BUBBLE

Bubble is a mighty bore, punctuated by stylish flourishes of vibrant animation and top-notch action sequences.

Most of the animation in Bubble, the new anime from Japanese director Tetsuro Araki, is top-notch, especially in action scenes that see a bunch of parkour kids challenging each other in a desolate Tokyo overrun by mysterious pinkish water bubbles.

The issue however is that beyond the excellent technical execution there isn't anything to keep the viewer engaged. Few of the characters are sympathetic enough to make you feel for them and if they do have a pulse their backstory and motives are so elaborately muddled you just don't know whether to root for them or not.

And then there is the trainwreck of what only the most lenient of observers would call a story: halfway between a trite teenage romance, an apocalyptic allegory and a glibly revisionist Little Mermaid rethread.

I'm sure that on the page this mix of elements must have sounded great, but in the end Bubble is a mighty bore, punctuated by stylish flourishes of vibrant animation that nevertheless are far from enough to erase the many mistakes of the film.

release: 2022

director: Tetsurô Araki

starring: Jun Shison, Riria, Mamoru Miyano, Yûki Kaji