The fantastical elements of 'Child Of Kamiari Month (2021)' don't come into play for quite a while and the flick includes no hint of them prior to their inclusion. When the plot takes a turn for the otherworldly, it just unloads a tidal wave of exhausting exposition on you and honestly feels like some sort of lesson. In fact, you may even mistake it as thinly veiled edutainment for a short while; it genuinely feels like something you'd show Japanese children if you wanted to educate them on the Gods. Thankfully, once its lesson is out of its system, it settles back into itself and returns to telling its narrative in a much more relaxed way. The picture isn't especially interesting even at its most assured, although it does feature a few enjoyable set-pieces and is visually pleasing in places. It kind of feels a little cheap overall, both in terms of its production and in terms of its narrative (its emotional underpinning feels rather forced). The flick's structure is also kind of strange in that it provides hints of an antagonist but only really makes that antagonist prevalent for a single scene near the 'all is lost' moment, completely robbing this element of all its potential power. Thankfully, the conflict of the story is mostly internal and mostly convincing. Despite its few fairly significant flaws (that exposition dump is honestly almost fatal), the film is ultimately a decent effort overall. It has some charm to it and is entertaining enough for what it is. It isn't great and it isn't memorable (at all), but I'd consider it a decent animated adventure. 5/10.
Review of Child of Kamiari Month
