Gyokou no Nikuko-chan (Fortune Favors Lady Nikuko)

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Alternative Titles

Japanese: 漁港の肉子ちゃん

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Information

Type: Movie

Episodes: 1

Status: Finished Airing

Aired: Jun 11, 2021

Producers: None found, add some

Licensors: GKIDS

Studios: Studio 4°C

Source: Novel

Genres: Award Winning, Drama

Duration: 1 hr. 36 min.

Rating: PG-13 - Teens 13 or older

Statistics

Score: 7.24¹ (scored by 3,234 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #3190²

² based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #6079

Members: 11,330

Favorites: 35

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Synopsis

Kikuko Misuji, more often called "Nikuko-chan," is known by everyone in her small northern town as the happy fat lady at the grill. Having lived arduously traveling from man to man and town to town for the bulk of her life, Nikuko-chan finally seems to have settled down on a houseboat docked in the bay with her daughter—also named Kikuko.

Together, the pair does their best to find their place in the world. For the bold and brash Nikuko-chan, her spirited behavior easily guides her toward the earnest goal. However, for the quiet and reserved Kikuko, who is often embarrassed by her mother's antics, each day can be just as uninspiring as the last. From middle school drama to solving the mystery of her strange classmate Ninomiya, Kikuko's adolescence is full of many twists and turns.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

Gyokou no Nikuko-chan premiered internationally at the 45th Annecy International Animation Film Festival. The film was also screened at the Fantasia International Film Festival on August 22, 2021, where it won the Satoshi Kon Award for Excellence in Animation.

In October 2021, the film won the Korean Society of Cartoon and Animation Studies President's Prize at the Bucheon International Animation Film Festival. In the same month, it won the Jury Award at the Scotland Loves Animation Film Festival. The film was awarded the Animation Film Award at the 46th Hochi Film Awards in December 2021. In March 2022, the movie was nominated for the Best Animated Feature Film Award at the 45th Japan Academy Film Prize as well as the Annie Award for Best Indie Feature at the 49th Annual Annie Awards. Later that month, the film won the Excellence Award at the 25h Japan Media Arts Festival.

Gyoukou no Nikuko-chan was licensed by GKIDS and received an American theatrical release as Fortune Favors Lady Nikuko on June 2, 2022. It was shown along with a screening of the television show Deji Meets Girl. The company published the film on Blu-ray and DVD on July 19, 2022.

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Adaptation:

Gyokou no Nikuko-chan

More characters

Characters & Voice Actors

Nikuko-chan

Main

Ootake, Shinobu
Japanese

Kikuko

Main

Cocomi
Japanese

Ninomiya

Supporting

Hanae, Natsuki
Japanese

Sassan

Supporting

Nakamura, Ikuji
Japanese

Maria

Supporting

Ishii, Izumi
Japanese

Daricia

Supporting

Deluxe, Matsuko
Japanese

Miu

Supporting

Yoshioka, Riho
Japanese

More staff

Staff

Akashiya, Sanma

Producer, Planning

Watanabe, Ayumu

Director

GRe4N BOYZ

Theme Song Performance

Kimura, Shinji

Art Director

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Opening Theme

"Image no Uta (イメージの詩)" by Kurumi Inagaki (稲垣来泉)

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Ending Theme

"Taketen (たけてん)" by GReeeeN

Reviews

Jun 6, 2022

DubbieGod

Recommended

Funny

It's 9/10 on the wholesome media scale.(Unbiased)
It's 4.5/10 against all genre's and forms of media. (Biased)
( had 30minutes to spare so I watched it in 4x and I got a 4.5/10 experience out of my time. )

The art is great and there were some trippy scenes here and there but I won't recommend it to anyone unless you really MUST watch something wholesome.
( I watched till the end because the fat lady reminded me of my mom ).

Overall the characters are very bland but I really liked the fat lady's story I can see it being relatable to anyone who face atleast some kind ...

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Feb 7, 2022

ExCluSin90

Recommended

From the cover image and sample At first I thought It is a story that simply focuses on the story being told through the relationship between mother and child. But in fact, many issues It's also very interesting.

The flow of the story is very small. especially if compared to the work JAMNIMEFestival2022 That counts only the original story, probably because of a simple synopsis And the studio that does it is Studio 4°C, which doesn't have much role in the anime industry in a good way.

Kikuko is a young schoolgirl whose only mother, Nikuko, takes care of her. which this mother He's a very optimistic ... person. Despite her past life being difficult and destiny, Fortune Favors are often told through Kikuko's point of view. rarely rely on anyone By the point of asking the audience and Kikuko that if our lives are like this Nikuko mother, then what did we do wrong in the last life? Which in the beginning will tell without much complexity, easy enough to guess. secretly a little late But that drowned out the weird directing problem. That caused some headaches to Nikuko-chan's mother. Likewise, it was sometimes funny about her childlike personality. Until the middle of the story that started to get better and better Emphasis on melodrama There's hardly any bad pacing at the end of the story. The composition of the mystery, the warmth, the love, the tenderness, the comedy, everything fits perfectly.

The work of the picture will look faded. and the backdrop that sometimes doesn't have much Most of them focus on moving gestures, which are soft, fluffy, cute, and highly detailed.

I like the song "Taketen (たけてん)" by GReeeeN and in the original 5 stories of JAMNIMEFestival. I give this ost the best, the fact that the music in the background matches the rhythm and the atmosphere at that time. And that can't be missed is the voice of Nikuko's mother by Ootake, Shinobu, a famous voice actor who has performed very well in this story. During this time, I also had the opportunity to voice Grandma Kiwa from The House of the Lost on the Cape (Misaki no).

The characters in the story are considered not too much, not too little. But some roles feel a little too small. and not very memorable It mainly focuses on the Kikuko character who expresses their thoughts. or murmuring in the heart

The tone of the story focuses on tenderness. small controversy of friendship in school, lollipops and the perfect drama provide valuable lessons Don't be afraid to ask others for help. Don't think too much about how other people will see us. and our lives have failed There are already serious obstacles.

All in all, Fortune Favors Lady Nikuko is one of my favorite Studio 4°C stories, and well known director Watanabe, Ayumu. Therefore, the romance story does not have to worry at all. Recommended to watch for anyone who wants to see valuable family relationships.

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Sep 2, 2022

SquishyPies

Mixed Feelings

Informative

**TL;DR AT THE END.** i am genuinely sorry that this review is so long. i will be discussing the fat elements of this movie a lot, since it's a perspective i understand intimately.

a quick summary of this movie: it's a sweet slice of life centered on the protagonist, 12 year old Kikuko. the movie is split into three arcs which cover three seasons. in the summer, Kikuko gets into her first Petty Middle School Drama at school when her only friend forces her to make a tough social decision. in the fall, Kikuko begins a friendship with a quiet, strange boy that goes to ... her school. in the winter, Kikuko falls ill. Through all of this, Kikuko lives her daily life on a houseboat with her fat and joyful single mother, Nikuko.

as a fat woman, i was really excited when the trailer for this movie came out, because i thought that it might take a look at the relationship dynamic between a daughter and a fat mother. media that looks upon fat people favorably is rare in general, and in the anime/manga scene it's practically nonexistant. that being the case, i knew that the representation wasn't going to be perfect. but i still had high hopes- a mother-daughter relationship provides an absolutely perfect environment to explore fatness, how fatphobia changes women's lives, and how living as a fat woman impacts your familial relationships. i was, unfortunately, very disappointed by what the movie had to offer on this front.

i was surprised at the backseat role that Nikuko plays in this movie, given the film is named after her. especially in the first two arcs, Nikuko is largely (hah) absent for most important scenes, and serves more as the backdrop of Kikuko's life. despite this movie's trailer framing the movie as a mother-daughter movie, Kikuko hardly has any meaningful interactions with Nikuko until the last arc of the movie. more on that in a bit.

let's talk about Nikuko's fatness for a second. Nikuko is drawn in a way that's really cute, and her life is joyous, and she's not ashamed of herself. that in itself is nice, it's nice to see fat characters existing and being happy without any "i'm sad because i'm fat" plotlines. Nikuko does have a very strong history of being manipulated by unscrupulous men, which i side-eyed a bit, as "fat woman is easy because she's insecure, gets totally played by asshole guy" is a plotline that irks me to no end. thankfully, the writers didn't take it all the way there, never revealing why it is she's so prone to manipulation. not so thankfully, this is because Nikuko never gets any meaningful character development or character exploration throughout the entire film. even more unfortunately, although the writers made the wise decision to not make Nikuko into a woobie and play into Fat Angst, it feels like it leans too much into the opposite direction. Nikuko's entire character can't be taken seriously at all. Even when serious things are happening to her daughter, Nikuko can't be serious about it, because then she wouldn't be the Funny Jolly Fat Lady anymore. no matter how hard you squint, Nikuko is hardly anything but a clown, even during her own slightly depressing backstory. she's there to make you smile and laugh by being fat.

i think it's possible to make a fat character funny WITHOUT making their fatness the butt of all their jokes, but the writers chose not to dig into that, presumably because it's not as easy as just saying "look, she eats a whole French toast in one bite, isn't that soooo funny?!"

so, the fat representation in this movie is kind of a miss. what about the wholesome mother-daughter relationship? well, that ends up being a bit of a miss too. through the whole thing, there's this awkward distance between the two, where neither seems to want to make the effort to become closer with each other, simply settling for daily life and surface-level conversations. Nikuko doesn't act very motherly, aside from providing Kikuko's basic needs, instead playing a role resembling a big sister or best friend. in fact, there are many scenes where it feels like Kikuko plays the role of mother, while Nikuko acts like a child, and the detrimental nature of this dynamic is never even casually mentioned, only being touched with a ten-foot pole once (when Kikuko says "who's the child here?!" as a throwaway joke). this was very frustrating at times, because it felt like there was a huge elephant in the room being ignored: that Nikuko kind of sucks as a mother and Kikuko is struggling in silence because their bond isn't deep enough for her to seek out Nikuko's guidance.

even when there are emotionally potent moments in the movie, they hardly ever involve Nikuko. this is an incredibly sad missed opportunity to me. Kikuko has emotional struggles that would be perfect as a pathway to introducing Nikuko's more motherly side, but instead of getting Nikuko involved in her personal life at all, Kikuko solves most of her problems on her own. the only time Kikuko has a meaningful conversation with her mom is at the very end of the movie, and even then it doesn't get any deeper than an "i love you." the sports festival scene is far and away THE shining moment for both of their characters as we get to see a glimpse of what the movie could be like if it actually cared about their family dynamic.

ALL THAT BEING SAID, this movie is still really nice! wholesome to the core, it emulates Ghibli in a way that doesn't feel contrived. gorgeous and lovingly-crafted scenery, beautiful character animation, good pacing (seriously, this movie and My Neighbors the Yamadas are the only slice of life movies that haven't bored me to tears), funny jokes (when they're not about Nikuko being fat), and a good balance between emotional ups and downs that never feels jarring. the emotional flow of the story is smooth like a wave, good at tempering sad moments with twinges of happiness.

i think i just wanted more from this movie than the writers were willing to give, which is fine. just because it isn't what i wanted it to be doesn't mean it's a bad movie.

that's my take on it, anyways.

anyone looking for something about fat people that actually explores the emotional nuances of being fat should read Pochamani. anyone looking for a cute family-centric slice of life should watch My Neighbors the Yamadas. anyone looking for gorgeous oceanside small town scenery should watch Ponyo. anyone looking for a powerful coming of age story should watch Anohana. if you've exhausted those other options, come watch this movie, it's cute.

6/10.

tl;dr: the movie is cute, gentle, and wholesome, but ultimately fails to deliver a strong mother-daughter bond AND positive representation for fat people. if you're not looking for either of those things, this is a pretty good movie. if anything, it's worth watching for its great scenery and fun character animation.

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	Poll: Gyokou no Nikuko-chan Episode 1 Discussion ItzElite - Jan 24, 2022	25 replies	by HellindiuM »» Jan 20, 8:35 AM
	This looks kinda promising Persona111 - May 20, 2021	1 replies	by Cazqui-09 »» May 31, 2021 8:49 AM

Gyokou no Nikuko-chan

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