OUT 5 JULY NETFLIX
Seven years after , Japanese animators, the focus is a sorrowful girl, Amanda (Rio Suzuki), who becomes separated from her ‘Imaginary’ Rudger (Kokoro Terada) by evil Mr. Bunting (Issey Ogata). As they try to reunite, the plot logic cartwheels, sometimes awkwardly. But director Yoshiyuki Momose keeps the pacing spry, the hand-drawn images lush and the emotional stakes clear. There's a deft balance of rainy-day melancholy with magic and menace: Bunting's ghostly assistant is essentially J-horror for kids.
