We’re currently in the stretch of the cinematic schedule that we call awards season — several of the past year’s buzziest films are making their final push for all the shiny statues. Many of the most talked-about contenders are the ones reflecting on the state of the world with a rather bleak outlook. Thankfully, through the sea of doom and gloom, Naoko Yamada shines a hopeful ray of wholesome melodrama with her new animated feature The Colors Within, letting us take a deep breath, collect ourselves and focus on the positive in life.
A student at an all-girls Catholic school in Japan, Totsuko (Sayu Suzukawa) has the special power of seeing people in the form of colors. She becomes enamored with the color emanating from her classmate Kimi (Akari Takaishi), and after a run-in at a bookstore, the two girls and college student Rui (Taisei Kido) — who overhears their conversation about music — decide to start an impromptu three-piece band featuring guitar, keyboard and theremin. Together they explore their lives and their passions, and Totsuko tries to find her own color.
The Colors Within is the type of film that revisits an age-old story for new audiences — a story about that period between childhood and adulthood, when we all need to discover ourselves. This rendition is filled with bright, colorful animation from Science Saru, the powerhouse studio behind recent mega-hit anime Dandadan. Here Science Saru’s big-budget animation accompanies low-stakes melodrama and smooth audio from a talented voice cast and the music their characters play — it all amounts to calm and playful energy that feels like an embrace. It is a film more about vibes than a conventional narrative structure.
It’s also a film mostly about relationships. The three main characters deal with their relationships with their parents, their faith, themselves and most of all each other — most obviously in the homo-romantic-coded relationship between Totsuko and Kimi. Homosexuality is still not fully culturally or legally accepted in Japan, as same-sex marriage is still not recognized and widespread homophobia is deeply embedded in the government — prominent Japanese politician Kazuo Yana said in 2021 that queer people are “resisting the preservation of the species that occurs naturally in biological terms.” All this is despite recent polling indicating that only 16 percent of the Japanese public opposes same-sex marriage, with 47 percent of those surveyed in favor of its legalization. But unfortunately, much like with Yamada’s 2018 film Liz and the Blue Bird, the themes of same-sex romance are limited to subtext and not explicitly depicted. In fact, most of the interesting themes here are mostly relegated to the subtext. Totsuko’s ability to see people as color doesn’t have an explicit explanation. It’s open to interpretation. One possible interpretation is that Totsuko is neurodivergent and sees the world differently.
The Colors Within is a charming, character- and vibe-driven melodrama that is best for high school- and college-age young adults who are still trying to find themselves. And if you don’t care about interpreting all that subtext, it’s still a very vibey movie bursting with charm and character — and a wonderful new addition to the consistent filmography of emerging filmmaker Naoko Yamada.
