Summary: Children Of The Sea is a story about a girl whose father works at an aquarium, two children raised by dugongs, a multi-government conspiracy, and a supernatural cosmic event taking place in the sea. It features stunning, beautiful art, and a plot so mysterious that you sort of need to sit back and just enjoy the ride. As a bonus, the sound track has a few beautiful meditations in it.
Did you think 2001, A Space Odyssey was trippy? Beautiful but hard to comprehend? Well hold Ayumu Watanabe’s beer, Kubrick, because this film is several acid-trips beyond 2001, and has better pacing to boot. It’s a visual treat, but I wouldn’t presume to explain it.
It’s on Netflix until August 31, if you want to catch it.
Notes:
- The extraordinary animation did not come without a price. As so often happens, the entire production staff was driven to exhaustion – and not well paid either. Apparently Watanabe has been taking Kubrick lessons. And that sort of management is too common in the Anime industry. And in American animation. I don’t know about European animation studios.
- It is based on the manga series of the same name by Daisuke Igarashe
- 2001 isn’t all that hard to understand if you also read Arthur C Clarke’s novel of the same name. That may also be true about Children of the Sea if you read the manga.
- Here’s the soundtrack: Kaijuu No Kodomo. Some parts of it don’t stand on their own; they need the visual setting to work. But check out Umi and To The Glowing Sea as two versions of a great piano meditation
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