"You closed you heart. I want you to live again."
Hal is a 2013 Animated Film directed by Ryoutarou Makihata, with character designs by Io Sakisaka of the Blue Spring Ride and Strobe Edge fame and animation by Wit Studio (a subsidary formed by Production I.G).
20 Minutes into the Future in Kyoto, Hal (Yoshimasa Hosoya) dies in a plane crash, leaving his girlfriend Kurumi (Yōko Hikasa) depressed and withdrawn from the world. A month later, Robot Q01 is rebuilt with Hal's appearance to take care of her. Along with fulfilling Kurumi's wishes through hints from Rubik's cubes, the new Hal delves into Hal and Kurumi's past as well as learning the meaning of life.
The movie was released in theaters on June 8, 2013, and received a Blu-Ray/DVD release on December 18 of that year. To promote the series, a manga adaptation by Umi Ayase (one of Io Sakisaka's assistants) ran in the magazine Bessatsu Margaret. It was licensed and dubbed by
Funimation for an English release, with the Blu-Ray/DVD releasing on September 2, 2014.
Not to be confused with the similarly named HAL Laboratory.
This film contains examples of:
- Award-Bait Song: "Owaranai Uta", sung by Kurumi's voice actress, Yōko Hikasa.
- Beauty Is Never Tarnished: For somebody who died in a plane explosion, Kurumi's corpse was in surprisingly good condition.
- Because You Were Nice to Me: Tsukiko decides to help Hal take the giraffe in front of the store only because Kurumi had helped her pick up her clothing in the past
- Berserk Button: In a recording on their past, Hal apparently despised the idea of living poorly, since it reminded him all too well of how it resulted in his parents abandoning him.
- Bittersweet Ending: Kurumi is dead, but Hal moves on with his life, opening a shop just like she had always wanted.
- Broken Bird: From the photos and the way the senior citizens speak highly of Kurumi, she was once a Genki Girl, and Hal's death had changed her completely.
- Character Title: The movie is titled Hal (a more Anglicized way of romanizing the Japanese name "Haru"), and the primary character is named Hal. The trope doubles as a Protagonist Title.
- Cue the Rain: When Hal and Kurumi start running from Ryu, it starts to rain, going From Bad to Worse.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Hal and Ryu stole items to pay off their debts since they were little.
- Dead All Along: Q01 wasn't sent to replace Hal, but rather Kurumi, who was the one who died in the plane crash.
- Domestic Abuse: Hal assumes that the original Hal beat Kurumi when he sees an unsolved Rubik's cube with the words "Hal" and "violence." Fortunately, that wasn't the case, but that didn't mean Hal and Kurumi always got along.
- Dull Eyes of Unhappiness: Hal has these when he goes into a catatonic state after Kurumi dies.
- Dying Declaration of Love: Well, not really, since Hal's not the one who's dying, but he mouths, "I love you" to Kurumi as she falls into the bottom of the river.
- Flashback Twist: The button that Kurumi fixes throughout the movie is actually a digital camera that reveals all the time that Hal and Kurumi spent together. When she fully fixes it and Hal suddenly remembers the past, the camera goes on to show that Kurumi was the one who went on the plane and her last moments on there.
- Freudian Excuse: As a child, Hal was abandoned by his family on the basis that they couldn't pay for a heart transplant he received. Ever since, Hal was driven to avoid debt and earn lots of money, even if it meant selling Kurumi's buttons without her permission.
- Her Heart Will Go On: Invoked with Kurumi, since Hal was sent to help her move on, but since Kurumi's the one who died, not Hal, it's Hal who has to learn how to cope with her death.
- Heroic BSoD: When Hal learns that Kurumi was the one who died on the plane, he freaks out and continues to call out to her.
- I Can Change My Beloved: Because Hal often had illegal or dangerous jobs to work off his debt, Kurumi wanted to pull him out of it by having the two start a business of their own.
- It's All My Fault: Hal blames Kurumi's death on himself and he believes he could have saved her if he went on the plane with her.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: Later in the movie, the audience learns that Kurumi is the one who died in the plane crash, not Hal, and Hal had deluded himself into thinking he's the one who died and has to save Kurumi to cope.
- Last Kiss: Hal and Kurumi share one before Kurumi falls to the bottom of the river.
- Last Request: Kurumi's final request to Hal was to live on.
- Lethal Chef: Hal tries to learn how to cook as per Kurumi's wish on one of the Rubik's cubes. It doesn't go well for him at first, but later he learns how to make a passable meal.
- Loan Shark: Ryu is seen hanging with loan sharks during his first appearance. It's heavily implied that Hal has dealt business with them before as well.
- Never Got to Say Goodbye: Prior to the plane crash, Hal and Kurumi had gotten into an argument.
- No Social Skills: Hal tries to take the giraffe in front of a shop to grant one of Kurumi's wishes. He ends up getting scolded and accused of stealing despite the owner having very little use for it anyway, and he would have gotten the giraffe if he had asked first.
- One-Word Title
- Pink Girl, Blue Boy: Hal wears a blue pullover for the majority of the movie, and Kurumi wears a pink dress.
- Parental Abandonment: When Hal was little, he had a heart transplant, but because his parents couldn't pay for it, they abandoned him.
- Perpetual Poverty: Hal and Kurumi lived in a shabby house in Kyoto and often worried about making ends meet, especially when Hal still had yet to pay off his debt.
- Please, Don't Leave Me: Kurumi asks Hal if he'd stay with her when he learns about the arguments they had. Hal also does this when Kurumi tries to push him to the surface for him to live without her.
- Plot Coupon: The Rubik's cubes Kurumi owns have her "wishes" written on them and originated from an old fad. As Hal solves them, he soon learns more about her and her past with the real Hal.
- Post-Cyberpunk: Definitely has the vibe of a cyberpunk world, but much brighter and more clean, justified because it's a
heartwarming love story. - Replacement Goldfish: Q01 was sent to Kurumi's house to take care of her in place of Hal. Actually, it was sent to take care of Hal in place of Kurumi.
- The Reveal: The robot isn't Hal, but Kurumi. Hal and Kurumi had planned on going on a trip together. After fighting at the airport, Hal decides not to go. Kurumi ends up dying in the plane crash, leaving Hal in a catatonic state. Q01 was sent to take on Kurumi's appearance and help Hal cope with the truth, while Hal begins deluding himself that he's the robot.
- Scenery Porn: The establishing shots of rural Kyoto are extremely gorgeous.
- Skyward Scream: Hal gives one after remembering Kurumi died in the plane crash.
- The Stinger: A post-credits scene shows Hal happily adapting to his life as well as the final wish on the Rubik's cube, personally written by the robot.
- Take My Hand!: Hal reaches for Kurumi as they are sinking into the river.
- Theme Tune: "Owaranai Uta" serves as the Ending Theme to the movie and is sung by Yōko Hikasa, the voice actress of Kurumi.
- This Is Reality: In a recording, when Kurumi argued that she wanted to run a simple business where her customers were regulars, Hal angrily stated that the only reason she wanted to live that way was because she didn't know "what it's really like to be poor".
- Toxic Friend Influence: Ryu is this to Hal. While Hal is on the fence of putting his history of looting behind him thanks to the efforts of Kurumi, Ryu continues to sell whatever he can get his hands on.
- 20 Minutes into the Future: The film was marketed as a "near future romance", with the only advanced technology being robots and the button Kurumi owns.
- Unreliable Narrator: Hal's version of what happened in the beginning of the film is way different from what actually happened thanks to Laser-Guided Amnesia, and he has a huge breakdown when he finally learns what really happened with him and Kurumi.
- Wham Line: Ryu delivers these upon The Reveal, the biggest one being, "Kurumi is already dead!"
- Wham Shot: Near the end of Kurumi and Hal's argument at the airport, the audience sees Kurumi walking through the gate... and the shot turns to focus on the plane — the same plane that exploded in the opening scene.
- What the Hell, Hero?: According to the recording, this once occured during an argument between Kurumi and Hal when the latter sold Kurumi's buttons without her permission.
