Japanese animation (anime) - あさっての方向

Name: Asatte no Houkou
Episodes: 12eps
Vintage: 2006
Style: Drama MFG

あさっての方向 - Preview

Preview

Karada lives with her older brother but hates being a child (12 years old), since she believes she is a burden to her brother. One day, she prays on a nearby shrine as a strange woman named Shouko approaches and decides to also pray with her. They later learn that Shouko was Karada's brother girlfriend back when he lived in America, from where he had to return when their parents died, leaving Shouko totally alone and without news. At that night, as they coincidentally meet again by the shrine, their secret wishes are granted by the "Wishing Stone", and they exchange ages, as while Karada turns 24, Shouko turns 12.

Pacing

Although emotionally intense, always focusing on the dramas of the characters, Asatte no Houkou (The direction of the day after tomorrow) can easily be considered a pleasant romance with subtle touches of "Make you feel good" genre and daily life events with it's (now confuse) main characters.

The focus is strongly on Karada and shouko, though some is also given to Karada's brother Hiro, and Karada's best friend, Tetsumasa Amino, who loves her. Although they have their wishes granted, the title shows that people not always know what they are wishing for, and certainly having them is not necessarily for the best, as both go thru a lot of hardships with their new reality, starting by the fact that nobody knows them nor believes them, and thus they are all alone. They also eventually face the fact that they were happy but just couldn't accept it.

Conclusion

With a fair mysterious and pleasant pace, Asatte no Houko will hold the viewer exactly because it focus so much on the reality of it's unreal event, about how in real life, changing your body's age would really be weird and troublesome, and it won't be easy to start your new life with that. Karada is a young girl in the body of a 24, but have no experience nor résumé to show, while Shouko is a young adult in the body of a 12, but with the mentality of a grown up, and thus won't find friends nor a proper pass time as a child. They end up having to turn to each other to find any real friendship, and as such, they learn from each other why they desired to exchange ages.

The pace holds nicely up to the title's end, which stores some interesting surprises in the end. However, the end is quite appropriate and will hardly displease the viewer, and also show us some interesting new point of view to the ending situation (read essay after watching)

There is actually little to analyze on Asatte no houko, however as the ending have some aspects that might confuse, and also some subtle messages might not be really detected, this essay comes to help about that.

First, some people might not get Kotomi's real identity or motivation, and why she had the 'whishing stone', or why she passed on the stone to Shouko in the end.

However, there really is nothing to it. Kotomi is a simple girl who likes (a lot) her father, but due to unknown circumstances, lives far away from him, so far that he cannot call her (or are not allowed perhaps?). Remembering what her father used to say about the 'whishing stone', she decides to use her vacation to go to the little shrine and once again wish to get to see her father. Apparently, this was not her first try, and she is quite upset by it, thus she steal the stone in an attempt to force it to come true.

Although initially she does not believe in the stone, as she learns about Karada (as Satou), she finally starts believing. When Karada tells her it's all true about her age exchange, Kotomi says (although it's interrupted by Karada flashback): "So, if what you tell is true, than my..." We can easily complete it with "my wish will also be granted".

In the end as everyone leaves the inn, Kotomi's father calls her and apparently invites her to visit him (it's certainly work of the Wishing stone, after all, how could he know she was there? why that timing?). She obviously accepts, but since her mother (or other unknown circumstances) would not allow her to go, she needs to do that hidden. Before she leaves, she calls Shouko and gives her back the stone, knowing they might want to use it again to reverse their situation. Having the stone, Karada and Shouko are free to wish their ages back. In one of the ending scenes, we see a stone vanishing, and it's open to your interpretation if either that was the 'wishing stone' undoing it's effect, or simply a conventional shrine offer to Karada's parents.

However, the most symbolic scenes during the ending credits is the picture off all three of them (both now normal), where we subtle see a "family". Karada just got a 'real brother' as a father figure (as until then they kept secret from each other they knew they were not really brothers), and a best friend/mother figure with Shouko. And just to add some more, she has now a boyfriend who is eager to grow up and catch up with her, since although they are both 12, Karada is a lot more mature, driving Tetsu to try his best to catch up.

Excellent title.

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