There is no better way to say it, I love Eiga Odekake Kozame Tokai no Otomodachi. It shares the same charm of the manga and ONA series, with a series of delightful short stories following the titular character Kozame-chan on a big adventure in a city (presumably Tokyo). Layered on top of those shorts is a story about meetings and partings. This is done broadly through about five shorts in the front half of the film, followed by a longer story in the back half, giving us a wonderful look into the city and the people who live in it.
For instance, the opening short follows Kozame-chan traveling into the city and encountering the packed trains of the morning rush hour. It’s a fun little visual gag that leads to the character ending up in an office building after falling in Big Brother Salaryman’s backpack. From there, we see Kozame-chan with Big Brother Salaryman throughout the workday and at an izakaya bar for the night. It’s as if Kozame-chan is filling a void within Big Brother Salaryman’s life for the few hours they’re together. This makes the entire interaction cute, to say the least, and puts the titular character into situations we haven’t seen before.
Kozame-chan on rush hour trainImage via x.com
© ペンギンボックス・KADOKAWA／おでかけ子ザメ
Kozame-chan at work with Big Brother SalarymanImage via x.com
© ペンギンボックス・KADOKAWA／おでかけ子ザメ
The first half of the film is filled with the interactions between Kozame-chan and the human characters. In essence, the little shark brings joy to characters such as Mr. Host, Mr. Bartender, Model Lady, Photographer Lady, Man with a Mohawk, and Ojii-san in a short story format.
Kozame-chan working at a maid cafeImage via x.com
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Interspersed throughout the shorts, though, are side stories involving Anko-chan and Usame-chan. While their stories cross paths with Kozame-chan, they have their own little stories. Specifically, Anko-chan.
Kozame-chan meeting Usame-chanImage via x.com
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It’s shown early in the film that Anko-chan is shy and doesn’t interact well with those around it. Yet, we see one boy take a chance on befriending the Atlantic footballfish and sharing his worries about junior high school entrance exams. Much like Kozame-chan’s interactions with humans, the shorts we see Anko-chan interact with the boy in are cute and reinforce the thesis of the film.
The back half of Eiga Odekake Kozame Tokai no Otomodachi further emphasizes the idea of meetings and partings with a longer story featuring Kozame-chan and the salaryman Haruto. During Kozame-chan’s adventures, the shark happens to stay with Haruto for an extended period. During Kozame-chan’s stay, we see a familial relationship develop between the two, like a parent and a child. This is further bolstered by scenes such as Kozame-chan delivering Haruto his umbrella on a rainy day, shopping, and playing games together.
Haruto brushing Kozame-chan’s teethImage via x.com
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We also get a fun interaction with Usame-chan, Kozame-chan, and Haruto during the long story. In essence, Haruto is acting as a parental figure, watching over two children as they play together. These sorts of interactions make the film incredibly fun to watch and warm the heart.
Eiga Odekake Kozame Tokai no Otomodachi’s narrative is not without faults. The biggest issue in the film is the lack of a larger narrative structure. True, there is the film’s thesis and a throughline of Kozame-chan’s big city adventure, but we don’t see conflict that needs a resolution we’d find in more traditional narratives.
This comes from the opening scene, showing us the high school girl Sora, saddened by the fact that she is moving from Yauo-cho to the big city. It’s played up as a major plot point as we soon see her talking to Kozame-chan about her worries and whether she will make friends in the city. To which Kozame-chan gleefully becomes Sora’s friend. Yet, the film seemingly abandons Sora’s inner conflict as the larger narrative in place of focusing on Kozame-chan’s adventures.
That’s not to say Sora isn’t seen throughout the film, as she’s seen twice in the body of the film. This potentially creates a disconnect between the viewer and the expectation of the story. So, when Sora does appear in Eiga Odekake Kozame Tokai no Otomodachi, we’re left wondering what happened to her conflict and why Kozame-chan isn’t there to help her. Unfortunately, this would likely have required a complete reworking of the film’s story and removed the charm of what Kozame-chan is: a cute story about a shark child’s adventures.
Much like the Odekake Kozame Tokai no Otomodachi’s story being cute, the animation and art direction share a similar charm. Particularly in the background art, there is a sort of storybook feel to it.
Rather than making the city and the buildings that occupy it super detailed, the animators opted for a subdued approach. A good comparison would be the backgrounds from anime series like ATASHIn’CHI, Crayon Shin-chan, Doraemon, Sazae-san, or series generally targeted at younger audiences. This works in Eiga Odekake Kozame Tokai no Otomodachi’s favor as it squarely places the focus on the characters as opposed to cluttering the screen with unneeded details. However, there is still enough detail placed in the background for astute fans to look out for all the fish-related building or store names, posters, station names, and the like. So, there’s a lot of fun to be had taking in the backgrounds as well.
The animation follows a similar philosophy in that the characters aren’t portrayed in a dynamic or overly detailed way. As in, there aren’t many exaggerated expressions or body movements–at least among the human characters. This gives the human characters some levity and grounding in realism, despite a shark, Atlantic football fish, and a rabbit child running around the world.
Kozame-chan, Anko-chan, and Usame-chan are a different story, though. These three characters are allowed a little more leeway in terms of expressions and movements. One of the greatest examples of this is when Kozame-chan and Anko-chan are dealing with the city’s extreme summer heat and humidity. Rather than animating the two characters heavily sweating, they are instead drawn as if they are melting. These sorts of exaggerated animation work better for Kozame-chan, Anko-chan, and Usame-chan as they lack human features and, thus, require other methods of expressing what they are feeling.
Kozame-chan and Anko-chan walking in the summer heatImage via x.com
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If the animation and art help to elevate Eiga Odekake Kozame Tokai no Otomodachi, the music stands almost in contrast to this. Not in that the music in the film is obtrusive, but rather is unnoticeable. Except for the opening theme song, which is a new musical composition of Odekake Kozame’s theme “Yorimichi,” and the closing theme, “Where You Come From,” the music is barely noticeable within the story. It’s a real shame, too, as the music in the ONA series was part of the ambiance of each episode.
With the music in Eiga Odekake Kozame Tokai no Otomodachi virtually unnoticeable, though, it focuses our attention on what’s happening with Kozame-chan and the surrounding characters without any distractions. And with the cute visuals, it’s almost better for it.
As noted above, I love Eiga Odekake Kozame Tokai no Otomodachi, flaws and all. The stories and animation keep the cute nature of the source material while presenting it in a different medium. It is a bit unfortunate that the stories contained within the film aren’t part of a longer ONA series, though, as a series could have potentially allowed each short story to stand on its own and weave into a broader narrative without serving the needs of a feature-length film. However, with the film being 90 minutes long, the issues aren’t as pronounced as one would think, and allow viewers to enjoy the thrilling ride of Kozame-chan’s big city adventures. Thus, making Eiga Odekake Kozame Tokai no Otomodachi a wonderful watch on a lazy afternoon or a film to watch with children.