Director Ayumu Watanabe and Studio 4°C impressed the world with their lavish visual work on Children of the Sea, and Fortune Favors Lady Nikuko is another beautifully realized film from the team. Fortunately for those who might have found Children of the Sea too abstract to get into, this one has a plot that’s a lot easier to follow.
…Or perhaps it might be more accurate to say that it’s easier to follow because it doesn’t have much of a plot. Fortune Favors Lady Nikuko feels like more of a character study and a series of slice-of-life sketches than a feature-length film. Its depiction of the life of a girl on the cusp of adolescence is very on-point, although its story ultimately doesn’t leave a strong impression beyond that.
Despite having the name “Nikuko” in the title, the story is really more about the daughter character of Kikuko. The two live in a small seaside…
