Summary
A fairly classic animated take on a star-crossed lovers tale, with a little bit of geopolitics thrown in for good measure.
Director Kotono Watanabe is known largely for his television work on titles like Chihayafuru, Puella Magi Madoka Magica, and many more. For his feature directorial debut, he turns to Nao Iawamoto’s Kin no Kuni Mizu no Kuni manga, which ran in Flowers magazine between 2014 and 2016.
The basic premise of the film is rooted in familiar narrative tropes of star-crossed lovers and warring kingdoms. Here screenwriter Fumi Tsubota (My Beautiful Man) does a tidy job of introducing us to the ancient rift between the neighbouring lands of Alhamit and Baikari, which ultimately resulted in war due to untidied dog poop.
Resolution seems near when an old agreement sees Alhamit bequeath its most beautiful woman to Baikari as a bride to the latter’s wisest man. Alhamit’s princess Sara (voiced by Minami Hamabe) is confused when a puppy arrives on the fated day, while unemployed Baikari engineer Naranbayar (Kento Kaku) receives a kitten. By chance, the pair meet and slowly work out that something bigger is going on in their respective kingdoms.
For a fairly classic take Romeo and Juliet, with a little bit of geopolitics thrown in for good measure, GOLD KINGDOM AND WATER KINGDOM (金の国 水の国) is quite entertaining. Characters Sara and Naranbayar are well written, and while we don’t get too deep into their characters in the necessarily compressed storytelling of cinema, we get enough to hook onto them for a while. It’s not so much laugh-out-loud funny, but there are some solid anime moments of cutaways and sight gags that amuse as well.
Visually, the film is lively, defined by the simple dichotomy of the desert-like Alhamit and the lush greens of Baikari. There are shots where the latter’s green seems to go on forever. The finale is largely set in a CG boosted series of stairs and bridges that are inspired by the architecture of Alhamit. The blend of animation styles doesn’t always sit easily, but it looks a treat at times.
Evan Call (Violet Evergarden) provides an engaging score, with several songs provided by Kotone including the theme ‘Brand New World.’
While the ending pushes the comic misunderstanding premise a little past believability, it also ups its own scale in terms of visuals and SFX, landing us on a positive note. It’s possible a series would have been a better fit for the material, but it’s ultimately a satisfying case of one and done.
2022 | Japan | DIRECTOR: Kotono Watanabe | WRITERS: Fumi Tsubota (Based on a manga by Nao Iwamoto) | CAST: Kento Kaku, Minami Hamabe, Hiroshi Kamiya, Miyuki Sawashiro, Subaru Kimura | DISTRIBUTOR: Nippon Connection 2023 | RUNNING TIME: 117 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 6-11 June 2023 (Nippon Connection)
