Movielogr
Napping Princess (2017)
Directed by Kenji Kamiyama
Twitter Facebook Google+Fantasy | Adventure | Animation
Overview
Japan, 2020, a few days before the opening of the Tokyo Olympics. Although she should be studying for her final exams, Kokone, a schoolgirl who lives in a small town with her widowed father, a mysterious and talented mechanic, falls asleep often, anywhere, anytime, entering, over and over, a dream-world where a squad of fantastic motorized contraptions fights against magic, a world close to reality where she will find out the keys of her true past.
Length 111 minutes
Actors
Mitsuki Takahata | Yosuke Eguchi | Shinnosuke Mitsushima | Rie Kugimiya | Tomoya Maeno | Wataru Takagi | Hideki Takahashi | Arata Furuta | Risa Shimizu
Viewing History (seen 1 time)
| Date Viewed | Device | Format | Source | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 05/07/2021 | TV | DVD | Library | 7.5 stars |
| (Average) 7.5 stars |
Viewing Notes
Randomly found this film in the “drama” section of my library where it has been incorrectly cataloged given that all the other GKids animation titles are in the “World - Japan” section. I wasn’t even aware of this movie so it was a nice surprise and also a very entertaining film. Now I wonder if it had a limited theatrical release back in 2018 and I just missed it. Would be great on the big screen.
This is an original story written and directed by Kenji Kamiyama, who directed the GITS SAC series among other things. He noted during the included interview that this was the first thing he’s done that was not based or adapted from an existing property. He was also motivated after the 3/11 disaster to do his own thing and something different yet fantasy mixed with reality. This is definitely a very imaginative story that shouldn’t work on paper but it does. The story does get a bit blurry towards the end w/the grand finale as both reality and the dreamworld bend into each other. Overall, I enjoyed following both stories in parallel and how they related to each other. Also appreciate how we get the character development quickly and organically from the story.
One of the more fascinating aspects is that this is set just before the 2020 Tokyo Olympics are to commence so this plays a lot differently than it would’ve back in 2017/18. However, the tech around self-driving cars is quite prescient given where we are today. Oh something else that is quite excellent is that the movie is set in a small coastal town in the Okayama prefecture west of Osaka. There’s a bonus featurette showing live footage of that town then compares it to scenes in the movie and it’s spot on perfect. I love that attention to detail. It’s so amazing to see the shots with the same angles side by side w/the real places in this town.
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