Trapezium

image for Trapezium

Short takes

Not suitable under 11; parental guidance to 12 (themes, language, subtitles)

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This topic contains:

  • overall comments and recommendations
  • details of classification and consumer advice lines for Trapezium
  • a review of Trapezium completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 30 September 2024.

Overall comments and recommendations

Children under 11 Not suitable due to themes, language and subtitles.
Children aged 11–12 Parental guidance recommended due to themes and language.
Children aged 13 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: Trapezium
Classification: PG
Consumer advice lines: Mild themes and coarse language
Length: 95 minutes

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

A synopsis of the story

Yuu Azuma (voice of Asaki Yuikawa) has dreamed of becoming an idol for as long as she can remember. She strategises, makes notes and has even come up with the name and story behind how her group will come to be. The only thing left is to find the girls who will join her. Scouting potential prospects from every direction of her city, Azuma visits schools in the hopes of finding what she envisions. Ranko Katori (voice of Reina Ueda), a beautiful, auburn-haired tennis player who can’t actually play the game is the first to befriend Azuma, though she does not know the purpose behind 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 they find in a bookshop who immediately recognises Azuma as a childhood classmate. The girls begin to hang out together and do service projects, with Azuma hoping she can catch the media’s attention. An interview provides just the opportunity Azuma has been hoping for and soon the girls are doing publicity stunts, making appearances and preparing to become singing sensations. Once they are signed with a talent agency, Azuma 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 just rise again.

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.

Bullying; Peer pressure; Jealousy; Manipulation: Deceitfulness; Depression; Influence of social media; The pitfalls of unbridled ambition and fame.

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 some violence in this movie, including:

  • A group of high school girls are mean to Azuma, making snide comments about her uniform and where she is from.
  • A character is shoved in a haunted house.
  • There are some hateful and mean comments read off of a social media platform.
  • Two girls scream at each other in a hallway.
  • Mika tells Azuma how she was ostracised by teachers and students at a former school, how she changed her face and moved away but the bullying continued.

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.

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.

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.

  • Nothing further noted.

Product placement

The following products are displayed or used in this movie:

  • Campus notebooks are repeatedly used by Azumi and occasionally the logo is displayed in scenes.
  • Sony cameras are used and the brand is clearly visible.

Sexual references

There are some sexual references in this movie, including:

  • A boy asks Azuma if she is “into girls”.

Nudity and sexual activity

There is some nudity and sexual activity in this movie, including:

  • A group of boys is dressed up in tight dresses with plunging necklines and short hemlines.
  • The girls often wear short skirts and occasionally their dance moves will show a lot of thigh.

Use of substances

  • None noted.

Coarse language

There is some coarse language in this movie, including:

  • Damn
  • Shut up
  • Heck
  • Bitching
  • Darn
  • Hell
  • Screw you!

In a nutshell

Trapezium is a Japanese anime film with English subtitles. The film features some excellent computer animated graphics and a few musical numbers as well as some powerful messages about true friendship, growing up and the dangers of unbridled ambition. It is best suited to audiences over the age of 11, with parental guidance for 11 and 12 year olds.

The main messages from this movie are that everyone must walk their own path; that success and dreams are different for each person; and that there are many ways to fill the world with light.

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

  • Friendship
  • Forgiveness
  • Service
  • Kindness
  • Empathy
  • Determination.

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

  • Manipulating others to reach your goals.
  • Forgetting the value of friendship, and forcing your views or preferences on others and treating them cruelly.
  • Putting ambition and fame before the people you love.
  • The dangers of social media.