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Lonely Castle in the Mirror Review

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It’s time for my next adventure into the lonely castle! The manga was pretty fun when I read through it and the movie is a pretty faithful adaption. Naturally they do have to cut out a number of things but that’s normal for basically any movie adaption. They got to the main points and while I would say it is decidedly less intense than the manga version, we still do get a body count in the end.

The movie introduces us to Kokoro who for some reason does not want to go to school. It is apparent that something bad happened to her but we don’t know what. Well, one day a mirror appears in her room and transports her to a castle along with 6 other kids. They are told that this castle will be open for the whole school year but afterwards it will close. However, they have a chance to find a key which will grant one wish based on whoever gets it. Kokoro absolutely has a wish but these kids likely have ambitions of their own. Will they all be able to get along in such an environment? The castle just has one rule, you must not stay past 5 or you will be eaten by a wolf along with everyone else who entered the castle that day.

Pretty high stakes but technically most of the film is fairly upbeat. Kokoro finally gets to interact with kids who aren’t absolutely crazy and this allows her to gather the courage to fight the problems that exist for her back home. She can finally confide in her mother and begin the recovery process. There are some mysteries still going on like how this castle works and where could the key be, but they play second fiddle to Kokoro’s journey. Likewise the other kids don’t have a whole lot of time to their plots as well although they are crammed in at the end.

Technically even in the manga we didn’t see many of their struggles until the end but through their conversations we could get some inklings early on. This one has to go at a very fast pace in order to cover as much as possible. The way it’s ordered can also make the tone clashing a bit tricky at times. The one scene that was most jarring in this way was after the big climax where everyone sits down to talk and they’re all super happy and chipper. It doesn’t feel like there was enough time to be this calm yet.

Now, I assume that the queen of the wolves took certain things into account in order to prevent bad outcomes for any of the kids who participated in this journey but the film doesn’t actually go into detail. For example, Aki by far has the hardest struggle. It’s quite literally more severe than the other kids by several magnitudes and you’re left wondering what options she has for when she gets back to the real world. Since the film doesn’t go into it, I choose to believe that either the villain was devoured by the wolves or she was warped to a place where she was able to avoid the situation and get him locked up or something.

Aki’s plot was definitely a lot darker than anything else in the film though so it really feels unexpected. The film also used a unique animation effect to make those scenes even creepier. Personally I could have done without this plot but at least the film made sure that the worst of it didn’t actually happen and Aki was able to escape. The castle would have looked bad if anything was allowed to happen at the time.

I would say that Kokoro probably had the second hardest journey because of how isolated she was. Having a group of people coming over to your house to presumably beat you up in the best case scenario is already a tough thing to endure. Then mix that with how young she is and it is easy to see how this would be traumatic. The film definitely does a good job of hitting the emotional beats. You’ll be feeling the somber vibes the whole time.

It is also a good explanation for why Kokoro is so timid. I think anyone would be considering the circumstances there. As the film goes on she is able gain more confidence. The rest of the characters don’t really have a lot to do but are mostly reasonable. The most unlikable one is Ureshino. He just tries too hard and spends too much time flirting. While he does end up getting bullied and has a sad story like the rest, he handled it the worst. He eventually gets better but I never really came around on him.

Rion would easily be the best character as he did his best to make Kokoro feel comfortable and would also de-escalate each situation. He essentially played the role of the leader and without him that would have been a much harder journey for everyone else. Subaru probably has the most scenes cut out or at least it feels that way. You get some context clues for what he’s going on but it’s possible that you will mainly recognize this if you read the manga. Same for Rion with how he was essentially pushed to boarding school. You might only have suspicions just based on the movie.

Fuka also doesn’t get a ton to do here but the story of trying to live up to being a prodigy is definitely a classic one. Masamune and his lies getting him into trouble is another abbreviated one that still makes enough sense in the end. The Wolf Queen plot has to move pretty quickly as well. I think one way the film could have improved here would have been to show Rino being suspicious about her much earlier in the film so you can drop little hints here and there. Finally Ms. Kitajima is a big factor throughout the movie and so I’d say the movie paced her appearances really well.

As for the animation, it does have the usual nerf that films get where it doesn’t look as good as a standard anime. That said, it’s still a good product. I did like how the burning wolf really stood out. The flames looked hot and the colors were very striking. It may not be the most fluid project out there but I’d give it a passing grade. The soundtrack is definitely more on the forgettable side. I can’t say that it was particularly solid but it wasn’t bad or anything like that. So the technical areas were all about average here and the film succeeds more on the story beats.

Overall, The Lonely castle is a good film but I do think it was pushing the envelope a little hard with Aki’s plot. Throwing in a scene to see him get taken down would have helped but the film is more about recovery for each character rather than revenge or knocking anyone down. I’d argue that closure is a good part of recovery but ultimately things worked out. It’s the same thing where Kokoro’s bullies don’t get taken down a peg. In a way Kokoro is just given the tools for how to handle situations like that going forward. She also has a bright future coming up now because in the new timeline she’s going to have an ally at the ready right from the start. If you’re up for a really emotional film then you should check this one out. I’d say the movie also makes a good argument for how beneficial it can be to have friends or someone to talk to in order to not have to carry so much baggage on your own. Kokoro would have not had to deal with nearly as much grief as she did if her first friend hadn’t succumbed to peer pressure.

Overall 6/10

Lonely Castle in the Mirror Review

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I can’t say I was familiar with this story back in the day so now I finally get to see what it’s all about. With 5 volumes it is a fairly short adventure but a good one nonetheless. It’s really about a group of characters who all have their own struggles and it is just long enough to see what they are all dealing with. Although not quite long enough to go into details here as they have to blast through the last volume really quickly.

The story starts by introducing us to Kokoro who was badly bullied in school to the point where she has become too traumatized to even leave her home. Her parents have done everything they could in order to support her but the fears are only getting worse. They hope that giving Kokoro space will help out and they are considering other schools. Part of the problem is that Kokoro won’t come clean to them about what really happened. Well, one day a mirror in her room glows and stepping through it takes her to a castle with 6 other kids.

A little girl named the Wolf Queen announces that somewhere within the castle is a key and whoever obtains it will be able to make a wish. This wish will come true but afterwards everyone will lose their memories of this whole situation and the castle will vanish. Each of the kids have some issues at home and so they all agree to not use the key even if they find it until the very end. It will stay open for the whole school year until March. At the same time, will the others actually stick to the plan or will they look for this in secret?

A key that can grant any wish is very tempting after all. It can really turn your life around without a doubt and each of these kids can use it. The castle is also not particularly large so it shouldn’t be too hard to find the key. I would say this is the only part that does require you to suspend disbelief to an extent because when we find out what the location was….it ended up being incredibly easy to find. I would argue it should have been found on one of the first days. I suppose almost any spot would have been hard to picture the characters not finding.

The characters all being able to finally have someone to confide in is definitely a solid way to address the pain they’ve all gone through. Where the series really succeeds is in showing you very convincingly how bad the characters had it. I certainly wouldn’t say it was completely equal or anything like that but they all had a tough time in different ways. The stakes were also rather high in a lot of cases so you can see why they might be willing to risk their lives.

Yes, one thing I neglected to mention is that if you stay in the castle past 5:00PM, then you will be eaten by wolves. Additionally, they will eat anyone else who was in the castle at any point during that day. So all it takes is for one kid to mess up and then they will all be dead. At the same time, if you may die by going back to the real world, then of course you may as well stay and fight. The Castle makes for a solid retreat for the characters but of course not being able to stay there is a rough weakness in itself.

The art isn’t all that good so the story does have to survive on the writing all the way through. It’s just not very detailed and at times almost feels a bit abstract. The more intense scenes like the Wolves showing up tend to get a whole lot of detail but the average scene isn’t quite able to match up to that. It does make the volumes take a bit longer to read since the art isn’t super clear.

I also appreciated that some of the adults were allowed to be really helpful. Sometimes in these things the adults are all clueless or unavailable but here you had a mixed arrangement. Kokoro’s parents were on the ball from the start after all and only got iced out because of Kokoro herself. Otherwise they would have been able to have gotten involved a lot sooner to help out and make a difference. The main teacher from the hearts school was also good and trying to make things work. She never gave up. The other teacher wasn’t as good and easily manipulatable, but I also don’t think he was downright terrible. He was just out of his depth.

Of course then you also have some really bad adults who are active antagonists. It can come from parents who neglect their children or more directly from a predator in one of the character’s trials. Those get quite bad of course and you also have the bullies on the kids side. It definitely shows how much trouble is right around the corner and the characters aren’t really able to help each other out no matter how much they try. While the mirror united them, it also ends up making them more alone than ever before.

Now lets talk about the main characters. First up is Kokoro and as the main character we definitely see more of her journey than anyone else. Basically the bullies put her as a target and even went to her home to further threaten her. Kokoro felt that her life was in mortal danger at that point and just got lucky that the doors were locked or they would have gone in and murdered her. Kokoro’s only friend at the time did not step in to help at any point and so a large gap between them widened. As a result Kokoro was completely isolated and worried that ever leaving the house would be fatal.

I don’t feel like Kokoro was even exaggerating this. When bullies are in a group they will naturally get a lot more confident and bold. They will do things that they wouldn’t have even contemplated when they were all alone. In the heat of the moment, it would have gotten really bad. I do wish she had told her parents though. That would have moved things along a lot sooner and they would have no reason to think she was lying. Of course that isn’t easy, coming clean never is. It’s just rough that Kokoro basically had to just stay home and take it for so long. It’s not the biggest or smallest challenge among the main 7 but it was a considerable one.

Kokoro did well in trying to stay strong throughout this. It’s also clear that because of all the isolation, she isn’t quite able to act as naturally around others as the other kids. She tends to overthink it when there are problems and gets really awkward while the other kids just make up and keep it moving. This does ultimately help her to finally be at peace and gain her inner strength. It leads up well to the climax and so she was a solid character.

Subaru isn’t one of my favorite characters but basically he begins to act out because nobody really gave him any attention. He was neglected by his family the whole time through and only had bad influences around him. This definitely caused him to grow up rather jaded compared to the others. It means that for most of the series he isn’t the most sympathetic character to the others but it’s not like he’s a bad person either. Subaru still does help out when it counts, he just has more guards up than the others. I’d say he had it a bit easier than some of the others but not having any bonds certainly does hurt.

Akiko easily has the toughest backstory and I’d say it’s not close. It’s why she is afraid to even go back home each time. She has to deal with an abusive step father who is constantly trying to get to her and her boyfriend ditched her when it counted. She needs to find a way to leave the house but doesn’t really have any path out of there. She easily tries the hardest to get the key because it is really a matter of life or death. It’s hard to scale trials as everyone has their own troubles and would each handle them differently.

Still, it’s fair to say that Akiko’s troubles were the most time sensitive and so I couldn’t even blame her for wanting to stay past curfew at the castle. At least with a wolf you’d figure it would be a quick end and potentially the whole situation would be over a lot quicker. She wasn’t always the nicest kid in the castle but she’s dealt with a lot so it made sense. I’d also say she would try to mend the bridge with the others as quickly as possible.

Fuka’s difficulties come from the powerful expectations her mom had for her. She was counting on Fuka to become an incredible pianist and while the kid tried her best, she would keep on hitting a wall. That’s already tough enough on its own but then there is also the economic factor. Her family doesn’t have much money and they are going deeper into debt with her mom slowly cracking under the pressure. Quitting now would make it seem like the last few years were a waste but at the same time continuing to go further into it will just add on more losses. She is also dealing with a global pandemic.

Then we have Masamune who is a big gamer. He loves playing RPGs and is generally easy to hang out with. The problem is that he tries a bit too hard to fit in and so he tends to spread little white lies to boost himself up. He overplayed his hand and it got bad which led to a lot of bullying. Compared to the others it doesn’t seem nearly as bad as most but of course when you’re in a rough situation, it’s really not going to give you any solace to hear that others have it worse. You just want to be in a good situation.

He was definitely one of the best kids though. Masamune rarely stirred up trouble and would try to help the others out as much as he could. He was a nice kid and so you could really appreciate that. If he could just find a way to not slip in little lies here and there, then he would really be al set. It can be easy for them to become second nature if you don’t keep your guard up.

Haruka is my least favorite kid by far. Yes, he definitely had it rough by getting bullied a lot but it really didn’t make sense how he would always be crushing on all the girls. The story tries to show that he’s just really honest with his feelings but it makes him come across as flaky. It was good that he stopped lending money and stuck up for himself even if it made things tough. I think we could have used some more context on exactly how this would lead him to getting beat up though. I get maybe once but after that you’d think it would be over.

If the story had removed the flirty element then he would have just been a much better character. If you ask me, that’s what they should have done as otherwise he would have been very sympathetic. It’s not a character trait that needed to be in there at all. Finally we have Rion. Rion seems to have it all together compared to the others as he is outgoing and very friendly. So why would he be in this castle of troubles? Well, we find out that his sister died and his mother couldn’t really handle this and essentially began to resent seeing Rion so healthy. So she pushed him out to move all the way to Hawaii.

Rion wasn’t bullied or anything but effectively being told that your own parents don’t want to see you is pretty rough. It’s definitely not something that the parents can really come back from and the husband definitely takes some blame here for not doing anything about it. He really should have helped Rion when it counted. So I would still say Rion’s struggles are fairly high on the list even if there was no physical component to it. That would create serious emotional scars.

Of course we also have the Wolf Queen and there are a lot of twists about her or at least involving her presence in the story. The series does a good job of setting things up. You’ll probably at least guess the connection between all of the characters as the series left a bunch of clues on that. Guessing her true identity would be a lot harder even if you might suspect things later on in the series. Either way she was a solid character. Her rules may have been harsh but she did give them all a home. She also helped Akiko when she was in a real jam even though there was no obligation to do so.

On the whole the series is balancing being well natured and good fun for a lot of the journey with all of the struggles making this more of a tragedy at other points. You’ll certainly feel bad for the characters, particularly because they’re so young. The series definitely makes sure of that. Even with the ending as certain things may have been wiped away, but they still happened. It is a rough ending for some of the characters without a doubt and the body counts gets higher than you would expect. I wasn’t expecting the climax to go as hard as it did.

Overall Lonely Castle in the Mirror is a good story about overcoming your troubles and not giving up. Even when it feels like you are all alone and there is no hope, there will be a way to persevere. Of course it’s much easier said than done. Try to find a way to let someone know if you are nearly at the point of giving it all up. Put your faith in God to resist the trials and when things are being pushed too far, calling the cops and other authorities is something you need to be able to do. If you do nothing and let the bad things happen to you, like excessive bullying or being attacked, you will eventually reach your limit. It definitely makes for a heavy series and while this one won’t have a ton of replay value or be the happiest story you’ve read, it was written well. Probably could have just used one more volume to space out all of the characters and their origins a bit more though.

Overall 6/10