Getting away from the village for a bit is important.
What They Say:
Even when you’re fortunate enough to live in a place as beautiful as the country village of Asahigaoka, you should never turn down the chance to explore someplace else. So, when Suguru wins a free trip to Okinawa just as the summer vacation is coming to an end, the town’s entire school… all 5 students and 1 teacher, plus the local candy shop owner… can hardly wait for their 3-day trip to begin!
Between kayaking, swimming and meeting new people, there’s always something fun happening, but the best part of all is that big city girl Hotaru and her new small-town friends all get to explore the wonders of Japan’s famous vacation destination together. Prepare for the perfect trip as the whole gang boards the plane!
The Review:
Audio:
The audio presentation for this release is about what you’d expect in that we get a simple 5.1 mix with only the Japanese language, which is encoded using the lossless DTS-HD MA codec. The film is like the show in that it’s all about the ambiance and dialogue, so it has to work the calm and quiet scenes well throughout, letting some of the sounds of nature dominate as well as other incidental aspects of it all. It handles it all quite well overall, but like a lot of mixes of this nature it’s not going to come across as striking or impressive, though it does it all in a very good way. With this highlighting the trip to Okinawa and some of the sights and sounds, it’s got a chance to flex a bit more but even there it’s still kept pretty basic and without anything that really goes big. There’s some decent placement from time to time with the project as we get a good number of characters together at a time as well as a bit of depth as well, though less of that overall. Dialogue is clean and clear throughout and we didn’t have any problems with dropouts or distortions during regular playback.
Video:
Originally in theaters in 2018, the transfer for this film is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.78:1 in 1080p using the AVC codec. Animated by Silver Link once again, we basically get the same thing as the TV series with a few more lush moments and areas to dig into since the trip takes them to Okinawa. But the style and overall approach is very much like the series in that it has a lot of static backgrounds throughout it which makes it easier to work with a mid-range bit rate that lands mostly around the twenty range with plenty of variation near it. That’s definitely welcome as there’s a lot of great colors here that stand out well and add to the overall richness of the show that definitely needs to be seen in high definition. Though it’s not the most animated of works, this one does get to bump things up a bit thanks to the ocean and some of the other location pieces that are a bit more alive than the home scenes. This was always a really well-done show in that it immerses you in the area through the visuals and the film captures all of that and just nudges it up slightly so that you can see some differences while still feeling very consistent.
Packaging:
The packaging for this release goes with a standard-sized Blu-ray case that holds the single disc for the film. The front cover works with one of the familiar key visuals of the girls in the walkway with all the trees as it captures that summer feeling well with a kind of appropriately hazy sense about it. The logo is bright and colorful with the standard design that has the cute vacation word tacked on in a very appropriate way for what it is. The back cover works in the natural colors nicely with more background material along the top under the tagline as we get a look at a beach shot that lets us soak up the colors nicely. The shots from the show along the top are a good size and I like the cute chibi cast lineup that we get along the middle just below the summary that covers things well. The bottom fleshes out how the release is put together and what options the are for it and there are no show related inserts are included nor is there a reversible cover.
Extras:
The extras for this are kept simple as expected with just a couple of promos and TV spots that were put out to highlight the film ahead of its release.
With two seasons and two OVAs under its belt previously, the summer of 2018 saw this feature film arrive for Non Non Biyori. The show is one that’s ideal for taking its cast out of the familiar and putting them someplace new but I appreciated that it wasn’t like a Tokyo vacation or something. And it served as the impetus to push forward for a new season of the show that’s coming up in 2021, giving fans more of this cute cast and concept. The film brought on Shin’ya Kawatsura to direct with a screenplay by Reiko Yoshida and that provides some easy continuity as they worked well together for the prior anime works. Though there’s something to be said for shaking things up for a film, this team gets these characters and this is a very laid back movie, or really just an expanded sidestory from the TV series that’s about three episodes in length, so having the creative continuity is welcome.
The premise for the film is what its title implies, a vacation from where they spend the majority of their lives so far. It’s nearing the end of Hotaru’s first summer since moving here from Tokyo and she’s enjoyed it to be sure but there’s a little lament about how not a lot has gone on. That inspires a minor trip to the shopping mall that everyone gets on board for and it’s cute watching them in a place that’s not exactly busy but far more than their little village. And it has its extra cute moments where we see Renge getting to do the lottery ball thing and being all agog over winning a package of tissues, which she was lucky to get since she didn’t even have a ticket. But everything goes to the next level and beyond when Suguru uses his ticket on it and wins a trip to Okinawa that everyone is now able to go on because of how it massages the situation. Getting Renge, Hotaru, Komari, Natsumi, Kazuho, Kaede, Hikage, and Konomi out of town for this is definitely a delight.
The gang gets to stay at a nice little inn on the island that’s definitely the kind of mellow and relaxed place that’s wholly appropriate for them. Even though they’re young, this gang isn’t exactly a pack of wild kids that are overly hyped up or anything. They’re laid back and fit where they’re from, even with how Renge gets from time to time. They do make some friends of sorts while there as the manager of the inn has an eleven-year-old daughter named Aoi that helps out there, so that adds a little local flavor to the mix in showing them what to do and where to go. But the reality is, this is just like the series in that there’s a lot going on but it’s not story material in the conventional sense. It’s hitting the beach, it’s snorkeling, it’s playing with stingrays or exploring a waterfall. We get a little bit more in how Aoi shows them things that they’re interested in beyond that, such as her school which is large in obvious comparison to their own, but also some secluded spots that you know the locals only know about.
But it’s not a film with a story where things happen, just like the TV series. It’s about experiencing the mood, the connections, the scenery. We get to see the varying levels of bonding that goes on with Aoi but also within the group itself as they enjoy an actual vacation. There’s a lot to love in taking in the visuals and seeing the group spreading out and enjoying things that make up a really great summer vacation. I don’t think we get any true deeper bonding here between characters but placing them in a new environment and really just enjoying it and having happy and memorable times is surprisingly enjoyable from the perspective of a viewer of it. We’ve invested into these characters’ lives at this point with what they do back home in the village and how it survived there and having time to just put all that to the side and soak up the sun and sea and the impact of how it lightens them here is wonderful. Even with the sadness of separation that comes from leaving.
In Summary:
The Non Non Biyori Vacation movie isn’t a National Lampoon’s Vacation by any stretch but it’s a very enjoyable piece. The whole thing of taking the kids and exposing them to new things and places is great since they’re pretty provincial where they are and it’s nice to take them out of it in the way that Hotaru was placed into their world and became our guide to it as she learned about it. Taking them together as a group and enjoying the experience of a new place, new people, and new experiences all while still feeling the call to return home is nicely done. One can imagine that a trip like this will inspire a couple of them to really go further in life than they might have otherwise, getting a taste of it in reality rather than just through TV or movies.
Sentai’s release is solid though I was holding out hope until the solicitation that they would have dubbed it since it’s a short one-off movie. I’m still hopeful that with a new season coming that they’ll be involved and figure out a way to make a dub that will allow them to work on the prior releases as well. But, that said, this is a solid release overall with a clean and clear look of a good encoding that captures the color and design of it wonderfully. It’s a simple release but it delivers the film exactly as it should be and it left me smiling.
Features:
Japanese DTS-HD MA 5.1 Language, English Subtitles, Promos
Content Grade: B+
Audio Grade: B+
Video Grade: A-
Packaging Grade: B+
Menu Grade: B
Extras Grade: B-
Released By: Sentai Filmworks
Release Date: June 9th, 2020
MSRP: $29.98
Running Time: 71 Minutes
Video Encoding: 1080p AVC
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Widescreen
Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Sony PlayStation3 Blu-ray player via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
