Junkers Come Here (1994)

I would absolutely love to have a dog like Junkers because seriously, when I feel lonely or if I'm having a bad day, he would always be there for me. Plus a bonus of three wishes wouldn't be a bad idea too y'know!I liked how this film didn't make Hiromi into a whiny snobby 12 year old. They honestly did make her mature for her age and thats even better then the well-known anime film "My Neighbor Totoro" because seriously, it wasn't as mature as this film truly is! There was a scene that I nearly cried at. The scene consists of Hiromi telling her parents to stop getting a divorce in the place where the last spent time together as a family. It does break your heart actually, for real, a separation in any family is difficult especially if your parents were together for years! Well at least in the end, Hiromi's parents rekindled thanks to Junkers' magic!I really liked the film, it was different and plus, it was easy to follow! I think it should've won awards like some of Studio Ghilbi's films had done!

This is quite a nice anime movie. On the surface, the anime tried to sell its story with the attraction of a unique talking dog. However in its core essence, it was a movie about family problems and a little girl who just wanted the best for her family. There were some comical moments and the sad moments were not overly sentimental. However, what prevented me from rating this movie a 7 star or above, was due to the fact that the final moment was a bit of a letdown in my opinion. It was like the creators were rushing for deadlines and came up with a convenient solution to the ending. If this movie was remade with a better ending, magical or not, it could have the potential to be on par with the best anime movies of all time.

Hiromi is a young 6th grade girl who has parents who are devoted to their work and plan on getting a divorce. She doesn't know how to cope with the fact that she might be losing her parents and she seeks help from her dog Junkers. A well made anime dealing with real life issues that many kids must face, may be a bit to serious for some kids, but the talking dog should keep their attention. The acting in the English dubbed version was surprisingly good. Hiromi and Junkers are two very cute innocent characters that are fun to watch. It is a film that the whole family will enjoy, so feel free to pull up a chair and watch with your kids. You won't be disappointed. ** out of ****

Just imagine! It took around eight years for this movie to reach America? Why? This isn't an anime genre piece like Perfect Blue or Gundam or Battle Angel that people outside of anime circles would mock or not understand or be disgusted by; this is a wonderful fantasy grounded in a very realistic, contemporary, America-like Japan. With the exceptions of the samurai drama and the parody of a classic shojo-manga theme (falling in love with your teacher or older person--not unheard of in America but not something that routinely appears in children's cartoons), Junkers Come Here could take place in any upper-class American town, or in England, or in France, etc.The title character (though not main character) is a Schnauser named Junkers. Junkers is magical, reminding me a bit of Elliot from Pete's Dragon. He can talk and has the power to grant three wishes. As far as characterization, he's very laid back and easy-going, and he just loves period samurai TV shows (which makes me wonder if he's not some sort of reincarnated samurai himself), especially the over-the-top ones that are reminiscent of Sergio Leone's spaghetti westerns.The focus of the movie is Junkers' owner, Hiromi. She's a smart, well-behaved twelve-year-old who tends to take care of herself, since most times her parents are away on business, leaving her in the care of the daytime cook and a live-in college student who pays the rent by tutoring Hiromi. Of course, she falls in love with him, and that is probably the most cliched part of the story (though a dream she has of Junkers officiating her marriage to him is about as funny as can be). However, over the course of the movie, as it becomes clear that Hiromi's parents are heading for divorce, cracks in her projected self-reliance begin to appear.I don't want to spoil much more than that. Just know that her wishes are neither spectacles like Aladdin nor twisted (much) to make her miserable, like in "The Monkey's Paw." While the ending is predictably happy (but just fanciful enough to make it self-evident that this is still a fantasy and couldn't happen in real life), there is an intensity of emotion (in both the Japanese and the English versions) that puts it on a level high above the likes of "Irreconcilable Differences."The animation, though slightly "limited" like most anime, is not so distracting as even some newer anime (some of the crowd scenes in Perfect Blue come to mind, not to mention the Pokemon and Digimon movies). In fact, it has a beauty similar to the works of Studio Ghibli (most notably, Whispers of the Heart and I Can Hear the Ocean). Which is exactly why it is so universal, and why it is so surprising that the movie took so long, in this anime-obsessed nation, for it reach America. It is a wonderful film, even for those who normally dislike anime.