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CALIFORNIA SOCIOLOGY FORUM VOL. 6 

Film Review: To Enjoy Our Cherry Pie in Community: A 
Commentary on Gekijōban Dōbutsu no Mori by Jōji Shimura 

Esai Santana and Lauren Whiting 
Department of Sociology 

California State University, Los Angeles 
 

 
Image of the Gekijōban Dōbutsu no Mori DVD cover. (Nookipedia 2023). 

ABSTRACT 
Produced in 2006, and never formally released outside of Japan, 
Gekijōban Dōbutsu no Mori - otherwise known as Animal Forest: 
The Movie - follows the journey of Ai, a young girl who 
transplants herself to a new town in hopes of finding her talent and 
goal (her cherry pie). Along the way, she experiences the highs 
and lows of finding an identity, a sense of purpose, and belonging 
in a new space. Throughout her time, she wrangles with the 
journey of acceptance that the grandness of life requires the 
acceptance that she is not the main character in other people’s 
lives, as they have their own dreams and cherry pies. In turn, she 
realizes she is an interdependent element of her new community 
whereby she sees the greatness in others, others see the greatness 
in her, and she sees the greatness in herself. As a film modeled 
after Nintendo’s Animal Crossing: Wild World for the DS, it 
encapsulates familiar, nostalgic feelings fans of the franchise 
experience as they learn to find their cherry pie, identity, and 
belonging through life simulation. 

 



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INTRODUCTION 
Gekijōban Dōbutsu no Mori, translated to Animal Forest: 

The Movie, is an animated film directed by Jōji Shimura, known 
for his creative mastery of translating manga to film, and produced 
by OLM, Inc., VAP, and Nintendo. Shimura’s goal was to retell 
the Animal Crossing: Wild World gaming experience on the big 
screen. Their faithful retelling of the gameplay experience follows 
Ai, a young human girl, who moves to the anthropomorphic 
animal town called Animal Village. The opening sequence holds 
a familiar formula for those who have played Animal Crossing: 
Wild World, as Ai answers the Kappa cab driver’s questions about 
her name and reasons for moving. When she arrives at the village, 
nostalgia should hit any fan of the games as the opening credits 
play Animal Crossing: Wild World’s “Title Screen” song. 
Unbeknownst to Ai, her move reflects the sociological journey of 
finding an identity, a sense of purpose, and belonging in a 
community.  
 
SOCIOLOGICAL RELEVANCE 

To expand, let’s look at sociology professors Edles and 
Appelrouth’s (2021:400-404) explanation of how Geroge Herbert 
Mead used symbolic interactionalist methodological approaches 
to highlight the dialectic relationship between the self and society 
through social evolution during childhood development. 
Specifically, Mead highlighted how children often shift from 
internalizing the attitudes of discrete, disconnected others (“the 
play stage”) to simultaneously internalizing the attitudes of 
multiple others (“the game stage”) as they age. From the “game 
stage,” Mead believed children grew to recognize “the generalized 
other,” a phenomenon of general attitudes and beliefs rooted in the 
assumed roles of a person and those around them. Through these 
transitions, Mead pinpoints the inseparable relationship of the self 
and society, where the self-acts as a byproduct of how people view 
themselves as the subject and object through others’ perceptions. 
With this in mind, Ai undergoes the journey of becoming part of 
“the generalized other” as she learns to accept how the grandness 
of life requires understanding that she is not the main character in 
other people’s lives, as they have their dreams and cherry pies to 
pursue (a metaphor we will explain shortly). As for franchise fans, 



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CALIFORNIA SOCIOLOGY FORUM VOL. 6 

the film encapsulates familiar, nostalgic feelings as they, too, learn 
to find their cherry pie, identity, and belonging through life 
simulation.  

Returning to the film, it showcases the start of Ai’s first 
year living in Animal Village, which is on a warm spring day. 
Symbolically, her first spring represents her new beginning in the 
village as she haphazardly tries to find her footing in a bustling 
environment. The villagers do not acknowledge her presence or 
treat her with the kindness she expected; they talk over her, run 
past her, and make her fall as she attempts to deliver their orders. 
Despite this rocky beginning, she blooms a close friendship with 
Margie and Rosie. In this budding relationship, Margie shares 
with Ai her cherry pie metaphor: people find satisfaction in the 
things they wish for, strive for, and actualize; whether making a 
cherry pie or a goal. Following this conversation, the season 
transitions into summer.  

Summer represents Ai’s growth and connection with her 
neighbors as she realizes the importance of cooperation, 
compassion, and celebrating diversity in developing her identity. 
For instance, the notion of cherry pies resurfaces as Ai 
acknowledges her neighbors’ talents and goals, ranging from 
Margie’s desire to become a fashion designer, Blather’s desire to 
complete the museum, Yū and Alfonso’s desire to find every 
collectible, and Hopper’s desire to catch a fish. The season ends 
with the summer festival and the unexpected performance of 
“K.K. Bossa” by the famous Animalese singer K.K. Slider at 
Margie’s request. As he plays the song, Ai realizes it highlights 
the wonders of venturing outside life’s familiarities to chase a 
cherry pie.  

However, the beautiful ending of summer transitions into 
a mournful, rainy autumn as Ai learns Margie moved away to 
pursue her cherry pie without letting her know. Mourning and 
questioning her friendships and identity, Ai heads to the local 
coffee shop to contemplate. While at the coffee shop, Whitney 
offers Ai a complex rethinking about friendships and identity: the 
validity of both foregoes physical proximity through the mutual 
belief in the self and each other to reach one another’s goals. When 
she returns home, she finds Margie’s farewell letter, reassuring Ai 
that she did not want to leave on a sober note and encourages Ai 



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CALIFORNIA SOCIOLOGY FORUM VOL. 6 

to “eat her own cherry pie.” Inspired by the letter and Whitney’s 
words, Ai resolves to finish the tasks given to her by the 
mysterious messages in bottles she kept to herself throughout the 
film. Spending all of Autumn paving her newfound cherry 
pie, winter brings a tone of completion and unity as the 
season represents another year finished. 

During the winter festival and the annual decorations 
competition, Ai reaches an unexpected realization as she, the 
entire village, and Margie (who visited on holiday) support an 
alien’s return to space after it used Ai’s trees to crash into the 
village. For their efforts, the alien’s community expressed an 
extravagant gratitude for Ai’s determination to support the one 
who fell, leaving Ai as a hero in the eyes of many and the winner 
of the decorations contest. Realizing that her neighbors value her 
as part of the village, Ai finally expresses that she is a genuine 
resident of Animal Village. The story ends with a new spring, 
where Ai reads a letter to her mother expressing how she feels at 
home in her new village. Alongside her letter, pictures fill the 
ending credits to showcase how her neighbors reached their cherry 
pies, such as Margie’s successful launch of her clothing line, 
Blathers completing the museum, and Hopper catching a fish. In 
the final scene, a bloomed Lily of the Valley sways in the warm 
breeze as Ai heads to the village’s museum to discuss astronomy 
with Celeste, the local astronomer.  

Though the flower represents an environmentally 
beautiful village in the games, here, it represents the beauty of Ai 
solidifying herself as an interdependent element of her community 
whereby she sees the greatness in others, others see the greatness 
in her, and she sees the greatness in herself. In other words, the 
flower highlights how she has become part of her community’s 
“generalized other.” However, this metaphor does not conflict 
with its representation in the games, as players also undergo the 
rocky journey of finding their cherry pie and supporting the cherry 
pies of the villagers around them to create a beautiful town 
subjectively and objectively.  

Akin to Ai in the film, the emotions she felt moving into 
a new space and the heartache she felt about Margie moving away 
mirrors the difficult experience people across the fanbase 
undergo. For example, TreyTheWilliam’s (2022) Animal 



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CALIFORNIA SOCIOLOGY FORUM VOL. 6 

Crossing (GNC) Retrospective expressed feelings about how 
Animal Crossing: Population Growing is technologically simpler 
than the newest game, Animal Crossing: New Horizons. But, even 
in the simplicity of the game, he argues that Population Growing 
cultivates advanced and human-like villager personalities, 
creating memorable player-to-character and character-to-
character friendship-building rooted in the interconnected 
experience of his goals aligning with the goals of the villagers. 
Even Lauren (one of the co-authors for this piece), who 
played Animal Crossing: Wild World in elementary school, 
clearly remembers their first days in their village of “Snow” and 
developing their identity and community purpose through taking 
care of their home mortgage, populating the museum, and 
supporting animal neighbors. However, in this simulated self and 
“generalized other,” she vividly recalls heartache caused by the 
unexpected move of her favorite villager, Pinky, and her journey 
of reaffirming her sense of purpose, connection, and expectations 
for herself and those around her. Even in the decades since Pinky’s 
move, Lauren hopes Pinky is happily chasing her cherry pie and 
is making someone’s experience with “the generalized other” 
brighter. Further, TreyTheWilliam conveyed feelings of missing 
and wondering about villagers such as Murphy and Rasher, who 
“moved” in his game reset, and Hank, who moved from his game 
file but never appeared in future games. They express how their 
moving equates to real-life experiences of friendships not lasting 
but the ability to still think about them with good intentions 
(TreyTheWilliam 2022). From player experiences such as 
these, Gekijōban Dōbutsu no Mori captures the adventures, 
emotions, and journey to develop a self and community with 
villagers through life simulation. Expectedly, these life lessons 
carry into players’ experiences of interacting with the real world 
as they use what they learned about cherry pies to experience the 
joys of strangers becoming best friends, finding support in 
unexpected places, and finding comfort in the uncomfortable 
journey of developing identity, community, and dynamic 
friendships wherever they go.  

As the games and film encourage the development of a 
complex understanding of the self, friendship, and community 
through the lens of “the generalized other,” players learn these 



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CALIFORNIA SOCIOLOGY FORUM VOL. 6 

relationships transcend physical proximity as both parties must 
wish the best for each other and themselves to achieve their cherry 
pies no matter where they go to find a new sense of belonging. For 
instance, as many transition from high school to the ‘real world’ 
and begin to pursue their unique cherry pies through grander and 
more divergent paths, they may also experience strains in 
friendships that were originally built upon proximity. Often, many 
feel discouraged by this reality and promise one another they will 
-always stay in touch- to maintain the familiar while pursuing the 
unknown. As Animal Crossing depicts both instances of venturing 
into a new life and not wanting life to change, it offers solace that 
physical limitations do not define the boundaries of friendship and 
community as everyone is part of a “generalized other” that holds 
norms and expectations for everyone to wish the best for each 
other as they actualize their dreams. Therefore, even in physical 
distance, friendships strengthen even as people pursue different 
goals through their mutual hope for the best.  

For a more tangible example of players realizing the 
potential of “the generalized other” in real life, Gekijōban 
Dōbutsu no Mori was released only in Japan in 2006, despite 
amassing 1.7 billion Yen (approximately 16,216,000 USD) at the 
box office (Internet Archive 2012) and the franchise’s continued 
popularity. Adding to the surprise, Nintendo of America made a 
statement in 2007 expressing that they did not intend to release the 
film in their jurisdiction (rawmeatcowboy 2007). Because of 
Nintendo’s decisions, information about the movie’s promotion is 
limited to Japanese announcements in the magazine Hochi 
Shimbun (Groenendijk 2006), a website (Internet Archive 2007), 
and video trailers (OLM n.d.). Currently, any interviews with the 
cast and director are limited to an untranslated Gekijouban 
Doubutsu no Mori promotional booklet available only to those 
who bought the Japan-exclusive movie DVD (Nintendo 2006). 
Irrespective of these decisions, franchise fans collaborated to 
create subtitled (Automatic-Reindeer14 2023) and dubbed 
(siilhouette 2014) adaptations to share online for all to enjoy while 
archiving information about the movie to wikis and 
WayBackMachine. Unsurprisingly, the efforts of the fan base to 
use their talents to reach a collective goal encapsulates the 
message of the film and games, sharing this community cherry 
pie.  



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CALIFORNIA SOCIOLOGY FORUM VOL. 6 

CONCLUSION 
Considering the insightful sociological lessons Gekijōban 

Dōbutsu no Mori and the Animal Crossing film games offer for 
real-life experiences, the authors wish to leave readers with the 
lyrics to “K.K. Bossa” as a reminder that though life may not be 
easy, whether it be experienced through film, game, or real life, 
we are not alone when it comes to the feelings and tribulations that 
come with navigating friendships, the desire to belong, and the 
individual pursuit of dreams. Notably, Ai understands “K.K. 
Bossa” as an inspirational song about her friendship with Margie; 
it is about the pursuit of dreams and taking life into your own 
hands to fulfill such dreams. Knowing this, Margie had to take the 
opportunity to fulfill her dreams and encouraged Ai to do the 
same. Paralleled to Ai’s experience, the song serves as a reminder 
that just as life does not end when friends venture out into the 
world to make their cherry pies, neither do ours when we pursue 
our own as we are all part of one large “generalized other” that 
hopes the best for one another and ourselves.  
 

“K.K. Bossa” 
Waves crashing down, splashes and beauty resound; 

Oh, oh, oh, 
Where the shore ends, become unwound. 

Treasure is found down by the sands of the sea; 
unlock the door, you may have the key... 

Out past the door, Adventure lies; 
Thrills are in store, Worthwhile and engaging. 

Open your eyes, Roll on with the tide; 
and maybe, you’ll find there’s a new life awaiting. 

Waves crashing down, splashes and beauty resound; 
Oh, oh, oh, 

Where the shore ends, become unwound. 
Treasure is found down by the sands of the sea: 

its calling out, it’s time to be free. 
 
 

REFERENCES 
Automatic-Reindeer14. 2023. “Where Can I Watch the Full Animal Crossing Movie with 

English Subtitles?” R/AnimalCrossing.  
Edles, Laura D. and Scott Appelrouth. 2021. “Geroge Herbert Mead (1863-1931).” Pp. 

383–422 in Sociological Theory in the Classical Era Text and Readings. 
Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc. 



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CALIFORNIA SOCIOLOGY FORUM VOL. 6 

Groenendijk, Ferry. 2006. “Nintendo Announces Animal Crossing Film.” Video Games 
Blogger.  

Internet Archive. 2007. “劇場版 「どうぶつの森」公式サイト.” 
https://web.archive.org/web/20071028003739/http://www.doubutsunomori-
movie.jp/ 

Internet Archive. 2012. “2007年度興行成績ランキング < 映画 - 楽天エンタメナビ.” 
https://web.archive.org/web/20121029165113/http://entertainment.rakuten.co.
jp/movie/ranking/boxoffice/2007/. 

Nintendo. 2006. Animal Crossing Theatrical 2006 Promo Book. 
Nintendo. 2006. K.K. Bossa. 
Nookipedia. 2023. “Gekijōban Doubutsu No Mori.” Nookipedia. 
OLM, dir. n.d. Animal Crossing: The Movie Promotion Videos | 劇場版 どうぶつの森 

[PV]. 
rawmeatcowboy. 2007. “No Plans to Bring Animal Crossing Move to North America.” 

GoNintendo. https://gonintendo.com/archives/26315-no-plans-to-bring-
animal-crossing-move-to-north-america. 

Shimura, Jōji, dir. 2006. Gekijōban Dōbutsu No Mori. Toho Co., Ltd. 
siilhouette. 2014. “Animal Crossing: The Movie (Completed English Fandub).” 

R/AnimalCrossing. 
TreyTheWilliam. 2022. Animal Crossing (GNC) Retrospective. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56ob2Xw0Fhc&list=PL7J1-
tboACw6fQrbDgaCvYFQ9H8D_mGyx&index=4). 

 
 
Esai Santana (He/Him) is an undergraduate senior at California State 
University, Los Angeles who transferred from East Los Angeles with an A.A. 
Degree in both Sociology and in General Studies: Social and Behavioral 
Sciences. Graduating in Spring 2024 with a B.A. Degree in Sociology, he 
joined CSF as an opportunity to connect more with his peers in sociology, 
step out of his comfort zone, and take an interest in publishing a journal. His 
main sociological research interests include inequalities, sexuality, and 
gender. As a video game enjoyer, he co-authored a review on Gekijōban 
Dōbutsu no Mori, a movie on the Animal Crossing Franchise focused on the 
development of self. 

 
Lauren Whiting (She/They) is a Sociology M.A. student at CSULA but 
attended AVC for their ADT in Sociology and CSUB-AV for their B.A. in 
Sociology: Human Services. Lauren’s sociological areas of interest cover 
topics such as US interactions with and perceptions of the justice system and 
the parent-child relationship when parenting with disabilities. For her thesis, 
she hopes to explore the influence of parental religiosity on the relationship 
between disabled parents and their children. Their passion for these topics 
offered them opportunities to tutor, present at six conferences, and receive 
various accolades. While working toward their M.A., Lauren is a case 
manager at a reentry nonprofit in the Antelope Valley. With a passion for 
supporting others, participating in CSF as a peer reviewer and media team 
member has offered Lauren the joy of aiding fellow students in their journey 
of sharing their passions with others.




