Aura: Maryuuin Kouga Saigo no Tatakai

There comes a time when most of us tend to dislike reality. Boring people, normal unending days, and nothing much to do. Then we turn to fiction. We visualize ourselves as someone we're not and, in extreme cases, live up to our fantasies. That's what Aura's story is mainly about. Aura is about a story of former chuunibyou (8th grader syndrome) case who's now trying to become a normal person, that is until a faithful encounter with a girl who calls herself as a "researcher" searching for dragon terminals. At first, he hesitates on helping her as he doesn't want to have a relapse again butsoon finds out that she needs his help. Aura: Maryuuinkouga Saigo no Tatakai is a slice of life story that has a subliminal message. We all know the pain of bullying either as the recipient of it or as a bystander observing the damage done to the bullied. It's never beautiful and that's what Aura conveys. It shows how people tend to step on other people when they outshine them in certain weird and quirky ways. It is less a comedy show (unlike Chunnibyou demo koi ga shitai) and more of a drama with realistic elements. The art and music of this show is about average and there's nothing much to revolve about in the story but the main driving point of the show are the characters. This movie is all about character development. You start off with a doubting protagonist that would end up as a dependable friend for a lot of people. That's the norm and this doesn't deviate much from it except for the fact that the heroine not depended on him but he changed her. All of the characters can give you the proper emotions. You take pity on those who are being bullied and you get mad at the antagonists. Personally, there was a time I was afraid I'd punch my monitor because of the rage building up inside me. That's how well the characters can pull you into their simple lives, something most shows can't do. Overall, the movie is enjoyable. The flow of the story is smooth. Despite the abrupt turn of events in the middle to last scenes, the story progression feels natural and believable. It feels like you're seeing real people and not just an animation so kudos to the voice acting staff in that division. You're surely bound for a roller coaster of emotions for this piece that would lead you to tears, anger, and smiles. Just try to view this movie with an open mind (Please don't try to compare this with Chu-2 since they are both different) and I'm sure you'll enjoy every twist and turn you're gonna go through.

Seiji Kishi is an interesting director. But rather than go into a couple paragraphs about him, all you need to know is that he’s a great director when it comes to comedy and a pretty poor director when it comes to everything else. However, as of late, Kishi’s really hit a new low by taking a really interesting story and slaughtering it with his poor directing. With his half-assed video game adaptations being his biggest felon, it’s no surprise that people have been panning him. Aura’s a different story though. This time, Kishi takes a not-so interesting story and actually brings it to life with prettygreat direction... and it's not a comedy either... it's a drama... (Say whaaaat?) Being a film with only 80 minutes, I believed this shaped Kishi up just a little. There’s no random sidetracking, no rushing to try to get to the meat of the story, no chopping transitioning and none of those odd “gaps” we often see with Kishi’s series. Aura is deliberately paced and the direction is dead on with what it wants to achieve. I might argue that the direction is a little too dead-on; some small breathers to focus in on some smaller moments would have been nice. But overall, Kishi’s directing is great from the beginning to the end of the film and it’s his directing which brings Aura’s generic story to life. There is honestly nothing we haven’t seen before about Aura. It’s a more mature look at what a victim of chuunibyo suffers from, but everything plays out like a typical highshcool bullying story. There are no twists or turns. Everything can be seen coming from a mile away. Yet the story still works well and it’s not simply due to the directing. First off, the dialogue is certainly well written as there’s this genuine sense of realism in which the main characters speak that many will be able to resonate to. But secondly, the drama is simply well done. I was expecting the drama to either be Kishi’s usual lifeless crap or something along the line of Mari Okada’s overbearingly blown out melodrama. Instead, Aura’s drama falls perfectly in the center. Everything feels natural. Angst and conflicts are perfectly and realistically presented instead of a cheap means to manipulate the viewer's emotion. The drama is sweet, it’s sincere, it’s heartfelt and it’s heartbreaking. Unfortunately, the drama could have been more powerful too. Whether it was simply the writing itself and simply because the film was too short – I take blame with the latter – Aura felt just a little lacking. It takes its generic story much further than most and turns it into something great, but not amazing. The characters are likeable and easy to sympathize with, but are far from being anything spectacular. Its major themes and the romantic relationship between our lead couple did hit many notes with me but ultimately they don’t feel fully developed to truly became powerful and thus it just misses the mark of being truly remarkable. Because honestly, I found the final scene where the male lead confronts the female lead at the tower of desks to be absolutely brilliant and it would have been more so if we were given just a little more development. Final Verdict: Story – Generic but is brought to life by good directing, unfortunately due to the length of the film the story does not feel fully developed Characters – Likeable and easy to sympathize with, but like the story, they lack full development Setting – A nice theme that would have been stronger with more time to develop Production Values – Far from being outstanding, the artwork and animation are still both pretty. The music, on the other hand, is pretty damn good Do I recommend?: I was contemplating giving this an anime a 7 or an 8 and while technically speaking, I believe Aura only deserves a 7, I’ve got to take my own personal enjoyment into account with my reviews and give a 8 (yeah, yeah I'm a sucker for this sentimental bullying kind of stuff). Regardless, I’d recommend to give Aura a try. It’s short and sweet, and while not as profound as it could have been, Aura still tugs lightly at the heart strings and it sure left me with a big smile on my face after the film finished.

It was fine. Characters were taking stuff so seriously that I figured it would lead to a bigger conclusion then, "Life kinda sucks some times, AmIRite." There were subtle hints that there might actually be a conspiracy here. The teacher was kind of an ass, the girl can copy voices too well, the family acts kinda suspiciously when Ichirou comes home, and Ryouko built a palace out of school desks in an afternoon. For a while I was thinking maybe the main character actually seriously hurt someone with his chunni tenancies, or maybe attempted suicide. That could explain some stuff more clearly. Instead he gotbeaten by his parents for having an imaginary girl friend. Don't get me wrong, I can see how that would be traumatic, but for me that comes off as a massive over reaction. Cultural stigmas don't translate well, I guess. Oh yeah, and the R+ rating was forced in there, for a blatant fan service scene.

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