In This Corner of the World (2016)

IMDb plot summary: A spirited 18-year-old woman is married off to a man she barely knows as she combats the daily struggles of living in Hiroshima during World War II.

Directed by Sunao Katabuchi. Stars Non, Megumi Han, and Yoshimasa Hosoya.

In This Corner of the World is an animated movie about a young woman from Hiroshima in the 1940s who enters into an arranged marriage. We follow her from her childhood all the way through the aftermath of World War II, seeing the effects of the war on her and the life that she's trying to build with her new family. This one took a little while to grow on me, but ultimately it really landed. I became very connected emotionally to this character who is an average girl trying to be a good and kind person. I love the relationship that builds between her and her husband, where they really don't know each other well at first, but then then they slowly start to grow together, especially in the portion of the film where a past love comes back and tries to steal her away. The relationship that she builds with her niece who lives with them for awhile is also beautifully done. This was a very dark time in history, and while there is hope and positivity in this, it does have some heart-wrenching moments as it gets to the the end of their story. The obvious comparison here is Grave of the Fireflies, but here there's a more obvious throughline of hope and finding meaning even in dark difficult times. Beautifully put together and worth watching.

🎥 In This Corner of the World (2016)

📊 Ranked #600/4217 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 86

beat Wimbledon (#2159 → #2160)

beat Fresh (#1133 → #1134)

beat Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (#616 → #617)

lost to Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery (held at #311)

lost to The Parent Trap (held at #479)

lost to Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (held at #551)

lost to Portrait of a Lady on Fire (held at #582)

lost to Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (held at #599)

beat Animal Crackers (#607 → #608)

beat The Courtship of Eddie's Father (#603 → #604)

beat The Reader (#601 → #602)