Flavors of Youth

Flavors of Youth (肆式青春, 2018) is a Chinese-Japanese animated anthology you can watch online on iFILM. Three short stories trace growing up across different Chinese cities, animated by CoMix Wave Films — the studio behind Your Name.

The first follows a young man whose memory of a steaming bowl of rice noodles in Hunan outlasts everything else from childhood. The second watches a fashion model's career burn out while her bond with her little sister frays. The third lands in Shanghai, where a man keeps putting off a first love until time runs out. Neighborhoods get torn down, cities shift, but the small things stay: broth, a worn cassette, handwriting on a letter.

Directed by Yi Xiaoxing, Li Haoling and Yoshitaka Takeuchi, these 74 minutes carry the soft, rain-on-glass mood of Makoto Shinkai's films. It's for viewers who want quiet over spectacle. Stream Flavors of Youth online on iFILM.