Camera Japan Rotterdam 2024 Review: THE COLORS WITHIN Shines With Bright Hues

Back in 2016-2017, director Yamada Naoko shook up the anime industry with her high-school bully drama A Silent Voice. The film took an uncommonly candid view of life in school, with people often doing stupid things while still totally unaware of the gravity and possible consequences of their actions. It told a bullying story as seen from the viewpoint of the bully, showing the life-altering effects of the incidents on everybody without demonizing anyone. Even with its heavy subject matter, It picked up accolades and awards worldwide.

Her new film The Colors Within is a lot more light-hearted, even if it plays with the same tropes. Not bullying this time, but the uneasy miscommunications between young people in high school, getting to grips with their new emotions and such.

We follow Totsuko, a girl in a strict Catholic school, who is a bit odd: she perceives colors different from most people. In fact, she perceives people as colors. And she is fascinated (and distracted) by people who she sees as having a beautiful color.

When a girl with a very beautiful color quits school, Totsuko starts looking all over town for her. During her search, Totsuko meets a boy who has a beautiful color as well, and she makes up a story on the spot of having to start a music band so she can see her favorite colors together as a group. When the other two agree to join her, it's the start of a strange but wonderful friendship of three young people, each with their own set of problems.

After the often harsh and brutal life lessons served in A Silent Voice, its mostly gentleness which hits you in The Colors Within. There is surprisingly little drama in this drama, but it isn't missed or needed here either. Surprisingly, the Catholic school environment isn't used to protest religion, and refreshingly it isn't used as an exotic setting. Made by studio Science Saru (famous for Yuasa Masaaki's output) and produced by Eunyoung Choi, the film looks great, especially when we enter Totsuko's worldview of colors. Director Yamada Naoko is content to let us bask in its beauty, and gives the audience time to reflect on the story's issues in relative peace. It doesn't mean the filmmakers were taking it easy though: there are plenty of details to admire here, from the playing of a theremin to the crowd scenes at a school festival. On a technical level, the film is solid and while the designs lean heavily on the familiar side, The Colors Within is just a very pleasant viewing experience, one of the best anime films released this year.

Back in 2017's Camera Japan festival, Yamada Naoko's A Silent Voice won its audience award, and while The Colors Within didn't get the top position, Rotterdam audiences did vote it into the top-5. High praise indeed, but warranted.