Bubble is a contemporary reworking of the Grimm Brothers’ classic Little Mermaid Story that centres on the star-crossed lovers Uta and Hibiki and their chance encounter. After its first release on February 10th, 2022, the animated picture, which was directed by Tetsuro Araki and written by Gen Urobuchi, seems to have won over many viewers’ hearts with its breathtaking images. The show recently made its Netflix debut on April 28, 2022.
Plot Summary: What Is The Film About?
A truly incredible catastrophe struck the entire planet five years ago. As rain began to fall, bubbles began to fall from the sky, but their shape persisted long after they reached the ground. But tragedy occurred when the bubbles spun into a vortex and then abruptly exploded all over the place. Tokyo was surrounded by a bubble dome where vortexes and explosions proceeded, making it impossible for it to continue serving as the capital of Japan. Tokyo stayed unchanged even after the occurrence had halted everywhere in the world. Children who had survived the explosions and had nowhere to go entered the dome and risked their lives playing Battlekour. To give their life purpose, they persisted in staying in the abandoned city. Similar to this, a group by the name of Blue Blazes became well-known for their parkour skills, which earned them supplies to live in the city. After Uta saves Hibiki from a vortex that had developed under the water next to a tower, Hibiki, Kai, Usagi, and Isozaki get to know their new teammate. She later meets Makoto and Shin, the team’s carers. Makoto came to this area as part of a scientific field investigation into the gravitational anomaly that encircles Tokyo. On a broken ship that Kai insisted on repairing, they all resided. Uta, however, loses an arm in a fight with the Undertakers and conceals it from everyone. When her sister calls, she departs after getting to know Hibiki and residing with his family. To save Uta, Hibiki pursues him, but ends up being saved. Uta disintegrates into bubbles, the phenomena departs from Tokyo, and the gravitational force returns to what it was five years prior. While the bubbles continue to exist as water droplets all over the earth rather than wreaking pandemonium, construction activity continues.
Following Attack on Titan, Tetsuro Araki produced a magnificent visual masterpiece with a plot that resembled the classic Little Mermaid tale by the Grimm Brothers. Tetsuro Araki was motivated by the anime. He injected some sci-fi into the plot to spice it up a bit. Araki incorporated parkour to the sci-fi element to give the novel a distinctive twist on a new theme that other authors seemed to have less explored. Hiroyuki Sawano composed the music, while everyone’s beloved E Ve voiced it. The explosion of a cosmic colour palette serves as the film’s leading visual, and an otherworldly music seals the point. Tetsuro Araki’s work has a lot to offer. The movie’s airy design will be a treat for anyone interested in visual aesthetics wherever in the world.
Warning: Major Spoilers
Battlekour And The Different Teams
A kind of parkour called battlekour involves competitions between various teams. During the contests, only five members are allowed to compete, and they must avoid falling into the water. If they stumble, they lose the competition. The gravitational anomaly caused by the dome enclosing Tokyo gives them an advantage. The teams can use the stray bubbles as a trampoline to push themselves forward. Only Hibiki uses these bubbles to help her win the tournaments. Four teams in particular routinely compete with one another for various necessities. Each squad is required to sprint over the flag-draped winning point. While the other teams, standby members, and carers wager on the results, they can either follow the predetermined path or find their own way across. The group members surge through to seize this flag as a victory sign. First to seize the flag wins. If there are any unique products provided by sponsors, the teams can use them to improve their performance and secure a straightforward victory. The Blue Blazes, Denki Ninjas, Mad Lobsters, and Undertakers are the teams. Usagi, Hibiki, Kai, Uta, and Isozuke play for the Blue Blazes.
The Tiff With The Undertakers
A team called The Morticians or the Undertakers frequently posts videos of their gameplay on YouTube in an effort to attract sponsors. They are able to employ various unique equipment, like the boots they wear, thanks to their sponsors. The boots function as a flyboard, spraying air or water to give the wearer a push and enable higher jumps. They take advantage of this to dominate the Mad Lobsters and humiliate them. Later, they had Blue Blazes as their target because they coveted their ship as a prize. They infiltrated the spacecraft when Makoto was conducting research on a change in gravity that had taken place just after Uta’s arrival. The Morticians seized her as she was having brainstorming meetings and issued a challenge to the Blue Blazes. The Blue Blazes acknowledged it and prepared for battle. However, the morticians kept bringing them to the vortex during the fight to either kill them or disqualify them. They were being pulled into the vortex by its force, but Uta was able to escape. Kai gave Hibiki the shove he required to escape the vortex, and he then followed her. While Hibiki and Uta ran for the flag, he himself managed to escape, and Kai made an effort to divert the Morticians. Hibiki and Uta successfully exited the arena and prevailed in the contest with amazing synchronicity.
Bubble Ending Explained: What Is Uta? Did She Really Die?
Uta saved Hibiki during his fall from the tower, and she first appeared in Tokyo in human form. She became enamoured with her surroundings as a result of being charmed by his life. She had been encouraged to take on the human shape in the first place because she wanted to be by Hibiki. She joined their team and trained with them frequently. She learned new movements from Hibiki, along with other useful information. Even more, he showed her his favourite flowers and escorted her to his private location. It had been quiet for Uta up until now. Following the game against the Undertakers, things started to go wrong. Uta lost her arm while assisting Hibiki in reaching the flag and saving him. Her arm was now covered with bubbles. That night, when they had won, Uta’s sister appeared to summon her back to their location while she pondered the condition of her arm. She was jolted out of her daze by Hibiki, but ever since then, the bubbles have appeared to act strangely. The gravitational force was equal to the dominant force. Five years ago, right before the explosions, all the teams were gathering on the ship, getting ready to leave Tokyo, when Uta made the decision that she needed to go back in order to stop the bubbles from injuring them any longer. When Hibiki, with the aid of his companions, arrived at the tower—the starting location of the explosions—to find Uta, she had already entered the vortex and was about to revert to her original form. However, it appeared that Hibiki was attacked by the negative bubbles since he had unintentionally enraged them. Then it is revealed that Uta actually saved Hibiki five years prior, and just like the Little Mermaid, she returned to see him. She was made of bubbles, and because these bubbles could feel human emotions, she had fallen in love with him.
Hibiki took the final jump to prevent Uta from being carried away from him as he approached the vortex, but he was hit by the enraged bubbles and was unable to succeed. Uta noticed him at this point and refused to turn around. Even though she was aware that doing so would cause her to swell into bubbles, she hurried to save him. She assisted in rescuing Hibiki and reverted to bubble form in the process. Hibiki was devastated to lose her.
Tokyo changed back to its normal state after Uta reversed her transformation, and the bubble dome vanished. People started working again and went back to their homes. The teams continued their battles, and a tiny bubble followed Hibiki as he made his rounds, encouraging him along the way. Uta was this tiny bubble. Unlike the Little Mermaid, Uta most likely disintegrated back into her bubble form rather than dying. The bubbles did continue to exist everywhere, but when touched, they appeared to transform into water drops and stopped causing havoc.
Undoubtedly, the story has a deeper meaning; shortly after Uta’s collapse, everything began to make sense again. After she made contact with Hibiki and shielded him from the explosion, the turmoil had just begun. Only over Tokyo, where Hibiki lived, was the dome built. All of these things seem to indicate that Uta and Hibiki’s romance was an oddity that shouldn’t have happened. As a result, the anomaly was eliminated from existence by the bubbles and other natural or external forces. On a lighter note, they did permit Uta to remain in a bubble next to Hibiki.
Tetsuro Araki’s 2022 animated action movie Bubble is animated.
