Shino-chan wa Jibun no Namae ga Ienai
志乃ちゃんは自分の名前が言えない

Dear Japan, STOP IT!

Just, STOP!

I mean, what happened, huh? Did your balls drop off?!

Like, stop doing this! Stop building up to something so obviously, and then turning chicken right in front of the finish line! And what’s worse this time around, they did not just drop the ball right at the end, but they did themselves one better by totally running backwards to the start line! All the progress the characters made were totally trashed and it was like nothing changed, especially for the main character!!

I am so angry that I am not even going to spend my time on this so I’ll just drop a small explanation of how they fucked up.

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

So, the movie itself is a drama and about personal, issues. There are three kind of main characters but really, most of the film is about our two main girls. The other is a guy. The main, main girl Shino has a condition where she can’t speak (terrible stutters) in public but when she is alone or with her mother at home she speaks normally. This of course leads to her having a very bad first day, really, the rest of her high school experience. She couldn’t introduce herself and made a laughing stock of herself.

Meanwhile the other girl is Kayo and while she doesn’t have a kind of physical disability, she keeps to herself, doesn’t get along well with others but she has a personal dream of becoming a singer, even if she sucks at it.

So, the two have that in common, that loneliness! Shino, having come across the seemingly cool girl, sitting alone during break, singing some cute Pokémon, Pikachu songs, she comes up with some courage to speak to her. She makes the first effort to get close to someone which was kind of moving. Kayo gives her a better way to communicate with a small notebook and pen so she could just write down whatever she needed to say.

The two become first friends and while Kayo loves music, she sucks at singing but is better at playing the guitar. Meanwhile Shino is really good at singing, so Kayo proposes the two start a two-member band. They are both extremely anti-social so seeing them come up with the courage to go singing in front of crowds of strangers, it was really quite a moving story.

during this mission they grow close of course, the montage of scenes during this period is the stuff of yuri dreams! Seriously, forget subtext, I really thought we were getting legit yuri here. And to make the hope stronger, in came the guy to stir things up. He all but made Shino jealous to the point of her stopping to hang out with Kayo and even stop practicing for their performances. And to think that Kayo had just suggested that instead of covering song, they should do an original song, a song about just the two of them!

Like seriously, things were looking up! The movie was close to ending and you just felt like the it would be one ending to remember!

It was the school festival and ShinoKayo (their band name) was supposed to perform but instead it was Kayo performing by herself, getting up all that courage to go it alone, in front of the whole school, I tell ya, I was ready to blow were Shino to show up before Kayo started and the two confess their feelings right there. Unfortunately, Shino did not show before Kayo performed alone. She only showed up after the fact and even though the speech would almost reduce me to tears, it was wrongly placed. That was the speech she was supposed to give anywhere else but here. This was just her and Kayo’s moment! She was supposed to speak of their latest issues, why she was avoiding her and why she came back.

But instead she was going on about her issues we knew about since the beginning and addressed more to the whole school than Kayo. This was not the place for that speech and what’s worse, when we see them after this scene, in other words, how the rest of their lives would go like, they were back to being strangers, Kayo was back to being alone, but instead of listening to others’ music, she was creating her own with her guitar. Shino was also back to eating alone and the only thing that changed was that she was no longer as invisible, when we see a girl come over to her and offer her a drink for her lunch.

Basically, Kayo and Shino’s development went out of the freakin window and I am so pissed off right now! I had to watch this movie into my sleep time because I expected it to deliver! I sacrificed sleep over this movie because I just had to finish it.

I regret it!

I mean, I wouldn’t say not to watch it. There is still emotion there to get from it and now that you know not to expect something, you won’t be as disappointed as I am! So, if you have time, do go and check it out!

Seriously though Japan, stop this thing you do where you run away at the finish line with the tail between your legs damn it! You used to be cool. Get back to it! Get back to being cool please!

Peace.