Dee Rudebeck 

Patema Inverted review – teenage life turned upside-down

This science-fiction anime may be clunky in places, but paints an intriguing world, writes Dee Rudebeck
  
  

Patema Inverted
Patema Inverted: an intriguing world. Photograph: PR

Patema Inverted, from fantasy anime director Yasuhiro Yoshiura, is visually striking and plays with some lovely ideas. It's a love story between two teens whose worlds have literally been turned upside-down: a great scientific accident (Fukushima comes to mind) has reversed gravity and created a world of "inverts" who live underground, lest they "fall into the sky" for ever. Invert Patema connects with earthbound Age; if they hold on tight to one another, rather than shooting off in opposite directions, they balance each other out and can actually fly. Could we all find such a way to live with one another? And will they outsmart the villainous ruler of Age's people, who is determined to dispatch "sinner" Patema? The animation is intricate and beautiful but the narrative is clunky and heavy-handed in places. Spirited Away perhaps not, but we're transported to an intriguing world nonetheless.

 

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