Ill admit it Im a Shinkai fanboy. Though its probably pretty obvious if you look at my scores and see my high scores for all of his movies. Something about his stories really strike a chord in me even if he seemingly retells the same story over and over again. He could tell it probably a dozen more times and Id still love them all. This is probably the biggest reason why I didnt dislike Flavors of Youth despite it being a little bit lacking in the emotional investment department. Half of every great anime but especially anime movies comes from the visuals and soundtrack. Its an extremely rare occurrence when an anime movie can falter in one or both of these categories and still be considered decent. In the case of Flavors of Youth it doesnt disappoint in either. The visuals are top notch as expected from CoMix Wave from which we got Your Name and Garden of Words two of the most beautiful anime of all time. Also big shout out to the San Xian noodles in the first story Sunny Breakfast. Even now Im thinking back on those bad boys and getting hungry. The soundtrack for Flavors of Youth is really good if not a little reserved. Youll not find anything quite as evocative as Sparkle from Your Name or as powerfully emotional as A Rainy Morning from the Garden of Words but Ill cut it some slack because its quite a task to measure up to those masterful works anyway. The ending song WALK by Vickeblanka is easily my favorite song on the soundtrack. The more I listen to it the more I deeply appreciate it. If those earlier songs are their movies standout song then WALK is definitely Flavors of Youths. Now I can talk about the stories which is where the main issues lie. Ive already alluded to the first story Sunny Breakfast a little bit. Characterwise its probably the weakest of the three but thats to be expected. After all its a story about one guy narrating his youth and how many of his most cherished memories were spent eating San Xian noodles with his loved ones. Its actually kind of beautiful in its own simplistic way. Ive heard a lot that this is most peoples least favorite story in Flavors of Youth but it may just be my favorite. At least favorite based on the story. The second story A Little Fashion Show is probably the weakest in all aspects. I couldnt bring myself to like the characters very much and the story was really predictable. Im not one to complain about simple stories as is evidenced by my appreciation of the first story but Im a little less forgiving of the completely mundane story of A Little Fashion Show. It was just a mess of cliches with the message of....Im really not sure actually. I guess you can say it was a coming of age story but that just makes it sound even more generic and cliched. The third story Shanghai Love is the story that is most Shinkaiesque. In fact it kind of mirrors 5 Centimeters per Second perfectly until the ending. Personally I really liked the story and characters outside of the main boy Limo. I mean that boy was basically a walking mistake he deserved neither his best friend or best girl with his attitude. But thats a personal gripe I suppose. I feel like its somewhat pointless to do a favorite character for this since theres only one character who got enough characterization to deserve the title but oh well Ill do it anyway. Favorite Character: Mistuh I mean Shao Yu https://occ0901448.1.nflxso.net/art/a9d2b/f633b9360317bf34113921cd727d5baa9e4a9d2b.jpg Yeah...Not much to add here she was the best character by default since she got the most development and actually has a personality. Also shes Chinese Mitsuha so bonus points. Despite me not loving Flavors of Youth Id still recommend it to anyone. Its so short and such a pure story that even if you have gripes with it you can still appreciate it for being what it is a contemplation of short stories that each lean heavily on a different theme. The first on the cherished memories of eating with loved ones the second on realizing that you must cherish your loved ones and the third on communicating your feelings. Each of these themes are tackled really well even if the surrounding story and characters arent amazing. But if you have any appreciation for Mokoto Shinkais work then youll probably enjoy the Flavors of Youth.