Bâan: The Boundary of Adulthood Review & Analysis — Gigguk’s Anime Short Film

What is Bâan?

In a literal sense, Bâan is an anime short film created by Garnt Maneetapho (also known as Anime YouTube Personality "Gigguk") in association with GeeX+ and Studio Daisy. We will be reviewing this anime independent of Gigguk's YouTube career, until near the end as we feel that Bâan can stand on its own as a short film, regardless of the fame of its talented creator.

In a more broad or allegorical sense, it is a story of leaving home; of packing your bags and setting out for a new life in a place unfamiliar to you. A concept that is both exciting and terrifying.

The World and Characters of Bâan

Euthania, a gorgeous world of magic and fantasy that is connected to our own. People of Earth can travel there and immerse themselves in a new culture unlike anything that we have here. The same is of course true in reverse, as Euthanians can also travel to Earth for the same reasons. This is the reality in which we find our two protagonists, Rin and Daichi.

Rinrada of Euthania

Daichi of Earth

Like any young person, there comes a time where you wonder if the options available to you at home aren't enough, that you need to make something of yourself without being a burden on family and stand on your own two feet. Perhaps this feeling can often be accompanied by a feeling of lacking belonging where you are from, but there is the far-off land that sounds incredible, different, and offering a fresh start.

Just as Daichi must adapt to fending for himself on the frontier of Euthania, watching a majestic Naga fly overhead while he attempts to identify what around him is even edible in the first place; Rin has to adapt to finding a job as a foreigner in a place she has only heard about in stories. Things that are a part of her and her life experiences back home feel like things that make her an outsider in her new life.

Rin and Daichi also came from different reactions to their leaving, Daichi left with his family trying to convince him not to go and that he was making a mistake, while Rin left with support and a warm sendoff. Both of these reactions are very real and came from a place of love and caring from each family that just wants the best for their child. Both of these sendoffs likely also impacted the way that our protagonists view their new lives in strange new worlds.

What is a Home? (SPOILERS)

Leaving your home and family behind to seek something new is not easy, and the people we leave behind become a distant connection that it is hard to keep in touch with due to barriers of things like time zones in our world or inter-dimensional boundaries in the case of Bâan. While Daichi flourished in his new environment and found purpose in his new life in Euthania, Rin struggled to find belonging in her new environment.

As anyone who has taken opportunities to live abroad can tell you, once the honeymoon phase wears off, depression is a very real factor and your support system isn't close enough to be able to make a real difference. Rin had an advantage in knowing that Daichi would support her in her decisions, whether it be to find happiness on Earth, or return to their home in Euthania. At that point, Euthania has become home to Daichi. It is the place where he feels at peace and has a purpose; but that is not something that he can or wants to push onto Rin. Daichi knows that Rin must learn and decide for herself where her home is, just like he did. He lets her know that she will be loved and supported no matter what world she finds herself in.

As a result, Rin returns home to Euthania to her adoptive-father. A decision made with tears of happiness. Rin's time on Earth is not shown to be a failure, but a lesson in belonging and that what works for one person in finding that belonging, may not be what works for others. Sometimes that time traveling abroad and trying to make it work is what we need to find a new beginning, and sometimes it is what shows us that home is what we left behind. Both are perfectly okay results. Rin can go home and find herself in a place where all of the things that made her stand out on Earth can be accepted; just as Daichi found himself learning and loving the new way of life that he discovered.

The Beauty of Bâan Behind the Scenes

From the landscapes of Euthania, to the awe-inspiring form of the Naga, Bâan is absolutely beautiful from beginning to end. The music by Kevin Penkin (Made in Abyss, The Apothecary Diaries) never fails to bring the emotion to a scene and make us feel for the characters and the worlds that we are seeing. The visuals and music blend with the South East Asian influences in a way that feels grounded in the setting and still unique to what we have seen before. We can tell there is a history to these worlds and their relationship together even if we only get to see snippets of it in the 18 minutes and 52 seconds of runtime.

Knowing that Bâan was a passion project and mainly funded by Garnt himself, I can understand why the film is as short as it is, unfortunately that does hold the otherwise incredible short film back from reaching the heights that it could. Some scenes felt as though precious seconds of context had been cut to keep within constraints. That being said, I believe this story to be paced incredibly well in spite of those constraints. I found myself wishing for just another 5 minutes with these characters when the credits rolled.

We reviewed both the Japanese and English dubs of the film, and both were spectacular. I can personally say that the performances in the dub were my personal preference, as you could feel the passion for the project from the ADR Director and Voice Actors who personally knew and understood the vision of the creator and wanted to help bring this world to life for the viewers.

Official Pixigonal Rating: 8.5/10

Bâan was an incredibly sweet and heartwarming tale about finding a place that you belong. It is visually stunning, interesting, and leaves you wishing it would stick around just a bit longer. I salute Garnt Maneetapho and the GeeX+ and Studio Daisy teams for creating something wonderful. The story is not overly complex but cinematic with a few twists that make a rewatch even more enjoyable as you make connections that you may not have noticed the first time. They have created a story that I think will stick with me for some time.

Kevin's Deep Lore Thoughts

Well if you stuck around to the end of this article, thank you! You found the section where I am going to take my reviewer hat off and appreciate aspects of the show from the context of a Gigguk/Trash Taste Fan.

First, it is very gratifying to see Garnt get the chance to create something in the anime space on this scale and I truly hope it gets all of the success that he deserves. All of those Hoyoverse Sponsorships absolutely paid off in getting this series made. Connor Colquhoun (CDawgVA) did an amazing job with the English voice directing, though I hesitate to suggest changing his name to CDawgVD for evident reasons. Sydney Poniewaz (Sydsnap) and Aleks Le (Demon Slayer, Solo Leveling) both gave fantastic performances that really delivered on the emotions of the characters that they portrayed. Those who really know the Expanded Trash Taste Universe may also notice some familiar faces (voices?) as some of the warriors of Euthania such as Connor, Nabi and Paul. I do love seeing the Van Gang representation.

In closing, I can't wait to see where this takes Garnt next. While I am sure he would be happy to have this be a one off passion project, I think he has proven that he has the chops to make something incredible.

Special thanks to Tamara for helping me organize my thoughts on this review!