Journey to Agartha (2011)
"Hoshi o ou kodomo" (original title)

A coming of age story involving young love and a mysterious music, coming from a crystal radio left as a memento by an absent father, that leads a young heroine deep into a hidden world.

Director:

Makoto Shinkai

Writer:

Makoto Shinkai (story)

Stars:

Hilary Haag, Corey Hartzog, Leraldo Anzaldua

2 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Hilary Haag	...	Asuna Watase (voice)
Corey Hartzog	...	Shun (voice)
Leraldo Anzaldua	...	Shin (voice)
David Matranga	...	Ryuji Morisaki (voice)
Shelley Calene-Black	...	Asuna's Mother (voice)
Shannon Emerick	...	Lisa Morisaki (voice) (as Shannon Emmerick)
Sam Roman	...	Old Man of Amaurot (voice)
Emily Neves	...	Mana (voice)
Brittney Karbowski	...	Seri (voice)
George Manley	...	Commander of Arned Priest (voice)
Kalob Martinez	...	(voice)
Andrew Love	...	(voice)
Justin Doran	...	(voice)
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Kazuhiro Fujiwara	...	Villager (voice)
Kenji Hamada	...	Commander of Arned Priest (voice)

Storyline

A coming of age story involving young love and a mysterious music, coming from a crystal radio left as a memento by an absent father, that leads a young heroine deep into a hidden world.

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Plot Keywords:

coming of age | crystal | radio | substitute teacher | secret society | 

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Genres:

Animation | Adventure | Drama | Fantasy | Sci-Fi

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Details

Official Sites:

Official site [jp]

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

7 May 2011 (Japan)

Also Known As:

Children Who Chase Lost Voices from Deep Below

Company Credits

Production Co:

Media Factory, CoMix Wave

Technical Specs

Runtime:

116 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

User Reviews

Flawed but with immense beauty

Since Hoshi no koe I've been a big fan of Makoto Shinkai and I always find his movies so beautiful that make him the only anime producer who is comparable with Miyazaki Hayao. For his latest work "Children who chase voice from deep below", the story settings and the characters are quite different from his previous works. The idea is likely inspired by the many old myths like the story of Orpheus, who traveled to the underworld and by his music softened the hearts of Gods. Yet "Children who chase voice from deep below" keeps on the track with Shinkai's previous works in discussing loneliness of human beings, but unlike "5 centimetres per second", with hope and love this time.

The music, once again, is perfect and the scenes are delicate and tender. When watching this you find yourself immersed in a dream-like situation where the sky and the trees and the world are of the beauty that far beyond your imagination. Shinkai created perfect environments, the moving wind and the colourful insects, every single detail in every single scene is fantastic. The plot line is a romantic imagination. It portrays a journey of finding hope and love after the every loss throughout our life. It's a reflection of life with fantasy elements. To recover from immense sorrow and stand up again and look forward to the future. I love the message the movie brought to me. However, the story does have flaws. The pace of some parts is too slow while of some parts is too fast. It can be explained by looking at the length of the movie, which is of the longest in Shinkai's works. And obviously, he still has to look for better ways to deal with a "long" movie. Besides it is a pity that Shinkai abandons his talent on talking about modern city life but tries to give a tribute to Miyazaki Hayao by duplicating many elements in Ghibli's anime movies. I have this impression because while watching I thought of Miyazaki Hayao's works like "Princess Mononoke" and "Laputa" in several occasions, yet not as good as those works. A good try with rooms for improvement. After all,however, I still love this film. It reminds me of the beauty in our life. I am particularly touched while on the edge of death the girl Asuna recounts every person in her life she is loved by and says, "After all it was only because of my loneliness." It moves me so much that how our every day will be if we treasure the people still beside us instead of looking for someone or something that is so abstract and beyond our reach. If you love Shinkai, go watch it. It is, definitely, a touching piece for all of us.