These days, it’s more cliché than ever to praise a film as “transcendent.” The overuse of the term by festival-goers promoting the films they can see before everyone else or by online fan accounts describing their favorite celebrities has robbed it of its ability to describe a transformative experience when experiencing great art. But the real reason we obsess over art, like film and music, is because of that initial transcendental experience, and we religiously follow one new release after another, chasing that euphoria. The Colors Within doesn’t try to make you see another plane of existence. Instead, it’s an animated film that celebrates the joy of experiencing art and its transcendental properties.
The Colors Within’s all-girls Catholic high school setting may put off fans of director Naoko Yamada’s previous work. Her two previous masterpieces, Liz and the Blue Bird and A Silent Voice, embody its modern high school settings. Yet Yamada understands the familial relationship between art and spirituality. An early shot of Mother Mary is the perfect backdrop for the story of three children who find peace, freedom, and transcendence through friendship and music.
Director: Naoko Yamada
Writer: Reiko Yoshida
Stars: Sayu Suzukawa, Akari Takaishi, Taisei Kido
Our cheerful protagonist, Totsuko Higurashi (Sayu Suzukawa), a high school student, has a condition related to synesthesia that allows her to see people in different colors. She encounters the most beautiful color she’s ever seen when she meets Kimi Sakunaga (Akari Takaishi), a depressed classmate who appears in an enveloping yet beautiful shade of blue. Totsuko is immediately swept away, even more intoxicated by the colors of happiness and serenity that begin to appear around her after meeting Kimi. The image of her metronomic swaying, while sporting a face of pure delight, is an early indicator of her character: a lovable oddball whose specific quirks make her feel even more real.
Rounding out the group of friends is Rui Kagehira (Taisei Kido), a quiet music enthusiast and theremin player who accidentally lays the groundwork for the trio to start a makeshift band. As someone who constantly sees stunning colors, Totsuko is the perfect foil for Kimi and Rui. Kimi is trapped by what is expected of her, which pushes her to contradict who she really is. Meeting someone who doesn’t need to say a word to see her inner beauty paints a charming story of self-acceptance that seems incredibly genuine. Implied in The Colors Within’s narrative, much like Liz and the Blue Bird, is a queer romance that exists between the main characters, something that Naoko Yamada seemingly explores more and more in each consecutive project.
Director Naoko Yamada’s depiction of religious devotion is fascinating and adds more layers to Totsuko’s character beyond her endless optimism. Rather than showing Catholicism as a suffocating presence in Totsuko’s life, the character is given the opportunity to find the grey areas within her faith. A key discussion delves into the meaning of the word “anthem,” which is eventually described as a song that is both a celebration of joy and a vehicle for the pain of the soul. This revelation allows her to offer her bandmates something more than just optimism.
The visualization of Totsuko’s specific synesthesia takes many different forms throughout the plot, from splotches of paint on a canvas to streaks of color across a landscape to entire bodies of people radiating that specific hue. This aspect of The Colors Within begs to be described as the kind of story that can only be told through animation, its greatest visual strength being the angelic beauty it lends to the mundane. The story’s stakes never go beyond sneaking past nuns at school or preparing for a performance at the Christmas fair, and the film is better for it.
The Colors Within is yet another star to rise from Japanese animation studio Science SARU, whose work on Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, Dan Da Dan, and The Tatami Time Machine Blues cements them as one of the most exciting international groups working in animation today. The film’s visual palette absorbs your full attention, drawing you into a hazy, dreamlike reality where every item, building, and person is an artistic triumph. Science SARU’s contribution is clear when comparing the already stellar visuals of Naoko Yamada’s previous work. The captivating 2D animation on display in The Colors Within has an immersive quality unlike any other animated film released in 2024.
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