The Imaginary, based on the book by A.F. Harrold of the same name, follows Rudger, an imaginary boy born from the imagination of a young girl named Amanda, who learns he will disappear if Amanda forgets him. He arrives in a town where imaginary friends, who have been forgotten by humans, live. Director Yoshiyuki Momose, of Studio Ghibli fame, left the studio to start Studio Ponoc which marks their most recent feature-length film since 2017. Let’s check out the trailer and then dive into this stunningly animated film.

Review

The Imaginary by director Yoshiyuki Momose brings all the hallmarks of his influence from Studio Ghibli in this stunningly animated adaption of the novel of the same name. We follow a young boy, Rudger, who is the imaginary friend of Amanda, a young girl dealing with the sorrow of losing her father. The story brings parallels to two other coming-of-age and imagination-based stories, one being The Neverending Story and the other a more recent film, IF.

In the case of The Neverending Story, The Imaginary takes a slightly less dark approach to presenting the idea of children’s world of imagination and the loss of that going into adulthood and representing that loss of innocence with The Nothing in the form of Mr. Bunting. Still, there are moments of haunting visuals that would still rise to the level of meeting Gmork (from The Neverending Story). However, The Imaginary does a better job of weaving a story compared to IF when it comes to embracing your inner child and the idea of imaginary friends.

Yoshiyuki Momose’s animation for the film is nothing short of stunning. Studio Ponoc collaborated with French creators to develop a new style of hand-drawn animation.  From Studio Ponoc’s site “For The Imaginary, Studio Ponoc collaborated with French creators using new techniques and new digital technology to create expressions of texture that hand-drawn animation has not been able to achieve, as well as to innovate light and shadow. This technique, the first of its kind in Japan, is a challenge eagerly taken on by Studio Ponoc to push hand-drawn animation a step further, a hallmark of both Studio Ponoc and director Yoshiyuki Momose.”

If you are a fan of Studio Ghibli-style animation, The Imaginary is worth checking out. The unique animation approach makes for a beautiful film to experience. This story of imagination and childhood experiences is easier for younger audiences to sink their teeth into while still appealing to an older audience much in the way some of the other films mentioned in our review did.

The Imaginary drops in theaters June 28th in North America. It will drop on Netflix for streaming July 5th.

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