YORU NO KUNI

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CAST

REVIEWS

• 

  Zypker124

  100/100
  I thought nothing would recreate the feelings that Super Mario Galaxy gave me 14 years ago, but I've finally found it.

  I was a very imaginative kid when I was younger. While other kids were playing sports or socializing during recess, I would often lie down at the nearest bench, and simply imagine. A fantasy world empowered by the wonders of magic. A desperate expedition to gather the remaining heroes and conquer the forces of evil. The limitless bounds of my imagination back then stretched as far as my creativity could go, conjuring up fantastical universes and settings.

  Then I received a game for Christmas, unaware of how it would completely change my life: Super Mario Galaxy. I watched Mario explore the cold and empty, yet warm and comforting vastness of outer space, embarking on a voyage to the various galaxies all across the universe. I remember sitting down in the Observatory, simply gazing at the wonderous universe in front of me. Super Mario Galaxy showed me the power of imagination and how fictional media could breathe life into magical, mystical worlds. It was an experience like no other.

  Life moves on, though, and as I got older, that imaginative spark I once had had started to fade. I became swept up in "adult" issues and concerns, constantly looking towards the future while neglecting the once-cherished memories of the past. I was lonely and struggled to make friends, often electing to keep to myself.

  Eventually, I got back in the spirit of consuming more media, and turned my head towards anime and manga, hoping to find that imaginative spark that I had lost in the early years of my life. I eagerly churned through as much anime as possible: the highly-recommended ones, the high-scoring ones, the ones with interesting premises, etc. A few of these anime were able to re-ignite the spark, but none had been able to re-invigorate the imaginative fire that I had been yearning to revive for years. Eventually, I had come to terms with the fact that I'd probably never find that one special anime for my heart.

  Then I heard that for the Spring 2021 season, an ONA was coming out on YouTube called Yoru no Kuni. The synopsis was vague and the poster art wasn't super up my alley, but as an avid shortfilm watcher, I gave it a shot. What I didn't know at the time was that I'd finally find that one special anime that I had always been searching for, the anime that would ignite the embers in my heart and revive the imaginative fire that I had lost in my childhood.

  ---

  Yoru no Kuni is a series of short episodes, each of which are about a person who enters the "Night World", a place inside every person's heart. The Night World contains all the memories and things that the person had left behind in the past. Although the Night World is dark, it is truly beautiful, as every person who enters it comes to see. Yoru is the creature that guides these people through the Night World, as he helps guide the person through their intrapersonal struggles.

  The first thing to talk about is Yoru no Kuni's art style. Yoru no Kuni employs a very imaginative and distinct art style, feeling very dream-like with its pastel colors and warm lighting. It feels more like Nintendo (ex. Kirby, The Legend of Zelda) than an actual anime art style, which gives it a nostalgic feeling. Similarly, the lighting used in this show is captivating. The Night World never feels intimidating or scary thanks to the beautiful warm lighting employed in its shots, showing the beauty of the Night World. Though the Night World is dark, every person that enters it comes to realize its awe-striking beauty.

  The second thing I want to talk about is Yoru no Kuni's storytelling. Despite its short runtime, Yoru no Kuni manages to tell unique and emotional stories with each episode. The stories are intrapersonal, not interpersonal, which to me is big. In so much anime (and fictional media in general), characters' struggles are often marked with interpersonal conflicts: someone has social anxiety or is introverted? Usually, it's because of bullying and/or abuse, and hardly ever due to the person's own psychological problems. Someone has depression? Usually, it's because of bullying and/or a death of a loved one. Although anime and manga often approach these inner-emotion topics, they often take the route of pointing the finger on malicious characters ("other forces") to get the audience to sympathize with the MC, but as a result, intrapersonal conflicts can often be neglected. People who've never been bullied yet still have social anxiety and depression problems, for example, can often feel like that there's few media that can represent them (ie. "I've never been bullied or suffered from a great tragedy, so I have no right to feel depressed").

  Yoru no Kuni manages to tackle these topics from a unique angle with how intrapersonal the character's problems are. These characters have no "big bad/evil character" or "melodramatic tragic event" at the cause of their problems: rather, their problems are moreso an inner emotional and psychological struggle. In Episode 2, the character we follow is not the wants-to-be-nice-to-everyone friend, it's the friend who's jealous, a bystander-type and has malicious thoughts, yet is still very sympathizable. These characters don't follow your typical Main Character insert/hero archetypes, and that's what makes them great: they feel human, like they could've been any one of us.

  Third is the messaging, both from Yoru and the Night World. Yoru is the constant character between all episodes, as the eternal dweller of the Night World and everyone's hearts. Yoru has an initially imposing character design, but you quickly realize that Yoru is meant there as an ally, not an enemy. What I like about Yoru is that Yoru indirectly offers advice to help guide the person forward, letting them reach their own solutions. As I said before, these stories are intrapersonal, so Yoru helps the people along the way, but it is up to the person themselves to come to the solution to their personal struggle. The struggles are rarely resolved fully by the end of the story, but that's arguably the beauty of it: human struggles are rarely overcome by a single realization, but simply arriving at an answer is a big step forward.

  Fourth and finally, the personal nostalgia that this anime evoked in me. Ever since Super Mario Galaxy captured my heart 14 years ago, I thought nothing would ever re-capture the feelings I had playing that game. But it's here with Yoru no Kuni. The Night World of Yoru no Kuni is dark, lonely, and sometimes empty, much like the vast openness of outer space in Super Mario Galaxy. But much like SMG, Yoru no Kuni manages to find comfort and beauty in its dark world. Similarly, at the end of SMG, there's an ending cutscene with Rosalina that talks about the beauty of death: even though familiar things may end, new things will start anew, hence the cycle of life of our universe. Yoru no Kuni talks about a similar theme, the beauty of goodbyes: we see each person, right as they are about to leave the Night World, ask Yoru "Will I see you again?", and it hits me like a truck as I'm reminded that this'll be the last interaction we'll see between the two characters for a long, long time (maybe never again). Yet the farewells here are treated with reverence and hope, not sadness and tragedy, showing how goodbyes can truly be the new beginnings.

  ---

  In short, Yoru no Kuni is my favorite anime of all time, quite possibly my favorite fictional media of all time as well. I thought nothing would be able to recreate the feelings that Super Mario Galaxy gave me 14 years ago, but I've finally found it. At its core, Yoru no Kuni brings forth the power of animation and creativity and harnesses it to create a world and story that reawakened the imaginative euphoria I once had as a child. Thank you, Yoru no Kuni, for everything. Good night. おやすみなさい。

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• 

  Juliko25

  92/100
  A dazzling but heartwarming piece of fine art that deserves way more than just a piddly three episodes.

  So...I basically had no idea this anime even existed until I randomly stumbled across it on a website where I often downloaded anime. I looked up info about it and decided to watch the first episode on a whim...and boy, am I glad I did! Seriously, what the hell is this anime?! Where did it come from?! And why is it so friggin' amazing?! Yoru no Kuni, meant to be some kind of animated promotional vehicle for the singer Aimer's newest album, directed by some dude named Ryo-timo (real name Ryosuke Sawa, who worked on shows like Noein and Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad), completely took me and a lot of other people by surprise. I, and many others, thought this would be 11-13 episodes at most, though the episodes came out at a rather slow pace, but that was okay with us. Buuuuut then the announcement came that Yoru no Kuni was only going to have three episodes. Seriously, what the fuck?! This anime deserves way more than just three episodes!! Who the hell decided that was a good idea?! In case you couldn't tell, I'm pissed off because this, to me, is a very strong contender for one of the absolute best anime that ever came out in 2021.

  But enough bitching about this anime's short episode length, what's Yoru no Kuni even about? Well, in this anime, a mysterious avian being called Yoru inhabits the world of the night, and sometimes people get magically transported into his world while sleeping (Or Yoru goes into their dreams. The anime isn't very clear about it, and I think it's intentionally left to open to interpretation), and Yoru's job is to gently help them come to terms with whatever problem they're dealing with. It's basically like Infinity Train (The Cartoon Network show, not the Demon Slayer movie) in that the characters of the day have a problem, get transported to Yoru's dominion, and have to learn to come to terms with their problem, sometimes with Yoru's help, sometimes not. The story isn't very linear, but more episodic in nature, and each episode focuses on a different character, namely a little girl dealing with the loss of her pet, a middle schooler coping with jealousy over her friend wanting to expand their friend circle, and an adult woman who can't seem to hold down a job and is insecure about how her life will turn out.

  Of course, the obvious thing that stands out about this anime is...well, the animation. There's this almost painting-like style to it, with crayon-esque shooting stars, picturesque watercolor hillsides, luminous butterflies, swirly trees, and so on. Not only is everything lusciously animated, from character movement to the dazzling spectacles on display when the characters of the day come to terms with their problems, everything has its own unique texture, and not once does the world feel sterile or like a cardboard cut-out. Yoru no Kuni is a series about dreams, and I think in that aspect, it succeeds in creating a perfect, dream-like atmosphere, and the bright visuals don't so much dazzle you as they do careess your eyes with its storybook-like animation. The music is pretty good here as well. There isn't a lot of it, contributing to the series' emphasis on ambience and atmosphere, and the insert songs are all well-timed, well-sung, and are always saved for just the right moment, allowing for stronger impact and emotional catharsis when the characters resolve their issues.

  Being a shorter web series, Yoru no Kuni goes for a character-of-the-day approach, where every episode focuses on a different singular person, with the only main character among them being Yoru. While the human characters aren't exactly the most three-dimensional or layered, they feel realistic, and their problems are down-to-earth, relatable, and true to life, even within the context of the fantastical setting. Even Yoru, who we know the least about throughout the entire series, is likeable, as he's basically some kind of magical monster therapist who gives advice and helps when his charges ask, but never patronizes them and gently nudges them towards their resolution without being forceful or overbearing. He's simply there if they need him, and he helps them when they ask for it, acting as a sort of guide for them. The anime doesn't try to answer any questions about him, and there is a lot we don't know about Yoru. What is he? Where does he come from? What's his overall purpose? Why does he help these people? What does he even gain from helping them? Is he a cog in a machine, a part of something bigger, or does he help people because he wants to? Is it even out of genuine kindness or due to some ulterior motive?

  The series, being relatively episodic, doesn't have much in the way of a grand narrative. It's just an avian monster helping people with their issues. It really says something when any flaws it has don't really have anything to do with its overall quality. I want to know more about Yoru, the people he helps, and his world, and three episodes isn't anywhere near enough to tell this kind of story. Again, the fact that it's so short is its biggest drawback. I don't know whether it's short length is due to it being cancelled, budget constraints, if Ryo-timo was made to cancel it or if he wanted to leave it this way, other stuff behind the scenes, or maybe it wasn't popular enough. Who knows at this point? Neither Ryo-timo nor Aimer have mentioned anything about the reasons behind its short length, and I'm admittedly still pissed about it, but whatever the case, I'm glad we got Yoru no Kuni at all. In only three episodes it's able to do what most anime that have twice as many, maybe even more, are unable to. All of its characters are compelling, the animation is striking, the story that we have is really nice, and it's just a good, wholesome time killer you can use to waste half an hour if you feel like it. This kind of concept has so much potential for exploration and other ideas, and it's a shame it ended its run so soon, as I feel like more could be done with Yoru no Kuni. Then again, that's what fan fics are for!

  For what it is, though, Yoru no Kuni is a damn good piece of fine art that deserves way more appreciation than it gets. Please, do yourself a favor and watch Yoru no Kuni if you can. It's an absolute feast for the eyes and the heart.

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