SiftPop

by Jake Bourgeois, Contributing Writer

When it comes to animation, some of the smaller studios, outside of your heavy hitters like Disney and DreamWorks, are where some truly intriguing premises can lie. 

One such studio out of Japan is Studio Colorido, whose short filmography is made up of some wholly original stories, and Drifting Home is no exception. The anime studio’s third feature film follows a group of elementary school classmates who decide to start their summer break by exploring a condemned apartment complex that some of them used to call home. Before they know it, the kids find themselves stranded in a seemingly endless expanse of water that appears out of nowhere. 

As the film started off, I found myself really enjoying the vibes it was putting out. It had a fun, exploratory feel that made me nostalgic for the days when I was the age of the characters. As it develops, it loses a bit of that and becomes more a coming-of-age film, which I didn’t necessarily mind. At the heart of the story are best friends who have become slightly estranged, Natsume and Kosuke. Unwinding all the layers of why they have floated apart is interesting to a point — more on that later. The rest of the classmates each have their role and are largely one-note, with varying degrees of effectiveness. 

When it comes to the nuts and bolts of how and why our crew is stranded, it happens in an instant, but the explanation of what happened is slow drip. Even as we learn more, I never really felt like I understood what actually happened or what exactly was going on. It was fantastical in a way I felt was never properly explained. In addition to the mystery of their current predicament, there’s also the case of the mysterious figure, Noppo, that inhabits the condemned complex, namely who or what he is. Like the mystery of the building, as we get more information on Noppo, I found myself disappointed in the route the story chose to take.

Technically, while there’s nothing special, it’s well animated. There are a few exceptions when it switches to obviously computer animated segments, which makes little sense because they are few and far between, and never seem to last for more than a few seconds at a time. The brief losses of animated continuity are puzzling. If there was a reason for it, I can’t figure out what it might be. 

The biggest area where Drifting Home falls a little short is in its pacing. Though I thought the way the film sets up where are two characters are at in their relationship within the opening credits is clever, it uses flashbacks on occasion that I just found a bit odd. It also relies on montages a couple of times throughout, and while I do love a good montage, I felt these were used more as a crutch. The film is two hours long and really has no reason to be. It should be 15 to 30 minutes shorter. The different challenges the kids face start to get repetitive, and moments of growth we see in certain characters in one scene seem to be undercut the very next — particularly with Natsume.

One more quick note, though this film centers around elementary kids and has a PG rating, I’m not sure this is for the younger end of the demographic. It can be quite melancholic and depressing. So some quick research might be in order if it’s something you’re questioning.  

While I thought the charm of the coming-of-age story was going to be enough to overcome the film’s faults, they really started to grate on me more and more over the film’s final 30 minutes. If you’re looking for something to sate an anime craving, the bang for your buck, or lack thereof, you get for this one means I can’t give it a recommend. At the end of my two-hour investment, I found this to be a rather mediocre effort.  

Score: 5/10

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