My Beautiful Girl Mari
Synopsis
Follow the story of Nam-woo, a boy whose fear of abandonment and life’s changes take him on a journey to a land of fantasy. There, in a spectacular place of magical creatures and tall luscious green plants he meets Mari, a delicate girl who will come to support him and give him the stability he needs through his hardest of times.
Review
In My Beautiful Girl Mari, we are put into the shoes of Nam-woo who reminisces about the days that he went through as a kid. The experiences of a child growing up and losing friends due to various circumstances, such as, moving onto schools and changing atmospheres are tough; we have all experienced something like this to an extent. But Nam-woo’s life as an adolescent is about to change as he finds a special marble, and that marble turns out to be Mari.
Before we even start, you must have the patience for a title like My Beautiful Girl Mari. You must also possess the ability to process deep dialogues and the knack of discovering and figuring out even the smallest of details… well I know that Adobe has something to do with this show as a building is branded by Adobe’s logo :). Anyways that is not important. What is important is how things just happen, like it was meant to happen. I still cannot figure out how in the world Nam-woo knew the name of Mari, when they have not even converse with each other. The other point I must point out is, what is the big idea? What is the big deal? I loved the animation details; it was mesmerizing. The snow effects even made me wish that New York City was snowing right now. But the show just does not seem to attract me like the other shows of this genre, such as, Bandai Entertainment’s Junkers Come Here or Central Park Media’s Doggy Poo.
What does Mari have to do with the show? She is almost nonexistent other than a few appearances in Nam-woo’s dream or in his life. Nothing much is detailed about Mari. Heck I cannot even figure out why the plot even needed her character. The story can most definitely survive without Mari; Jun-ho and Sogg-y could have easily replaced her role. Am I not getting something? Am I missing something? I really want to know more, but I am not presented with the opportunity to do that as the story races on about how Nam-woo’s life is changing slowly and his doubts began to worry him.
The thing that I was really surprised about My Beautiful Girl Mari is that as the animation was running towards its end, I began to feel this emotion, an emotion of satisfaction, it is like every bad thing I felt about the show was erased. It was replaced with a warm feeling as the ending makes me think of my own childhood. The way my life changed as time passed… it was lovely.
The Breakdown
A show that could be applied to almost everyone is great, but if only the presentation of this show had some sort of major attraction, which in my opinion, it lacked.