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Flavors of Youth (2018)

★★★½ — Flavors of Youth (2018)

Flavors of Youth is a co-production between China's Haoliners Animation and Japan's CoMix Wave Films, the Shinkai Makoto-associated studio best known for Your Name (2016) and A Silent Voice (2017), and that association raised expectations considerably on release. The film is an anthology of three short pieces, each directed separately (by Yi Yi, Li Haoling, and Yoshitaka Takeuchi respectively), and each set in a different Chinese city, making it a modest but deliberate showcase of the collaboration between the two animation industries at a moment when Chinese co-productions with Japanese studios were becoming increasingly common. It received a limited international release in 2018 and did not find significant commercial traction outside its home markets.

A-Z World Movie Tour China This movie is actually 3 shorts all connected through reminiscence of youth. The 3 stories are disconnected save for a very short post-credit scene which features all of the characters. The first short "Rice Noodles" is absolutely beautiful. In my opinion the best of the 3. The writing, the animation, the music, they're all absolutely fantastic. It's so touching and heartfelt. If that short was standalone I'd probably have given this a 5*. The second section really brings it all down to be honest. It wasn't that good and the theme is a little troubling with regards to body image, eating and health. Didn't like that one at all. The final section is another rise to a decent story around young love and friendship and how our paths lead in different directions. Throughout all of these stories, the animation is absolutely out of this world. Some of the best I've ever seen. The soundtracks are beautiful piano and strings ensembles. In the end I think this well deserves a 3.5* which could have been higher had it not been dragged down by the middle.

Rating: ★★★½ | Year: 2018 | Watched: 2025-06-05

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Where to watch (UK)

Stream: Netflix · Netflix Standard with Ads
Physical: Amazon UK

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