Arashi no Yoru ni/YMMV

• Alternate Character Interpretation:
  • That Gabu never got amnesia and was trying to forget everything he and Mei experienced.
  • Was Gabu staring at Mei's rear because he was hungry or...
• Animation Age Ghetto: Subverted! This is supposed to be a kids movie and yet it was popular enough among older anime fans to get an unofficial English dub and a page on TV Tropes. The English dub exists on YouTube with the permission of the original producers largely because they have no intention of ever localizing it in English.
• Crowning Moment of Funny: Gabu nibbling Mei's ear.
• Crowning Moment of Heartwarming: When Mei and Gabu have a great big happy hug. Also a happy Tear Jerker.
• It Changed Now It Sucks: The cartoon series. The fact that it's CGI and Mei is a girl did not help at all.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • It's Mei!
  • Mei's butt is a meme in itself, more precisely the scene where we're forced to watch Gabu drool over it.
• Moe: Mei and Gabu, though its hard to tell which one is the better example...
• Tear Jerker: As they are fleeing their homeland, Mei and Gabu have a variety of dangerous encounters that has them fearing that the other is dying or dead. Then when Mei offers himself to be eaten by Gabu so he won't starve, Gabu will have none of it and has an emotional breakdown. At the end when Mei and Gabu are reunited, Mei is horrified that Gabu doesn't remember him and wants to eat him, but Mei will only be eaten at all by the Gabu who is his friend. Gabu regains his memory and they are happily properly reunited to live out their lives together.
• Values Dissonance:
  • Controversy exists over the homoerotic overtones of the anime. Word of God confirmed that, in actuality, Mei was always intended to be a male character, but was written in the children's books as gender-ambiguous so that he'd appeal as much if he were female as if he were male. The film merely restored that gender specificity.
  • People also find the blood at the beginning to be shocking, since it's a kids movie.
• What Do You Mean It's for Kids?: Oh, Japan.
• The Woobie: Mei is just so gosh darn cute when he's being terrified.