Takagi and Nishikata’s last summer vacation before starting high school is coming up. Both of them, in their minds, are looking for an excuse to get together outside of school activities. Then they find an abandoned kitten and decide to take care of it, setting up a temporary cat bed on the grounds of a nearby temple they often pass by. Since neither of them can take him home with them, they come up with the idea that they will find a family for the kitten together.
Table of Content
Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san Movie (2022) – Audiovisual design
Visuals
I have a feeling that the animators of Shin-Ei Animation studio put even more heart while working on this film than in season three, which already looked great. A considerable amount of detail, beautiful backgrounds. Character design has been consistently beautiful. And then there’s the brilliant animation that perfectly reflects the emotions of the characters. A feast for the eyes.
Audio
The duo of Takahashi Rie and Kaji Yuuki in this series is simply a legend. Besides, they themselves were incredibly fond of their characters, which they showed more than once in various interviews. As in the TV series, Takahashi Rie also takes on the role of a singer and sings in Takagi’s voice in the credits song and two insert songs. She is my favorite voice actress and I could listen to her voice for hours. So to avoid prolonging it, I’ll just write this – Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san’s main couple couldn’t get a better cast. Of course, we can’t forget about the other actors, who didn’t perform at all worse. Kohara Konomi, Ogura Yui, Yuuki Aoi or Koiwai Kotori are just some of the extremely talented people lending their voices.
The soundtrack fits perfectly into the idyllic atmosphere of the whole thing and appropriately highlights important scenes. Although it sounds distinctly cinematic and thus a tad too cliché in places.
Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san Movie (2022) – Plot and Characters
Introduction
The events depicted in the film are a direct continuation of the events covered in the TV series adaptation. Watching the film without knowledge of the previous three seasons makes no sense at all.
A quick look at the plot and characters
The video shows Nishikata and Takagi’s last summer break before starting high school. It is worth bearing in mind here that the school year in Japan begins in April, consisting of three trimesters. Therefore, summer break begins after the first trimester, usually around July 20, and lasts until early September. This is significant. The summer break shown in the film takes place during their final year at school before high school.
As in the series, the main focus was on showing the interactions of Takagi and Nishikata. There were also short inserts with other characters. Mina, Sanae and Yukari are still having carefree conversations. Kimura and Takao are still laughing. Nakai and Mano are still together and Hamaguchi is still thinking about how to make Houjou happy. Surprisingly Tanabe-sensei has not once used chalk as a bullet aimed at Nishikata.
Takagi and Nishikata’s relationship, however, shows a subtle but noticeable change in attitude. Takagi is aware of his feelings from the very beginning. However, Nishikata stops denying that Takagi holds a special place in his heart.
This resulted in both of them already some time before the summer break, searching in their minds for an excuse to meet in the summer. Fortunately, a reason to meet unexpectedly appears on its own. They find an abandoned kitten and decide to take care of it. Throughout the summer vacations they take care of him every day. They leave him in a temporary bed arranged on the grounds of a nearby temple, since neither of them can take him home. The cat, whom they call Hana, allows them to get even closer to each other. They both discover new, often deeply hidden emotions in each other.
Other remarks
Although the film gives the impression of having exhausted all the source material, in reality this is not the case. There is still quite a lot of material left from the manga. However, the way the filmmakers decided to realize the ending (especially the scene after the closing credits – something beautiful, by the way) almost gives no hope. Especially since most of the events from the film were written for the movie. They were not adaptations of events from the manga.
Evaluation and summary
It seems to me that if someone has already watched the previous three seasons, then recommending this film to them misses the point, as they will watch it anyway. Instead, I can recommend the whole thing if anyone still doesn’t know Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san. It is one of the best (if not the best) title of the slice of life genre with romantic overtones. The dynamics of Takagi and Nishikata’s friendship are so sensationally portrayed from the very first season that I can’t find the right words to put it in a way that satisfies me. It simply has to be watched and experienced for yourself. My rating: 10/10.
Which translation do I recommend to watch Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san Movie (2022)
- TakaNishi – release featuring a very good translation by a Reddit user (RNEsub) and original Japanese subtitles.
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