Review of Sing "Yesterday" for Me
"Director Fujiwara Yoshiyuki has too much confidence that he can match the weighty issues here with the struggles story. He can't. Or at least he can't with this cast." - YESTORAKS, GeeKon Magazines The typical Fujiwara Yoshiyuki anime (Vanguarg G, GJ BU) can be classified by a few words: contrived, insipid, and predictable. Yesterday wo uttate ,while not the worst work Fujiwara Yoshiyuki has done, is a limp misfire. There are moments during the course of the anime when it looks like it might be headed in an interesting direction, but those hopes go up in smoke during the last act as everything aligns itself for thetearful, feel-good ending. The central problem with the anime isn't that it deals with several hot-button topics, but that it addresses them with a shocking lack of emotional honesty.
This is the synopsis make me want to facepalm:
Rikuo Uozumi has all but resigned himself to a bleak future, aimlessly working at a convenience store in Tokyo after graduating from college. His monotonous life is interrupted when the peculiar Haru Nonaka makes a lively appearance, frequently dropping by his workplace to befriend him. When Rikuo learns that an old college friend and crush, Shinako Morinome, has moved back into town, he reaches out to further their relationship. Unbeknownst to Rikuo however, Shinako is carrying painful memories from her past that were holding her back from accepting his feelings. Meanwhile, as Haru continually opens up to Rikuo, he discovers that she, much like him, is living by herself and wants to step out of her comfort zone into an uncertain future.
The prickly interaction between Rikuo and other character that will be conflict is predictable. Rikuo brings with her the winds of trouble.
That ambiguity is what makes parts of Fujiwara Rule interesting at times. When one considers how poisonous the accusation is, and that it might be issued as a means of revenge, it gives the anime a bit of an edge. Unfortunately, "edgy" is not one of the three nouns I used above to describe a Yoshiyuki endeavor. Eventually, things are resolved definitively and in a manner that's far too pat for a movie with this many deeply troubled characters. At a minimum, Rikuo is in desperate need of counseling, but in a Fujiwara movie, all that's needed to set her right are a hug and a tearful apology. If it was this easy to reconcile dysfunctional families, we would all be living happily ever after.
Fujiwara is a crafter of fairy tales and trusting him with material that demands a darker tone and a defter hand is a mistake. Not that Tanaka Jin script is well-written. The dialogue is mostly awful, a subplot featuring a bunch of cheap girl conflict is painful, and the ending is unacceptable. But Fukiwara's involvement does nothing to improve upon the screenplay.Yesterday wo uttate will most likely be recalled as the movie that resulted in Morgan Creek CEO James G. Robinson rebuking Lohan for her poor work ethic. There's certainly nothing else about the production worth remembering.