Blue Thermal (2022) - Anime Movie Review
Welcome to Sensei Sensibility! You are the hungry mind yearning to devour quality Asian cinema; I am the (questionably) knowledgeable Sensei, more than happy to satiate your cinematic appetite.
This is your captain speaking, buckle your seatbelts as we land in bumbling college newbie Tamaki Tsuru's world. Fresh from a less-than-ideal high school experience, Tamaki is determined that college will be the new start she desperately longs for.
Our defiantly optimistic and somewhat klutzy heroine has it all mapped out. She's going to join an extra-curricular society, be Belle of the Ball, meet the love of her life at said society group and live happily ever after. Aw.
And by "aw" I mean, "Aw shit! Watch what you're doing, you fool! You're about to send a tennis ball soaring straight through an expensive piece of aviation equipment belonging to the Aviation Society, thus landing yourself in crippling repairs related debt that you'll spend the rest of your college career attempting to pay off, thus ending your hopeful plans of a jolly old time!"
Balls.
Conveniently enough, it turns out Tamaki loves being indebted to the Aviation Soc. She hero-worships their Senpai Jun Kuramochi, (do I detect a desire to be noticed by said Senpai?); appears invigorated by her love/hate-will they/won't they banter with grudging peer Daisuke; revels in the general camaraderie of everyone pitching in together to make their gliders fly; and, most conveniently (and dare I say, "in a most contrived turn of events?") is a natural pilot with a sixth sense for sensing "blue thermal" wind thingies.
Throw in some high-drama, feuding families, unnecessarily dramatic sporting events, and a lot of planes (sorry, "gliders", or as I prefer "uppity sky machines.", and you've got a pleasant enough coming-of-age anime.
Based on Kana Ozawa's manga of the same name, Blue Thermal can't seem to decide what anime genre it wants to belong to. Slice-of-life, romance, drama, sporting - it lightly tips its wing at many boxes, never landing fully at any particular terminal.
This mish-mash of genres makes this aviation heavy film (complete with yawn inducing diagrams) come across as scrappy, with no time (despite being nearly two hours in length) to flesh out the characters fully or their backstories. Which is a pity because at their core the characters were likeable, just underdeveloped.
Tamaki was thoroughly one-dimensional and each Jun, Daisuke, and Tamaki's sister appeared to have tragic and dramatic backstories that would have beefed up the film - had they been expanded upon.
Also, personal bug bear: while I appreciate that college club culture Japan is HUGE, I didn't see Takami study ONCE in the entire movie. The girl literally gave up everything for this club.
Blue Thermal's plot felt forced at times, and despite the occasional darkness they touched on, it was signposted from the start that the filmmakers were determined to go straight for the happy ending
The animation however is gorgeous, with the backgrounds giving off a lovely old skool hand painted energy, and the cast are fun if lacking complexity. Loose ends aside, this is a cute enough love story.
Due to the niche content of the plot it's probably not going to have the same mass appeal of other big screen anime goliaths/giants. Featuring mild peril, Blue Thermal is suitable for younger teens
★★★
Perfect for fans of Suzume and Anime Supremacy, Blue Thermal was seen in Lighthouse Cinema as part of Japanese Film Festival Ireland.
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