Movie Weekend - Children Who Chase Lost Voices From Deep Below

 

Children Who Chase Lost Voices or Hoshi o ou kodomo, known also as Journey to Agartha, is an anime movie written and produced by Makoto Shinkai, released in 2011. After watching this movie, my emotions were both good and bad.
The movie is mostly about accepting death and moving on.

I was fascinated by the idea of creating a secret world below the one we know, habited by humans who still believe in the old Gods, and being so close to "Hades", or else the Land of the Dead. It is only consiquent that this world should be guarded from normal humans, who are disrespectful and unkind to nature and it's laws. In the movie though, we see one of Agartha's, the World Below, habitants coming up to the surface. A sensitive and kind nature, called Shun, who felt the urge to see something and meet someone on the surface so that he could accomplish everything he wanted. He gets to fulfill his wish when he meets Asuna, a girl who practically lives alone since her father is dead and her mother is working too many hours in the hospital. He saves her from one of the "Guards of Agartha", an extinct creature pretecting Agartha which came up to the surface. Shun and Asuna spend some time together and Shun dies after giving her his blessing -"have a good life, that's all I want".

Asuna couldn't deal with his death and with the help of her new teacher, Morisaki, who had also lost his wife, she starts searching about Agartha. That's when she meets Shin. Shin is also a habitant of Agartha, who came to the surface to fix Shun's mess. Asuna thinks he is Shun, because of their big resemblance. But, Shin is being chased by "Arch Angel", an organisation trying to abtain the knowledge of the ancients lying in Agartha. Actually, their leader is Morisaki, who accomplished to get in Agartha with Asuna and Shin. Shin, turns out to be Shun younger brother, who doesn't have Shun's natural gifts, but inherited his responsibilities. Both Morisaki, driven by his wife's loss, and Asuna start a journey to reach the "Gate of Life and Death".

The end of the movie was quite right but sad at the same time. Morisaki, succeeds in getting to the Gate of Life and Death, after climbing down a cliff for hours. But for the "sakuna vimana", the Arc of God, to grand his wish he has to sacrifice his eye and Asuna's body, which would be the vessel for his wife soul. Shin manages to stop it and bring Asuna back.
It is sad because no one gets their loved ones back. The things that these people did for love, the risks and the sacrifices, were so admirable. Shun had the kindest of feelings for Asuna and Morisaki loved his wife so deeply, that living without her seemed impossible. In my opinion these feelings can't be lost or forgotten and it is unfair when they don't have the time to blossom. And that made me really sad.
But it is also right because this is life.This ending shows us that death is a natural and inevitable stage in the circle of life. Despite that, people who are alive are more important that the dead. We should carry on with our lives for their sake and our own. That doesn't mean we have to forget the ones we've lost, they will always remain in our hearts. However, they shouldn't keep us from moving on. Crying and mourning are sometimes neccessary. We should never keep the pain inside, we should never cave in. But we can't bring no one back, not physically. As Asuna says
"this might not be a curse, but a blessing".