Konnichiwa Hivers, it's me, your ridgette again! So last Friday, I was going through my old screenshots and deleting the unnecessary ones when I came up with this screenshot of an anime movie recommendation. I know it's really old because I wasn't able to check it up because it got buried under the new recommendations I have screenshotted recently. I decided to give it a shot, and it was definitely worth it, for it doesn't only please me with its eye candy art style, but the story is much deeper than what I've expected it to be. So join me as we peek at the colorful life of Nikuko-chan!
About the Anime:
Fortune Favors Lady Nikuko (Gyokou no Nikuko-chan) is an anime movie that aired on June 11, 2021. It was animated by Studio 4°C, and its genre is drama. By the way, it's an hour and 36 minutes long movie, and it was an adaptation of a novel written by Kanako Nishi. The movie started by introducing Nikuko-chan. Nikuko-chan is a big lady with an extremely odd love for puns. She loves number puns, but her love for kanji puns is definitely much greater.
Despite her jovial personality, Nikuko-chan's life was riddled with a series of misfortunes, especially in her love life. From the casino dealer, barman, married office worker, and finally the novelist, all seemed to have not loved her genuinely. The last one, which was the novelist, seemed the most decent because he didn't fool around with other girls, but he didn't (I guess) love Nikoku either. Nikoku cared for him the most, so when he left to go back to his home, Nikoku followed him. Unfortunately, upon arriving at his hometown, she didn't find him. It was just a small town, yet she never found him.
Exhausted to move on to another place, Nikoku decided to live in that town nearby the sea. That's where the story started to unfold—a story that didn't focus only on Nikuko's colorful life but also on her daughter's journey towards adolescence. Together, they will thread their way to their ever-ordinary life—both as a parent and a daughter.
So this anime is definitely one of the most beautiful anime movies that I've watched. Although I'm not really fond of family drama, this one got me hooked from the beginning up to the end. The plot was really interesting because the mystery of the strikingly opposite appearances of the mother and daughter intrigued me the most. Its answer was quite obvious, but I didn't want to assume until the story ended, so I really finished it.
It started interestingly; the narration on Nikoku's life didn't bore me because it was creatively told through entertaining silhouettes that emerged from the meat canvas. The colors were so vivid and eye-catching, and they really did a good job of enhancing the tone that the narration wanted to convey. Throughout the movie, the art style really amazed me, especially how they animated the food. It was wonderful to watch anime with great food art. It was noticeably quite realistic, but at the same time, it somehow retained its anime food characteristics.
Also, I liked how they were able to portray the facial expressions they wanted the characters to convey. It's good that they didn't let the characters emotions be constrained to only what's aesthetically beautiful. I like how those exaggerated facial expressions made the emotions that the characters wanted to convey more affecting. Those expressions indeed enhance the comedic part of the movie, thus making it funnier for me. All in all, the visuals were stunning, and for me, they really did make the movie remarkably affecting.
Further, philosophical questions and ideas were present in this movie. It was creatively presented in such a way that it didn't disrupt the light mood of the movie; rather, it matched its quirkiness. I like how the movie presented some unconventional issues that I often only encounter in psychologically themed anime. Also, as for the background music and the songs, those really suit well with the wholesome and somehow melancholic mood of the movie. The ending song of the movie really made me finish the whole closing credits (which I usually didn't really finish). Its tune was really light, which first didn't really attract me much, but the lyrics were definitely something else, so I ended up listening to the whole song just to read its lyrics.
Overall, the movie was really enjoyable. Nikuko-chan's story was something that was unfortunate, but the fact that she was able to bounce back from those shortcomings made her life more interesting and wholesome. She's indeed a victim of many failed relationships, but that didn't stop her from continuing to move and love, and eventually she did find her ultimate luck, a fortunate break from all those unfortunate things that had happened to her. So if you're up for a movie that's really wholesome and uplifting with an equivalently enthralling art style and animation, then you'll definitely need to watch Fortune Favors Lady Nikoku.
Before I end this review, I gladly share with you its trailer, so—
That's all for now, Hivers. I hope you enjoy reading my very first anime movie review. See you on my next blog!
Arigatou and tanoshinde ne minna-san~
The pictures that didn't have a source were screenshots from the anime movie, while the last picture was edited in Canva.