going to school. Her only comfort is a stray (almost) cat whom she names Mimi. Things suddenly change in her life when she’s attacked by a monster on her way home, and subsequently rescued by a mysterious young man and an even more mysterious amulet.

Thus begins a magical adventure that follows the themes of “Orpheus” as she’s drawn into what would be better known as the fantasy world version of “Tarterous”, where spirits abound, and life is not as it seems. Not to mention a race of people living within the magical world who DON’T take too kindly to strangers visiting their hideaway town.

The young man who saved Asuna ultimately ends up committing suicide by jumping off the bridge where he met her, only for Asuna’s teacher to admit that he believes that the young man is the denizen of the underworld known as Agartha. Not shockingly, Asuna and her teacher embark on a journey to Agartha in order to seek out this new world, as well as look for loved ones that have passed on in the interim.

The story is bittersweet and sort of meditative. It takes big sweeping fantasy epic pieces and fuses them with introspective elements of loss and grief. I won’t go into TOO much depth as that will certainly spoil some of the reveals later on, but the story is very much an introspective look at pain and grief with a fantasy veneer. Like many a Studio Ghibli tale, Shinkai deftly weaves sadness, happiness, pain and joy into one gigantic allegorical story. Honestly, this is probably the best of Shinkai’s works, even though I resonate with 5 Centimeters Per Second just a bit more.

The visuals are by far some of the most stunning that I’ve seen for an animated film, literally feeling like a perfect film when you look at it artistically speaking. Lines are clean, the landscape is ridiculously varied and lush with all sorts of foliage, and the location changes bring with it varied styles and colors that will change depending on the location. Absolutely beautiful from beginning to end as it manages to be both an introspective tale of self discovery, but also a gigantic epic fantasy at the same time.




Rating:

Rated TV-PG by the MPAA




Video:

Previously on Sentai Studios for the Blu-ray, it’s been a long time since I’ve viewed that disc, and since I don’t have it anymore I can’t A/B the two discs and confirm whether it’s the same encode or master or not. However, they appear pretty stinking similar going from my memory, which is a good thing since it was a perfect 5/5 back in the day. This new encode by Shout Factory also sports a VBR encode which spikes to just under 40 mbps and looks insane. The opening shot of the film shows some obvious banding, but past that few seconds the rest of the film is just about as pristine as could be. The style is just so lush and rich with bright vivid colors and deep shades of blue, green and burnished tones in between. Fine details on the richly drawn animation are spot on perfect, and the only artifacting I could see outside of the opening shot were a few brief instances in the night sky where I saw a few seconds of banding and some minor crush. But outside of that, this was a PERFECT transfer.







Audio:

The 5.1 DTS-HD MA track in Japanese will definitely be my personal choice, although the English dub isn’t half bad (and I’m a stickler for original audio mixes). The film is a high flying fantasy flick, so it goes without saying that the mix is utterly superb, with whistling sounds of flying the through the air, rocks slamming into the ground, and a guttural bass track that can really shake the rafters (that scene with the “bear” near the beginning is jaw dropping). Simply put, this is a near perfect mix with only a few minor gripes. Mainly that the bass could have been a BIT more. But nothing to really knock more than half a star off.












Extras:

• Original Japanese and English lossless audio
• Audio Commentary with Makoto Shinkai and Staff
• Interviews with Staff and Cast
• Making of Featurette
• Japanese Promo Video
• Trailers

Final Score: ​

It’s been a while since I’ve seen a truly fantastic set of older anime come from Gkids outside of Belle, but it’s really nice to finally get the last of Makoto Shinkai’s films out on Blu-ray (or more accurately, back in print) and these releases are not to be missed out on. The Blu-ray video and audio are superb, with the video being about as perfect as you can get. Extras are pretty much akin to the 2012 Sentai disc, which is a good thing, and this is definitely a must watch in this humble reviewers opinion.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Hisako Kanemoto, Miyu Irino, Kazuhiko Inoue
Directed by: Makoto Shinkai
Written by: Makoto Shinkai
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 AVC
Audio: Japanese: DTS-HD MA 5.1, English DTS-HD MA 5.1
Subtitles: English, English SDH, Spanish, French
Studio: Shout Factory
Rated: TV-PG
Runtime: 116 minutes
Blu-Ray Release Date: June 7th, 2022

Recommendation: Must Watch.

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. I agree, this is a great movie to see. Highly recommended.