Windaria

A Japanese animated film about a war. There are two countries. One is green and lives by farming, the other is developed and needs water. A valley lies between them. Izu is a farmer. He lives on a smallholding with his wife Marin and the two are happy. He is curious about the city. He has never seen it. The war begins. The shadow country attacks and wants the water source. Izu is sent as a messenger. He sees the city. Lights, shops, money and women. From there the film becomes a story of corruption. Izu stays in the city, does not go back to his wife, and makes a deal with the other side. The second line concerns two young people. Jill and Ahanas are the heirs of the two enemy countries and they love each other. Both try to stop the war. Both fail. What the narrative is interested in is not war but irreversibility: its idea is that every character makes a choice and that taking it back is in no way possible. There is a rule as well. The souls of the dead board a ship and go; whoever goes does not return. The ending is entirely dark. The narrative gives no character deliverance, and that runs against what was expected of children's animation at the time. Marin's line is the most painful part. She waits for her husband and never learns what happened. The drawing is 1980s handwork. Watercolour backgrounds, limited movement, soft colours. The music holds an important place in the narrative. After its Japanese release it was cut severely in other countries and in some versions the ending was changed. Toru Furuya, Naoko Matsui and Kazuhiko Inoue are in the voice cast. Kunihiko Yuyama directed. Who it is for: anyone who likes 1980s anime and dark fantasy narratives. Who it is not for: anyone looking for a coherent world; the narrative moves fast and the matter between the two countries is never explained sufficiently.