Review: Children of the Whales, first 3 episodes

I grew up upon anime. “3000 Miles in Search of a Mother”, “Nils Holgersson”, “The Moomins”, studio Ghibly, etc. but nowadays Netflix anime (their original ones, or at least some) is empty artstype wise, content wise. Repetitive. Plus, there’s a theme of violence and women opression (at least in some past animes) that is unclear and unethical.

In Children of the Whales, though, a netflix series which is a masterpiece, really, the ethical question is answered. Chakuro, the main character, cries a lot, in a community where crying isn’t allowed (they’ll die if they’ll cry), and feeling is forbidden too, and the people on this community dig unto their hands with their nails just so they won’t feel anything.

The new generation is truly the change that the people in this series need. Chakuro brings sensitivity. Ryadori, the young girl Chakuro finds on a journey outside his community in the sand whale, brings emotions, feeling. Ouno, their friend, fights for his people, for his friends. And Sammy, also a friend of Chakuro and Ryadori (and also Ouno’s), brings naïvity to the table, until - 🚨spoiler alert (I’ll put another 🚨 when the spoiler ends) until she dies. 🚨

This ethical question, which is also an existential philosophical question, that of the place of emotion snd sensitivity in our lives, is answered in an examplatory way: the series demonstrates how a thing which is so embedded in our life and is taken so lightly - emotion, sensitivity - how important that is. How crucial. Because when we lose emotion and sensitivity, we lose ourselves, and we lose a whole lot of meaning. There is a scene where Ryadori and Chakuro are in a place where there’s something that takes away the characters’ feelings.

Ryadori used it on herself, and at the beginning she does seem apathetic, but she isn’t. She cares deeply, she feels deeply. She used that thing that takes away feelings, and it did not affect her completely. That’s a riddle for me because I did not finish the series yet 😅, but that testifies upon something profound: when there’s a will, there is a way. Or - when there is a quailty that is so inherent in us, there is a way for it to flourish vibrantly, vividly, even if there’s impossible roadblocks in the way.

Some impressions from the film that I had are that the character design is fantastic. The characters look beautiful in an angelic way, something unexplainable, really, I mean, when you watch the series you can wrap your head around it better. The series looks like it’s from the early 2000’s, but more mature, and its’ time in history if compared to ours goes much further then that, it seems ancient in a way.

The series is like visualizing your favorite fantasy/ science fiction book, and there’s something even spiritual about it - the angelic characters, the water colors/ the water color effect, the desert, the secludedness and kinda hermitness - all very much like a parallel universe that’s got something from the divine. The watercolors/ the watercolor effect sets this series apart,in a world of 3D and AI animations, that are inauthentic in a way and detached from human craftsmanship. The characters are very relatable and lovable.

There was also one last topic from the series that I didn’t talk about, which is the grief in the series - a lot of characters from the series die relatively very young, and the grief which comes especially from Chakuro and his tears, are a form of appreciation to the person that dies, holding a last grace for him and keeping him alive in memory, that the grief drives. That takes me to a place where I visit lately, which is the topic of Memento Mori - remember you are mortal. We can practically die any second, and the fact that we’re alive can be turned over.

I’m not saying this to terrify anyone or anything, I’m saying that because we are supposed to live our life to the fullest not as an empty cliché, but because life is fragile. And it’s a gift given to us to be used right. We only live once, and, if keeping Children of the Whales in mind, we are supposed to live it in a respectful manner. In a sensitive to others kind of way, in a manner where we are not suppressing our emotions, where we fight for our friends, where we are not passive, where we are proactive and care about ourselves and others in a way that is applicable and honest.

We need to be authentic, like Chakuro, like Ryadori, etc., we need to be ourselves because that is our gift to the world. To be ourselves even when the world tries to shut us down. I’m probably not going to write another review on Children of the Whales, but who knows. That’s it for now. 🙂