I was confused at first by their references to up and down, wondering what they meant when they said her grandma lived above with others, but the sea was supposed to be below and this base built on top of it, and other stuff like that. I think though that they were trying to convey the sense of confusion felt by the people living in the base, literally not knowing up from down. Maybe I’m missing something – I only watched it once so far.

The ending was great, I got the message that it is important not to forget why we make sacrifices – the humans went to the moon base to escape the earth (presumably after destroying it themselves) but also to allow the earth to recuperate. Like the idol says in her message to earth, they have to hope the sun is able to fix itself.

As for the name Pale Cocoon, we have to wonder at what goes into a cocoon – a worm – and what comes out – a butterfly (or moth i guess). Perhaps the author is saying that we humans now are worms, and there needs to be something major that causes us to metamorphose into something able and willing to take care of the earth.

Despair and hope, I felt those too at the end. Hope, because their earth healed itself and ours can too, but despair that their race has forgotten their past. I assume that the parents of the first generation born on the moon were so ashamed of the past that they only spoke of it in hushed whispers, so it wouldn’t take long for memories of the past to fade. one needs look no further than the collective memory of any of the Axis countries that participated in WWII – or Vietnam for us Americans – to see how quickly unpleasant memories can be pushed away.

Libraries are important for that reason – we need to constantly remember what we have, what he have lost, where it came from, and how mistakes in the past can be repeated if we are not careful. I see today fewer and fewer people reading, especially history, and I got the hint from the director that this needs to change.

Thanks again for the review, I would otherwise have missed out on an awesome anime. I hope to see lots more of your recommendations in the future!

Good post and great to see another writer happy and working here. :3

Ah, so you’ve read Itsubun’s post? Regretfully, I still haven’t watched Pale Cocoon after her post, but I shall get to it sometime soon! Now that both of you have described it well. If you want, check out Mizu no Kotoba. It’s only 9 minutes, but I kind of loved it (by the same director).

and after reading the review, i will buy the dvd the next time i see it in the shop.

Rather than despair or hope, I felt a strange sensation of resignation and relief. Resignation is because it is something that cannot be changed by the future. The past is already over and the present is no longer able to adapt back to the past. The future, being dictated by the present, is no longer there. Relief because everyone has somehow accepted the new truth, that this is their world.

I realize one of the major themes of this story is that Ura is a normal man that wishes to run away from the fact that he cannot do anything to change this world that has finally collapsed. Despite the fact that he is perhaps more resigned to fate that the world that they call as Earth is no longer alive, he is still trying fruitlessly to understand this world as they used to know.

When the truth no longer aids in facilitating change or returning back to the same thing (bringing parallels with the world and the relationship that the two protagonists had), what is the point of truth? Is truth useful to simply know, or is it just something to look forward to in order to feel that there is something to search for.

Perhaps, Pale Cocoon is trying to give two different perspectives, but eventually merging into one common thing that all humans look for: the purpose of living.

@jiff
Hope you enjoy it!

The song is strangely addicting. I was actually replaying the rip I have of it over and over again while I was writing this entry. Little Moa, don’t know why I can’t find her anywhere, she’s amazing.

I did stumble upon “Eve no Jikan” although the English title appears to be “Are you Enjoying the Time of Eve?”. Literally translated, “Eve no Jikan”, as you said, is “Time of Eve”. I’m looking forward to it! But it has yet to come out. Visit http://www.studio-rikka.com/eve/ for more details!

Considering what this movie achieves in such a short time, I think it deserves much more recognition – I went through a wide array of different feelings while watching this, and the song itself is absolutely stunning. Shame there’s no official release of it though.

By the way, trailers for Yoshiura’s next movie, Eve no Jikan (Time of Eve) are floating around online, if you haven’t stumbled on them already. It looks like it will be absolutely fantastic.