Blue Thermal Review
Blue Thermal is a good example of the perils adapting more source material than you can reasonably fit into a 103 minute movie, as despite it visually lovely art style it falls sadly short in the narrative department.
The film charts the journey of Tsuru Tamaki (voiced by Mayu Hotta) who dreams of an idyllic life and of finding romance as she starts at Aonagi University in Tokyo, only to find herself joining the gliding club after an unfortunate series of events. At first grating against senior club member, Sorachi (Junya Enoki), she becomes enthralled by the experience of flight when taken up by club captain, Jun Kuramochi (Nobunaga Shimazaki). She is soon discovered to have a talent for the sport and trains to represent the university in a number of competitions, where she crosses paths with her estranged half-sister, Yano (Mikako Komatsu). All the while, Kuramochi deals with family pressure and some mysterious dealings with club donor Asahina (Daisuke Ono).
Blue Thermal certainly has visual appeal. Its art design has a pleasing warmth to it, complemented by a softer colour palette that both enhances the emotional resonance of the characters’ interactions and emphasises the majesty of the open sky when it is showcased in some of the airborne scenes. This said, it feels as though some greater visual use of the subject matter, namely flight, as scenes set in the air are often dominated by frames of inside the cockpit or focussing in on different parts of the gliders.
Otherwise, the character design appears faithful to the original manga, and though it is nothing particularly striking of itself it fits the tone and themes of the story nicely. For its part too, the animation is smooth and flows well, though is nothing particularly spectacular.
As noted, however, it is the adapted screenplay of Blue Thermal that lets it down. For what is a feature length film on the shorter side, it attempts to pack in a rather extensive amount of story content. Tamaki’s background, her relationship with her sister, Kuramochi’s personal trials and his deal with Asahina, as well as something of a love triangle between Tamaki, Kuramochi and Sorachi are all crammed in alongside the gliding competitions, with insufficient thought given to how much of the original story was wise to attempt telling. It reaches the point that many events and decisions made by characters appear incomprehensible or at least poorly justified. Plot points are rushed through, character development occurs abruptly and the audience isn’t given a proper chance to gain full and proper insight into some of the key characters, to say noting of scant attention given to some supporting characters.
This is a shame, because there is real heart to Blue Thermal which unfortunately is just not given a proper opportunity. These criticisms should not be taken to suggest that the film makes for unpleasant viewing, but it is advisable to temper expectations.
Disappointing, but still a nice enough aesthetic experience, Blue Thermal is on at the Japanese Film Festival this November.
Blue Thermal is playing as part of the Japanese Film Festival 2022 in Australia. Check out the full program and book tickets here.
