Norio Sakurai’s The Dangers in My Heart is a captivating romantic comedy and slice-of-life manga that is been running since 2018. The Dangers in My Heart was adapted into an anime back in 2023 and wrapped up its second season in 2024. With the discharge of The Dangers in My Heart: The Movie, Shin-Ei Animation’s hit adaptation is officially back with an anime film that recaps the primary two seasons, while featuring a hotly anticipated moment manga fans have been dying to see animated.
For fans of the series (or newcomers who need to dig their teeth into an anime love story with a surprising amount of emotional depth), HIDIVE has brought the movie to North America for a limited screening mere days after the film’s domestic premiere in Japan. The Dangers in My Heart: The Movie is barely playing in theaters for yet another day, so be sure to get tickets for the February 18th dub screening ASAP.
Watch The Dangers in My Heart: Season 1
The Dangers in My Heart: The Movie Recaps Seasons 1 & 2 in a Beginner-Friendly Film
Anime recap movies are hard to drag off. Most of the time, they feel like awkwardly stitched together montages that hardly have a coherent story and cap off at awkward points. The Dangers in My Heart: The Movie actually has some issues, but apart from one particular scene that did not land within the last act, I genuinely forgot I used to be watching a recap movie 20 minutes in. By focusing almost exclusively on its two primary characters, The Dangers in My Heart: The Movie is surprisingly beginner-friendly.
Fans of the anime will likely be disillusioned on the omission of the anime’s slice-of-life and more comedic moments, however it does lead to a movie that flows well from scene to scene without feeling too awkward. There are a few montages dedicated to constructing Kyotaro Ichikawa and Anna Yamada’s relationship, but they’re so well paced, you would not even know they were recapping episodes value of story unless someone told you that you just were watching a recap beforehand.
The art direction and soundtrack really shine. A number of scenes are framed from Ichikawa’s perspective, leading to first-person views that put you in his shoes. Characters are animated fluidly, and the movie’s color palette and fashion sense for characters really stand out in an amazing way. If there are any issues animation-wise, it is the poor use of CG in the course of the movie’s introductory and shutting concert, and an over-use of bloom at certain points. The rating is powerful all throughout, featuring soft melodies that feel perfectly at home within the genre, but the actual start musically is the music by in-universe band Primary COLOR. The primary theme, Tsuzuku, is especially implausible and caps off the movie’s ending perfectly.
The Movie Tightens the Anime’s Pace to Make Ichikawa & Yamada’s Relationship the Heart of the Story
Condensing 25 episodes of an anime right into a 102-minute film isn’t any easy task. Naturally, anyone who’s not Ichikawa or Yamada principally has no character development within the movie. The supporting solid could be very poorly defined. This isn’t an issue, because the movie does an amazing job simply specializing in its romance, but there’s one scene near the tip where Ichikawa reflects on the very fact he’s made friends and grown out of his shell that simply doesn’t land, since so far as the movie is worried, none of this was actually seen.
That is hardly a significant issue, though, as The Dangers in My Heart: The Movie makes the precise call in making Ichikawa and Yamada’s relationship the center of the story. Anime romances have a foul habit of feeling too slow burn and dragging love stories out, but The Dangers in My Heart: The Movie is splendidly succinct, constructing their relationship and growing their characters with each scene. It is a testament to the film’s strong source material that the character development still lands with the identical emotional depth and charm present in the manga and anime.
Ichikawa’s growth from an insecure loner definitely hits harder within the anime and manga where you’ll be able to watch his gradual development, but his romance with Yamada truthfully works just a little higher within the movie because of the tight pacing. There’s less teasing and more emphasis on actively constructing towards the film’s ending, which sticks the landing in a way few anime romances actually do).
The Dangers in My Heart Avoids the Pitfalls of Anime Romances With an Ending That Actually Commits
Far and away the most effective part about The Dangers in My Heart: The Movie is the very fact the story is definitely willing to commit to its romance. Far too often, anime romances drag things out with constant teases and relationships that ebb & flow an excessive amount of to feel concrete. Confessions and kisses are sometimes saved for the very end of the series (in the event that they occur in any respect), leading to unsatisfying arcs that simply drag the story out an excessive amount of.
The Dangers in My Heart: The Movie doesn’t have this problem by any means, largely because of a brand new scene at the tip of the film that adapts Karte 127 from The Dangers in My Heart manga. Ichikawa and Yamada’s relationship feels fully developed and fleshed out, making their big moment at the tip of the movie land with loads of weight. Knowing there’s more story left to come back and that the manga continues fleshing out their romance makes the ending hit harder: there’s still more to see once The Dangers in My Heart Season 3 eventually airs.
The Dangers in My Heart: The Movie just isn’t perfect, but few anime recap movies are. Even with its issues, The Dangers in My Heart: The Movie does justice to its primary attraction: Ichikawa and Yamada’s love story. The 2 have a genuinely charming relationship, and watching them slowly fall for each other, and grow alongside one another, really evokes the captures the thrill, awkwardness, and fun of young love. Whether you are a fan of the anime already who just wants a refresher, or on the lookout for a brand new series to select up, The Dangers in My Heart: The Movie is an amazing film with numerous heart.