Watching 'Hal'

Hal is one of the first projects done by studio Wit (Attack on Titan, Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress), a studio under the Production IG banner set up by a group of animators from Production IG itself. The film was released in the summer of 2014 and ran for 60 minutes. The film was directed by Makihara Ryoutarou (Empire of Corpses, Guilty Crown—episode director), with the screenplay written by Kizara Izumi and the character design being done by the superb Sakisaka Io (author of Blue Spring Ride). The music was done by Oshima Michiru (Fullmetal Alchemist, "The Night is Short Walk on Girl"). The film stars Hosoya Yoshimasa (Boku no Hero Academia, Arslan Senki) as Hal, and Hikasa Yoko (Danmachi, Free!) as Kurumi.

Summary

Hal revolves around a robot that wears the look of Kurumi’s boyfriend who died in a plane crash, that tries its best to get her to come out of the shell that she has put herself into since the incident. We see both characters change and start to act as if they were an actual couple, and getting to have things as close to normal as possible. What is curious about this is the incredible similarities the film shares with the Black Mirror episode Be Right Back. While Black Mirror goes for a far more grim tone and outlook, Hal approaches the same subject matter with a sense of optimism and hope.

Narrative

The narrative progresses at a slow pace, to the benefit of the film. We get to see how Hal is trying his best to get Kurumi to come out of her shell bit by bit over the course of an hour and multiple days. Throughout the film it makes reference to two rubix cubes with wishes written on it, one belonging to Hal and the other to Kurumi. As the film progresses we see them trying to fulfill the wish that they had written for each other. This way we get a sense of who the characters are, and what they want without it actually telling us directly. The supporting cast in the film is fantastic bouncing off of each other with wonderful chemistry. There is also a plot twist at the end of the film that is fantastically executed, and when watching the film again, knowing the outcome of the film, you get to truly appreciate just how well the film is written. With hints placed throughout that make themselves known once you experience this twist. While the first two acts of the film are indeed slow as I said earlier, the finale is incredible, and emotional.

Visuals

This is a beautiful film to look at, the backgrounds are colourful, the town is vibrant and brimming with life, the alleyways are intimate, and the character designs are fantastic. Fantastic looking animation is a staple of Wit and there is a consistency to their quality that is actually phenomenal. The fact that it was actually Sakisaka Io that has done the character design is no surprise to me as the characters stand out visually. Plus Blue Spring Ride is one of my favourite romance stories and any connection to it or its author is a massive bonus. The characters are all incredibly expressive as well, with their facial animations contorting to fully bring out the emotion that they are feeling at any particular moment.

Characters

The characters are all well defined, and well written in their own right. As far as personalities go, they are all distinct and stand out from each other, in addition they match what we see on screen seamlessly. As it would be no surprise, the bulk of the character development and the character progression goes towards Hal and Kurumi. These are the two characters we spend a lot of time with in the film. The more they get fleshed out, the more they start to feel like people, and we as the viewer take on the position of Hal as we are also learning about the characters and the world that they live in. As a result of the fantastic character writing behind Hal and Kurumi, when the twist occurs we do not question it, and we find it easy to accept. This brings an added level of depth to the character, and a far deeper question to an AI’s ability to mimic emotion and whether it could be seen as authentic or a physical representation of code acting as is programmed; which in itself would be the subject of a thesis in itself.

Something Interesting

What is curious is that the world this anime takes place in is actually quite harsh, despite the overall look of the anime. This is a world where humans are used as slaves when they are in debt, in fact this world reminds me a lot about the world that is presented in Repo Men (I am listing the film because I am yet to read the book the film is based on), and that is not a friendly world to live if you are in debt and on artificial organs. For all intents and purposes this is an incredibly cruel world when you really think about it, yet despite this there is also room in the world for something as pure and uplifting as love, joy and happiness, and the visuals really help emphasis this.

Music

The music is a joy to listen to when things are calm, and is also quite intense and emotional when it needs to be. What is done really well is that it matches the film like a glove, perfectly complimenting every scene that it finds itself in to amplify the effectiveness of the scene. The film is also not afraid for there to not be any music present at all, and having the instinct to know where these moments are can be crucial to the overall enjoyment of the film. As far as how the soundtrack was used, it was, overall, fantastic.

In Closing

If all my glowing praise was not indication enough this is a film that I highly recommend you watch, and it is available to stream on Funimation.