Summary
A reworking of a Japanese favourite exchanges small-town charm with something more mystical and the results will depend on whether you view it from the side or the bottom.
Shunji Iwai’s 1993 live action TV special serves as the basis for the anime remake of FIREWORKS, SHOULD WE SEE IT FROM THE SIDE OR THE BOTTOM? (打ち上げ花火、下から見るか? 横から見るか?), and its lo-fi charms earned it a legion of fans around the world. Studio Shaft’s adaptation pushes the story in a very different direction, one that is sure to have mixed reactions.
Hitoshi Ohne (Bakuman) retains the primary narrative bones of Iwai’s tale, but updates the references and shifts the genre. Class idol Nazuna (Suzu Hirose) wants to spend her last day in town with either Norimichi (Masaki Suda) or Yūsuke (Mamoru Miyano), depending on the outcome of a swimming race. Meanwhile, while waiting for the annual fireworks, their friends debate whether the explosives look ’round’ or ‘flat’ when viewed from different angles.
Settings, places, and even framing is lifted wholesale from Iwai’s film, but Ohne’s version adds the new element of a totemic magic trinket that allows Norimichi to explore alternative outcomes to dramatic junctures. In the original, the second half of a the short film simply acted as a mirror image of the first, retaining its down-to-Earth approach to the material.
Ohne’s addition has two immediate effects, and the first is elongating Iwai’s 49 minute film into something almost twice that length. Much of this feels superfluous in comparison, including an extended musical sequence that adds little. The other immediate impact is shifting the slice-of-life into the realm of fantasy sci-fi.
This also has a curious impact on the gender politics of FIREWORKS as well. The film positions itself as something less innocent from the start, with the seemingly older children making bets where the “loser sexually harasses Ms. Miura.” Said teacher’s breasts comically bounce about for the boys to ogle, killing some of the pre-adolescent innocence of the original. At the same time, Nazuna is now an active participant in the race between Norimichi or Yūsuke, giving her a degree of agency missing from Iwai’s piece.
Yet the animation is undeniably beautiful when it embraces the fantasy elements. Set against ever-changing fireworks, the ethereal and gorgeous artwork builds in emotional intensity in the third act, and it’s here that the film reaches its apotheosis. Although a long way from the 1993 original, directors Akiyuki Shinbo and Nobuyuki Takeuchi stage shards of tumbling reality to the familiar strains of DAOKO’s cover of ‘Forever Friends.’ It’s both a tip of the hat and a conscious separation from the source material, an attempt to have its cake and eat it too.
Much like the titular question, one’s enjoyment of FIREWORKS will depend greatly on the angle that you look at it from. For existing lovers of Iwai’s film, this retelling is going to look ‘flat’ when viewed from the adaptation side, stretching a simple concept over too long a running time. Yet as a property that has built its own voice into an existing tale, there is a much more rounded bit of magic that is sure to connect with a whole new generation.
Images © 2017 TOHO / Aniplex / SHAFT / KADOKAWA / TOY’S FACTORY / JR Kikaku / Lawson HMV Entertainment / LINE
