Response 3

Napping Princess at Luna Theater

Our class went to the Luna Theater at Mill No. 5 to go see a documentary called Don't Think I've Forgotten, which was about the Cambodian genocide and its effect on the music of Cambodia through the eyes of music stars. Unfortunately, I could not attend because I had to study for an upcoming Psych exam, so I had to go a different night, and since it wasn't for the class, I actually had to pay for it this time. My teacher sent us a schedule for the theater in case we couldn't attend, so it was up to me to decide when to go and what to go see. I looked at the schedule, and saw that they had an anime on the list called Napping Princess. I used to watch a little anime from time to time, but I haven't done so for a long time. Either way, I still wanted to know what I was getting into before I went in, so I saw the trailer on the Luna Theater's website, and it looked very interesting, so I decided to go see that.

I had went on October 6, which was a Friday. Usually by this time, I would've been picked up by my dad and I would head back home for the weekend. It had been two or three weeks since we went as a class, so it took me a while to actually remember how to get there. Even so, when I got there, I got on the elevator, and struggled to remember which floor the theater was on. I thought it was the 5th floor, but it was on the 4th floor. I was embarrassed when I had to tell the woman in the elevator with me I hit the wrong button. I found out it was the wrong floor when all the shops we explored when we went to the mill as a class weren't there, so I had to creep back to the elevator when I realized it was wrong. I shook off the embarrassment and paid $8 for the admission, which I felt was high.

So I sat down and realized that the movie had the Japanese dub (which meant the audio was in Japanese) and it had English subtitles. A lot of people I know would have a problem with listening to a movie while the subtitles were on (except for when the movie isn't in English in the first place) because it would be hard to pay attention to both, but I never have that problem. Whenever I watch a movie or something on Netflix by myself, I just have the subtitles on anyway, even if it is in English just because even if it is in English, some lines could be made hard to understand on purpose, or they just are, so I have them on so I don't miss anything.

Kokone Morikawa is a Japanese high school senior who is about to finish high school, she's looking at colleges, and she reconnects with her friend who returned from Tokyo from his first year of college. While she should be studying for exams, she dozes off, which is personally relatable, and dreams of this fictional world called Heartland, and she has the same dream over and over again. Even though Heartland is a magical realm, it actually ties in to the real world. Her single father, Momotarō, who is a car mechanic, never told Kokone about her mother, who had died in an accident when she was young, and Kokone is pissed that he never said anything. It is made clear later on why he didn't, but like Kokone, I had no idea why, so I thought Kokone had every right to be pissed. If I was in her place, I wouldn't want to be kept in the dark, I would want to know about my mother, and I'd be pissed at my dad for not telling me. 

In Heartland, the world revolves around cars and machinery, and the king's castle is a large factory. The king's daughter, Ancien, who looks a lot like Kokone, carries a "magic tablet" which can give life to various machines. The king, however, disapproves of this, so he confines Ancien to her tower. However, the realm of Heartland is under threat by a giant metal monster called the Colossus,  and the king makes robots to fight it. Ancien spots a subject named Peach, who wears a jacket similar to Momotarō's, and allies with him to fight the Colossus, while the king's advisor, Bewan, plots against both the king and Ancien. If I was in Kokone's place, I would not have noticed that, because even watching the movie, I didn't notice it until it was pointed out later on.

3 days prior to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Momotarō gets arrested, and is accused of stealing secrets from the powerful car company, Shijima Motors. Momotarō, however, warns to stay away from the agent named Watanabe, who looks just like Bewan. That I did actually notice the first time, and not just because of the looks, but because of what he does. In the real world, he just arrested Kokone's dad, but in Heartland, he plots against the king, so he plans to do something along those lines.

I'm not going to spoil the rest of this movie, so I'll just say I loved this movie. This movie was made by the same guy who made Ghost in the Shell, which actually had an okay live-action adaptation (Live-action adaptations for anime are notably bad movies; they're competent, but not entertaining to those who have seen the original). I may actually watch the live-action adaptation, though I will expect to be disappointed by it, but you never know.