Melody

Name(s): Melody / メロディ
Format: Original net animation [ONA]

Melody Review

I think I realized what half of the problem is with me not caring about most of the anime shorts I’ve seen. A huge chunk of the recommended ones are saccharine alternative Disney shit that hit the same emotional premises that we’ve seen a million times before, but without enough nuance to give them more specific meaning or depth. This is partially because the shorter length makes it harder to build those nuances, but not necessarily. A lot of these could gain depth by stronger visual storytelling or style (if they’re not just going to have a more original premise).

As for Melody, its style is just extravagant dressing over the same, simple story. It doesn’t add contrasting layers or details to it. In Melody, a rabbit boy’s mother dies, and it’s all sad and shit, cuz mum and kid, but like, he’s remembering her through this song he taught her, and he’s like, you know, able to come to grips with it, and it’s all sad and stuff and pretty music, and it’s all instrumental, and it will touch ur soul.

There’s brief fantastical touches like the film reel grain, and a part where bunny boy is running after his mom through his memories (also portrayed as a film reel rolling beside him). Everything is so symbolically straightforward on the subject of returning to fading memories, that it only has a single thing to say about the subject. It isn’t anything new or idiosyncratic. The direction becomes flair, not an avenue to say more than what’s already in the narrative. This is why something like this ultimately feels shallow, despite trying hard not to carry itself as such.