Goodbye, Don Glees! - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Goodbye, Don Glees!



Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:


​

Movie
Slice of life movies are part of the corp staple of the anime world, and there is no shortage of them in any way, shape, or form. I was intrigued with Goodbye, Don Glees! Due to the fact that this was the first feature film by director Atsuko Ishizuka (he’s had a ton of TV anime series under his belt) and the trailer had this warm and fascinating pull to it. I was a TAD worried that most of the TV series were anime I had never heard of, AND the fact that it was the director’s first feature film, but I luckily came out pleasantly surprised.

For a teenager life is usually unfolding in those spaces between school years, right in the middle of summer. We all remember being that age and getting through the year, but it was SUMMER where those magical life altering events that we remember forever seemed to come out. Such is the way with Goodbye, Don Glees! Which tells the tale of a trio of friends during the summer of their 15th year.

The film introduces us to Hokuto “Toto Mitarai (Yuki Kaji) and his friend Roma (Natsuki Hanae). The two have been friends since early childhood, dubbing themselves the “Don Glees duo”. However Roma had moved to Tokyo for the school year, but is now back home to spend the summer with his friend Toto. However, their duo has another member in the form of Shizuku, a younger kid who is hanging out with the Don Glee’s boys this summer. The summer itself starts out innocuously enough, with Toto buying a drone for the 3 boys to toy around with, and enjoy the fireworks show by means of air view. Turns out that using the drone at night like that is illegal, so the boys are wanting to get out of sight quickly, only for them to get involved in a forest fire. However, their illegal venture turns out to bite them in the butt when someone notices that the boys had a drone, and had purchased a ton of fireworks the day before the festival. Now the police are out looking for them and the only evidence that the boys have that they are NOT the perpetrators.

However, the drone was lost during the night of the fire into the forest, and now the 3 boys get it in their head that they have to go on an adventure into the woods to find their lost drone and use the footage to clear their names. What unfolds is not only an adventure that the boys will remember forever, but a journey of self discovery as they learn things about themselves as much as they learn about nature (and even a bear).

Director Atsuko Ishizuka create a wonderfully textured film that allow the 3 boys to open up and come of age (so to speak). The forest setting is absolutely lovely, filled with golds and greens and different amber, allowing for a rich and mesmerizing visual backdrop for the boys to explore. Part of the film leans towards the supernatural as Shizuku tells a story of a phone booth near a waterfall, but this is still mainly a coming of age story for the trio of teenagers.

I won’t spoil exactly what happens, but the film balances quite nicely between sweet, touching and genuinely just a fun boys romp. The first 1/3rd of the movie where the guys are learning how to play with the drone, and tease the bullies by dressing up as “hotties” (which is one of the funniest parts of the entire film. I had to rewind and play the scene a couple of times because I was laughing so hard) is by far my favorite, but the final act of the movie in the middle of the forest is tear jerking. All in all, a great slice of life movie by a director that hasn’t done a feature film before, so color me VERY pleased.




Rating:

Rated PG for thematic elements, some peril and suggestive material





Video:

The 1.78:1 AVC encoded transfer is nothing to sneeze about either. Luckily Shout Factory went with a VBR encode instead of a CBR encode (variable vs. constant bitrate) and the results are quite lovely. The film is only 96 minutes long so it doesn’t need a whole lot of space to breathe, but does well with nice bitrates up into the mid 30s. The forest locals are just mesmerizing, with rich luscious greens, golds and ambers, intermingled with pale blues and a really shockingly bright red phone booth. Banding is very mild and I only noticed a little bit of digital noise in some of the overhead shots of a grain field. Otherwise, a very impressive looking encode that is gorgeous to behold.








Audio:

The Blu-ray sports the typical 5.1 DTS-HD MA tracks in both English and Japanese, and the subtitles to match. I naturally prefer the Japanese track instead of the English Dub (sorry, I’m biased) but both tracks are identical outside of the dialog, so choose your poison. The mix is vibrant and full, with a metric ton of surround activity despite this being a rather dialog heavy film. Ambient noises bleed through from every angle during the forest trip, and we get a healthy amount of bass when the roaring of the river or the thundering of the waterfall come into play.












Extras:

• Interview With Director Atsuko Ishizuka
• Trailers

Final Score: ​

The Gkids film isn’t perfect, but it is a VERY nice surprise that had both myself and the wife smiling from ear to ear by the time it ended. The Blu-ray itself is very nice, with a great transfer and awesome audio. My only complaint was that Gkids didn’t supply many extras to Shout Factory, as they are a tad anemic on the disc. Great watch, great video, mediocre extras. Still enough that I give the entire package a thumbs up and heartily recommend it.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Natsuki Hanae, Yuki Kaji, Ayumu Murase
Directed by: Atsuko Ishizuka
Written by: Atsuko Ishizuka
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1, Japanese DTS-HD MA 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH, English, Spanish, French
Studio: Shout Factory
Rated: PG
Runtime: 96 minutes
Blu-Ray Release Date: December 27th, 2023

Recommendation: Good Watch

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. Will check it out.