Japan, 2020, a few days before the opening of the Tokyo Olympics. Although she should be studying for her final exams, Kokone, a schoolgirl who lives in a small town with her widowed father, a mysterious and talented mechanic, falls asleep often, anywhere, anytime, entering, over and over, a dream-world where a squad of fantastic motorized contraptions fights against magic, a world close to reality where she will find out the keys of her true past.
Direction
Kamiyama's seamless dream-reality transitions hit different
Practical Effects
Hand-animated mecha that feel weighty and lived-in
Writing
The tablet/stuffed toy worldbuilding is genuinely clever
Director
Kenji Kamiyama
Mitsuki Takahata
Kokone Morikawa / Aennchen (Ancien) (voice)
Yosuke Eguchi
Momotaro Morikawa / Piichi (Peach) (voice)
Shinnosuke Mitsushima
Morio Sawatari (voice)
Rie Kugimiya
Joi (Joy) (voice)
Tomoya Maeno
Kijita / Takiji (voice)
Wataru Takagi
Sawatari (Morio's Father) / Ukkî (voice)
Hideki Takahashi
Isshin Shijima / Hâtorando-ô (King) (voice)
Arata Furuta
Ichiro Watanabe / Bewan (voice)
Risa Shimizu
Ikumi Morokawa (voice)
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Director Kenji Kamiyama also helmed Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, and you can feel that same techno-paranoia DNA here.
The 2020 Tokyo Olympics setting became accidentally prophetic when the real Games were postponed due to COVID, making this near-future fantasy suddenly time-capsule weird.
JP
