Title Card, The Colors Within

The Colors Within Review: A Sweet Slice Of Life Movie, With Replay Worthy Music At The Tail End

“The Colors Within” creates what feels like a coming of age tale that doesn’t have overdone characters, struggles, or triumphs.

ByAmari Allah Hours Posted on Hours Updated on

[Unless Said Otherwise] Spoiler Alert: This summary and review contains spoilers.

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Plot Summary

Totsuko, a young girl who attends a Catholic school named Rainbow Girls, has friends and is seen as nice, but she is a bit weird. She is an odd duck with synesthesia, the ability to see people as colors, being a bit more religious than the other girls, and not having the best self-esteem. But, through her friends Kimi and Rui, she feels seen and heard, and together, they make music to help them get through their obligations, regrets, and the feelings they have that can only be expressed through music.

Film Details

Film LengthHour Minutes
Release DateJanuary 23, 2025
Advisory RatingRated PG
Genre(s)Comedy, Drama, Young Adult, Animation, Non-English (Japanese), Musical
DistributorGKIDS
DirectorNaoko Yamada
WriterReiko Yoshida
Actor(s)Eileen Stevens, Eddy Lee, Kylie McNeill, Libby Rue

Content Information

  • Dialog: Nothing Notable
  • Violence: Nothing Notable
  • Sexual Content: Nothing Notable
  • Miscellaneous:  Nothing Notable

External Links

Character Descriptions

Totsuko (Libby Rue)

Kimi and Totsuko looking at something
Kimi (Kylie McNeill) and Totsuko (Libby Rue)

Totsuko is a lovely girl who, for the most part, sticks to herself. This isn’t to say she is a loner or doesn’t have friends, for she is cool with her three roommates. However, Totsuko hasn’t found her people yet or her thing. So, when not in class or her room, she is in the chapel praying part of the serenity prayer, emphasizing accepting the things she can’t change.

Kimi (Kylie McNeill)

Kimi is a fairly popular girl at Rainbow Girls, especially because she leads the choir. However, due to an impetuous decision, her life becomes a bit of a challenge, and she just focuses on learning guitar to get her through her days.

Rui (Eddy Lee)

Rui looking through records

As the only son of a family with multiple generations of doctors, expectations are high for Rui to be in the family business, and he accepts it to a point. But, when not going to cram school, he goes to second-hand shops to find a variety of instruments, and in his spare time, while taking care of an inactive church building, he practices and even records sometimes.

Sister Hiyoko (Eileen Stevens)

Sister Hiyoko is someone who takes a special interest in Totsuko and, by extension, Kimi. Likely because she is an alumnus of Rainbow Girls, but also because she had a life before she took her vows and wants to see these kids live a bit without doing anything that can’t be forgiven in the eyes of the lord.

Review

Our Rating (83/100): Positive (Worth Seeing)

“The Colors Within” feels like a palette cleanse. From the music you could dance to, maybe even want to hear long after your memories of the movie go, to characters who feel real, familiar, and rarely generic, it has everything you could want if you were seeking a movie like this. Add in the lead character being socially awkward, but not in a way to play up jokes, and having it where you can see how her faith guides her, but she still operates and is seen as human? Truly, this is something we will have on our best of 2025 list.

Highlights

How The Film Approaches Religion

By no means is religion such a heavy part of “The Colors Within” that it needs to be seen as a genre of the film, but there is no denying faith is a heavy part of Totsuko’s character. Her song deals with her faith; she prays throughout the movie, worries about lying since that is a sin, and it seems she’d rather stay at her Catholic school, under the eyes of nuns, than go home.

Yet, for those who may think this film could get preachy, it doesn’t. Instead, it just reminds you how much faith can mean to people and, through Totsuko and Sister Hiyoko, how it doesn’t have to be the summary of who a person is, which can sometimes be hard to find in movies, whether live-action or animated.

The Music Numbers

The majority of the movie builds up to the musical numbers as we see Rui work on his pieces, Kimi on hers, and Totsuko on hers. They collaborate throughout, more so on music than lyrics, and then in succession, they have a set with each of their songs, seemingly with Rui’s first, then Kimi and Totsuko, and believe me when I say you may end up saving the tracks on Spotify.

Each song has an 80s vibe to it. Whether it is the upbeat song of Totsuko, or the equally danceable song from Rui. But, then there is Kimi’s, which is a bit darker, considering how she feels about life, but even with being between two dance tracks, you appreciate how it clearly is Kimi’s song, but you can hear and see the touches of her band members.

In a way, it allows you to see how each person influences the other, and you can see that love and trust pour into the music. For with all three having an issue expressing themselves, to see them give each other permission, help craft the perfect words and sounds, and support each other in speaking publicly? It just heightens your love for these three together.

Each Lead’s Character’s Struggle

Rui, Totsuko and Kimi hanging out
Rui (Eddy Lee), Totsuko (Libby Rue), Kimi (Kylie McNeill)

As someone who watches a decent amount of shows and movies about coming of age, I can tell you “The Colors Within” does venture enough into something different to not feel overdone. Kimi seems unsure about life and hopped off the hamster wheel, and is now focused on working part-time and music. Rui is mentally trying to resign himself to the idea of following in his mother’s footsteps, despite no real passion for medicine, but recognizing his family’s role in his town for generations.

As for Totsuko? To be honest, her life was a bit more of a challenge since it wasn’t straightforward. Her roommates were nice to her and could be considered her friends. No one bullied Totsuko, while she wasn’t close to her parents they didn’t say or do much to push you to think they contributed to the negative self-talk Totsuko had, and while awkward, she wasn’t even teased.

But, in time, what you see with her is something akin to Kimi and Rui. She is fine with being on a hamster wheel, letting Jesus take the wheel, but she still wants to pursue something she can be passionate about. In a way, while Rui and Kimi’s coming of age comes from wanting autonomy, it could be submitted Totsuko’s coming of age story was simply about getting to know herself on a deeper level.

Unquestionably, Totsuko has a relationship with God, but I think she was starting to get to the point in life where, like Kimi, there was a need to question her purpose. Dancing wasn’t it and it seemingly wasn’t clear since then what is she on this Earth to do. Add in her ability to see colors, and you could say her doing the serenity prayer, often skipping the end and focusing on what she cannot change, was about both learning who she is meant to be and accepting it.

Thankfully, though, through Sister Hiyoko, it seemed she got the guidance she needed and found people who she could not only be in service to but who could uplift her as well.

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Amari is the founder and head writer of Wherever-I-Look.com and has been reviewing media since 2010. He approaches each production with hope, rooting for every story to succeed, and believes criticism should come from unmet potential, while praise is reserved for work that meets or exceeds expectations.