Blaziker’s Animation Adventure

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Introduction

Hello, fellow adventurers! Blaziker is back for yet another exciting animated movie adventure, and today, to clear yet another movie off my 2024 Non-Mainstream and Foreign CG Animated Movies Watchlist, it’s time we begin the second half of the year with the long-anticipated Studio Ponoc animated movie, The Imaginary!

Not to be confused with the 2024 horror movie of the same name, Rudger (Kokoro Terada), an imaginary friend created by Amanda (Rio Suzuki) out of Amanda’s loss of a family member, spent time on their own imaginary adventures during Amanda’s free time. When a mysterious man appears, he threatens to destroy not just Rudger, but the world of imagination Rudger and Amanda created together.

If Studio Ponoc is a familiar-sounding name, this is because Ponoc is not only founded by former Studio Ghibli animators, but they had been responsible for 2017’s Mary and the Witch’s Flower, which has gained a bit of a cult status among the animation community. Now that I am seeing a Studio Ponoc movie for the first time, will The Imaginary be another Japanese animated movie hit?

Well, time to use our imagination (sorry, had to use the same joke I used in my review of The Inseparables, but it never gets old) and get on to our adventure!

Key Information

Director: Yoshiyuki Momose
Animation Studio: Studio Ponoc
Country of Origin: Japan
Rating: PG
Release Date: 5 July 2024 (on Netflix)

Trailer

The Review

Story and Characters

Given this is the third movie of the year that focuses on imaginary friends (After Imaginary and IF), there can be a bit of story fatigue in seeing another movie with the similar concept. However, even with that, a couple of writing issues I noticed, as well as the clear Ghibli influences, the high-risk story paid off in the end.

Starting off with the probably big negative for me was that it felt a bit too close to a typical Studio Ghibli story with how The Imaginary plays to our imagination with the concept at hand. This was no coincidence as Ponoc was founded by a group of animators who previously worked for Ghibli, and given that this is only their third animated movie, this movie felt like the team at Ponoc are still trying to find their own identity.

With that said, what Ponoc accomplishes in the writing is how this felt like a more mature version of IF (even though I have never seen that movie, nor plan to see) with how it brings forth one’s boundless imagination and grief, allowing for an entertaining rollercoaster of emotions from start to finish. This was also helped both by how comprehensive this movie felt in covering the concept of the imaginary friends without feeling too exposition-heavy, and that the pacing is on point, resulting in this movie not having a dull moment at all. Every scene in this movie plays a part in carrying the story forward and brings out the inner child in the viewers who see this movie. In a sense, this was a movie full of imaginative moments from start to finish, something the team at Studio Ponoc was intending all along.

There was some slight awkwardness in the dialogue, but other than that, the dialogue felt both genuine and impactful, with some memorable lines from various characters throughout the movie. While there are not much comedy and jokes in the movie, the jokes presented have good build-up and do not try too hard to be funny, and the messaging rounds up the movie very nicely.

Not forgetting about the characters, and Rudger, Amada’s imaginary friend, has fantastic character development as he comes to terms with whom he was as an imaginary friend and adapting to what he wants to do as Amada’s imaginary friend. With Amanda and her mum Lizzie (Sakura Ando), they were also pivotal to understanding the backstory behind Rudger and felt so well developed. We also get to see Rudger with the other imaginary friends, such as Jinzan (Takayuki Yamada), Emily (Riisa Naka) and Fridge (Akira Terao) who also help to bring more of their views and beliefs into this already comprehensive story.

However, not to throw shade at the already fantastic cast of characters, but the movie’s villain, Mr Bunting (Issei Ogota), might be the clincher in this story. He might be one of the most menacing villains in any recent anime movie, and with each scene having his presence, you can feel the tension in an instant, especially once you understand his motivations to hunt down imaginary friends for his own gain. Honestly, if not for Mr Bunting, I don’t know whether the story will be this strong.

Despite me having to dock points off The Imaginary for its close resemblance to other iconic Studio Ghibli movies, The Imaginary succeeds in having such a high-risk, but creative and imaginative story that entertains viewers from start to finish, while also having well-developed characters to boot. It’s definitely not everyone’s type of concept, but the writing is pretty damn great.

Animation

If there is one element in most Japanese animated movies that I do not feel let down by, it is the animation, and the animation in The Imaginary is beyond my words and imagination (pun intended).

Despite this being a hand-drawn animated movie with some 3D CG elements, as do most top-tier Japanese animated movies such as the Oscar-winning Studio Ghibli masterpiece The Boy and the Heron, this movie stretches what is possible in typical 2D hand-drawn animated movies with some amazing 3D-style hand-drawn animation with some of the most concept-defying animation moments in the scene, especially those involving the movie’s world of imaginary characters.

This is to no surprise, since Ponoc got a helping hand from French studio Les Films du Poisson Rogue for the lighting and shading in this movie. If you find that name familiar, this is because it is the same studio that helped Sergio Pablos and his team for his 2019 classic Klaus, which also has sequences where the mostly 2D hand-drawn style looks very 3D-esque.

As such, director Yoshiyuke Monose and producer Yoshiaki Nishimura, as well as everyone involved at Ponoc, were able to craft up some of the most beautiful and mesmerizing animation sequences for any 2D hand-drawn animated movie this year, as even with the sequence taking place in the world, there was a sense of depth and wonder in the backgrounds. The character designs, whether it is the humans or the imaginary friends, are well-detailed and diverse, resulting in such a unique feeling animated movie that fits in the ethos of this movie.

Honestly, my compliments about the animation cannot do justice to the amount of craft and dedication the team at Studio Ponoc put up to produce some of the most exciting animation of the year so far, and if there is one reason why you should watch this movie, even though animation alone cannot justify a movie’s recommendation, it’s how the animation makes me go “Wow” every single time.

Soundtrack, Other Elements and Level of Enjoyment

The score and soundtrack are just as on point as the animation, and even with the limited marketing (no thanks to Netflix itself), the marketing content alone is enough for viewers to seek out this movie. Not that the marketing is going to be bad, anyway.

As for my level of enjoyment, I already I was going to love this movie, but it was a matter of how much I was going to love this movie. Well, the answer is a whole damn lot. I had so much fun watching it on my phone during the downtime, even when commuting between the driving school where I am currently taking driving lessons to my former ala mater for a homecoming event, I wanted more from this movie and by the end, I was close to internally crying without me showing any of that during the homecoming out of fear of embarrassment. When a movie is this close to breaking you so much that you can hide your emotions further, that is usually a good sign the movie has left a lasting impression.

Conclusion

After everything said and done, I am happy to report that we are kicking off the second half of 2024 with a bang, and boy, what a bang this was!

While there were slight fumbles in how it executes some parts of its concept, The Imaginary is a well-layered animated movie that is full of charm, deep messaging and unexpected twists that turn the movie on its head in such a gleeful way. Even though we have seen similar-feeling animated movies that does the concept somewhat better, this movie excels in telling that story well, not to mention mesmerising animation sequences that bend the limits of animation and a well-orchestrated score.

Honestly, The Imaginary came close to the top-tier of the 2024 animated movies so far, and that is honestly where I expected The Imaginary to be. In fact, I would not mind seeing this in theatres rather than on Netflix, because the experience would definitely be much better.

Thank you so much for joining me on this adventure. We got a trio of rather interesting (and possibly one rotten apple among them) animated movies coming our way, so until next time, see you on the next adventure!