Unique but Groovy: Lu Over the Wall

Synopsis

In the aftermath of Kai moving with his father from Tokyo to the declining fishing town of Hinashi to live with his grandfather following his parents’ divorce, the fourteen-year-old boy finds himself unable to give words to his complex feelings about his parents. This results in him having a rather gloomy countenance as he passes the days making music on his computer. However, one day his videos capture the attention of his classmates Kunio and Yūho whom invite him to join their band.

He reluctantly agrees and accompanies them to practice on Mermaid Island. It is there that the three of them meet a mermaid named Lu. With her cheerful singing and dancing, Kai is slowly able to open up about his feelings. However, it is said that mermaids are a sign of calamity but the town and soon trouble rises when Lu’s existence is found.

The Good

Seeing as the art is done by auteur Masaaki Yuasa, it was to be expected that the art style and animation work of the film would be unique to say the least. For this review however, this writer will solely take focus on the film alone seeing as there is little to no prior knowledge to the creator’s previous work outside of it what was shown in trailers for the film. It is safe to say however that it has left an impact.

Just watching the animation alone was so fascinating in how fluid it was and with the different styles that were implemented, it brought an interesting visual show. From the different expressions of the human characters to the different and surreal designs of the mermaids, there was just a lot to enjoy. By far one of the best moments in the story though was when Lu’s father came to land. He had no dialogue but just the way he was animated and the way you see how everyone reacted around him made for a enjoyable story sequence.

In terms of plot, the concept is highly interesting and well built in terms of lore and world building. It was also interesting to see the different character developments and how their different perspectives connected to the story. But by far, the best aspect of the film was the music. Form groovy electronic music to catchy pop songs, the songs and themes really brought out the best moments in the film.

Whether it be the scene where they all started dancing together to a groovy beat or when Kai sang his heart out to fix the curse, you can’t help but get sucked into it. Outside of the art and animation work and plot and character presentation though the overall film was just an enjoyable little story that had different interesting moments, a unique touch to it and basically left a heartfelt impression.

The Bad

While the overall story held and interesting concept and lore, it seemed as if the overall story of the film had piled itself up to high with the different subplots on different characters. It would have worked highly well if the main focus had been on Kai and Lu and their story but instead the story also piled up an environmental message mixed in with issues of different people over the matter of the mermaids and their existence. Basically, from a story of friendship and maybe more, the story somehow ended up this tangled work of conflict and environmental awareness.

Other than this, while the lore was interesting very little was truly explained on the mermaid themselves. For one thing, what is it about human music that attracts them? How is Lu able to form legs when music plays? And most of all how is it everything a mermaid bites turns into a sort of mermaid? There are just too many questions and not enough answers, something that should have been explored.

When looking at the film as a whole it seemed as if it was attempting to be bigger than it was. The problem however is that with the different side plots, it also tended to drag on in certain points when it shouldn’t. Outside of the flaws of the plot and general story structure, the most that can be said against the art and music is that it could have been done in better tones in certain moments.

Conclusion

The film is an enjoyable piece of fantasy work with an interesting plot concept and general lore work. The problem however is how the film structured itself outside of the general concept. Piling itself with different subplots and dragging itself at certain points diminished the lovely visual work that the film presented. One of the main highlights in the animation work was on how the mermaids magic worked over the water, but with so much happening there was only so much you could appreciate. While the development and portrayal of the characters worked well, there were too many questions left on the characters of the mermaids.

Still, while the story had its falls, the art, animation and most especially the music brought up a lot for the film. Overall the film did rather well though it tried a bit too hard and left a fun impression with its art and music.

Rating: 6.5/10