It’s safe to say the quality and beauty of anime keep getting better. Not only is the physical quality of the animation improving concurrent with the technology but directors and filmmakers are also getting much bolder with their use of the medium. Naoko Yamada is one of those bold directors, and her new film, The Colors Within, looks like a strong contender for the unofficial “Most Beautiful Anime of the Year” award (which we’re surprised isn’t a category at the Crunchyroll Anime Awards).
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The Colors Within is an original concept anime film, written by Reiko Yoshida (A Silent Voice) and directed by Yamada. The new film follows Totsuku, a young girl who can see the color of people’s hearts. When she decides to start a band with her two friends, Kimi and Rui, Totsuku attempts to write songs based on their colors. The plot already carves the way for gorgeous visuals, and with the help of studio Science SARU (Dandadan), The Colors Within more than delivers.
Naoko Yamada Explains The Colors Within‘s Bold Aesthetic
During an interview with Deadline, Naoko Yamada explained her thought process behind the unique concept and how it blends with the music in the film. “The fact that Totsuko is able to feel the colors of other people is something that’s not tangible, and I think that was really a connection to how people sense music,” she said. “From the way Totsuko feels the colors of others, and then how the audience could be able to sense the music and sound of the movie, I really thought there’s a deep connection.”
Naoko Yamada then divulged how she and Science SARU created such calming and beautiful visuals for the movie. “I wanted the audience to feel calm, kindness and happiness,” she explained. In the film, Kimi is presented through the color blue, and Rimi is the color green, with Totsuko later discovering that she is red. Yamada revealed that these weren’t randomly assigned colors. “These are the primary colors of light, and when they get layered on top of each other, it turns into white.” She continued, “In that color of whiteness, I really thought it expressed the possibilities and the futures of these characters in a beautiful way.” For those noticing a pattern, the same studio Science SARU took a similar approach in color-coding scenes for individual featured characters in Dandadan.
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The Colors Within Releases This January
The Colors Within has already completed the film festival circuit, stopping off at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival, the BFI London Film Festival, and the Tokyo International Film Festival, to name a few. From those premieres, the movie has garnered a perfect 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes.
The Colors Within has already been released in Japan in 2024, but Western fans have had to wait a little bit longer for a theatrical release. The movie opens in select US theaters on January 24th, and in the UK on January 31st. Some fans are hoping The Colors Within can help dispel mainstream Western pre-conceptions of anime movies and earn a nomination for Best Animated Feature at this year’s Academy Awards. If it does, it will likely face tough competition from The Wild Robot, the vastly underappreciated Flow, Inside Out 2, and Memoir of a Snail.
