The Internet Cafe

Old Home

A young girls talks about her upcoming summer vacation over an ocean view, as she gets up she is shown inside an old apartment with other apartment buildings around her. Just below her two construction workers are walking around the area and talking about a ghost that haunts the apartments. The same girl can be seen sleeping on a small wooden table with tears running down her face, a young boy can be seen staring at the apartments from a nearby balcony later that day. He narrates briefly about the buildings history, more specifically his time living there with his friend Natsume.

He messages Natsume about not visiting their grandpa's place and asks her to come back to soccer practice before being startled by his mom calling him in for dinner. A few opening shots of the two kids, from a few years ago, running to the apartment building shows as the area reverts back 10 years ago then fades back to the present day.

The next day, both kids are in class as the teacher tells everyone to enjoy their summer break. On her way-out Natsume bumps into another girl, who we find out is called Reina, but gets shrugged off as Reina asks Kousuke to join her on a family trip to Florida only to be interrupted by Kousuke's friends, Youzuru and Taishi, who ask him to join their summer research project in the old "haunted apartments". Natsume advises against it since it's due to be destroyed soon. Raina and Taishi argue over who gets Kousuke which infuriates him, he gets up and runs out as his friends run after him. The trio talk about soccer practice on the way home then the scene shifts to Natsume returning home to her mom, they have a small conversation then Natsume leaves.

Kousuke brings food to his grandfathers memorial shrine then leaves after finishing his plate, he reads messages from his friends who still plan on visiting the old apartments. The next scene shows a crack forming on the same wall on the apartment shown the night before. The next day, the trio meet up outside a construction area around the apartment to sneak in past the same scared construction worker from the start. After checking all the other apartments that were locked they walk up to Kousuke's old apartment which was unlocked, they walk up to Kousuke's grandfathers apartment just below his and find Natsume sleeping in the closet after a quick look around.

Taishi calls out to her which prompts her to ask "Noppo?", the friends question her about who Nappo is and she takes them to the roof as she explains he lives in the apartment. Showing them a small tent that she built for Noppo there's no one in sight, Kousuke tells her to drop the act and the two start arguing. Just then Reina, her friend from school, and two other girls are walking down the street as brags about her upcoming trip. The friends point out the group on the roof and after realizing Kousuke is there Reina's friend Juri, encourages her to go up and ask him to the trip again, which she reluctantly does. Getting to the rooftop she sees the ongoing argument and starts an argument with Natsume that makes a camera drop which Kousuke recognizes as his grandfather's, he takes it from her as rain begins to fall and tells her to not interfere with peoples lives.

Hurt by his words, she grabs the camera and starts runs away, climbing onto a chimney as a young slender boy is shown hugging his feet just below the entrance ladder. Natsume slips but is caught by Kousuke, reaching for her other hand she slips again as time slows down and heavy rainfall covers the entire area.

A Drifting Home!

The rain clears and the building is shown floating in an endless ocean, Natsume swims to the surface and climbs onto the stairs as the others make their way to her. They take a moment to question the situation when the two girls call the others back up due to an oncoming "ship". As the building floats by and out of sight they all check their phones but find no cell service, the others question where they are and Taishi says "A drifting home!". Reina blames Natsume for their situation and Kousuke stops her, while leaving the group, Natsume finds the same slender boy in the apartment below.

In an attempt to make sense of it, Reina suggest that their on a prank tv show and that any moment someone will come out to prank them but Kousuke gets annoyed and says it's not a prank. Some time passes by and they've tried sending out an S.O.S signal on the roof and radio call for help on a walkie talkie that Taishi brought. At dawn the exhausted group walk downstairs where they bump into the slender boy coming out of one of the rooms, believing this to be the ghost they scream and run away as he calls for them to wait in a soft subtle voice. They lock themselves in the apartment below and loop around onto the next door apartment from the balcony and run upstairs where Yuzuku, Taishi and Kousuke are startled to see Natsume next to a handmade furnace boiling water, Reina soon meets up but is startled when the slender boy reaches from behind and grabs her shoulder which causes her to faint.

Natsume explains that the slender boy is Noppo and shows them her stored rations of snacks and drinks, she also confesses that she's been drifting at sea before but always wakes up back home. Seeing the camera nearby, Kousuke calls her delusional and starts another argument as his friends try to calm him down then he leaves to sleep alone in the tent on the roof. The following morning they wake up still afloat.

Mending Wounds

Over the next few days they run out food and begin fishing while Kousuke takes note of the different buildings that pass by. One night they share the last of the food with everyone and Reina breaks down, expressing her doubt about this being a dream since they feel hunger, their phones have not gotten service and no matter how long they wait they don't wake up back home.

Natsume tries to reassure her but gets told off, Noppo brings Kousuke his share and accidentally scares him. Seeing a drawing Kousuke has, Noppo asks what it is and Kousuke shares that it's a plan to attach a rope to the next nearby building so he can zipline across to scavenge for more food, Noppo expresses that his impressed with the plan and tells Kousuke that Natsume needs him to help keep everyone calm.

Next morning Natsume sees Kousuke putting his plan into action and runs to help him. Crashing into the roof Kousuke succeeded in the first half of his plan then begins looking around, moments later he is scared when a Natsume appears in one of the doorways. After meeting up the two search the building and find a vending machine upstairs, walking along fallen boxes, Natsume trips onto a picture frame cutting her knee and she slams into the side of a table. Kousuke bandages her knee and tries breaking the vending machine glass with heavy objects while confessing his frustration with her, this prompts her to help him while confessing her frustration with him. They push a trolly at the glass which manages to crack it but it wasn't enough, that moment they hear the friends call out to them since the buildings are drifting apart, they hear a noise behind them and turn around to see an emergency back on the counter as footsteps fade in the background.

Using the rope, they swim back and share what they got from the bad. After a few compliments to Natsume she gives all the glory to Kousuke and invites him to sleep with the group which he accepts. Taishi tells the group he found "something" while on the roof and they head up to spot an island in the distance, everyone cheers since they believe it's their home. Walking down the stairs, Natsume confesses the camera was a gift from his grandfather and her for his birthday and apologizes for coming in-between them since she isn't family. He runs away from embarrassment after failing to confess something. A small montage shows everyone surviving for a few more days

Bad Memories

One night while going to use the bathroom Kousuke sees green grass growing on Noppo's hand. The next morning while everyone's talking and eating, Kousuke asks Noppo what he is and tells the others about what he saw the night before and that he's never seen Noppo around the building when he still lived there. Noppo confesses that he's been here since the building was first constructed then shows everyone small plants and grass growing on his arm. They ask him to explain why they're all at sea but Noppo say's he knows only about himself, Natsume defends him but Reina blames them both, before saying anything more she is stopped when Juri yells at her. Taishi walks up to Noppo and pinches his face to see if he feels pain, which he replies that he does, after saying that he accepts Noppo everyone slowly does the same except Reina.

Kousuke and Natsume are seen walking down a hospital hallway and talking about grandpa Yasuji, they stop Infront of his room door and in an attempt to make her feel better Kousuke says "he's not your grandpa anyway, so don't be scared" which shocks her to hear. She sadly agrees with him then runs away, leaving him confused. Yasuji then opens the door and tells Kousuke to hurry and apologize to Natsume which makes him begin to chase after her as his grandfather collapses to the floor.

Kousuke then wakes up while Noppo asks Natsume about the stuffed toy she always kept inside the tent, she explains that grandpa Yasuji got it for her birthday and that he was like a father to her. Nearby Reina and her friends are picking leaves and Reina talks about the amusement park that she's supposed to be at, after Juri expresses her admiration for her fondness of amusement parks Reina says that all of her memories are from there which Juri compares to Natsume's attachment to the apartment building. The girls make up and promises to get stronger together.

Kosuke spots a large building floating towards them, he is joined by Natsume and Noppo as they sail towards it on a makeshift raft, making their way inside they follow the sounds of footsteps heard in the distance. Natsume sees the spot where she first saw the stuff toy that Yasuji bought her, she expresses her hatred for the store because of the fight her parents had when she was a little girl in the same place.

The two buildings crash into each other as more arrive due to the crashing waves and as the trio begin to leave, a vision of a little girl crying starts to appear stopping Natsume in place. Kousuke pull her out of her daze and they signal for their friends to pull them back as they get onto the raft. While on the roof Taishi gets knocked off due to the colliding buildings but manages to hang onto the ledge, Juri and Reina rush up to pull him to safety leaving Yuzuru to pull the rope. Juri falls through the floor at the edge of the building, barely manages to hold onto the broken floor of the apartment below. Natsume yells for Yuzuru to swing them to wards Juri, which he does, and she begins to climb up the broken floors. Juri loses her grip and falls heavily onto the floor below and almost slides off into the ocean but was saved by Natsume who swung her into one of the broken apartments.

Natsume's hand gets cut on the broken metal that she was holding onto, causing her to fall into the sea. Seeing this Kousuke immediately jumps in to save her, Black sand rises from the depths and consumes the broken pieces of building as gets a hold of Natsume's shoe but was saved by Kousuke and Noppo. Noppo loses his left foot in the process.

At night Juri is resting with Reina beside her, Natsume accidentally spills water on Juris shirt while trying to bring some for Reina and in a blind rage Reina blames Natsume for Juris injuries causing her to leave. While Natsume cries on the balcony, Kousuke tries cheering her up on the adjacent balcony by pretending to be the stuff toy. After talking for a bit flashbacks appear of Natsume's family breakup which led to her meeting young Kousuke and Yasuji for the first time, she blames herself for everything and Kousuke confesses that he knew about her family situation but chose not to talk to her about it. Just then debris from other buildings hit the apartment as the sky turns blue with the same mist as when they were in the previous building.

The Storm Before The Calm

The next morning Yuzuru wakes everyone because of the mass flooding in the below apartments, they search for everyone and find Noppo alone on the roof covered in more grass and small plants. He shares his memories with them using the same blue lights and shows them the memories of him watching over Natsume, Kousuke and their grandfather living together until the day the got older and left. He says that he doesn't know how to get them back but feels like it's his fault that they're here, Juri climbs up seemingly all healed besides a slight headache and most of the group hug her in relief.

Wasting no time they begin to build a large raft out of sinks and tubs connected by wires and planks, Natsume tries to convince the group to let Noppo join but Kousuke declines. Taking a final search Kousuke finds Natsume carrying an extra sink for Noppo to use, he tries to apologize to her but she ignores him and leaves. They rest for a bit before waking up to the top floor, where they are, being slowly submerged and rush to pack the rest of the supplies into the raft. They all get onboard except for Natsume and Noppo, she turns to tell him that he can join but gets pushed into the raft by him and he kicks them away from the sinking building. Not wanting to lose anyone else Natsume jumps into the raging sea and swims back to him, meanwhile Kousuke tries to swim back to get her but the storm pulls him under, he gets saved by Yuzuru and the rest of the group try to hold him down as he pleads for them to go back for Natsume.

after a moment the water glows blue and they all turn around to see their families waiting for them, Kousuke sees Natsume's mom but since she isn't there he tries going back to her and the friends hold him again. An abandoned ferries wheel floats by and Reina recognizes it.

Noppo and Natsume talk while holding onto the rooftop as waves crash into them. She hears Kousuke's voice in the distance calling out to her as the ferries wheel comes out of the fog, Yuzuru throws a rope across that latches onto the building so Kousuke can zipline across. Reina loses her balance and almost falls into the sea but was saved by a mysterious girl who has the same grass and small plants growing out of her.

After attaching a wire to some areas of the building Kousuke and Natsume get into a fight over why he came back, after telling her that he cant leave without her they embrace. As the Ferris wheel passe by they hold onto the building as the wires pull it out of the sea, moments after the wires begin to snap and the rest of the group try tying it to the support beams. One of the wires snaps and injures the girl as she pushes Reina out of the way, the apartment building glides along the huge waves with the momentum gained and the three friends help each other stay on as the building crashes into the ocean. They slowly begin getting consumed by the black sand as Noppo realizes what he has to do.

Acceptance

Realizing that he needs accept losing them in order to let them escape the blue lights begin to emerge and carry the building out of the depths. The screen fades to black and slowly shows the three of them arriving at the island they thought was home, but turns out to be a large collection of buildings that have crashed onto a large land area. The rest of the group slowly arrive and they begin to sail over, Reina talks to the girl that saved her and finds out that just like Noppo with Natsume and Kousuke, she has watched over Reina every time she visited the amusement park with he family. They say fare well as the ferries wheel drifts away, the group reunites and sees a young boy emerge from the first building that Kosuke and Natsume entered. Noppo explains that just like him the boy belongs to the building he came out of and only those like him can enter the land, they say a teary goodbye as the blue lights carry the building back in the opposite direction.

Drifting away is an animated film about the 7 stages of grief. Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, Guilt, Upward turn, Reconstruction, and Acceptance.

At the start of the movie Natsume is in the first stage of denial when she frequently visits the abandoned apartments even though they are due to be destroyed soon, she doesn't want to let go of her precious memories that she made there as a kid.

Kousuke however is in stage two, anger. He blames Natsume for taking him away from his grandfathers final moments and possibly his death since his grandfathers dying words were for him to apologize to her. He also gets angry at her for almost everything she does, especially keeping everything to herself and never asking for help.

the reason she never asks for help is due to the constant fighting of her parents that eventually lead to them splitting up and Natsume being taken in by Kousuke's grandfather.

"No matter how much I cried nothing would change and everything would break apart" Natsume.

Hense she begins to act like an adult in hopes to not have to lose anyone else.

The third stage begins when they get transported to the endless sea, no matter how long they wait Natsume remains confident that they'll return home despite the growing concern on her face as time pass by. It's also somewhat symbolized by the fact she keeps certain items from the old home like the camera for Kousuke and the stuffed toy that Yasuji bought her, refusing to part with either item.

The fourth stage remains throughout most of the movie and is mixed in with guilt as Natsume constantly blames herself for all the misfortune that happens, from her parents breakup to Kousuke's grandfather passing away to them being stranded in the middle of an open sea, even though she had no control over any of those situations.

And I'm sure a lot of people can relate to that, if something goes wrong you believe it was because of you and then you begin to take the blame for things that may not have had anything to do with you.

Depression is also the hardest stage to come out of which is shown by how long it takes until they return home.

Upward turn is mainly shown with Noppo when he finally realizes that in order to get them home he has to face the fact that they have to move on without him. Which ironically in the movie, when he realizes this the building takes an upward turn out of the sea.

reconstruction is visually shown after the buildings were knocked down and a new one began construction. In the metaphorical sense it happens whenever Kousuke and Natsume argue and finally confess their frustrations and reasonings for everything that happened after Kousuke's grandfather passed away, each time they tear down the broken past a new path into the future or their friendship is constructed.

The final stage acceptance is shown when Natsume says goodbye to Noppo before they leave, accepting that you have to lose people in order to move on forward and it's not always a sad moment as she is seen smiling while they all wave goodbye.

To me the film isn't a particularly sad one, it touching on something that everyone has to accept when growing up.

At first I thought the endless sea was similar to the land of the dead commonly shown in Hispanic culture but realized it's possible a place of it's own somewhere in between the afterlife and the human world. As they leave the flooding apartments and see an image of their parents waiting for them we know that they can return back to normal, but when Kousuke sees Natsume's mom he realizes that she wont be there with them if they do return, this is proven when he turns to face the opposite direction and sees her disappearing into the black sand.

The endless sea itself acts as sort of an outlet of emotions. At the start it's calm but every time they talk about Yasuji's passing or Natsume's parents leaving her behind the sea begins to get more violent.

Noppo was possibly created when the first group of residents came into the apartment and someone grew an attachment to the building, in the Japanese Shinto beliefs around notions of animism it is said that a soul “reikon” lives within all existence (everyday objects). So I assume just like Natsume, someone had a strong attachment to the building which gave him a spirit or perhaps when the building was finally constructed his soul came to be, this is shown throughout all the other buildings as well (public pool, store, ferris wheel).

Shipwreck to shipwreck?

The movie begins with an unnamed man fighting to stay afloat and get back to his small boat during a dangerous ocean storm, after a brief black screen we see him washed ashore onto a bamboo forested tropical island far from any civilization. After searching inland for fresh water and fruits he began searching the outer parts and spots a floating barrel in the ocean, making his way to it from the top of a cliff he slips and falls into an enclosed cave, thinking fast he spots an opening just big enough underwater and manages to slip through but when he inspects the barrel it breaks.

He then gathers fallen bamboo to start working on a raft, at night he spots a group of baby sea turtles making their way to the ocean, after dreaming of flying across a bridge stretched across the ocean he wakes up and begins constructing the raft and a boat ramp to move it into the water. While resting and eating he feeds a small group of crabs then gathers more food and sets sail while the crabs watch, his raft is soon broken by an unknown creature, and he is forced to swim back to the island where the crabs seem to greet him.

He immediately starts working on another raft until the sounds of cicadas suddenly stop, he heads to the beach only to find that there's nothing there and the sound of the cicadas return. Some time passes, as seen by him now having facial hair, he sets sail again on a raft twice as big only to be met with the same fate. After living on the island for what appears to be months, giving the state of his clothing, he is woken one night by the sound of a quartet (a 4-man orchestra) but upon closer inspection they disappear then reappear at a different location to only disappear again.

The following morning, while working on a third raft he spots a dead sea lion which was briefly shown the day he arrived. Making customized pants from the fur he sets sail on his biggest raft yet equipped with two sails and a bamboo spear, after his raft is attacked and broken by the same creature, he finally meets it face to face, a red sea turtle almost three times his size. After identifying him as a non-thread it leaves, and the man is once again forced to swim back to the island.

The Red-Haired Woman

After expressing his frustration in the forest he spots the same turtle coming onto land, with rage in his eyes he rushes to it and hits it on the head with a peace of bamboo then flips it onto its back. Later that day he is building another raft while the turtle lays in the scorching sun unable to move, that night after realizing what he's done he desperately tries to flip it over then splashes sea water onto its face. He sleeps besides it and wakes up to look around the beach but when he looks back he's in shock to see a red hair woman inside of the turtle shell, he makes sure he isn't dreaming then rushes to give her fresh water and builds a small shelter to protect her from the sun.

The next day he realizes her shelter isn't enough to keep the rain from passing through the leaves so he heads inland to gather more but upon return the woman is no longer there. After the day passes the woman, now in the ocean, watches him sleep at the edge of the shore. Realizing he has no clothes he drops his tunic and wait in the forest for a moment then walks out only to find her casting her broken shell into the ocean, seeing this he hesitantly casts his unfinished raft into the ocean then sinks into the water for a swim.

She soon joins him and the two seemingly embrace for a moment. Getting out, they sit on the sands of the lagoon where he reflects on his previous outrage while she opens oysters, tracing her fingers down his face they both walk back to the island where they embrace and eventually kiss.

New Life

The movie introduces their newborn boy who finds a glass flask washed up near the rocks, the parents begin to draw in the sand with the dad drawings caveman fighting mammoths and the mom drawing a turtle. The scene shifts to the family picking plants near the same cave entrance at the start with the son falling into it this time where shortly after he learns to swim, after the mom instructs him to swim underneath he passes through the same opening his dad did, exiting the cave he meets a small green sea turtle who just looks at him for a moment before his dad swims to get him.

A few years later the son, now a teenager, is now swimming with two green sea turtles for a short time. The scene moves to the whole family gathering oysters in hand crafted baskets, the son heads inland while the parents stay on the lagoon but suddenly notice the seagulls acting strangely. Noticing the water in the lagoon has cleared, the mom then looks out at the ocean only to see a huge tidal wave heading their way, meanwhile the son notices the sounds of cicadas has stopped and heads back to the beach only to be forced back when the tsunami reaches the shoreline, all while the parents desperately run to the island.

After surviving, the son climbs out of the fallen bamboo and searches the island for his parents, he finds his mom passes out in a ditch with an injured leg but no signs of his dad. His mom signals that he was taken by the current into the ocean and after hugging her he sets out to find his dad with the help of his now three turtle friends. An entire day passes when he finally catches a glimpse of his dad hanging on to a peace of baboo for dare life but soon falls into the ocean due to exhaustion, the turtles help keep him from sinking and the son pulls him above the surface where the turtles help them back to the island.

Finally reaching the shore they are greeted by the mom with a hug finally united after a few days, they clear the broken bamboo and build a huge pile where they then burn it at night. Several years later the son, now a young man with facial hair, dreams of the ocean creating a giant wall around the island. Taking time to walk around the island and think about what he just dreamt he is spotted by his dad but wasn't followed. At the end of the following day he sits next to his parents where they silently understand that he wants to leave, they spend the final night sleeping together as a family and the parents see him off the next day where he swims out into the ocean with his turtle friends.

The Rest Of Our Lives

This animated movie directed by Micheal Dudok De Wit was co-produced by studio Ghibli and Wild Bunch in 2016, this is a France and Japan based masterpiece that depicts a few things, with a cast consisted of only 5 voice actors (three for the son throughout his life stages and one each for the parent).

It heavily focuses on the circle of life as throughout the film we slowly see our main character (the man) live out his life on the island as well as the stages of growth in the son but also shows how short sighted humans can be as well as showing the beauty of nature.

In my opinion this movies is beautiful, the fact that there's only one word of dialogue throughout its entirety "hey" makes you more emersed while the surrounding sounds make you feel like you're there in that moment with them. there's also the crabs which I believe act as a form of comedic relief as they don't really seem to do much besides play around and give the viewers something to smile and chuckle at.

In Japanese beliefs the turtle or tortoise is a symbol of longevity or immortality which is shown as the man lives his entire life until he dies of old age and the woman returns to her original form and returns to the ocean. She may possibly be immortal herself as she never seemed to show signs of weakness at an old age, her hair turning into white may be to mirror the man's so that he isn't awake that she will outlive him but I'm not sure.

The man also almost immediately starts working on building a raft to head back to civilization without even thinking about the long term like how far he would have to travel and the possibility of having to spend his life on the island.

There were a few things left unanswered like:

Who was the man before the island

How did he get stranded in the ocean

Why did the turtle not allow him to leave

Was it real or a dream

What happened to the son

How did they start the fire on a deserted island

But somehow having unanswered questions makes the movie even more interesting, to me this movie will always be a favorite of mine mainly because of how minimal it is. There's not a complicated plot, the characters are likable, the little crabs always make me smile despite the sad meaning behind the movie, but the things I love the most are the animation style and scenery designs. It really takes "there is beauty in simplicity" to a new level.