The Water Flows to the Sea is first and foremost a coming-of-age movie. But why do we call it a “coming-of-age” story? Especially when neither age nor “adulthood” guarantee maturity. But I digress.
The movie starts with 16 year old Naotatsu Kumazawa, waiting at a train station to be collected by his uncle, with whom he is going to live with for an easier commute to his new school. Instead, he is met by Chisa Sasaki, a cold and standoffish 26 year old woman, who leads him to a more than quirky looking house and then brusquely cooks him a bowl of gyudon. It turns out that Naotatsu’s uncle has quit his office job and is now a mangaka living in a sharehouse with four others (including Chisa) because he can no longer afford a place of his own.
As the story progresses, Chisa continues to treat Naotatsu with the kind of indifference that belies something more than a mere “intrusion.” When Naotatsu finally uncovers the truth, it sets off a chain of events that forces all those involved to try and reconcile who they are with the events from 10 years prior. This is a coming-of-age tale to be sure, but whose?
My So-Called Life
Now don’t you worry, The Water Flows to the Sea isn’t nearly as heavy or as daunting as I’m making it sound. It is afterall a Japanese coming-of-age story, filled with all the trappings of innocence and the struggles that come with growing up. Based on a 2018 shonen manga of the same name, Mizu wa Umi ni Mukatte Nagareru, director Tetsu Maeda has made a pretty faithful adaptation to the original, right down to the dialogue. Then again, what is a manga or graphic novel but a very elaborate and intricate storyboard? (I feel the comic book geek armada raising their pitchforks…)
The manga though, presents us with most of the main character’s inner thoughts, which we are not privy to in this movie. This leaves a lot of the heavy lifting to the leads and to the editing.
Without this inner monologue, Chisa’s actions can seem quite strange, especially at first. It lead me to want to piece together some deeper meaning behind what is being presented. But as I made my way through the movie, I realized that this was a pretty simple and straightforward story of growing up. No heavy lifting was required. It is a story that’s simply told, and told quite well, with equal weight being placed on both its dramatic and comedic elements.
Young Adult Adventures
Perhaps this need to see more, even from Young Adult fare, stems from the absolute ginormous mountain of YA that has been presented to us in recent years – where even mere teenagers can battle great evils and lead revolutions. The presentation of adults as being selfish and self involved is commonplace in YA fiction and touched upon occasionally within this story as well. With Naotatsu appearing at times more mature than the adults in his life, Chisa included. (Once again, it’s not like age is any indication of maturity.)
The Water Flows to the Sea is very much about what we chose to say to each other regarding the difficult things in life, how each character reacts and has reacted to the hardships in their lives, and then consequences of those reactions. It’s about how our own selfishness can affect those around us, and whether or not we choose to see it. It is about empathy and being able to put ourselves in another’s shoes. It is about truthfulness, to ourselves and others.
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