Sparks of Tomorrow – World Premiere Review
Before this, I don’t think I’ve ever been able to say that I’ve seen a “World Premiere”. Through my job, I’ve certainly had the opportunity to see films ahead of their general release, but they had usually already premiered at a festival or been released in Japan before then. That changed last month, when Anime Limited revealed that Sparks of Tomorrow, the brand new anime series from the beloved Kyoto Animation, would be showcasing its first two episodes at MCM London Comic Con before anywhere else in the world.
Sparks of Tomorrow takes us back to the Meiji Era (late 19th/early 20th century), where the city is powered by steam, but a new age of electricity is dawning. Seiroku Sakamoto (Daisuke Ono) dreamed of ushering in a new era with his “20th Century Electrical Catalog” and guerilla displays that often attracted the attention of law enforcement. Before this new age of electricity could dawn, however, Seiroku went to war, and never returned. Four years later, the connections he made, and the mystery of his lost notes spark a whole new story.
Kihachi Sakamoto, Seiroku’s younger brother, now barely scrapes a living as a repairman. He feels abandoned by the brother who never brought about the age he promised, but his pessimism is betrayed by an inability to let go of electricity – he continues to tinker, to denigrate steam, but he still feels trapped. While hiding out in a shrine, Kihachi has a chance encounter with Inako Momokawa, the youngest daughter of a sake brewer who mistakenly believes that a tune playing from Kihachi’s concealed phonograph is a divine message from her late mother. While Kihachi has a head on his shoulders but is resigned to a life without hope, Inako is the opposite: having hope is her one true talent, because there’s not much of anything else in her clumsy head (and I love adorable idiots like that – Inako is definitely my fave from the series). When the mythical “20th Century Electrical Catalog” resurfaces in an unlikely place, and a villain sets his sights on both it and Inako, the two teens embark on a story set to usher in a new era.
While audiences only got to taste the first two episodes, the studio has already spun an intriguing interconnected web that is sure to unravel as the series goes on. Kihachi and Inako’s meeting starts to feel less like chance and more akin to destiny when her sister is revealed to be in possession of the elusive 20th Century Electrical Catalog, which is being pursued by the flamboyantly villainous Yosuke Mizoe, whose schemes to obtain the book don’t stop at leveraging the Momokawa family’s financial situation to force a betrothal to Inako (who isn’t exactly keen on the idea). There’s a lot going on, but it all goes back to one burning question: who exactly was Seiroku Sakamoto? How could he be connected to so many disparate people, and what is truly at stake with the mysterious catalog? The series’ director Minoru Ōta, who was in attendance for an audience Q&A, was tight-lipped about many of the probing questions, but did tease that there will be emotional moments to come (even if he avoided answering which specific episode we’d need tissues for). However, I was left feeling like I wanted to find out more.
As is to be expected of Kyoto Animation, Sparks of Tomorrow is visually gorgeous – but not always in the same way as the studio’s prior works. Meiji-era Kyoto is rustic and lived in, with everything cluttered together under a smog-filled sky – a dreary yet energetic character brought to life with striking oil-painted backgrounds. Kyoto Animation’s usual visual splendour comes into play when illuminating the characters taking in the wonders of electricity – something that we contemporary viewers consider rudimentary or take for granted, and reminding us how it was once perceived as magic.
What I didn’t expect from Sparks of Tomorrow was just how funny it is. The series uses physical comedy to help humanise its cast, and has impeccable timing when it comes to knowing when and how to pull that off. For example, there’s a scene in the second episode where Kihachi and Inako flee on a paraglider and we’re led to take in the awe of the Kyoto sky and cityscape, only to suddenly cut to their faces looking utterly ridiculous as they fight the wind resistance. These introductory episodes had fewer outright jokes; their timing was so precise that they caught me off guard and I couldn’t help but laugh.
I wouldn’t necessarily describe Sparks of Tomorrow as primarily a comedy, as the flashes of humour feel more in service of the story and characters rather than a driving energy, but there are a couple of characters who feel more defined (at least in these initial episodes) by more one-dimensional gags, that does have me a bit concerned about the series’ longevity. Chief to this is the antagonist Yosuke Mizoe, for him the descriptor of “flamboyant” is too much of an understatement. A classic effeminate pretty boy with an almost vampiric charm, Yosuke always enters a room accompanied by an attendant spreading wispy smoke of incense, because of course he just needs an entrance (after the screening, myself and other viewers also speculated whether this is a class thing – to obscure the “smell” of lower classes). He is almost certainly the series’ most marketable asset after the Brushbuddy-esque critter Inari, and he is delightfully fabulous, but I wonder if he’s a bit too exaggerated “anime”. With there inevitably being a driving force behind his pursuit of the 20th Century Electrical Catalog and hints of a history with Seiroku, hopefully Yosuke becomes a more three-dimensional character as the series progresses, and we dive deeper into the mysteries.
Sparks of Tomorrow debuts exclusively on Netflix from 5th July, and I wonder if it will be able to stand out to wider anime-viewing audiences in a season that is already set to be packed with returning franchises like the final part of Bleach: The Thousand-Year Blood War and Science SARU’s anticipated new adaptation of The Ghost in the Shell. However, Sparks of Tomorrow has such remarkable artistry and charming characters that I encourage you to at least check it out.
