Trapezium

Story

Yuu Azuma (voice of Asaki Yuikawa) has dreamed of becoming an idol for as long as she can remember. She plans, makes notes and has even come up with her group’s name and backstory. The only thing left is to find girls to join her group.

Scouting prospects from every part of her city, Yu visits schools in the hope of realising her vision. Ranko Katori (voice of Reina Ueda) is a beautiful, auburn-haired tennis player who can’t actually play the game. Yu befriends her first, although Ranko doesn’t know the reason for their friendship. Next is Karumi Taiga (voice of Hina Yomiya), a female robotic engineer with a wide fanbase and a strong aversion to the spotlight. The final member is Mika Kamei (voice of Haruka Aikawa), a beautiful girl from a bookshop, who immediately recognises Yuu as a childhood classmate.

The girls begin to hang out together and do service projects, with Yuu hoping she can catch the media’s attention. An interview provides just the opportunity Yuu has been hoping for. Soon the girls are doing publicity stunts, making appearances and preparing to become singing sensations.

Once they’re signed with a talent agency, Yuu begins to drive them hard and soon the pressures begin to show. Friendships are challenged and dreams are destroyed, but from the ashes of coercion and mistrust a beautiful friendship might rise again.

Themes

Bullying; peer pressure; jealousy; manipulation: deceitfulness; depression; influence of social media; the pitfalls of unbridled ambition and fame

Violence

Trapezium has some violence. For example:

Some high school girls are mean to Yuu. They make snide comments about her uniform and her background.
A character is shoved in a haunted house.
A character reads some hateful and mean comments on a social media platform.
Two girls scream at each other in a hallway.
Mika tells Yuu how she was ostracised by teachers and students at a former school. She changed her face and moved away, but the bullying continued.

Sexual references

Trapezium has some sexual references. For example, a boy asks Yuu if she’s ‘into girls’.

Alcohol, drugs and other substances

There’s no use of substances in Trapezium.

Nudity and sexual activity

Trapezium has some nudity and sexual activity. For example:

Some boys are dressed in tight dresses with plunging necklines and short hemlines.
The girls in the group often wear short skirts. Occasionally their dance moves show their thighs.

Product placement

The following products are displayed or used in Trapezium:

Yuu uses Campus notebooks. Occasionally the Campus logo is displayed in scenes.
Sony cameras are used, and the brand is visible.

Coarse language

Trapezium has some some coarse language including ‘damn’, ‘Shut up!’, ‘heck’, ‘bitching’, ‘darn’, ‘hell’ and ‘Screw you!’

Ideas to discuss with your children

Trapezium is a Japanese anime movie with English subtitles. The movies features excellent computer animated graphics and a few musical numbers as well as some powerful messages about true friendship, the journey to adulthood and the dangers of unbridled ambition.

Trapezium is best suited to viewers aged over 11 years, with parental guidance for children aged 11-12 years.

These are the main messages from Trapezium:

Everyone must walk their own path.
Success and dreams are different for each person.
There are many ways to fill the world with light.

Values in Trapezium that you could reinforce with your children include friendship, forgiveness, service, kindness, empathy and determination.

Trapezium could also give you the chance to talk with your children about the real-life consequences of things like:

manipulating others to reach your goals
forgetting the value of friendship, forcing your views or preferences on others, and treating others cruelly
putting ambition and fame above the people you love
being influenced by social media.