Hoshi o ou kodomo
Director: Makoto Shinkai
Writer: Makoto Shinkai
Cast: Hisako Kanemoto, Kazuhiko Inoue, Miyu Irino
Part of: /slash Filmfestival
[Here’s my first review.]

Plot:
Asuna (Hisako Kanemoto) spends most of her time alone on a near-by mountain where she has a hide-out and a self-built radio with which she tries to hear anything, really. But one day after school she gets chased by a monster and is saved by the attractive Shun (Miyu Irino). She finds out that Shun is not from our world, but from the mysterious underworld Agartha. When Shun disappears, Asuna and her teacher Mr. Morisaki (Kazuhiko Inoue) follow Shun’s brother Shin (Miyu Irino) to Agartha and to a big adventure.

As if it was even possible, I think that I enjoyed this film even more the second time around. Some of the issues I had the first time didn’t bother me at all anymore and the film ist just a thing of beauty.

When you watch a movie the second time, it’s always a question whether you can fall into it again or whether repetition makes it trite. I’m happy to say that I got completely caught up again and the movie touched me just as much.

The movie just goes straight to the heart. That’s not only due to the beautiful images and the wonderful story, but mostly because of the characters. I love every single one of them, from Asuna to Mimi the cat.

As I said, some of the issues resolved themselves for me, especially that the story about Asuna’s father was never mentioned. I didn’t actually mind that at all anymore.

The film music is absolutely wonderful, too. At times maybe a tad to pompous, but that basically goes for the entire film – it tells it big. And I enjoyed it a lot.

Summarising: could watch it again straight away.