MovieChat Forums > Wonderful Days (2003) Discussion > I was so disappointed... what a hunk of ...

I was so disappointed... what a hunk of steamy crap.


I really didn't find anything remarkable or salvagable from what is essentially a terrible anime. I think everyone can agree that the plot is filmsy, unoriginal and uninspired, but for me there wasn't even anything worth appreciating visually.

As an anime fan I find myself increasingly perplexed with numerous studio's obsession in intergrating CGI with traditional animation. If I wanted to see CGI I'd go and watch an action movie or a 'cinema of attractions' piece such as the new 'King Kong' - that is marketable largely for its use of CGI. When I go to see animation i expect to see at least SOME hand-drawn imagery... it's not that the use of CGI in animation doesn't work; the 'Ghost in the Shell' TV series or 'Blood: the last vampire' is an example of when it works - used occasionally and effectively.

'Sky Blue' however is a hackneyed attempt at visual beauty. The 2D animation is detailed, yet horrendously jerky and sparse - CGI is used whenever it can - whether it be a gun that a character is holding or a vehicle speeding across the screen. It seems that the studio has used CGI simply to cut down on production time, (CGI is quicker to render than painstaking hand-drawn cells). Apparently this film took 7 years to make... looking at the badly rendered CGI and atrociously animated characters, this is incredibly hard to believe. The problem is that apart from the beautifully rendered STILL backgorunds, most of the CGI looks rushed, cheap, and does not blend at all well with the 2D animation.

The English dub is awful, the lead male's voice is so forced... no-one should have to try that hard to sound cool.

An utter disappointment. I do not recommend this.

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I have seen this movie with German voices. So I do not know how bad the English dub is. Concerning the rest of your evaluation I have to say, that nearly everything you have written is wrong. I am an anime fan too. And I saw those examples you introduced as better in the use of CGI. WONDERFUL DAYS' animation quality is beyond them and most others, which are compareable.

You are right with your argument, that the plot, at least the theme, really is not original or creative. But the animation and the music belong to the five best animated movies I have ever seen - and I've seen a lot. I'm really surprised how Korea managed to overshadow the tradional Japanese Films. If you are right with the seven years, I understand. But I am even more surprised how somebody with working eyes and ears can comment in that way.

Besides this, you should write a comment in the comment section.


No Guts! No Glory!

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Well, I guess it just comes down to personal taste and opinion. I have seen a lot of anime movies too, im a big anime fan. I think the reason I was so disappointed with this was that I had been waiting to see it for such a long time, and it just did not live up to my expectations at all.

Personally I think that the CGI in this feature is varied. The still backgrounds are beautiful, as are SOME of the moving ones, but most other moving backgrounds looked cheap and rushed - almost like a TV cartoon series, (the bike sequences especially).

The character animation is undeniably jumpy and the perspectives constantly shift incorrectly - akin to a Saturday morning kid's cartoon. The character movement in general is also poor, and figures generally do not blend in well with the CGI. It says on the back of the box that this took seven years... crazy... again, from an animation view I suppose this is just opinion. I just found it to be jittery and utterly crude compared to the other anime I mentioned in the previous post.

I just watched 'Ghost in the Shell 2', and the blending of CGI and hand-drawn cells is a lot smoother. Although this film also had some minor problems, I found the plot engrossing, character development well done and animation almost perfect. I now rank it as one of my favourite anime movies... it just oozed quality. Wonderful Days was the complete opposite of this for me.

I just made a post on the message board as to spark discussion and debate - sorry if that annoyed you or something!

I really wish I did like 'Wonderful Days', because despite the lacklustre plot and themes it would have been beautiful if executed properly.

My favourite anime movies are 'Princess Mononoke', 'Spirited Away', 'Perfect Blue', 'Barefoot Gen', most things 'Ghost in the Shell' and other Miyazaki feautres, although I have to say that the more Studio Ghibli stuff I see the more similar they all seem... it looks to me like they are re-using character designs too...

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I'm not annoyed. I just got the Idea of a rather complete comment instead of an argument. But of course for discussions you have to use the board.

And you are right, it IS a question of taste. I didn't know nothing about WONDERFUL DAYS when I bought the DVD for only 5€ because of the interesting cover. Of course I had to be surprised about the visual quality. Such masterpieces (For me, it still is one.) should not be given away for a few bucks.

I didn't watch GHOST IN THE SHELL 2 for now. I can imagine, that this movie tops animation of WONDEFUL DAYS but for example the first part from 1995 undeniably did not. And for me, it overshadows SPIRITED AWAY (my favourite from Ghibli) too. Although SPIRITED AWAY has the better plot, as well as GITS.

Besides this I also have to agree with your statement about Ghibli's Design. I hope they find back to visual creativity soon.


No Guts! No Glory!

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Yeah Ghibli is weird... I keep watching films from their back catalogue and characters from their older films like Kiki's Delivery Service and Laputa seem to crop up in Howl's Moving Castle. Maybe it is just because most of Miyazaki's films are based around similar 'worlds' and themes. I still like all the Ghible movies they just seem to be a bit repetitive the more of them you watch.

I have to say that I was very disappointed with GITS when I watched it the first time, but when I watched it again with subtitles the plot seemed to make more sense. The character animation in the first GITS movie is very good but the CGI is limited - the production studio were the first ones to implement the technology though from what I have read. The new GITS movie is visually stunning but a lot of people don't like the plot. Personally I found it to deliver on all counts, but it is a lot better with subtitles.

I'd say my disappointment around Sky Blue or Wonderful Days as it is called elsewhere manifests mainly from the amount of anticipation I had built up before watching it! That and the fact that there are no subtitles on the English DVD - no original sound track or anything. Crap or what?!

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First off, GITS is a one off; the only time IMO that the fancy-pants animators have actually got the animation and the story to coincide. It's an ideal that's been chased ever since.

I present m'learned friends with exhibit A: 'Sky Blue'

The reason this film was pushed by the distribors so much is because it's Korean, not Japanese. Korea wants a slice of the Anime pie, hence the marketing.

So that's the politics; what about the film?

Well, beautiful, of course. The character development is good. Even the villans are allowed to be more than cut-and-paste, that is to say thay have lives, feelings, etc.

Unfotunately this film (ironically) falls into the same trap that the techno-geek animators in Japan have been doing for too long. i.e. the animation is everything, the story is just along for the ride.

Sky Blue, AKA Wonderful Days is a lovely film up until the last third, then it becomes the usual implausible techno-babble that is the signature for most of the pretty Japnese animation of its type (Appleseed, Final Fantasy, etc.)

One day the Japanese techno bunch will realise that Miyazaki (Spirited Away, Howls' Moving Castle) is an Academy Award winner and nominee because the story comes first, which is then presented in the best way that tells the story.

Maybe, but then geeks will be geeks, lost in the park until someone shows them the way.

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The thing with the CGI is that it took 7 years to finish. If you watch the first 20 minutes compaired to the last, you'll see the difference in the quality.

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Dude you clearly have no idea what you are talking about. The story was a bit dull, but this is by far the best anime out in terms of animation and visual quality period.

http://www.myspace.com/spikespiegel

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It all felt a little cliche to me. I haven't seen very much anime at all, but all this reverting to childhood and filling in gaps was a really overdone thing. The english voices were very annoying. Finally some of the animation was really beautiful but things didn't always connect well as individual animations at times looked different. For example the explosion bit looks different to the foreground and this detracts from the quality, no matter how good it look on its own. Some of the camera movements were quite nice. Like the axe flying through the air. Though apart from these few highlights, this wasn't very good.

Last Film Seen: Woyzeck - 8/10

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To RossLikesMovies: While I have yet to see this movie, anime is generally simular to how you've described, with those flaws of bad english dubbing, and frequent (often cheesy) allusions to childhood and childhood promises. It goes with the genre.

Anyways, I haven't decided if I'll watch this or not...I've seen too many crappy 'dark' Anime sci-fi movies lately. (Appleseed, Karis, Voices of a Distant Star, Metropolis, etc...)

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Like I said, the animation is beautiful. I understand that the animators were really keen to get the feeling and atmosphere right, which I think they did in spades.

It's the story that lets the film down. This film IMO is a good example of style over content. Don't get me wrong, it's not a bad film; it's just that it could have been a lot better.

It's a shame the animators didn't spend more time on story-telling than whether the rain looked cool (so to speak).

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OK, I can accept how you all feel about the film; I have already spelled out what I thought about it.

The animation was jumpy and mismatched; as I previously commented, the perspectives shift, the general character animation is very jumpy and the movement un-natural. Also, in my opinion, the plot was hackneyed and cliched, and had little visual appeal because there was no heart or soul in the character development. Everything on screen was just there - I didn't care about it. There was no imaginative set-pieces or dialogue or any attempts to make this film stand out from the crowd. The bit with the blood floating at the end was about the only thing that struck me visually; unfortunately I didn't give a *beep* about any of the badly designed and undeveloped 'cool-as ice' characters.

Unlike Innocence, the CGI / cel animation did not complement the plot. GITS2's use of CGI was implemented to further emphasise how isolated the characters were in a world where the soul is practically negligable. Sky Blue just wanted to look pretty, and failed miserably. I do not agree that the greatness of the orginal GITS has since not been achieved. In fact, I prefer the sequel. It develops the characters massively, and apart from some un-accessible dialogue, the plot is enjoyable, if not thoroughly engrossing, especially if you know the characters and understand the first movie.

I'm gald to see that there has been a lot of debate about it anyways! It would seem that I am out voted, mind. Miyazaki's are definitely the most Western-ised of anime, I think the problem with much Asian cinema is that us lot are used to different cinematic conventions and therefore find it difficult to appreciate much of their work.

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He Speaks the truth!

Last Film Seen: Dr Strangelove - 8/10

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100% agreed.

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I didnt think the film was THAT bad, the animation looked fine to me, good music, not bad characterisations and pretty good english dubs(I've heard worse)

But then of course this is coming from someone who hasnt watched that many anime. (I hope to see GITS 1 & 2 very soon)

Noli manere, manere in memoria. Noli manere, manere in memoria.

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Hmm. I can understand your dislike of the dub version; there are few foreign language films that work well when dubbed, especially animation. Which is ironic when you think that lip-sinking to lips that have minimal movement should be easier.

Animators feel free to flame and excuse.

Anyway, give it a go in its original language. I know sub-titles can detract from what's going on, but the intonation and style of the original actors can be important and add to the film. And usually in sync.

For what it's worth I agree with what you say, Wonderful Days isn't that bad - just coulda bin betta, is all.

As an aside, make sure you watch GITS before GITS 2. No.1 is superb and a good example of how all the stuff that's been previously mentioned comes together in one film. IMO. GITS 2 is gob-smacking animation, but if you haven't watched no.1, you will get lost.

Oh, and if you've got kids show them Spirited Away (with or without dub). A different type of anime, but beautiful nonetheless.

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sky blue is utter crap. very cliche like aother poster mentioned. blue haired girl? funny little cat animal?? with the scenery and mood that sky blue is trying to portray, thats like sticking pikachu into akira.

and the ending was trying to be philosophical, when it just ended up loooking dumb as hell. biting off of evangelion maybe?

i bought this movie subbed ,bootleg ,for 10 dollars. and only watched it once.

Theres loyalty that protects secrets and loyalty that projects the truth

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I enjoyed it, i liked the imagery and i liked the characters, the plot was fairly standard as things go but i didn't think of it as cliche. Though i agree with the pikachu thing, though admittedly i laughed at that little thing in the movie just cos it seemed out of place, so i guess some use came of it. In the end, it wasn't a steamy pile of cr*ap, it was just cool to look at and some what entertaining, it doesn't deserve to be rated as one of the best movies ever but at least it had enough entertaining aspects about it to put it above some of the cr*ap that's get made, so i give it a 7 out of 10.

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Definately lower budget and animated by new comers. Despite this i was happy just watching it as beautiful static screens against the musical backdrop: which in itself was haunting and stunning.

I'm not an anime fan at all. Despite a GitS and VHD addiction i cant normally stand it. But i thought this was one of the redeeming titles in a bludgeoning mass of anime.

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same here.

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" what a hunk of steamy crap. "

Amen to that!

Just watched the film and i must say this movie pissed me off! The reason why i was pissed off was mainly the simple uninspired story, and all the worn out cliches. I thought the animation was ok, cgi was impressing looking most of the times though, but i didnt have any expectations about it, so i cant say i was let down animation wise.
But what a waste of work, someone said it took 7 years to make?!?! Dont know wether to laugh or feel sad if thats true!

Who ever wrote this movie ought to get fired twice and banned from writing scripts ever again!

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This film has led to many of its animators taking on lucrative jobs throughout the world, and helped kickstart the Korean animation industry as it is today.

So, a waste of nothing, and a fine if very flawed film if I do say so myself.

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I couldn't agree more re. the English voice actors - the lead guy was way too preoccupied with trying to sound cool and as a result lacked any emotion and sounded like a complete fool, whilst the kid - played by a whiney woman from what i could tell - was equally annoying. I was actually glad when the DVD stop working half way through (thanks again Blockbuster...)

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never trust anyone who uses sentences like 'I think everyone can agree', they're clearly up their own backsides to try and speak for 'everyone'

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