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Mind Game

Mind Game

Animation · Romance · Comedy · 2004

Nishi is a loser who has a crush on his childhood girlfriend. After an encounter with the Japanese mafia, he journeys to heaven and back, and ends up trapped in an even more unlikely place.

Movie details

Mind Game

“This Story Has Never Ended.”

2004 Animation · Romance · Comedy 1h 43m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

7.5 / 10

Community rating

Nishi is a loser who has a crush on his childhood girlfriend. After an encounter with the Japanese mafia, he journeys to heaven and back, and ends up trapped in an even more unlikely place.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over Mind Game?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Where it lives

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Masaaki Yuasa

Written by

Masaaki Yuasa

Koji Imada

Koji Imada

Nishi (voice)

Sayaka Maeda

Sayaka Maeda

Myon (voice)

Takashi Fujii

Takashi Fujii

Jiisan (voice)

Seiko Takuma

Seiko Takuma

Yan (voice)

Tomomitsu Yamaguchi

Tomomitsu Yamaguchi

Ryou (voice)

Toshio Sakata

Toshio Sakata

Father of Myon and Yan (voice)

Jôji Shimaki

Jôji Shimaki

Yakuza boss (voice)

Court is in session

Put Mind Game on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Prestige Tourist

“Sincerity is not manipulation.”

The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.

The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist

“The strings are showing.”

Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.