Journey To Agartha : Children Who Chase Lost Voices

Asuna is a young girl who has been forced to grow up quickly after losing her father at a young age and not having her mother around much due to her job. One day, whilst on her way up the cliff to her secret hideaway, her world is turned upside down when she encounters a very large creature that doesn’t seem to be from her world and is saved by a mysterious boy named Shun. Asuna and Shun quickly build a connection, and she learns about the world of Agartha – a magical realm beneath the surface that has the power to bring back the dead. However Shun dies not long after their encounter. His death brings more trouble for Asuna with a government agency wanting the power from Agartha, and Shun’s brother Shin trying to keep the people of Asuna’s world from entering his world. Asuna is pulled into the magical world of Agartha by her substitute teacher Ryūji Morisaki, who is on a quest to revive his deceased wife.

‘Journey to Agartha’ (better known by its Japanese and American title ‘Children Who Chase Lost Voices’) is a fantasy film by the acclaimed director Makoto Shinkai who is best known for his work ‘5 Centimetres Per Second’. Admittedly I’ve yet to see any of Makoto Shinkai’s other work, so my review for Journey to Agartha is purely based upon the movie’s own merits. I first saw this film last year at BFI’s Anime Film Season in June and I provided a brief paragraph of my thoughts on the film in my article for the season, which have not changed much upon my second viewing of it.

First impressions were that the film is heavily inspired by Studio Ghibli’s work in terms of animation, character designs and fantasy elements to the story. The larger-than-life mystical creatures, the creepily-odd God figures, the grand world of Agartha – you’ll see many reflections from Ghibli’s more fantasy-heavy films such as ‘Princess Mononoke,’ ‘Howl’s Moving Castle’ and ‘Spirited Away.’ But that’s not to say that the film is a Miyazaki rip-off; the world of Agartha is very stunning in its own right. From the underwater caves, the vast fields, to the stunning starry sky and crystal elements in The Gate of Life and Death; all are stunning to behold. It’s very easy to get swept away as there are tons of imaginative elements built into the world and pieces of its history unfold as the film progress. I almost wished I was playing an RPG game based upon Agartha so I could control the characters and go wandering around to view its beauty.

The main theme of the film is loss: the pain of losing someone and moving on without them. Although this theme is not obvious from the start, it becomes more apparent as more characters are introduced. Asuna is a rather curious girl who allows herself to get swept up into the world of Agartha via other people’s motivations for going there. Shin tries to follow in his deceased brother’s footsteps whilst finding his own place in a dying land. There’s the teacher, Mr Morisaki, who represents most strongly the movie’s theme of loss, sacrificing everything he has to travel to a distant world and get his dead wife back. You also have Agartha’s people, creatures and legends playing a key role in the story and its foundation for the story’s conflict; it’s a world wanting to fade out peacefully with the ancients while ambitious rulers from Earth keep interrupting that process.

Unfortunately; all these plot elements happen at the same time and are allowed very little breathing space in between introducing a whole new world, seeing characters get upset, then happy, as well as many fight scenes, plus flashbacks that attempt character development. The end result produces a daring but flawed plot. The movie tries to cram so much story, history, drama and emotion into its running time that it all gets lost. We barely learn anything about the main character Asuna at the beginning before we’re whisked away into Agartha, and her motivations for entering the world revealed at the very end don’t have any emotional punch because there was no time to develop her in-between everything else. There are several flashbacks to try to flesh out her character but they happen so sporadically and quickly that they don’t have any impact. She’s merely on ‘good girl’ auto pilot throughout the film and plays no major role in the main story’s events until the very end. The same goes for Shin’s plight; his brother’s introduction and death happen very quickly, making it difficult for the audience to connect with him, and since we don’t learn enough about Agartha’s history to truly understand his loss or place in that world, his role is whittled down to showing up when needed during the action scenes. The strongest character is Mr Morisaki; admittedly his introduction into the film is very bluntly done, and the government faction he’s part of could’ve easily been written out, but his desire to bring his wife back is one the audience can easily identify with. His story also has a very clever twist at the end, giving an emotionally satisfactory conclusion even if not all the plot threads are neatly tied up.

If the film had been told from Morisaki’s point of view, the weaker story elements were cut out of the film (e.g. the government faction) and Shin and Asuna were given stronger character development then the story would have been a lot tighter and engaging. There are some really nice ideas in here, if a few changes were made you could have really got attached to these characters and the beautiful world of Agartha. You can easily admire the ambition but the emotional connection just never develops.

‘Journey to Agartha’ will be released in 3 editions in the UK: DVD, Blu-ray, and special edition Blu-ray and 2 DVD set. There’s no doubt that the film looks stunning in HD on Blu-ray; the animation is flawless throughout and high definition really brings the world of Agartha to life. It’s recommended if you have some spare cash for the release. Film extras included a behind the scenes feature, trailers, a piece on director Makoto Shinkai and interviews with the Japanese voice actors. One of the most interesting extras is a music video for the movie’s theme song ‘Hello Goodbye & Hello.’ This is a montage of anime clips, however it starts off with a ‘prequel’ of sorts – clips not seen in the final film which seem to take place before the movie’s beginning. Then it goes into the highlights of the movie in chronological order. It’s a nice song and worth seeing just for the additional clips.

‘Journey to Agartha’ is a bold film that creates a stunning magical world and tries to tell a vastly emotional tale, but its swift pace and attempt to shove too much plot into one film sadly has the opposite effect. You can’t get attached to characters that you barely know or become involved in a story that doesn’t allow the audience to swallow what’s on screen before jumping into the next scene at a breakneck pace. Fantasy lovers will undoubtedly admire the scenery and the magical details to Agartha, but you’ll be left wanting more from the story.