Bakemono no Ko (バケモノの子) is an award-winning animated movie released last July 2015.  The plot follows a kid, Ren, who ran away from home after his mother died, thinking that his father has abandoned him.  He walked the streets full of anger and hate – until he ran into Kumatetsu. Kumatetsu is one of the top contenders to be the next Grand Master of the Bakemono world. He has a short temper, and a self-centered attitude so nobody wanted to become his disciple.

I won’t be spoiling you any further – but here are my learnings from the movie:

1. When we lose people, we lose a part of our heart. And we try to fill it up however way we can, sometimes with good things like friends and postive things, sometimes, with negative things like hatred, anger and fear.
2. Sometimes, the teacher becomes the student, and the student becomes the teacher.  In the case of Kumatetsu and Ren (or Kyuuta, as he called him), although Ren learned how to be physically strong from Kumatetsu, Kumatetsu learned how to listen, how to care, and how to become a better person in general from Ren.
3. We are puppets of our emotions – if we let that control us, and it’s not that hard to do, we can end up hurting the people around us, even if it’s unintentional.
4. Everyone is struggling – deep inside, we are fighting some form of battle between the heart and the mind.  When you feel down, don’t think that it’s just you – others go through it too, and that’s reason enough for you to continue fighting.

I enjoyed the movie – animation was superb, things were fast-paced and it was interesting all through out. I didn’t like the ending that much though, I found it a bit anti-climactic. You can watch it for yourself, and let me know if it’s just my personal taste.

P.S. If you are in the Philippines, you can catch this movie on the big screen during Eiga Sai this July to August. You can get the screening schedule here.