Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. I love a good RPG game. Whether it’s from Japan or anywhere else, a good RPG is sure to give you plenty of hours of fun gameplay. However, this wasn’t always the case. In early 2010s RPGs went through a dark age. The games that were coming out during that time didn’t live up to the hype, were mediocre at best, disappointed a lot of people, and presented characters that were bland and uninteresting. It looked like the RPG market in the west was doomed to fail. That is until one game came out that revived the market and interest in RPGs, Ni no Kuni. Also called The Second Country when translated, Ni no Kuni single-handedly revived the RPG market in the west and breathed new life into a struggling genre. While the game was mostly geared towards kids, adults absolutely loved the game as well. The series has received praise for its fun and lovable characters, childlike wonderment, good story-telling, and visual designs that closely resembles the work of Studio Ghibli. Suffice to say the game was a big hit and received more recognition when the second one came in 2018. Hell, people loved the first game so much that they actually remastered it for the PS4 and Switch. Because of its popularity fans cried out for an anime adaptation of the series but instead would have to settle for a movie. Released in 2019 under the production of OLM, Inc. Ni no Kuni was turned into an animated film with an original story and everything. People who worked on the games also worked on the film and it was met with overall positive reviews both in the west and Japan. Let’s go on a journey to another world. This Ni no Kuni the Movie.
The film opens with an old man on the roof of a hospital trying to chant a spell to stop a gateway from opening up (the imagination of the elderly is truly amazing). We then cut to a basketball game where one of our main characters Haru is playing and being watched by his good friend Yu who’s in a wheelchair. Haru’s team wins the game, but Yu tells how his impulsive behavior can be frustrating to see. They then meet up with a girl named Kotona who Yu has a crush on but seems to be interested in Haru. She invites them to a crepe shop but Yu skips out as it’s not handicap accessible (oh no, don’t build an escalator or elevator for the elderly and handicapped. Idiots) and returns home. When Haru and Kotona go their separate ways, Kotona gets followed by a scary man and calls Yu and Haru for help (shouldn’t your first instinct be to call the cops? Just shows how little faith she has in the police). Haru doesn’t answer his phone until later, but Yu does and goes to look for Kotona where he sees her get stabbed in the chest by the mysterious man who vanishes. Haru arrives onto the scene and picks Kotona up (noo~ you dumb fuck don’t move her, she’s been stabbed. You should only move her when necessary and wait for the ambulance to arrive) and tries taking her to the hospital. Yu chases after him where the idiot walks into the middle of traffic trying to get a cab and almost gets run over, but Yu saves him. Once the three are caught in the middle of traffic a bright light flashes and Yu and Haru arrive in another world with Kotona’s body vanishing and Yu being able to walk again (Yu, stay in this world).
They explore the kingdom they’re in and come to a pub where they see Astrid the princess of this country looks a lot like Kotona. Believing that Astrid is Kotona, they sneak into the palace where we see the princess has been bed-ridden due to some curse that the healers can’t cure (you have one job. One job, and that’s to heal so heal). Yu approaches Astrid where he manages to see that the curse is just a dagger stuck in her chest and pulls it out saving her life. The two get rewarded for their efforts (Haru didn’t do shit) but find out that Astrid isn’t Kotona so now they’re back to square one on where Kotona is. Despite saving Astrid’s life, Yu is still worried about her and goes to check up on her where the two go out to the lake of purity to heal her wounds and the two seem to hit it off with each other. The next day, Yu and Haru get invited to check out a swordplay exhibition where they’re apart of the exhibition and have to fight against everyone (sounds fair to me). We see that the two are actually good swordfighters despite never holding a sword in their life (they’re naturals. Just like me). The king stops the exhibition and the two get bought before the king where they get accused of being assassins from the Black Banner sent to kill the king. Yu and Haru manage to escape and Yu figures out the trigger to return to their world is putting themselves in a threatening situation. They jump through a fire ring and manage to return to their world (boy if Yu was a gambler he be rich. Haru, better start earning your keep) where Kotona is fine (that’s good) and Yu can’t walk anymore (that’s bad).
A few days go by where everything seems fine until Kotona gets diagnosed with cancer and only has about 3 months to live (this girl has the worst luck). Yu believes that if Kotona’s life is in danger then that means Astrid’s life is danger, and if they can save Astrid’s life they can save Kotona’s life (good, he understands how linked worlds work). Haru on the other hand thinks differently (of course he does, he’s an idiot. How are you and Yu friends again?). Haru believes that because Astrid lived, Kotona is going to die so he says he’s going to return to that world to kill Astrid and keep Kotona alive (https://youtu.be/6yzeK4c9Y5g, please say he dies. Seriously, he won’t be missed). So Yu and Haru return to the other world where Haru lands in the territory of the Black Banner and joins their side (geez, you turned to the dark side faster than Anakin). The Black Banner invade the kingdom with Yu and Haru crossing swords with one another (am I really gonna have to play Duel of Fates?). During their battle they return to their world where they see the war in the other world is starting to affect their world. Yu tries once again to talk some sense into Haru only to fail until he finally shows Haru how the linked lives worked. The Black Banner send an assassin after Yu’s big sister Saki. Luckily, Yu and Haru save and beat the assassin who turned into a giant spider and Haru finally sees how much he was about to fuck up. After slamming the spider into a wall, Saki accidently drives into the river where Yu and Haru return to the other world and confront the real villain behind all of this, the king’s mage. The king’s mage reveals himself to the king’s older brother Galeroth who was adopted by the king of a neighboring kingdom as a sign of peace. Things went well, he grew up and started his own family, and then lost it all when his kingdom was invaded and destroyed by the kingdom of his original birth (but enough about that, let’s kill all of you). Yu and Haru take on Galeroth where Yu gets pierced through the chest protecting Astrid (girl you better get out there and fight and not turn into some damsel in distress). This leaves only Haru and Astrid to fight where as Yu slowly dies the old man from the beginning of the movie shows up where we see he’s been Oliver this whole time. He gives Yu a cane which transform into the Mornstar and together with Haru they take down Galeroth to save the kingdom (scene here: https://youtu.be/xhSHMt_mds8, I wonder who he was in our world?). It’s now time for Yu and Haru to return to their world but Yu says screw that and instead stays in the other world (he can walk and gets the girl, why would he leave that behind?). Haru wakes up in hospital bed where we find out he’s been in a coma for a month, Kotona gets her tumor removed, and everyone forgets about Yu’s existence. We get our twist ending by finding out that Yu and Haru are the same person. Yu was originally from the other world but somehow came to Haru’s world (well this would explain why they like the same things and fell in love with the same girl). We end the movie with Yu and Astrid getting married and vowing to bring an era of peace to their world (scene here: https://youtu.be/fNpPjCDla9s).
Final Thoughts
Okay, so how does this film fair? Well just like the games the movie is wholehearted, easy to follow, and pretty interesting. It doesn’t have the deepish or richest storyline when compared to the games, but I still liked it. Aside from Haru who annoyed me and really doesn’t do much, I did enjoy the characters. You quickly understand their emotions, where they’re coming from, what they feel, and the care they show one another. I actually did like Galeroth’s backstory. It was sad, painful, and made you feel sorry for him as a character. Another character I felt was misused was Astrid who becomes a damsel in distress throughout the film. It’s pretty old-fashioned and really makes her character come across as useless and weak. Visually, the film does look good but not as bright and colorful as the games which was a bit disappointing to me. The music is good and the fight scenes while well-choreographed can be clunky at times and predictable. The twist at the end was good and tied up any loose ends the film may have had. Probably this film’s biggest mistake was not letting us explore the other world or give us any kind of backstory about the kingdom. I mean, this obviously is set in the same timeline as Oliver so is this a kingdom he visited in the past or a different kingdom that’s new?
Final Score
The final score for Ni no Kuni the Movie is a 6/10. If you’re a fan of the games you’ll like this movie just fine. If you’re not a fan or haven’t played the games you’ll just think the film is okay. While the film may not be as good as the games I still liked it and if you’re a fan of RPG games looking to get into the games you can check this movie out. It’s on Netflix. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.
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