Line #52 Anime/ALetterToMomo


1	%%
2	%%
3	%% Zero Context Examples are not allowed on wiki pages. All such entries have been commented out. Add context to the entries before uncommenting them.
4	%%
5	%%
6
7	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_81jdaqhw0pl_sl1500.jpg]]
8
9	''A Letter to Momo'' is a 2011 anime film written and directed by Hiroyuki Okiura and produced by Creator/ProductionIG. Okiura was previously responsible for ''Anime/JinRohTheWolfBrigade'', but as this film was ''not'' scripted by Mamoru Oshii, it is much easier to understand.
10
11	Momo Miyaura (Karen Miyama) is an 11-year old girl who has recently moved to her mother Ikuko's (Yuka) hometown on a small island in Japan's Inland Sea. She and her mother are in mourning after an accident that killed her oceanographer father Kazuo (Daizaburo Arakawa), whose last words to her were the words "Dear Momo," the beginning of a letter he was not able to finish. Soon after she moves in, she realises she is being followed by three {{youkai}} (goblins); previous gods sent to Earth to watch over the living in order to atone for their crimes.
12
13	The film also stars Toshiyuki Nishida as Iwa, Creator/KoichiYamadera as Kawa and Creator/{{Cho}} as Mame.
14
15	''A Letter to Momo'' debuted at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival, and has also been shown at other film festivals in various cities worldwide, including Honolulu (USA), Glasgow (UK), Sitges (Spain), Warsaw (Poland), and Busan (S. Korea).
16
17	----
18	!!This film provides examples of:
19
20	* AnimalMotifs: Kawa has the most resemblance to a frog.
21	* TheAtoner:
22	** All the goblins are on earth as punishment because they broke rules as gods.
23	** Momo herself decides to make up for what she said to Kazuo [[spoiler:and Ikuko]].
24	* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: While calling out Kazuo for not attending the Vienna Boys Choir concert, Momo tells him she doesn't care if he comes back. Moments later, Kazuo dies during his research project.
25	* BigDamnHeroes: The goblins help Momo and Koichi [[spoiler:cross the bridge to search for a doctor to heal Ikuko's asthma problems]].
26	* BigEater: The three banished goblins.
27	* BigHeroicRun: Towards the end of the film, [[spoiler:Momo and Koichi have to go across the bridge with the goblins' help to save Ikuko's life]].
28	* BigThinShortTrio: Big Iwa, Thin Kawa, and Short Mame.
29	* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Ikuko is saved from her asthma attack and she and Momo make up for their earlier argument. Momo finally knows what her father wanted to write in his letter to her. But Momo must bid farewell to the trio, but thanks them for all they have done.]]
30	* BreakUpMakeUpScenario: Momo [[spoiler:runs away from her house during her argument with Ikuko]]. But when Ikuko [[spoiler:suffers an asthma attack, Momo rushes her to a doctor and they reconcile after everything is said and done]].
31	* ButNowIMustGo: [[spoiler: The trio have to leave at the end and bid farewell to Momo.]]
32	* CallingTheOldManOut: Momo calls out her parents at different points in the film and they both lead to tragic results.
33	** Momo calls Kazuo out on not coming to see the Vienna Boys Choir concert with her and Ikuko before his death.
34	** By the end of the film, Momo calls Ikuko out [[spoiler:for forgetting about Kazuo (or so she thinks)]] before she pulls a "ScrewThisImOuttaHere" moment.
35	* CannotSpitItOut: Ikuko tells Momo that while her husband could write an excellent research paper, he was at a complete lost when it came to writing his feelings.
36	* ChekhovsGunman: The spirit friends that are seen around Mame come back to help [[spoiler:Momo find a doctor for her sick mother during the storm]].
37	* ChildhoodFriendRomance: Koichi is implied to be the Unlucky one for Ikuko, it is mentioned that they were close childhood friends and that Ikuko is still very special for him.
38	* CloudCuckoolander: Mame's not all there. Umi, too, if her big brother is to be believed.
39	%%* ComicTrio
40	%%* ComingOfAgeStory
41	* DaydreamBeliever: Iwa and Kawa spin a tale to Momo about being trapped in a book for thousands of years, and now she's awakened them. Mame ends up believing it too because he forgot his own past.
42	* DeathByOriginStory: Kazuo Miyaura dies years before the story begins.
43	* DisappearedDad: Kazuo's death is what kicks off the whole plot.
44	* DoesNotLikeSpam: Kawa doesn't like fish because it makes him gassy.
45	* DrivingQuestion: What was supposed to be on that letter?
46	* DueToTheDead: At the end of the film, [[spoiler:the local Seto Island residents float paper lanterns down the ocean in remembrance of the kin who were lost over the years. Among them are Yota and Momo's distant relatives]].
47	* TheExile: The goblins on earth are exiled because they broke rules while serving as gods.
48	* {{Expy}}: Mame is more-or-less an anime version of [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings Gollum]]. They even share a voice actor in Japanese.
49	* ExtremelyProtectiveChild: At the end of the film, [[spoiler:Momo]] runs out into a worsening storm to help get [[spoiler:Ikuko]] to the hospital.
50	* {{Fartillery}}: One of Kawa's attempts at trying to stop a boar from saving its children that he is about to eat.
51	* HeroicBSOD:
52	** Momo has a prolonged one at the beginning when Kazuo dies.
53	** Momo enters one of these again [[spoiler:after her argument with Ikuko]]. It only takes [[spoiler:Momo realizing that Ikuko is having an asthma attack and her looking at the photos of Ikuko and Kazuo]] to finally snap her out of it.
54	* HeroicBystander: [[spoiler:Koichi and the goblins who help Momo during the climax]].
55	* InnocentlyInsensitive: Yota mentions to Momo how his father and the other fathers would sail the straw boats, unaware that Momo's father is dead until Momo explains to him about it.
56	* InvisibleToNormals: The goblins are only visible to Momo because they hit her when they fell from the sky. Umi sees them, too, but it's not explained why.
57	* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Even with their annoying personalities, Iwa and Kawa prove not to be totally heartless.
58	* KidWithTheLeash: Momo, once she get a hold the pass.
59	* LooksLikeOrlok: Mame. Bald check, pointy ears check, sharp teeth check. But he's a good guy.
60	* MamaBear:
61	** The two boars (one a mother) chase Iwa, Kawa, and Momo because the former two kidnapped their babies.
62	** Ikuko goes out into a storm to look for [[spoiler:Momo]].
63	* TheMourningAfter: At the beginning, Momo is still in grief over Kazuo's death.
64	* MyGodWhatHaveIDone:
65	** Momo has one when Kazuo died, especially after they had an argument.
66	** Ikuko when [[spoiler:she realizes how harsh she was during her and Momo's argument]].
67	** When Momo returns to her home, she realizes that [[spoiler:her argument with Ikuko caused the latter to suffer an asthma attack]]. It spurns her into [[spoiler:searching for a doctor to heal her mother]].
68	* NiceGuy:
69	** Mame is the least {{Jerkass}} member of the trio of goblins.
70	** Yota is quite laid back and sensitive.
71	** Kazuo, Momo's deceased father, was described as "one of the rare good ones".
72	* NoAntagonist: There's no main villain against Momo in the story.
73	* OurGoblinsAreDifferent: The youkai in the story resemble goblins, and are called as such in the official translations.
74	* OutlivingOnesOffspring:
75	** Ikuko secretly can't hold herself together ever since Kazuo's death.
76	** Towards the end of the film, Ikuko has to deal with the aftermath of [[spoiler:Momo]] running off after a huge disagreement, [[spoiler:exacerbated by her asthma problems]].
77	* PapaWolf: The two boars (one a father) chase Iwa, Kawa, and Momo because the former two kidnapped their babies.
78	* PartingWordsRegret:
79	** Before Kazuo's death, Momo tells him she doesn't care if he comes back. She is so guilt-ridden over it.
80	** Towards the end of the film, [[spoiler:Momo regrets the last things she said to Ikuko when she realizes that their argument caused Ikuko to suffer an asthma attack]]. Then, [[spoiler:Ikuko and Momo reconcile after everything is said and done]].
81	* PetTheDog: At the end of the film, [[spoiler:Momo takes Ikuko to the hospital for her asthma and they eventually reconcile]].
82	* PinkMeansFeminine: Momo often wears a pink shirt and fittingly enough, her name is Japanese for pink.
83	* PlotTriggeringDeath: Kazuo's fatal boating accident kicks off the film's plot.
84	* PosthumousCharacter: Momo's father Kazuo is dead by the time the film starts.
85	* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Momo gives a brutal one to Ikuko [[spoiler:during their argument, thinking that she didn't care about Momo or Kazuo after his death]]. Later, it turns into a PartingWordsRegret.
86	* ShipTease: Yota appears to have crush on Momo.
87	%%* ShrinkingViolet: Momo, at first.
88	* SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan: {{Implied}}. Kazuo, Momo's father and Ikuko's husband, was described as a good, kind man.
89	* SmartPeopleWearGlasses: Kazuo wore them when he was alive and was in career involving doing research papers, and Ikuko stated he wrote excellent ones.
90	* StepfordSmiler: Momo's mother Ikuko keeps everything bottled up. [[spoiler:This comes back ''hard'' on her when Momo inadvertently causes her to have an asthma attack after their argument.]]
91	* SuperSpeed: Iwa can run really fast.
92	* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome:
93	** After Kazuo dies, Ikuko has to return to her home on the Seto Island Sea, taking Momo with her.
94	** The goblins' kidnapping of the boars' babies causes ''them'' to be chased by the boars.
95	** At the end of the film, [[spoiler:the stress of keeping her true feelings bottled up as well as realizing how harsh she was to Momo after the latter runs off into a worsening storm both cause Ikuko to suffer a severe asthma attack. And when she has to find her daughter later on, her asthma problems worsen]].
96	* ThisIsSomethingShesGotToDoHerself: At the end of the film, [[spoiler:Momo asks the goblins to help save Ikuko, but decides to go it alone when they decline her help.]]
97	* TragicKeepsake: Kazuo gave Ikuko a mirror when they were dating. [[spoiler:Kawa accidentally breaks it.]]
98	%%* UrbanFantasy
99	* WasTooHardOnHer: Ikuko admits that she went overboard after [[spoiler:her argument with Momo causes the latter to run off]].
100	* {{Youkai}}: The story features the three goblins sent to Earth to watch over Momo, there are also others living in the forest. [[spoiler:[[BigDamnHeroes They all come together near the end]] to help Momo.]]
101	* YouCanSeeMe: The goblins get the shock of their lives when they realize Momo is ''staring right at them''.
102

Context Anime / ALetterToMomo