A movie about a girl and her dog. Well, not really, the story was much more deeper than that. If you have thought that this movie is about a girl and her dog, then you will have to watch it. This story is about commitment, and what matters to us most. There were a few key take away from the story for me. The first was the father. Realizing that he is single parenting because the wife died, the makes the well being of the daughter his priority. He immediately quits his job when he has to disappoint his daughter because of his overzealous boss requested him back to perform a surgery that any of the other doctors could do. He was requested just because he was the best. Now, giving up a high level position doing what he loves most is an ultimate sacrifice. Maybe sacrifice was not the right word. Giving up fits better. Giving up his dream job so that he could give his best attention to his daughter who is growing up without a mother. Selflessness, and another perspective could be unconditional love. On the same theme, pets often gives us the same unconditional love, but it is us human beings who just can’t shake away from placing conditions into everything, even love.
The dog never failed to pull the family together, nor stop helping the family and friends out. But Akari, the lead character who have had the dog for so many years, that she started to feel the burden of her commitment as she outgrew her teenage years going into adulthood. Even then, the dog never fusses her and keep being her friend until the day the dog died, just in time for Akari to realize her 10 promises to the dog and what’s really important in life.
In one of her promise to the dog, is to cherish the time they spent together as the dog’s life is shorter than the human life. Not just the dog’s life, we humans always forget that our life has an expiry date in it, and sometimes this expiration date comes much earlier. If we don’t cherish our times together now, it might be too late when we finally realize it.
The movie was slow in pace to begin, but once the story picks up, I find myself glued to the screen. The climax comes towards the end, where everything plays out, and we realize the essence of the move. 5 star rating from me and I recommend to watch even if it bores you in the beginning.
