Given that adaptations are the bread and butter of the anime industry, it is only natural that many of the most popular series are based on pre-existing manga, novels, video games and even toy lines. Producing and creating an adaptation, be it a film or television series, that manages to work on it’s own merits can be a lofty challenge, due to the differences in art forms and the pressures of built in expectations from fans of the source material. Although there are adaptations which have been met with great success, just as many face difficulty with transitioning from one medium to another, due to a variety of reasons and circumstances.

This brings us to Children of the Sea (2019), which is the 14th theatrical film by the highly prolific Studio 4°C , best known for Mind Game (2004), Tekkonkinkreet (2006) and the Berserk Golden Age Arc Trilogy (2012-2013). It is adapted from the manga series by Daisuke Igarashi, who also wrote the film’s screenplay, and was directed by Ayumu Watanabe, who previously worked on Space Brothers (2012-2014) and After the Rain (2018). The film debuted in Japanese cinemas on May 19th, 2019, and later premiered in the UK at Scotland Loves Anime on October 13th, 2019, where it was introduced by Jonathan Clements. Does it soar to the sky, or does it sink below expectations?

There is… admittingly, quite a lot to unpack about this film, but first, the premise. The film begins with a 14-year old girl named Ruka Azumi, who on the first day of the summer holiday, is kicked out of the high school sports team due to her aggressive behaviour. She also just so happens to be alone and not on good terms with her alcoholic Mother. A few days later, Ruka goes to the local aquarium, which is where her divorced Father works, and makes friends with two boys, named Umi and Sora. Although the two look like regular human beings, they are actually creatures of the sea who have been apparently raised by Dugongs (no, I’m not making that up), and have strong swimming capabilities. Because of the two boys being accustomed to living in the ocean, they can’t survive on land, which for Ruka, creates further curiosity about the boy’s origins and other supernatural phenomena that has been occurring throughout the world… I think?

On a technical level, Children of the Sea is undeniably impressive, with many key figures having had decades of experience in the anime industry, even reuniting some Ghibli alumni. The film features gorgeous art direction and background art handled by Shinji Kimura, who previously worked on Project A-ko (1986) and My Neighbor Totoro (1988). Kimura brings his A-game to the film with stunningly intricate and beautiful visuals, highly evident in the tactile depiction of the lived-in harbourside town and the beaches surrounded by sways of clouds that are literally eye-catching. Kenichi Konishi, who previously worked on Paprika (2006) and The Tale of Princess Kaguya (2013), takes the role as the film’s Animation Director, and has helped to contribute some truly solid animation. This is demonstrated in an early scene showing Ruka swimming alongside the two boys and many forms of sea life which is beautifully depicted with graceful movement and a convincing sense of realistic weight.

Konishi also handles the character designs, which are faithfully recreated from Igarashi’s original manga, though possibly to its detriment, as they are a bit off putting and unsettling to look at. This very evident during close ups, where they all look a little dead behind the eyes, which creates an uncanny effect strangely reminiscent of Hisaishi Hirai. One of the most strangely designed side characters is Dede, who’s an old seafarer with a twanging mouth harp like a rubber band. Her diminutive, wisened appearance is presumably intended to make her seem sage-like, but with her strange looking buckteeth, it’s hard not to see her as a racial caricature. I’m not sure if she is supposed to be Ainu or an African-American blackface stereotype, but it is nonetheless rather questionable. Personally, I think that streamlining the character designs would have probably helped in the long run, as they all look like they suffer a bad case of insomnia.

The legendary Joe Hisaishi, known for his work on Hayao Miyazaki films such as Princess Mononoke (1997) and Spirited Away (2001), composed Children of the Sea’s score, marking his first non Ghibli animated project since Venus Wars (1989). It has an ambient style that evokes composers such as Éric Serra, Vangelis and Tangerine Dream, with an emphasis on piano, strings, flutes and synthesizers. While the music is fine, and generally well composed, I did get the feeling that it was sometimes used in a needlessly overbearing way, and at times became a little distracting. I felt that one early scene at the aquarium could have used more mellow music to feel more intimate. To make matters worse, most of the score consists of variants on the same 3 cues, making it a rather repetitive and pretty dull listening experience outside the actual film. As far as minimalist Hisaishi soundtracks go, I think that Sonatine (1993) was far more a successful venture by comparison.

That said, if I’m going to be very honest, these excellent production values deserve a much better film, as Children of the Sea has a few problems that, quite frankly, hold it back from being something truly special. It starts off as a coming of age story with magical realism elements about burgeoning adolescence. Then, it switches gears into a cosmic sci-fi fantasy film which attempts (key word being attempt) to be a meditation on man’s connection with nature and the universe, which comes off as incredibly jarring and contrived. As the film is adapted from a 5 volume manga series, and tries to cram in so many themes, concepts and ideas with only a mere 2 hour running time, it comes across as overly ambitious and really unfocused. Various subplots get introduced and then are suddenly dropped, almost as if the writer simply cut out too much from the original source material, and at the same time, not enough, meaning the film fails to work as a standalone piece.

Contributing to the sloppy storytelling is the characters, who are all very one note and underdeveloped considering it’s running time. We never really learn much about who they are, as the film constantly jumps back and forth between various different groups of characters, without ever really giving much time for them to be developed. For instance, all that’s given to us about Sora is that he’s an asshole for… basically, no reason, making him, more or less, a lazy copy of Griffith from Berserk (1997).

It was an hour into the film when, after what should have a significant and important moment, I had a realisation; I wasn’t invested in these characters nor did I have any real incentive to care due to a complete lack of chemistry. This is especially a problem with the side characters, who all feel like extended cameos from deleted arcs of the original manga, and are involved in subplots that go absolutely nowhere. Ruka’s Mother, for instance, is missing for a good majority of the film after a certain point, making her arc feel pointless. Along with Dede, Jim and Anglade pretty much only serve to go into expository philosophical tangents about metaphysical ideas in a cheap attempt to appear profound, when instead, these just grind the pacing to a halt, and exist simply to pad out the running time. I personally feel like these side characters could have easily have been cut out to allow more opportunity for other characters to grow and make the film far more cohesive.

Children of the Sea never finds a strong solid core, partially due to being completely aimless about what it’s trying to say for a good majority of the film, making it a boring and meandering slog that fails to engage the viewer. It genuinely feels like a half baked first draft that Igarashi, who has no prior experience in screenwriting and lacks the ability to understand the differences between between a manga and a feature film, demanded be used without allowing anyone else to step in. As it goes on, the film gets overly confusing and disjointed, as if the writer is two steps ahead of the audience and the script editor was on holiday.

After a plodding first hour, the film becomes borderline incomprehensible by the third act, eventually divulging in a kaleidoscopic acid trip, set in some kind of alien space whale thing, that is clearly aping the Stargate sequence from 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and the Third Impact sequence from The End of Evangelion (1997). While spectacular on a visual and animation level, this sequence desperately tries to be deep and meaningful, but is just a pretentious load of whiff-whaff that is overlong, hollow, tedious and due to a lack of investment in the characters, feels completely unearned. As a result of this nonsensical direction in the story, it actually means the line “I didn’t understand anything” can be seen as unintentionally hilarious. The ending doesn’t really tie up any of it’s loose ends, and while there is a callback to the beginning that does try to insist that the protagonist has grown, it honestly feels rather arbitrary and lacks a sense of proper catharsis. An incredibly random post credits scene doesn’t do much to help either, as it only asks more questions than it answers and is very eyebrow raising. In the words of a certain clown out of Springfield, it will most likely make the audience go “What the hell was that?”.

I feel that Children of the Sea would have worked far better as a 30 minute short film which could focus on mood and let the pretty visuals do the talking, or as a 6 episode OVA series to allow more breathing room to develop the ideas and characters. As far as more artistically ambitious anime films are concerned, Mamoru Oshii’s Angel’s Egg (1985) works far more effectively as a cohesive whole. It has gorgeous animation, a strong sense of mood, haunting score and a better utilisation of philosophical and existential themes. The reliance on visual storytelling and lack of dialogue also encourages the viewer to project their thoughts and feelings onto the characters and the world they inhabit. Meanwhile, Children of the Sea is merely a glorified advertisement for the manga.

Gorgeous visuals, beautiful art direction and Joe Hisaishi’s score don’t undermine the fact that Children of the Sea is a disappointment, especially considering the protege on board. While it strives to be artistic and profound, due to incoherent storytelling, lack of any real strong emotional core or hook, poor characterisation, disjointed pacing and reliance on too much clunky exposition, it fails to make a splash. It is simply far too ambitious for its own good, and tries to say too much without saying anything at all, so it can be best described as vacuous. With more careful consideration and planning out, it could have been something rather special, but as it is, Children of the Sea is a waste of potential. You’re best off just sticking to the song by Black Sabbath instead.

I give this film 2 rubber bands out of 5.