Goodbye, Don Glees!

Goodbye, Don Glees! revolves around a group of social rejects who are spending one last summer together before they head off to separate high schools and – although they’re all trying not to say this part out loud – onwards to separate lives. When an unfortunate twist of fate leads to them being blamed for a forest fire, they must go off on one last adventure into the woods to try and prove their innocence.

Toto (Yuki Kaji) is the stuffy, straight-A student laser-focused on his future ambitions. Roma (Natsuki Hanae) is the passive one, so scared to do the wrong thing that he ends up doing nothing at all. And Drop (Ayumu Murase) is kind of a manic pixie dream child, wise beyond his years and impishly immature at the same time. Together, they make for a thoroughly good hang.

Atsuko Ishizuka’s film ably captures the same precarious period of life that's familiar from iconic summer adventures like Stand By Me and The Goonies – those teenage years where the world of childhood begins to feel too small and the adult realm looms terrifyingly large up ahead. With its looping storyline, gentle humour and stunning sun-splashed visuals, Goodbye, Don Glees! also feels like it’s very much taking its cues from the works of star anime director Makoto Shinkai. And even if Ishizuka’s film never quite hits the heights of a movie like Your Name, it still makes for an incredibly sweet and sensitive coming-of-age tale, powered by a highly likeable lead trio.