2024 Anime Film Review 24: 'Kuramerukagari'

The first anime film of June is a steampunk work by director Shigeyoshi Tsukahara and original creator Ryohgo Narita. While the design is reminiscent of the Taisho era, the setting is the near future. I'd give it a score of about 7. According to Wiki, it is one of a series called Koutetsudenki (it's a mystery why the character for 'iron' is in the new font), but it seems the connection is thin, merely sharing the same worldview. In the same month, another work related to Koutetsudenki, titled 'Kurayukaba', was screened.
The setting is a mining town under the Taihei Industry umbrella, crowded with small-scale miners, commonly known as the 'Hakoniwa' (Miniature Garden). In this town, where constant destruction and rebuilding occur, maps become useless after a certain period. Kagari, a young mapmaker, begins investigating the frequent sinkhole accidents with her childhood friend and fellow worker, Yuya. After many twists and turns, it is revealed that the mining group, the Ishizaru family, orchestrated the accidents to oust their rival, the merchant guild Komainu Market, and Kagari gets caught up in their conflict.
The art style is unique, and the mechanical action is elaborate. The world-building, including the art and costume design, is excellent. You could be satisfied just by looking at the visuals. However, since it is not the typical modern Japanese anime style, it might be a hit or miss for some.
The story isn't bad, but if asked whether I would recommend it to others, I would tilt my head in hesitation. It feels like watching the first part of a trilogy. It has that atmosphere of, 'Is that it? Wait, there are still unresolved plot points, right?' like recent MCU films. However, since this work is apparently a spin-off of 'Kurayukaba', it's perhaps inevitable that it feels a bit unfinished.
The story features three parallel plots, with the main one being the adventure and investigation of the town's conspiracy by Kagari and Yuya. The protagonist, Kagari, has a craftsman's spirit, takes pride in being a mapmaker, and has quite conservative tendencies. In contrast, her childhood friend Yuya is in love with her and wants to start a new life with her outside the town. The protagonist is quite flighty, and while it's understandable since she's a child, it's completely unclear what she wants to do in the future. She thinks Iseya treats her well, but from an outsider's perspective, it just looks like exploitation (conversely, Yuya is dissatisfied with the treatment). Given the flow of the story, she probably wants to stay in Hakoniwa forever, but that's likely because she grew up without parents and only knows this town. It's a classic case of tunnel vision caused by poverty. On the other hand, Yuya realizes the town's exploitative structure, but for some reason, he is convinced that he can have a good life in a new land, showing a recklessness like a young person moving to America. Both of their flaws stem from their youth, but there are no adults to make them realize this, and the adults themselves cannot escape the exploitation. Therefore, the worldview of this work is generally gloomy and harsh. It is truly like mining labor in the Taisho era. The ending of the story is about rebuilding the lives broken by the conflict, but since it affirms the original life without addressing the poor working conditions, it depicts the foolish side of human homeostasis.
The subplot involves Shiina, an operative from an intelligence agency, investigating the town's sinkhole accidents, but it ends in parallel without ever merging with the main line. Honestly, Shiina's story didn't need to be there, and since she only investigates the periphery of the conspiracy, her presence is faint. At least arrest the Ishizaru family. I wanted to see the separate stories woven together tightly, like in Kyoka Izumi's 'Uta Andon'.
The third plot involves Kuchinawa, who once researched autonomous control robots called 'independent organs' at Taihei Industry, but left the field after being disappointed by the military use of technology. In the story, upon learning that the technology he developed was used in the conflict, he destroys the weapons to settle his past. He is a character who embodies the anguish of a scientist, which is a fairly common trope. He might be a bit similar to Serizawa from 'Godzilla'. No, maybe more like the various scientists who appear in 'Astro Boy'.
That aside, the culprit behind the sinkhole accidents was relatively predictable, or rather, the person (or organization) who first becomes a suspect was indeed the culprit. I was surprised by Yuya's betrayal, but I realized that around the middle of the story as well. Also, it seems Iseya and Eiwajima are quite popular online, but they are people who employ child labor, so from a modern value perspective, no matter how good-looking they are, it's a bit much. Even considering the worldview, Iseya sends children to dangerous work sites (though it is excused by saying the person wants to go).