The delicate Japanese anime The Colors Within is very poetically interested in the passage of adolescence and the emotions felt.
Totsuko (voiced by Sayu Suzukawa in the original Japanese version) attends a Catholic school for girls. The teenager has synesthesia, meaning she can associate the people she meets with colors. So, when she sees Kimi (voice of Akari Takaishi), she is fascinated by his color… and by his person. When Kimi stops showing up at school, Totsuko goes looking for her and accidentally becomes a member of a music group with two other young people.
The colors, sometimes pastel, sometimes more vibrant, are used by the director, Naoko Yamada, to add subtext to the main plot, that of Totsuko’s expression of her feelings.
We also like the delicate links between songwriting (even if the lyrics of teenagers’ songs, translated into subtitles, can sometimes make you smile) and spirituality, The Colors Within opening with a prayer from Totsuko. We also find in the feature film the style of anime whose softness is sometimes reminiscent of watercolors.
-Furthermore, through the adolescent’s questions, her way of perceiving others and her journey through her emotions, this The Colors Within will give food for thought to young and old alike.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
The Colors Within is showing in the original version with subtitles in several cinemas in the province.
