Please note: This post may contain minor spoilers, so read at your own risk.
Before I start this review, I will admit, I've seen this film once before. This film was part of the line-up in last year's Scotland Loves Anime in both Glasgow and Edinburgh, of which I went to the former (the first time I ever been to SLA, I'm not going to lie). I actually liked it when I first saw it, but I've been told about the stuff that has been removed from the book has been based on, so I ended up buying the book sometime later, and have recently given it a read, and I've noticed parts of the story that either didn't make it to the film, or were drastically shortened, so it'll be interesting to see how I view the film in a rewatch.
Lonely Castle in the Mirror was based on the aforementioned book of the same name by Mizuki Tsujimura. Released in Japan in December 2022, production was handled by animation studio A-1 Pictures, with Keiichi Hara (Miss Hokusai, Birthday Wonderland) as director, Miho Maruo (Ultra Maniac) providing the screenplay, Keigo Sasaki (Blue Exorcist) as chief animation director, as well as handling the character designs, Ilya Kuvshinov (Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045) providing the visual concept and castle design and Harumi Fuuki (The Deer King) providing the music composition.
Kokoro Anzai, a first-year student at Yukishina No 5 Junior High School, is avoiding going to school due to being bullied. One day, within her mirror in her bedroom, she finds a magic portal, gets dragged into it, and finds herself in a castle. Kokoro is welcomed by a girl in a wolf mask, calling herself the Wolf Queen. Kokoro is joined by six other children, Masamune, Rion, Subaru, Fuka, Aki and Ureshino. The Wolf Queen instructs the children, addressing them as "Little Red Riding Hoods", to find a key hidden in the castle, which would grant the person who finds the key one wish. But there are a few catches. They have to find the key before the deadline on the 30th March the following year, if anyone makes a wish, it will be granted, and the children will lose their memories about the whole thing, and they must leave the castle before 5pm Japan time, or they will be eaten by a wolf.
The main highlight of the film is its portrayal of bullying, and I must say, as someone who faced being bullied at school during my secondary years, they conveyed it rather well, with students refusing to go to school, or leaving home at all, as a result of being bullied, beatings from bullies (although that took place off-screen) as well as nasty comments coming from bullies, and one thing that stood out the most, teachers either playing down the situation, or outright dismissive and doing very little or nothing to help the situation properly. And it's not just bullying at school that has been portrayed. In regards to one of the characters, there has been a case of an abusive stepparent.
Kokoro, being our lead character of the film, naturally gets the most character development out of the seven children. Throughout the film, you see her journey from making a new friend with a transfer student, only to lose that friend to a popular girl who would bully her, the emotional trauma she suffered as a result of the being bullied, as well as making friends with a group with differing personalities to one another, yet are in similar situations. We also have Fuka, who plays piano and initially has a cold personality before warming up to others, Masamune, who is massively into video games, and tends to stretch the truth when bragging, Subaru, who takes interest in Masamune's video games and aspires to become a video game designer, Aki, who had a boyfriend at one point, and was initially unconcerned about losing her memories of the castle, which was likely to mask her personal demons, Rion, who is a football player at a boarding school in Hawai'i and lost his older sister when he was a child, and finally Ureshino, who tends to be unlucky with love. Despite their difference in personalities, many of them have formed different bonds with one another, offering good chemistry with each bond. And of course, we also have the Wolf Queen, whose identity was concealed by a wolf mask, who is often blunt, strong (well, strong enough to tackle Kokoro to the ground and drag her by the leg easily), and has most of the time omitted stuff out in her explanations, so that the others can pick up the pieces.
In addition to the bullying portrayal, the film's story often has twists and turns, which make things more interesting, such as the children's lives outside their mirrors (I won't go into details, you'll have to either read the book or watch the film to find out), who Ms Kitajima, the counsellor of the alternative school, really is, and the identity of the Wolf Queen (the last two examples were revealed at the end of both the film and the book). The music composition is immersive to the setting of the film, and more often than not, it really sucks you in to what is happening. And visual designs really capture the heart of the film's settings, and is complemented by its animation, and A-1 Pictures' animation isn't usually something to write home about.
The film though is not exactly problem free though. A film adaptation of a book is not without its hurdles, and Lonely Castle in the Mirror is no exception. Due to its runtime (1 hour and 56 minutes, to be exact, including credits), some parts of the story had to be shuffled around a bit, cut down a portion (some of it, a huge portion) or even outright removed, resulting in rushed pacing in a good few scenes. This setback has also resulted in characters getting less fleshed out than in the book, leaving us a few empty gaps in Kokoro's storylines, the other characters' personalities and backstories, amongst other things.
Our main cast consists of Ami Touma providing the voice of Kokoro, Sakura Kiryu (Nagi Amano in Weathering with You) voicing Aki, Takumi Kitamura (Naomi Katagaki in Hello World, Mamoru Suzuhara in Seven Days War) voicing Rion with Akiko Yajima (first voice of Shinnosuke Nohara in Crayon Shin-chan) voicing Rion as a child, Rihito Itagaki (Heure in Kamen Rider Zi-O) voicing Subaru, Naho Yokomizo (Mayuko in Birthday Wonderland) voicing Fuka, Minami Takayama (Dilandau Albatou in The Vision of Escaflowne, Conan Edogawa in Detective Conan) voicing Masamune, Yuki Kaji (Gaon/Zenkai Gaon in Kikai Sentai Zenkaiger, Katsuhira Agata in Kiznaiver) voicing Ureshino, Aoi Miyazaki (Shōko Sano in Colorful) voicing Ms Kitajima, and finally Mana Ashida (Ruka Azumi in Children of the Sea, Yui in The House of the Lost on the Cape) voicing the Wolf Queen.
Overall, Lonely Castle in the Mirror is a good film with interesting plot twists, and well executed social commentary about bullying, only to be marred by issues of trying to adapt a book into a film lasting for just under two hours, resulting in pacing issues, removal of some characterisation and other parts of the story. Personally, I think it would've been better done as a single cour anime series, or an OVA series if there isn't enough material to cover an anime series, if they want to adapt the whole book. Would I recommend the film? It depends. If you can view it on its own merits, then I'd recommend it, but if omissions from the book put you off a bit, then I would probably stick to the book.
The English language version of the original book Lonely Castle in the Mirror is available at all good book retailers.
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