There Is Nothing Better Than Hand Drawn Animation

Read Time:2 Minute, 44 Second

MOVIE REVIEW
Fortune Favors Lady Nikuko (Gyokou no Nikuko-chan)
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Genre: Animation, Comedy, Drama
Year Released: 2022
Runtime: 1h 37m
Director(s): Ayumu Watanabe
Writer(s): Kanako Nishi (novel,) Satomi Ohshima (screenplay)
Japanese Voice Cast: Shinobu Otake, Cocomi, Natsuki Hanae, Ikuji Nakamura, Izumi Ishii
Where To Watch: Select theaters 6/2

I need to get this out of the way initially; I have a weak spot for hand-drawn animation, and I don’t try to hide that. So I may be slightly biased regarding my appreciation for them. I still judge a film based on many other factors, though. Still, something is so heartwarming about hand-drawn animation vs. computer-generated (although with Disney’s TURNING RED) is that line is getting thinner and thinner.

While the projects that the team behind FORTUNE FAVORS LADY NIKIKO aren’t very familiar to me, a lot of the style and feel of the film are. It has that same warmth from a lot of Japanese animation, almost a feeling of slightly skewed reality. I’m genuinely thankful for GKIDS, a distributor in the US that specializes in animation. They’ve brought many excellent films to an American audience that could’ve otherwise been missed. A few weeks back, I reviewed another movie of theirs, POMPO THE CINEPHILE, and while I enjoyed that one more, this was still a treat.

The story is a heartwarming tale that, although unconventional, has a lot of moments that most families can connect to and grab onto parts of the story. Based on the novel by Kanako Nishi by the same name, you can tell how faithful they remained to the source material because of the deep connection the team had. This wasn’t an attempt at a money grab but a passion project to bring this story to life. One of the most exciting aspects is that initially, the idea was to turn this into a live-action show. It’s funny because I can imagine almost precisely what it would be like. Although ultimately, I think that this was the best decision to bring out the story in a unique way that live-action couldn’t.

If you’re not a fan of subtitles, I’m sure that there will eventually be a release with English dubbing. I watch almost everything with subtitles anyway (at least when I can), so they don’t bother me. However, animation is the one international media that I find acceptable to watch with dubbing (for myself, your results may vary.) I feel that animation lends itself very well to match up, especially with the few minor tweaks that are used to convey the same meaning without changing too much. If you get the opportunity to view this, I would suggest doing so; I love to support unique films like this.

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