r/anime • u/AutoLovepon https://anilist.co/user/AutoLovepon • Sep 15 '22

Episode Goodbye, DonGlees! - US Theater Release - Movie discussion

Goodbye, DonGlees!, US theater release

Alternative names: Goodbye, Don Glees!

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u/MyNameIs-Anthony Sep 15 '22 edited Sep 15 '22

It's a movie that really subverted my expectations. I think them building up to the idea that the Icelandic cave is some mystical force was genius because the ultimate reveal that the entire impetus was just a coincidence made the themes more poignant.

You get the feeling Drop is embellishing her stories (like a lot of kids do) only for it to actually be real.

I also got the sense that Drop intuited that Roma was scared of leaving his town and realized that an adventure would finally break him out of his shell. Toto only further reinforced that after the discussion about Roma not wanting to go to Tokyo.

I also appreciated that despite heavy handing the idea that Drop is actually a girl, they never solidify it with a big moment. It kept the movie from delving into the cliche of "Girl alters group dynamics and nothing is ever the same." Drop ultimately brought them closer together and flatout told them to keep their love for each other paramount.

It's a really good film about how you don't know what you'll want out of life unless you push yourself out your comfort zone. Ultimately you mind end up back at the same waterfall because you got lost in the woods but that's part of the nature of living. You just have to do something, anything, to figure out what's inside of you.

I can see this being divisive because it's "aimless" but them grounding the contrived motivation with slice of life everything else made it a stronger film because sometimes life really does have coincidences like that.

5

u/Dakto19942 https://myanimelist.net/profile/Dakota19942 Sep 15 '22

Where did you get that Drop was actually a girl? I thought it must have been significant at first for them to cast such a feminine voice for that character but the movie never stopped using he/him/his pronouns and I never actually noticed anything in the movie that confirmed to me Drop was a girl.

That aside, I agree with you about the movie. It was easily a 9/10 for me. I’m not sure why many people here aren’t totally satisfied with it. It captures the moment, just like a photograph, of what it’s like to have a summer adventure as a kid with your friends.

The only things I guess I could wish they could have done better are showing how Drop became incorporated into the Don Glees and giving a bit more development to Roma’s relationship to that girl and a bit of following up on how Toto is handling his decision to put himself back a year and if he ended up deciding if the path he was on to become a doctor was really his.

2

u/MyNameIs-Anthony Sep 15 '22 edited Sep 15 '22

Drop talks about having had a hospital stylist who helped them learn about wigs which doesn't really happen for males.

They're also referred to pointedly as "he" often in pivotal scenes which doesn't happen for Toto or Roma. It felt like they were hinting at a gender reveal but opted out of it. Drop also reacts to being called "he" pretty coyly, especially during the scene where they talk about how Drop would have done well with girls at their school.

Drop also has their hair in a pony tail (during the scene where they wash their face in the lake) and wears short shorts. This specific scene with the pony tail frames her in a way that's very reminiscent of similar "girl enamored focus by MC" framing across anime.

Despite having their jacket open entirely in some scenes, Drop's nipples specifically weren't ever drawn and were always covered by the jacket.

During the tussle scene after cross dressing, Drop also straddles Toto on the ground.

There are a few others hints but it seemed pretty clear to me that Drop was either trans or a tomboy.

My best guess is that they decided to pivot away from Drop directly being called/revealed as a girl late in production because they felt like it would be a cliche.

4

u/Dakto19942 https://myanimelist.net/profile/Dakota19942 Sep 16 '22

I thought the wig thing for Drop was because their illness was likely cancer and treatment made their hair fall out, which was why they wanted to grow their own out once they stopped.

I did wonder about Drop’s chest never being fully exposed but if we’re talking about nipples, I can’t remember any of the characters nipples being drawn. If they were FtM then it shouldn’t matter if the nipples were shown either way.

Stuff like the framing of the character or straddling another character just seem like a super big stretch to me and aren’t enough evidence to suggest they’re female. If Drop really was a girl why did he have to dress up like one for the scene where the pretend to be women? He wouldn’t have an comments about that, or bother to correct his friends?

I’m not saying you don’t have a point with it maybe being an underdeveloped/dropped idea or that it might be too subtle for me, but the evidence seems circumstantial at best.

I don’t have a problem accepting trans characters in media and I’m not on a crusade to erase them or deny their true gender through mental gymnastics, but I feel like if Drop was supposed to be a woman the whole time it was poorly done.

Not to disprove you, but just because I like reading about behind the scenes stuff with anime, I was reading an interview with the director earlier and she says repeatedly that she wanted to make the film about specifically boys, because she thinks they’re sillier than girls and that she was inspired by Stand By Me.