FIREWORKS

released 15 November 12a | 90 minutes Director akiyuki shinbo Cast suzu Hirose, masaki suda, mamoru miyano, Kana Hanazawa

Japan’s big on time-bending tales. There were Groundhog Day comedies in anime before Groundhog Day was made, and most people forget that Edge Of Tomorrow was based on a Japanese novel. Fireworks is a school-age romcom where a boy gets magic second chances to run off with the girl that he fancies.

In a seaside town, Norimichi and his male best friend both go googly-eyed over their classmate, pretty Nazuna. Unbeknownst to them, she’s having serious personal issues. Out of nowhere, she challenges both to a swimming race; the winner will take her to a fireworks festival (a midsummer tradition in Japan). Norimichi loses, but finds a strange little ball that can reverse time a few minutes or hours. Naturally, he uses this power to be with Nazuna, gradually learning about her situation, but realises that the world is changing very strangely with each reset.

Fireworks is a passable effort if you love anime and/or time-changing stories, but it’s less clever or inventive than many Family Guy time-travel episodes. The visuals are shiny, but often clumsy and artless, and the story’s whole point is obscure. And the attempts at puppy-love charm are undercut by queasy scenes of the boys harassing their buxom female teacher. A tepid, mediocre film – more of a squib than fireworks. Andrew Osmond