Colours Within, The

image for Colours Within, The

Short takes

Not suitable under 8; parental guidance to 9 (themes, lack of interest for younger children)

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This topic contains:

  • overall comments and recommendations
  • details of classification and consumer advice lines for Colours Within, The
  • a review of Colours Within, The completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 13 March 2025.

Overall comments and recommendations

Children under 8 Not suitable due to themes and lack of interest for this age group.
Children aged 8–9 Parental guidance recommended due to themes
Children aged 10 and over Ok for this age group.

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines. Other classification advice (OC) is provided where the Australian film classification is not available.

Name of movie: Colours Within, The
Classification: PG
Consumer advice lines: Mild themes
Length: 101 minutes

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

A synopsis of the story

Totsuko (voice of Libby Rue) is a high school student at a girls’ Catholic boarding school in Japan. She has the unique ability to see people as colours, which she interprets as their nature. Totsuko is particularly fascinated with Kimi (Kylie McNeil), who she thinks has the most beautiful colour. When Kimi drops out of school, Totsuko looks everywhere for her. She finds her working in a bookstore. A boy called Rui (Eddy Lee) also enters the shop, looking for musical inspiration. He plays the theremin and asks the girls if they play instruments too. Totsuko replies that she is learning the piano and Kimi can play the guitar. Together they form the ‘White Cat Hall Band’ and go on to perform at the school’s Valentine Fest.

Themesinfo

Children and adolescents may react adversely at different ages to themes of crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependence, death, serious illness, family breakdown, death or separation from a parent, animal distress or cruelty to animals, children as victims, natural disasters and racism. Occasionally reviews may also signal themes that some parents may simply wish to know about.

Adolescence; Family issues.

Use of violenceinfo

Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.

Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.

There is very little violence in this movie, including:

  • Totsuko gets knocked out by a basketball during practice.

Material that may scare or disturb children

Under fiveinfo

Children under five are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations.

  • Nothing further noted for this age group.

Aged five to eightinfo

Children aged five to eight will also be frightened by scary visual images and will also be disturbed by depictions of the death of a parent, a child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.

  • Nothing further noted for this age group.

Aged eight to thirteeninfo

Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged eight to thirteen, including the following:

  • Kimi lives with her grandmother – though it isn’t explained why – and she doesn’t tell her she’s quit school. Her grandmother believes she’s still going into school every day. It is said by her classmates that she dropped out of school for defying a teacher by having a boyfriend.
  • Totsuko rarely sees her own mother.
  • Totsuko lies to her teacher about where she has been and who she’s been with. It’s forbidden for the girls to fraternise with boys, so she doesn’t tell her.
  • Rui has a good relationship with his mother, a doctor, but doesn’t want to follow in her footsteps.

Thirteen and overinfo

Children over the age of thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic physical harm or threats, molestation or sexual assault and / or threats from aliens or the occult.

  • Nothing further noted.

Product placement

The following products are displayed or used in this movie:

  • Yamaha
  • Casio.

Sexual references

There are some sexual references in this movie, including:

  • Some attraction between teens.

Nudity and sexual activity

  • None noted.

Use of substances

  • None noted.

Coarse language

  • None noted.

In a nutshell

The Colours Within is a Japanese animated movie which displays gentility, kindness and empathy. While there is nothing particularly scary or violent in this movie, its themes of adolescence, and the fact that it is subtitled (though it is also available dubbed in English), makes it more suited to older children and teens.

The main messages from this movie are to adapt to change; and the importance of making connections with friends through shared ideals.

Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:

  • Empathy
  • Kindness
  • Compassion
  • Totsuko is often seen praying the serenity prayer.

This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children attitudes and behaviours, and their real-life consequences, such as:

  • Kimi initially lies to her grandmother about quitting school but eventually realises the importance of being honest.
  • Totsuko also lies about where she has been to her teachers. She questions herself about this and is ashamed of doing so. What could she have done differently?