Review of Wonderful Days (2003) by Gavran R — 17 Aug 2012

The year is 2142. Mankind has been nearly destroyed due to wars, famine, pollution, disease, and tyranny. The remnants of civilization dwell in the futuristic metropolis known as Ecoban. A select few live in the upper sanctum, whereas all of the others live on lower levels and are coerced into varying degrees of labor. The rain never stops and an underground rebellion against the leaders of the city is brewing. A public security official, Jay is caught in-between the chaos which leads her to a childhood friend named Shua. Shua is behind the rebellion and becomes split between fighting his childhood friends to fighting for the liberation of the enslaved lower classes.

Having been a fan/admirer of anime for 15 years and counting, I remember seeing this movie reviewed in a magazine of Entertainment Weekly. I remember thinking to myself,''Wow! An anime film from South Korea. It looks great and I wonder how it will hold up in comparison to Japan's animated features." I went through hell to look for a copy, but never got one until 5 years later. Sky Blue aka Wonderful Days is a Korean anime that is gorgeous to watch and to look at, but the storytelling somewhat falls flat. The story is like a mix between Akira, Final Fantasy 7: Advent Children, Blade Runner, and Mad Max. The intrigue is there, but the characters were flat and forgettable. Jay was likable in her own way, but everyone else was hollow. The story does become engaging in certain areas, such as the action scenes and flashbacks to Jay and Shua's childhood explaining why they were separated, but at the end of the day they don't leave much of an impact and one doesn't care anything about these characters.

Having been in development for 7 years, Sky Blue has been hailed as Korea's response to Japan's Akira. Like Akira, many of the animation techniques and designs are remarkable. The shadow textures are perfectly done. They appear and disappear in perfect time of the environmental stimuli and the movement of the characters as well as their correlation to the atmosphere/lighting effects in different places. Every building, room, and environment is given different designs and is wonderfully captured on the images presented. Most of the background is CG rendered and the characters are hand drawn. Both of these styles are utilized to perfection when done to give both a convincing sense of interactivity. The animation and character designs feel like a cross between Avatar: The Last Airbender, Ghost in the Shell, and Akira. The animation is the primary reason why I'm giving this movie the credit I am.

The music isn't that bad, but it mostly is just there. Most of it feels more like it occurs when it wants to. There are some really good tracks that play during the action scenes, like the scene where the underground HQ is being raided in an attempt to capture Shua, but the majority of it winds up droning itself out.

As I said about the animation, it's a great thing on this film's part, but it's also a downfall in a way. I say that because, even though it's fantastic it also feels like it's the only thing that keeps this movie up. So much so, it overshadows the characters and the story. Since Japanese anime is slipping a little in terms of fan captivation, it seems like Korea is being put under the responsibility of picking up the tab. I think that they are still working with different anime styles that are enough to distinguish itself from Japan and America's style and give it the different kind of recognition. Like with J-Horror and K-Horror. Having delivered such strong anime films like Yobi: The Five Tailed Fox and Oseam, it does seem like they are slowly picking up the pace.

Overall, Sky Blue is a wonderful looking film that is fun to watch for the visuals. I wished that the story was better written and the characters were better developed. The plot does contain some good moments, but feels flat. It does sound like I'm bashing this film by starting with the negatives. I'm really not, I think it's a good film that's worthy to be a good introduction to the world of Korean anime. I will say to anyone who becomes interested by reading this review that if you're looking for a different style of anime outside of Japan, give this film a go. However, if you're looking for a story-driven narrative done in the same charisma, cultural significance, and genre-busting style as Japanese anime you may want to look elsewhere. This film is quite obscure, due to it having a limited U.S. release. A version released by Tartan Asia Extreme was released (the version I have) but there is no Korean on the copy. The Tartan company folded in 2008 and copies of this film have gone out of print.