An Anime Review of 'Sol Levante'

Sol Levante is a curious anime. It was not what I had in mind by any stretch of the imagination. A production between Netflix and Production I.G. released exclusively on Netflix, Sol Levante is a short film of four minutes, including the credits. There is no dialogue in the film at all, and even when it came to the marketing of the short, the points that were always highlighted were the fact that it is the first hand drawn 4K HDR anime to be produced. With nothing regarding what the anime was actually about, I entered the film completely cold, and what I left with was an experience. This is one of the few anime where I have gone back and watched the making of videos, before I started writing my thoughts on the material, as that material is something that I like to have a look at at my own leisure.

As the technology was the thing that was most advertised, let us follow suit and talk about the technology involved in the creation of this film first, as opposed to my usual start of narrative and character. It is impressive in many ways, yet simultaneously underwhelming at the same time. After having watched the film five times before writing a single word, this is the feeling I was left with throughout. It is indeed hand drawn, yet while it is impressive at times with the sheer amount of detail that is present on the screen, there is a sacrifice in the fluidity of movement that makes aspects of the environment and the characters feel lethargic and stilted, by comparison. So much so that at times it felt very close to the movement of a motion comic. I have no issue with this being the case, I wave watched a few motion comics with their limited movement and enjoyed them, what left me underwhelmed is the fact that I expected a certain fluidity of movement that was consistent rather than having seconds long bursts.

I thought that these initial thoughts would change upon repeat watching, now that I knew what to expect, and this feeling of being left underwhelmed only intensified that much more with each subsequent watch. Ordinarily I am quite forgiving of the standard of animation if the narrative behind it was good. For example, Re:creators has a very limited amount of animation through much of the anime, with bursts of action to make things exciting, another example would be Boogiepop and Others which had minutes of still frames at a time yet was still engrossing. However, if technology is what is the highlight of this show, then I am going to pay more attention to it. While I have no doubt that the method in which this anime is created is in fact ground braking as was expressed by the creators, and for a first attempt it is interesting at the very least, I am going to say it was quite underwhelming considering we have Shinkai Makoto breaking barriers on what can be done by combining both 2D and 3D animation, Weathering With You being visual marvel to look at while simultaneously being impressive.

With regards to what is actually in the anime, from a visual standpoint, it is incredibly imaginative, with the colours and the detail of the visuals truly popping out of the screen and entrancing you with it. The music is just as mesmerizing to listen to, having a dynamic quality that allows it to weave through the entire film managing to fill every single mood that is present. The sound design is also just as impressive.

Excluding credits there is about three minutes worth of material to watch, and there were times that I felt as if this was a second or third trailer to an epic film that is about to come to the streaming platform. As a result of there not being any dialogue, the entire story is told through visuals and musical cues. From what I gather, it is about a girl and her spirit guardian that is on a journey to find something or someone. They are hindered in their journey by the elements, Earth, Water, and Fire and their physical manifestations. There is a lot packed into each frame of this film, and you are swept up in the pace at which this film travels in. The lead protagonist, both from the visual design and the way she behaved reminded me a lot of Celaena Sardothien from the Throne of Glass series of novels, which is never a bad thing.

Ultimately this is a film that I am left intrigued by, and did like. I was just left underwhelmed by what it ended up being. That being said, I am very much looking forward to watching the advancement of animation technology this film heralded would yield in the future. I would recommend people to take three minutes to watch Sol Levante on Netflix.