Fortune Favors Lady Nikuko

Ayumu Watanabe / JP, 2021 / 96 min.

Following the brilliantChildren of the Sea (one of our favourite anime films of recent years), director Ayumu Watanabe and Studio 4°C's newest love child is a slice-of-life seaside tale that focuses on a quietly curious schoolgirl - Kikuko - and her big, loud and immature mother Nikuko, who has been in relationships with men who either exploited or abandoned her.

Nikuko works in the local tavern, while Kikuko attends the local elementary school. Mother Nikuko of course embarrasses her daughter as any mom of a pre-teen would, but Nikuko's bold spirit makes her especially well-known in a town where Kikuko herself just wants to stay under the radar. As the little girl navigates the everyday social dramas of middle school, enhanced with touches of magical realism from her ever-present imagination, a shocking revelation from the past threatens to uproot the pair's tender relationship.

An observational and heartwarming comedy, Fortune Favors Lady Nikuko is a film about the small things in life with an unconventional mother-and-daugher pair at its centre. Mother's motto? "Being ordinary is best of all!" But far from ordinary, this Ghibli-esque feature often leans into the surreal and includes cute visual homages to My Neighbor Totoro. Continuing the trademark top-notch animation of Studio 4°C, the character design is as simple as it is complex. With joyful and life-affirming humour, this adaptation of Kanako Nishi's eponymous novel will put you in a 'summer chill mood'. Oh, and there's a lot of food in the film. A lot. An animated gem that serves the heart ánd the stomach!