(“Friendship has no shape, but floats like a red balloon.”)
A little boy with a red balloon walked across a grey, lonely Parisian street. There was no sound but a lonely trumpet. And then, the Japanese subtitles appeared at the bottom of the screen.
Her grandfather grinned. “Ah. Le Ballon Rouge.” Chibi Maruko Chan Japanese Subtitle
Everyone stared.
Nine-year-old Maruko Sakura discovers a dusty VHS tape of a French art film her grandfather bought by mistake. With no dub and only dense Japanese subtitles she can barely read, she becomes obsessed with decoding the story, leading her to a profound, funny, and surprisingly emotional summer afternoon. The summer sun beat down on the roof of the Sakura house like a taiko drum. Cicadas screamed. Maruko, wearing her iconic yellow hat and a sweat stain on her red shirt, lay sprawled on the tatami mats, groaning. (“Friendship has no shape, but floats like a red balloon
“That’s the saddest thing I’ve ever read,” Maruko whispered, sniffling. “Worse than when I dropped my last piece of natto.”
“I will tomorrow,” Maruko said. “Because I realized something. Friendship has no shape. But it’s heavier than a million red balloons. And you don’t need subtitles to understand it.” Her grandfather grinned
“It’s French!”