nobahn's Anime

In the end, Josee, The Tiger and the Fish is a beautifully animated film about the struggles of the physically-disabled and the mindset needed to obtain your dreams. While it is a bit predictable and cliché in parts, the way it portrays the world Josee lives in gives us all a peek into what it's like to live in a world not designed for us while also highlighting the importance of personal independence to the human soul.

Nick Creamer wrote:

Liz isn't a work of pure nostalgic longing; it is simultaneously a paean to our past selves and a celebration of all we might become, a work that tempers the pain of youth with assurance that though change will come, true feelings endure.

• The use of silence is quite poignant.....
• Mizore doesn't smile until the end of the movie.

• Growing up, I was quite similar to Mizore.
  I was raised in a reserved family; we did not hug, nor did we express our emotions.

  Doctor my eyes,
  they cannot see the sky.
  Is this the price,
  for having learned how not to cry?

  Most of my life, I have been lonely.

In the end, it's important to realize what kind of film this actually is. While you'd think it's a slice-of-life film at first glance, it's actually a coming-of-age movie. All too often we think of “coming-of-age” as stories centered around teens making their first step into adulthood but there are many steps on the road to becoming an adult—and many places you can trip up or get stuck. Looking for Magical DoReMi is about our three heroines taking their last step into the adult world—and making sure that they are on a path they want to be on. And for that alone it's well worth a watch.