Because of its subject matter, it's perhaps too easy -- and maybe even unfair -- to draw comparisons between Rail of the Star and another movie of the same genre, Grave of the Fireflies. Both movies take place during the same period of time, and both are told from the perspective of a young third party. Character designs look uncannily like the work of the late Yoshifumi Kondo. Unfortunately, that's about where the similarities end.

While GOF dealt with the struggles of a young teen and his sister's struggle to survive in war-torn Japan, the Kobayashi family are a displaced people on foriegn soil -- the country of Korea, which had been annexed by Japan during her expansionist war years. With the loss the war came the loss of the appropriated territories, and most of the Japanese nationals, who were seen by their unwilling hosts as invaders, were not welcome. Post-war Russian occupational forces quickly seized the opportunity to recover their lost land and more, and in an ironic twist of fate, the Japanese were now forced from their homes.

I would have loved to have been able to read the original book, since the movie's storyline recounts an incredible series of events around a young girl, during a most difficult period of history. (Students of literature will love the use of various plot devices -- the most prominant being the abundant use of foreshadowing.) But the movie feels watered-down in many repects; and I am not sure if this was intentional on the part of the director to paint the settings through the eyes of an innocent child, or simply to make the film more acceptable to a younger, Japanese audience (this movie is clearly aimed at the grade-school level). Indeed, the only violent actions that we see the Japanese take on the Korean nationals is a case of school bullying -- though it did bring home the dangers of being non-Japanese in a Japanese-controlled territory.

The character designs are a very mixed bag, varying from the Kondo-esque depications of Chitose and Miko, to disturbingly stereotypical renderings of Ohana, the Korean maid-in-waiting. Other aspects of animation were equally mixed; many of the backgrounds were well-rendered in watercoloured washes, but animation sequences were vanilla bland. Often, potential tension-building scenes were wasted -- none more so than a scenes in which the travellers are hiding their movement through a crop field, trying to reach the border dividing North and South Korea. Gunshots and barking dogs are heard in the background, surrounding the travel-weary families. Rather that using this scene to create heightened tension, the animators made it boring by making the sequence far too long, and repetitious.

Also disappointing was the acting, or rather the over-acting. For such a serious subject matter, casting was very questionable, with Miko being perhaps the most unbelievable child ever to grace a piece of celluloid. (She's on par with the English voice-over for Gen in Barefoot Gen.) Many of the seiyu seemed bored throughout, and it got to the point that any time a character cried (and there were many crying scenes), I cringed.

The story does touch upon several interesting aspects of the Japanese occupation of Korea, and some unpleasant aspects of war -- such as the reasons why the Koreans were forced to adopt Japanese pronounciations of their names. One interesting topic found its mark: Chiko awakens herself with a nightmare, terrified with the possiblility that an acquaintance that she aided was now headed off to war, opposite her father. A lot of similar subject matter made this into multi-layered, and somewhat thought-provoking piece, but the movie's been watered down for a young audience, and the realities of the Japanese occupation were marginalised. Despite its commendable efforts, Rail of the Star is a somewhat pale shadow of what should have been a great piece of work.
- AN, 2000.01.02