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aka: Animal Crossing

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Also known by its Japanese title, Gekijōban Dōbutsu no Mori (as well as Animal Forest or simply Animal Crossing), Animal Crossing: The Movie is an anime movie loosely based on the Animal Crossing video game franchise (more specifically, Animal Crossing: Wild World). Since plot isn't exactly the original games' strong point, the movie takes an appropriately Slice of Life approach to the source material. While the original was never released outside of Japan, there are multiple fan translations, both subtitled and dubbed. In 2020, the film was rebroadcast in Japan to commemorate the release of Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

The movie begins in spring and follows Ai, a young girl moving to the town of Animal Village. As she settles into town, she gets to know the locals. She quickly befriends several of them: Rosie the cat (Bouquet in Japanese), Alfonso the alligator (Albert), Margie the elephant (Sally), and Yu, a human from a different town who visits often. Margie especially becomes Ai's closest friend, after they bond over cherries. Margie even shares with Ai her dream of becoming a famous fashion designer. In the coming months, they go to festivals, annoy (and get annoyed by) Yu and Alfonso, and get wrapped up in an unusual mystery involving bottled letters, and special spots in town...

There's more to it than that, but everything that happens in autumn and beyond is somewhat... less cute and happy. Will Ai and her friends solve the mystery of the bottled letters? But more importantly, will Ai be able to stay happy living in Animal Village?

For convenience's sake, this page will use the English names of characters from the games.


This film contains examples of:

  • 2D Visuals, 3D Effects: The film is mostly 2D animated throughout, but some minor effects are 3D animated, most noticeably Kapp'n's taxi and the flying saucers at the end.
  • Adaptation Personality Change:
    • Whitney is a snooty villager in the games. Snooty villagers often act like jerks and are self centered. Whitney in the movie is significantly nicer than in the games, though she seems cold and aloof.
    • Like Whitney, Apollo is also more aloof and quiet in the film. In the games, he's a cranky villager (essentially the male version of snooty). Cesar and Cyrano, two other cranky villagers who appear in the film, are much closer to their game counterparts.
    • Margie is a normal villager in the games. Despite their name, they're anything but in Wild World, which the movie is based on. They're odd and neurotic animals who are friends with a mop. Margie in the movie is calm and into fashion.
  • The Anime of the Game: An interesting case in that the original game was rather light on plot, so the film creates its own story instead.
  • Arc Words: "Life's a lot like cherry pie..."
  • Ascended Extra: All the "villager" type townspeople, but especially Rosie, Margie, and Alfonso. In the games, they're just a few townspeople out of over a hundred. They're central characters here.
  • Authority in Name Only: Tortimer, in a sense. He's a huge egotist and constantly worries about the results of the upcoming election (of which he's the only candidate), but he doesn't actually perform any mayoral duties. In fact, it's revealed at the end of the film that the election had only one ballot; Tortimer, who voted for himself.
  • Big Eater: As with most "lazy" villagers, Alfonso is one. He ordered five hundred pies from Tom Nook!
  • Book Ends: The movie both begins and ends in spring, going through the year in between.
  • The Cameo: During the summer festival, several characters from the games make non-speaking cameos. Katie, Kaitlyn, Lyle, and Dr. Shrunk are in attendance at K.K. Slider's concert, Timmy and Tommy are running booths, Katrina's tent can be seen, and Saharah is admiring Redd's wares.
  • Demoted to Extra: Rather important characters in the games — like Tom Nook, Pelly, and Blathers — don't have much of a presence here, as the film focuses more on the ordinary villagers. K.K. Slider, who's by far one of the game's most prominent characters, only shows up during the festival scene (he pops up again during the credits, but only in a montage).
  • Defrosting Ice Queen: Whitney. She especially warms up to Ai when Margie moves away, and Ai is clearly distraught.
  • Double Take: Ai delivering her order for Alfonso:
    Ai: "Thank you for leaving your order of five hundred pies up to—" [gasps, checks the receipt] "Five hundred pies?!"
  • Drama Bomb: Margie just up and moving, telling everyone except for Ai, causes a noticeably somber shift in the narrative. This is true to how the games work, too.
  • Dub Name Change: Fan translations vary between using the English names from the games or translating the Japanese names literally.
  • Foreshadowing: During Rosie's introduction, she incorrectly assumes that Ai "ran away from her hometown to heal her broken heart". This is more or less what Margie does later in the movie.
  • Funny Animal: The point of the series is that you're a Token Human living amongst anthropomorphic animals. The same applies here.
  • Genki Girl: Rosie. Goodness gracious. Her first scene has her dance around her front yard and ask Ai if she's single!
  • Good-Times Montage: One near the beginning while transitioning from spring to summer. There's a sad one when Ai realizes Margie is gone.
  • Honorable Elephant: Margie is very calm, reasonable, and soft-spoken, contrasting with the more inexperienced Ai and the more energetic Rosie.
  • Ill-Fated Flowerbed: Apollo has a patch of blue roses in his front yard. Much like in the game, they're a rare and fragile breed, and Ai tramples over them when Yu causes her to trip and drop a heavy package she was carrying.
  • Insufferable Genius: Blathers goes on lengthy speeches about the exhibits on display at the museum, which the other characters tune out for their own sanity. His facts are mostly accurate, but he goofs by calling the Seismosaurus the largest animal ever; the Seismosaurus was also later found to actually be a Diplodocus, which is sixth on the length scale of dinosaurs and tenth in weight scale. (One of the fan translations acknowledges this by having Blathers correctly identify it as a Diplodocus, though it otherwise leaves the dialogue untouched.)
  • Interspecies Romance: Rosie mentions it's rumored Whitney (a wolf) and Apollo (an eagle) used to be a couple. It's more or less confirmed after Whitney consoles Ai at the Roost.
  • Irony: Despite being a crocodile, Alfonso cannot swim.
  • Keet: Yu is always taking up a different costume and hobby every time he appears, and never seems to run out of enthusiasm. Ai finds herself quite exasperated by this.
  • Leitmotif: Margie is associated with K.K. Bossa, a song from the games. Apollo, similarly, is associated with Soulful K.K.
  • Meaningful Name: At least in English. The only human characters, and thus the ones who represent the player(s) from the game, are named Ai and Yu, which in English sounds like "I" and "you".
  • Minor Living Alone: Ai moves to Animal Village alone and lives in her own house, away from her parents. It's unclear how old she's supposed to be, as in the games, but the film particularly emphasizes her youth and naivete. The same applies to her neighbors, all of whom are of Vague Age (other than the cranky and snooty villagers being implicitly older than the rest).
  • Moving Angst: Inverted and played straight. Ai finds out too late that Margie has moved away, and she's heartbroken that she Never Got to Say Goodbye, which all culminates in her breaking down sobbing at the Roost. Later, Margie sends a letter saying that she was just as upset about having to leave, and the reason she never told Ai is that she knew it would make them both upset.
  • Misunderstood Loner with a Heart of Gold: The film portrays Apollo as one. While the other villagers assume that he's callous because he always keeps to himself, he's actually kind, if a bit mellow. Ai fears the worst when she admits to destroying his flowerbed, but his only reaction is to quietly leave; he later accepts her apology in a matter-of-fact manner, laughing it off. The credits montage shows them planting new flowers together.
  • Never Got to Say Goodbye: Ai is torn up when Margie moves without warning, having told everyone but her.
  • Never Smile at a Crocodile: Averted with Alfonso, who is a lovable and lazy Big Eater.
  • The One Who Wears Shoes: Margie is only the animal character in the movie to regularly wear shoes.
  • Only Sane Woman: Zig-Zagged. Although Ai and Margie both are more mature and level-headed than Yu and Alfonso, everyone in town is an oddball in their own way. Rosie also seems to look down on Yu and Alfonso, despite not being much more mature than them. Meanwhile, Ai gradually learns to appreciate Yu's optimism and spirit.
  • Ojou: Whitney is noted by the other villagers to be a distant, yet beautiful and elegant woman.
  • Pet the Dog: After Ai hits her lowest moment and finds that she can't pay for her coffee at the Roost, Brewster — who's been somewhat cold and distant up until now — lets her go without paying.
  • Plucky Girl: Ai is unfamiliar with the customs of Animal Village and new to living on her own in general, but she takes every situation she comes across with stride, even when the going gets tough.
  • Pragmatic Adaptation: Some of the more "video gamey" elements of the series are changed to make more sense as a film. In the games, Mr. Resetti lectures you when you turn the console off without saving; here, he acts as a general rule enforcer, getting upset when people trespass or mess with private property. Ai doesn't carry around large items in her inventory; she uses a bike to make deliveries. In fact, the iconic "furniture turns into leaves" aspect is completely absent. The dinosaur fossils are also life-sized compared to the shrunken-down models from the games.
  • Recurring Extra: Hopper, who shows up in the background fishing at least once a season.
  • Ribcage Ridge: Ai and her friends eventually stumble on a giant Seismosaurus fossil embedded in a cave wall. In the film's climax, Yu has to climb up the fossil to retrieve a part of Gulliver's UFO.
  • Running Gag: Throughout the movie, there are cuts to Hopper fishing at the riverside, never catching any fish (until the credits — the one he finally catches is a few inches long).
  • Ship Tease:
    • Ai and Yu start to grow closer towards the end of the film.
      Ai: Boys will be boys, but maybe that's not such a bad thing.
    • During the credits montage, we see Apollo and Ai replanting the former's blue roses. Later, Whitney finds a bouquet of blue roses at her door.
  • Silly Simian: Cesar the gorilla and Champ the monkey are the resident non-human primate villagers. Cesar is a cranky villager who serves as a Jerk with a Heart of Gold, while Champ is a jock villager who's always seen exercising. Both of them provide comedic relief through the story.
  • Slice of Life: Just like the games it's inspired by, the story is light on plot and mostly centers around vignettes from the characters' daily lives.
  • The Stinger: After the credits, we jump to spring, and Ai runs towards the museum to bake cherry pies with Celeste. The camera then pans down to reveal a patch of lilies of the valley (or Jacob's ladders, as they're mistakenly known in Wild World), meaning that Animal Village has reached "perfect town" status.
  • Sweat Drop: Lampshaded. As Gulliver is leaving the village, he sighs and tries to wipe a sweatdrop off of his head... only to fail because he's wearing a space helmet.
  • Tastes Like Friendship: Margie and Ai sharing cherries is what helps kickstart their friendship.
  • Theme Naming: The two human characters are named Yu and Ai. Their names, when put together, translate to "friendship" (友愛).
  • Those Two Guys: Cesar and Cyrano are together in all their scenes. They spend most of their time bickering at each other.
  • Tsundere: Yu is actually a male version — he's a bit brash toward Ai, but does genuinely seem to like her.
  • With Lyrics:
    • The Animalese song K.K. Bossa is given Japanese lyrics through subtitles.
    • The main image song, "Let's Go to the Forest," is a vocal version of the title theme from Wild World.
  • "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: The Credits Montage serves as one, showing what happens after the winter festival and wrapping up certain minor plot threads. Apollo and Whitney seem to reconcile, Blathers and Celeste excavate and display the Seismosaurus skeleton, and Margie finally becomes the fashion designer she's dreamed of.
  • Unlimited Wardrobe: Yu, who's wearing a different costume every single time he appears.

Alternative Title(s): Animal Crossing

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