Anime Midnight Matinee: Penguin Highway I remember that this movie came out a few years ago, and there as a lot of talk about it at the time. I didn’t watch it, and I don’t think I read the reviews, but I do remember that there was a lot of them. When the movie came out, I wasn’t really all that interested in it. There was a lot more fun anime being released, and so this movie just kind of drifted into the back of my mind as one of those, “Oh, I should try that out and see what everyone was talking about,” type things. Because I got a little fed up with how bad the search feature is to find anime movies on CrunchyRoll, I was browsing the movie selection on Tubi and I happened across Penguin Highway. So now’s my chance to finally tick one of the many many anime on my “To Watch at Some Point, but No Hurry,” list! First Impressions!The animation for this movie is really beautiful. The characters have a soft, rounded look, while the backgrounds are realistic yet have a watercolor painted appeal similar to Ghibli Studio. I think the aesthetic of the movie was my favorite part. The story on the other hand . . . was very strange. Not the whimsical and quirky kind of strange of Ghibli or Madhouse Studios, but more confusing strange. Like more than a few times while I was watching the movie, I wondered what was going on, what was the movie trying to express, why were these random scenes being shown? If the elements of the story were supposed to be visual metaphors, they kind of went straight over my head. And I’m pretty good with understanding poetry and literary fiction. Metaphors, similes, and hyperbole, are right up my alley! But there were many scenes in this movie that just had me stumped. The StoryThe story starts out with a large group of penguins showing up in a field in the center of town. No one knows where the penguins came from, they seem to just appear, and when they were gathered up by animal control, the birds disappeared from the back of the truck. A little boy named Aoyama in fourth grade as in 9 to 10 years old (remember this age group) saw the commotion from the penguins and decided to investigate. He and his friend started looking into the nearby forest trying to find where the penguins came from and went. The Aoyama is really into science and makes this mystery into a whole research project. While the boy is looking into the mystery of the penguins, it’s revealed that he has a crush on a woman that works at his dentist’s office. One of the dental technicians who is in her twenties often chats with him during his visits, and goes to cafés with him, and plays chess with him. Remember his age group? If red flags are going off for you, yeah I was thinking the same thing. One of the most bizarre things about this movie is that his parents seem to be totally chill about this adult that they don’t really know, spending so much time alone with their fourth grader. And by don’t really know I mean that she seems to have to introduce herself to almost everyone in Aoyama’s life, so she is a complete stranger! In fact, at one point in the movie she invites Aoyama over for dinner, then he ends up falling asleep and spending the night at her apartment. And the parents seemed to be okay with their elementary student not coming home at night. The parents aren’t portrayed as social outcasts, criminals, or sketchy people. They are an educated, respected, suburban couple, that for some reason are okay with their little kid not coming home at night. Another thing that was a little creepy, is this grown woman was well aware of Aoyama’s infatuation with her, but she didn’t put any boundaries on their relationship, instead encouraged a closeness. It just kind of put an “Ick” factor into the movie that I didn’t find appealing. The story also introduces a smart girl from the Aoyama”s class. Ya know, someone more age appropriate? Who also is interested in science, is good at chess, and is also researching something in the forest. I was expecting the story to nudge Aoyama into a healthier more age appropriate relationship. Spoiler: It did not. As the boy pursues his research into the penguins he finds out where they come from, tying in the lady from the dental office, the girl the likes science, and his own research together. After Aoyama finds out where the penguins are coming from, it doesn’t take long for the story to get really weird, like “What acid trip were the writers on when they thought this up?“, kind of weird. Complete with morphing worlds, transportation made out of penguins, and the edge of the world that isn’t. In Conclusion! In conclusion, did I like it? Not really. I do like trippy anime. I really liked Perfect Blue, Kino’s Journey, and plenty of Junji Ito anime, but this one just kind of fell flat for me. Though it was weird, it was also strangely boring at the same time. I was recently watching the Trigun movie and the Zombie land Saga movie, and for both movies the standard ninety minute run time seemed to blitz by in about twenty minutes. While with Penguin Highway, within a half hour of watching the movie I was already looking at the clock. The story seemed to drag on a lot longer than it needed to. I think the writers were going for a whimsical feel like Ghibli movies, but that didn’t really hit the mark. So the slow, draggy movie with sprinklings of “Ick” factor from the grown woman Aoyama has a crush on, kind of made this movie a dud for me. #anime #animeMidnightMatinee #Japan #JapaneseCulture #movieReviews #paranormalAnime #penguinHighway #sciFiAnime