The Colours Within – A charmingly, candy-coloured film

The Colours Within (known as Kimi no iro in Japan) is the newest feature film by director Naoko Yamada whose credits include the films A Silent Voice, Liz and the Blue Bird and the series The Heike Story. This strikingly lovely story follows three teenagers who find friendship and a creative outlet when they form a band together.

Plot

Tonsuko (voiced by Sayu Suzukawa) is a young girl with synesthesia, a condition which, in her case, means that she sees people’s auras as colours. At her Catholic high school in Nagasaki, Totsuko becomes entranced by the soulful blue colour of schoolmate Kimi (Akari Takaishi). After an incident in gym class, Kimi stops attending classes. She was once an honors student and the leader of the school choir. Rumors spread, but no one knows why she left. All they know is that she now works at a used bookstore in the city.

Fascinated by Kimi’s colour, the relentlessly positive Tonsuko sets out to find herself. She does so at the coincidental moment that music nerd Rui (Taisei Kido) strikes up a conversation with her. Stumbling, stuttering and paralysed by social anxiety, the three somehow agree to start a band together. Rehearsals in an abandoned church on an island are an immediate success and inspire the band to start writing their own original music.

Through music and friendship the three members of the band deal with their own challenges of adolescent life. Totsuko worries that seeing people’s colours makes her strange. Kimi struggles to tell her grandmother that she has decided to quit school. Rui feels torn between pursuing his passion for music and studying to become a doctor to take over his family’s clinic.

Music as a unifying theme

Music has a unifying power. It allows people to communicate without words and provides an outlet for the expression of emotions. It crosses borders. Through sound, through music, you can share what you think. It’s no wonder then that music has been a prominent theme. It is a tool used in many anime series and films to comment on a diverse range of human emotions. Series like Given, Belle and Nana commented on personal growth, while others like Kono Oto Tomare!, Bocchi The Rock!, Carole & Tuesday and Your Lie in April have commented on friendship and belonging. Like anime as a medium itself, the wider narratives portrayed in these series and films as well as the actual music are quite diverse but always universal. 

The Colours Within joins a large number of Yamada-helmed films and series that revolve around music and musicians, from her directorial debut, the 2009 series K-On! to Garden of Remembrance, she is well-versed in stories that explore the unifying power of music. In an interview with ScreenDaily the director shared that the revelation that launched this project was the understanding that “music and colour are somehow similar. Both can be accepted and interpreted without words, and [she] wanted to share and explore that sensation on the screen.”

At its core, The Colours Within exemplifies the idea of music as a reflection of the many possibilities of the world. The film’s score reflects this by mixing more conventional piano melodies with a range of quirky instruments. Rui plays a theremin, and at one point, a montage unfolds on a glockenspiel—while showcasing different musical styles. The film’s musical climax features a lyrically bewildering but infectiously upbeat number which is absolutely captivating and irrepressibly perky. The pop tracks  and musical interludes throughout the film demonstrate Yamada’s perception of colour and music and the way they express the human experience.

Final Thoughts

The Colours Within balances being cute and adorable with the awkwardness of being a teen. Unusually for a film about a teenage band, the band never fights or breaks up. Instead, it shows strength through accepting what can’t be changed. It also highlights the value of recognizing traits in others that you lack yourself. The three leads have their differences, but instead of leading to conflict, those differences make them stronger as a unit.

I also appreciate the hand-drawn animation which is as beautiful as it is defiant. There are a lot of music-focused anime that employ computer generated 3D animation for concert scenes. It makes the climatic concert in The Colours Within all the more beautiful. There is a real sense of heart and soul in every imperfect frame. 

Finally, I thought the pacing and structure of the film were brilliantly crafted to deliver the message the director was aiming for. The first act of the movie revolves around colours, the second act is more about sounds. Further, the final act is about finding the perfect blend of both reflecting the balance found in each of the main characters’ lives. This film unfolds quietly, there are no fights, no bad guys, no grand moments of conflict or reckoning. It is the simplicity in plot allows for the subtlety of the message to shine through. 

Where to watch The Colours Within?

The film debuted in June at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival and went into wide release in Japan at the end of August. It also premiered at the London BFI Film Festival, Scotland Loves Anime Festival, and Animation Is Film Festival in Los Angeles. It won the Best Animation Award at the Shanghai International Film Festival. GKIDS is releasing the movie in North America while Anime Ltd. is releasing the film in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It is due for theatrical release on January 24, 2025.