Review of Sing a Bit of Harmony

I went in completely blind for this film - I didn't even look up a synopsis. I just knew it was a school-slice of life type movie. Now with the English dub out, I finally decided to check it out. Story: Sing a Bit of Harmony takes place in the future, where AIs take care of mundane tasks such as driving school buses and farming the fields for crops. Satomi Amano goes to school where she doesn't exactly fit in, as she had an incident before the events of this film that put her in poor graces with some of her other classmates.Her mother is finally given the reins to lead a project in her company, Hoshima, who specialize in AI technology. This project's goal? To show the world that AIs can live amongst humans without knowledge of anyone else. This is where Shion Ashimori comes into play. She is the AI that takes a human form and right at the start of the film, she introduces herself to Shion. Confused, Shion later notices that this AI is one of her mother's creations, and decides to go along with whatever goal that her mother has in mind.

In case the title of the film didn't already make it blatantly obvious, the central theme revolves around the music that Shion decides to sing, in order to make those around her happy. Think of it almost as Vivy from Vivy - Flourete Eye's Song, but on a much smaller scale and much less drastic. There is a reason for all of this, though most of it isn't revealed until the final third of the film. Until then, you're mostly left to wonder about why Shion is the way she is, outside of the fact that she's an AI.

During the course of the film, we mostly experience what it's like for our main cast - Satomi, Touma, Thunder, Aya and Gocchan - to experience going about their school lives with an human-like AI amongst them. This makes a ton of sense, as that is the goal of Satomi's mother to begin with. The backstory of her mother's journey to where she is now within the company was brief, but really does make you root for her. You do see some ups and downs in the movie, and I really like that they gave her that backstory to make this movie that much more believable.

The school settings themselves doesn't "really" make this a school-style anime, as the school going-ons aren't focused on, outside of a few clubs that our cast are involved with. It's another one of those "it takes place here, but it's simply used as a place where our characters conveniently gather". Outside of that school, we do get to see a bunch of what goes on within the Hoshima company and even though we get to see what it's like for Satomi's mother, we really don't get to see much else. Digging deeper into how the company specifically got it's big name would have helped a lot because I felt unsure whether the technological advanced were because of them, or because this film aims to be futuristic in general.

The back end of the film is where everything is put together to answer basically every other question you may have and it fits together quite nicely. You do feel like the way the series flows tries to mimic a Disney film, and trying to separate itself from that type of feel is something I felt this film struggled to do at times. Music is obviously one of the central themes, especially with how it links between Shion and Satomi, but it didn't always feel like it completely fit. When we get to the ending, it's mostly satisfying, though I hate it when series attempts to explain what happened like our ending did, and just play it off as if it was nothing. It feels somewhat lazy, and I felt like there could have been more there. Still, our characters end on a solid note, and really does bring them together more as a group. (7/10)

Characters: As already touched upon, Satomi cares deeply for her mother's well being and professional career. She's basically the exceptional example of what you want your daughter to be like when being a single mother. Because of the situation she's in, you can tell she'll mature quite nicely as she grows up. You can tell she regrets her past actions because of the way she's treated by some of her peers, and it's actually a nice mirror to how her mother's situation is at work. I wish they linked it a little more between our characters, but it's not always easy when both characters are in uncomfortable situations. Shion herself is an AI with a pretty minimal personality, as is to be expected. Her growth is mostly linked to spoilers, and that's what the movie wants to nail home as the highlights pop up. It's not always a winner, but she still has some excellent points in the movie.

Aya and Gocchan are dating as of the start of this film, and it's kind of hard to tell if they mean what they do at certain points during the film. Aya seems to go halfway on what she says and it does result in some conflict with Gocchan, who appears to be the big popular guy in their class. I didn't think spectacularly of either of them because they do feel like they're just there to add onto whatever our crew is doing. Thunder also fits into this category and his inclusion here also feels a little misplaced at times. Admittedly, I actually liked his character a little more because of his goal to do so much to improve himself in the Judo club. He constantly seeks to do better against an AI that seems to be designed by Touma, and even if he gets annoying at times, he's a fun character. Touma has a bit of a past with Satomi that links to his involvement with the electronics club. He's a complete nerd, and it naturally is a fit when he always wants to help Satomi out with her various problems, even if he lacks the confidence to do so. His involvement into this story's a no-brainer, and he fits quite nicely into basically every plot point the movie has to offer.

Saijou and his team are basically the antagonists that seek to oppose Mrs. Amano, and while I don't have a problem with him as a jealous co-worker per say, I feel like there should have been more there, especially because the story tries to explain that he's not the only one opposed to her. He feels like another person with a big mouth at times, and his accomplishments that got him to where he is are never really highlighted. He could just be another worker, and we'd never know. (6/10)

Art: JC Staff haven't put out a ton of movies, but the animation here is gorgeous. Obviously you can only do so much with a school setting, but the film constantly uses the night time to show off amazing lighting effects. Animation is very consistently throughout them entire film and is definitely a highpoint here. This is very encouraging because I haven't watched a ton of JC Staff works that I'd say highlight really strong animation. (9/10)

Sound: The film's entire premise is about Shion and how it links back to Satomi. The OST keeps this light, happy feel to it, and even if it starts to sound a little too much like something out of a Disney film, it's still sounds amazing. Not only that, but the songs are in Japanese, and in the dub, are completely reworked to be sung in English, in thanks to the amazing work that Brina Palencia, the ADR music director, puts in. Not only that, Megan Shipman (Shion) actually sings all of the songs in the film. This is absolutely amazing, and this sort of this rarely occurs with this level of success. VO works are equally strong here, which should come as no surprise, as Caitlin Glass tends be a very strong ADR director. Jordan Dash Cruz (Touma) in particular was exceptional here. (10/10)

Overall: Sing a Bit of Harmony has a bit of an unconventional plot for a school-setting anime film, but is mostly successful on the back of amazing work with the sound. Sure, the story can leave you wanting more as it feels like there should have been more there, but you get the general gist of it all when the film wraps up. (8/10)