Of Hinokio and Yellow Cherry.

Recently, I had the pleasure to watch a 2005 Japanese movie titled, Hinokio. It’s about a boy(Saturo) who suffered the death of his mother and his leg injury during and accident. In depression, he retreated in his room for months. Finally, Saturo’s father made an android(Hinokio) remote controlled by Saturo himself to interface with the world outside his room.

Using that robot ‘tool’, Satoru is able to make progress by taking his first cautious, fearful steps out into the outside world… steps taken from within his ‘digital cocoon’. Still, he does go to school, find fellowship and through an encounter with a girl, is able to reconnect and feel once again the sensation of warm human touch.

Satoru eventually seeks to directly experience the world and activates the robot’s sensation mode, exposing himself to mortal threat. The girl Jun, risks all by taking action in an attempt to rescue him. This movie is not just about humans considering each other with warm affections; it is a movie that, through the conduct of humans finding love, asks the very question “What is it to be alive?”

Worth watching one way or another!

In another note, a hidden gem I unearth soon after watching that movie was the song, Yellow Cherry. Yes, it’s also Jap, but I hope you’ll give it a listen and then pass judgment. The only way I could get this song is through limewire and I had to make sure I was searching for audio files. If not, I get all sorts of ‘cherry’ as results.