Sometimes I think I pay way too much attention to the weekly shows that I miss the movies. And just like OVAs back in the day, sometimes that's where the real quality is in Anime.

It doesn't hurt when Netflix is in there kicking in the bucks.

As is typical when I find something outside my usual haunts, somebody posted a little segment on X. Kaguya and Iroha are discussing what it would take to become a popular streamer, I'll mention the why in a moment. Iroha asks her why she's suddenly blonde, and she answers, "Oh, should I not be? Then...." and cycles through hair and skin colors as she kneels at the laptop on the floor, before concluding the blonde is the best.

What seemed like an ordinary girl pulling a stunt like that piqued my curiosity. And once I found out what it was, it was off to the torrents. And what I found was a beautifully animated and absolutely charming animated movie.

Iroha is a high school senior, and determined to get into the best school. And she's on the outs with her mom, so she's living on her own and burning the candle at three ends between school, her part time job, and a virtual world where she's infatuated with the AI idol who runs the place, Yachiyo. One Friday night, a strange comet flies through the sky, turns into colorful lightning chasing down the powerlines, before settling into a colorful glow in the middle of the power pole in front of her tiny apartment building. It then sprouts bamboo door handles and reveals a baby inside. As she wrestles with what to do, she ends up stuck with the child as the pole returns to normal. The question of what to do gets even stranger as the child grows into a girl her age over the course of the weekend.

She's named Kaguya, and she says she's from the moon, which fits with the ancient Japanese tale of the Princes Kaguya who left the moon and came to Earth and had a lot of fun, until the people of the moon came and brought her back to be a proper princess again.

Much comedy of manners follows, but fortunately, none of it involves Kaguya showing up as the new transfer student. Instead, Iroha brings her along to VR to see a Yachiyo concert. And Yachiyo announces a contest for a chance to perform a concert with her, the prize going to the streamer with the most new fans. Kaguya knows Iroha would love this, and shouts out her intention to win. Only problem, they're not streamers. Rivals arise, declarations are made, and much to Iroha's shock, one of Yachiyo's aspects flies down to talk to them personally.

Then the scene I mentioned occurs just as they come out of VR.

At first, Iroha resists getting caught up in Kaguya's streaming, but she discovers Iroha's forgotten keyboard and music and drags her into working on songs again. For for someone who has been a buckled down grinder for so long, Iroha eventually loosens up a little, and they become close friends.

And the streaming really works out, so the point where the rival boy group, Black Onyx challenged them to a game popular on the server.

As is obvious from plots like this, the girls win, and perform the duet. But the story isn't over. There is still the moon folk coming for Kaguya to fight off, and a farewell/graduation concert, and Yachiyo's peculiar origin, and even the question of if Iroha will reconcile with her mom.

It was really good. You should watch it, the two of you that might be reading this.

(I was going to make a comparison the Belle, the other recent VR/Music anime movie. While that was much more visually stunning, and more obviously CGI, this virtual world is more cozy, more thematically consistent, and the RL and VR plots are much more closely related than Belle.)

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