KOMADA – A WHISKY FAMILY. A Moving Anime

I’m no expert in this field – I try to stay away from alcohol as much as possible – but if I had to choose the alcohol I’ve liked the least in my life, I would undoubtedly point to whisky. Apologies in advance to all the connoisseurs of this esteemed beverage, but even straight vodka goes down more smoothly than that murky piss with the taste and consistency of dish soap. However strange it may sound in this context – I once happened to attend a whisky fair. A truly surreal experience: the average age of the attendees was 50+, everyone walking from booth to booth with glasses hanging on lanyards, constantly pouring more high-proof alcohol into themselves.

As for me, I stopped at the first free sample: I spent the rest of the day trying to get rid of that specific, exceptionally vile aftertaste from my tongue. So you can imagine that I didn’t walk into a screening of an anime centered around whisky production with much enthusiasm or high expectations. And yet: I walked out moved and enchanted. This happened mainly because Komada – A Whisky Family by Masayuki Yoshihara, contrary to its English title, isn’t strictly a film about whisky. Of course, the intricacies of alcohol production play an important role – but realistically, any other industry could have been placed in their stead. The core of the story – about the birth of passion, the sacrifices tied to it, and the difficult choices life puts before us – proves to be strong and universal enough.

The plot of Komada is told primarily from the perspective of Kotaro, a 25-year-old journalist who is assigned by his editor to write a series of articles on Japanese whisky production. Kotaro knows absolutely nothing about the subject – so he’s assigned help in the form of Rui Komada, a talented blender who owns her own distillery. Initially jaded and fairly skeptical about the whole matter, Kotaro gradually delves deeper into the world of whisky.

He becomes increasingly invested in Rui’s story, helping her recreate the taste of KOMO: a legendary family brand whose recipe was lost years earlier due to a fire and an earthquake. Adopting the perspective of a journalist who knows nothing about the topic is a relatively simple, yet incredibly clever trick – it allows viewers like me, unfamiliar with whisky, to have someone to relate to. Kotaro’s presence makes watching Yoshihara’s anime a fairly comfortable experience: we don’t drown in sneaky industry jargon, losing the meaning of every other word. The character’s initial confusion mirrors our own: we enter this new environment with him, discovering its secrets systematically, step by step.

Importantly, the inexperienced reporter functions in Komada as a fully fleshed-out, psychologically credible character – he’s more than just an empty narrative device cynically used by the creators to present the tangled story of Rui and her family. In Kotaro’s well-crafted storyline, the film’s central message – about our approach to work and finding life’s meaning through doing it well – is subtly reflected. The admiration Kotaro feels toward Rui is, from the start, mixed with jealousy. But he doesn’t envy her for her numerous professional successes, her family business, or even the respect she receives from older and more experienced colleagues.

He envies her passion: her love for what she does. If Komada – A Whisky Family tries to prove anything, it’s that passion is a relative concept. We can stumble upon it by chance, develop it along the way – we don’t have to be born with a love for literature, cinema, or whisky (and I’m a perfect example: I only got seriously interested in film in high school). Kotaro’s biggest shock comes when he learns that Rui once dreamed of studying art and had no intention of continuing the family business. Circumstances forced her hand: her father’s sudden death and the looming threat of the company shutting down.

She needed time to accept her new situation and to grow to love her work. Fortunately, Yoshihara’s subtle animation only needs to be seen once to be properly appreciated.