Recommended
Spoilers in bound. Watch the short first! At the time of writing this, it's available on youtube with english and spanish subtitles. Mizu no Kotoba, or Aquatic Language, it's the first short of Yoshiura Yasuhiro, in which he expunges his views on Kotodama, the belief that words are living things, with inherent power when they're spoken. This idea isn't just present in this short, not by a long-shot, but it's one of the few I've seen that name-drop the concept directly. Another one that comes to mind is the movie, Kimi no Koe wo Todoketai, that funnily enough it's about cute girls doing radio. But whatis Mizu no Kotoba about and what does it say about Kotodama?
I'll talk a bit about the character models and the animation. Since it was done by one person(at least he's the only one credited) it's clear it was the best he could do, but it isn't a shame really, because in a way, I don't think he needed more assistance than that. The characters look stiff, but I think in an endearing way. The movements that need to be emphasized, are, and there's nothing stopping the camera from moving in interesting ways, or to have moments of dashing artistry were things get weird.
Now, starting for real, lets talk about the setting. The story follows the conversation of people inside a coffee shop. It's one of those one-location shorts I, for one, really enjoy. One of the goals it achieves flawlessly is the portrayal of spatial relation inside the building. We know where every character is in relation to the others, and we also understand the layout of the shop, being a sort of mix of café and aquarium(though this isn't yet clear). Everything else is readily apparent and the movement of the camera makes it, like Kotodama, a living thing itself, with the light, fans and even the paintings, gently nudging the viewer and the characters around the shop. Everything inside seems relevant to the situation, working the cross purpose of acquainting the people with both a consistent verisimilitude reality and then betraying those expectations. Apart from that, there's something else that's special about this shop, and it's the sound design.
If anyone has ever listened to those white noise channels like Guild of Ambience and others like it, which I'm a big fan of, you'll immediately picture what the atmosphere is like. It's like stepping aside from yourself and simply taking in the sounds and the talking. This coffee shop becomes like a small music box with a weirdly playful tone, that sees almost in jeopardy with itself. While watching there's some urgency that something is coming and the sound makes a point in making that come across. So now that I established that it "makes you feel" like you're in a coffee shop; that it's advocating for the eavesdropping culture, lets peel back the layers and throw you directly into the hotpot of conversations.
First things first, the dialogue is very well done. From the (apparently) natural flow of speech, to the dynamics forming around the characters, to the different topics that seem to relate to each other in interesting ways. But first, lets talk about the least interesting of these conversations because there's very little of it; some would say none, if you don't consider talking directly to the audience to be a valid form of dialogue at least.
So the most forgettable character is the boy reading the coffee shop books in the furthest table from the action. It's like he isn't even part of the story and his inclusion seems artificial, but unlike that of a omnipresent narrator with a pompous monologue, he just feels at first glance like an undeniable outlier, because he doesn't really "speak", reacts to what's happening, or interacts with the other characters. Whenever the camera pans out to him, it focuses, not much on him as a person with ideas, but on a quote from one of the books he's reading, which then covers the whole screen in one of those text-box screens.
There's two of them. The first one is from I robot, by Isaac Asimov and the other one is from 20,000 leagues under the sea, by Julio Verne. It's important noting that they are from a science fiction book and a fantasy book respectively. Both of the quotes are plot relevant, since the first one suggests the robot/android "plottwist" later and the second one is about being in an aquarium, that relates to the fish we see on the paintings and later swimming in the air near the end. You could say that his only role in the story is to foreshadow these things, but I would put him a step above that. I do think this guy is the directors surrogate for suggesting what will happen, but I think the suggestion it's done in a clever way, using the mechanic of "Language has power". Before the quotes, none of the fantastic or science fiction events have happened. But when the author stamps them on the screen, they become reality. Before the quote about robots, we don't know the girl behind the counter is a robot. Before the quote about the aquarium, we haven't confirmed that the fish is indeed alive. He's the literal trigger of the story beats. The words he's reading have an impact, showcasing the power of fiction basically.
The conversation most directly involved with him, is the one of the two guys that are next to him in the coffee shop. One of the guys is talking about an unnamed person who explained Kotodama to him, while the other doesn't really pay attention, because he's remembering that the fish in one of the paintings was moving. This kind of world-building it's fairly interesting, since in his flashback, we sort of get clued on the logic of this place, since whoever is sitting in that table, will notice when the "fish" is triggered through the Verne Quote, which is in itself a reaction to the "robot" part which is triggered by the Asimov quote. Those, I think, are the mechanics of this shop. Someone comes in, starts reading the books, and if someone needs help, the lady will then direct them to the easel and then, the aquarium. It's a mathematical calculation, with falls neatly into the artificial intelligence spill.
Next, the topic of the conversation between both of the girls is about compatibility, with one arguing that after a certain point, it's impossible to date someone, while the other's being skeptical about the whole basis of that information. Then again, words are important, because the friend is just repeating words she heard from others, implying that the regurgitation of information without much substance loses power, specially because she's not getting it straight from the source like, for example, the guy reading the books. Anyways, leaving both of them behind, lets talk about the main conversation, that relate in some way to the other conversations.
The guy who just got dumped by his girlfriend is being schooled about love by the girl behind the counter, which tells him superstitious nonsense like half of the people in the world are supposed to be women and he still has a chance to find another one. It's pretty telling when she then sends him out into the upper levels of the store for him to literally see that there are other "fish" in the sea. That's the type of nonsensical symbolism that I really love. (Furthermore, it's suggested that he got dumped because he "didn't listen to the other part". That could mean many number of things. His girlfriend, his own feelings, the right hemisphere of his brain that doesn't speak because it's mute. Who knows… It's interesting to note that if this coffee shop is a microcosm of the world, then there are 3 women and 4 men. If you don't want to consider the robot girl… well, a girl, then it's down to 2 when and 4 men. You might also have a theory that the guy reading the book's is also a robot, which… I wouldn't disagree to that being the case. The point being that in any case, it's less than half.
So, then there's the ending. Clearly this world is both fantasy and science fiction inspired, and the way that was shown in little time was really interesting and inspiring. Him reaching the apex of the store, seeing all the words that were spoken, popping at different intervals. We don't hear what he says, but he exhales a bubble that then floats to the air without bursting and disappears through the rafters. It's interesting to note that when he comes down, everyone already left; moreover, all the chairs are hung upside down on the tables, like the coffee shop wasn't even opened. Either what he saw up there left him paralyzed for a while or maybe he was alone in the shop from the start, and it was all a simulation. It's down to interpretation from here.
I think the fact that in this world(coffee shop), showing people a giant fish and a recollection of all the words they've spoken is how a robot thinks of helping a person get over a break up, are fairly interesting, if nonsensical, ways of approaching it. I, for one, ate it all up for sure. I just hope I was able to elucidate the ways why I think it worked so well for me, and why I consider it one of my favorite anime.
