South Korean animation feature film “Your Letter” is a simple but engaging coming-of-age drama about friendship and solidarity. Often reminiscent of the mood and style of Japanese animation films, the movie has several lovely visual moments to remember, and that is more than enough to compensate for a number of shortcomings including the occasionally sappy aspects of the story.

The opening part of the film mainly revolves around how a female adolescent named So-ri (voiced by Lee Su-hyun) begins her first day at her new school. After suffering a serious case of bullying at her previous school in Seoul, So-ri moves to a rural town where her grandmother lives, and she cannot help but feel awkward about her new school environment while still reeling from that traumatic experience of hers caused by the bullying by some cruel classmate of hers. She was bullied just because she stood by one of her classmates as a friend when that classmate was bullied by the same bully, and, because that classmate also eventually left their school just like her, she often wonders whether she really did the right thing.

At least, most of her new classmates look pretty nice and friendly to So-ri, though there is still a considerable gap between them and her. Several days pass by, but none of her new classmates is particularly close to her yet, and that makes So-ri feel all the lonelier while missing that classmate of hers more than before. In fact, she actually wrote a letter to that classmate for checking whether that classmate is fine, but that classmate has not answered yet to her frustration.

On one day, So-ri comes across something unexpected. She discovered a numbered letter hidden inside her class desk, and that is how she comes to learn about a student named Ho-yeon (voiced by Min Seung-woo), who wrote that letter in question. As one hidden letter leads her to another hidden letter, Ho-yeon shows and tells her a lot about the school and her teachers and classmates, and So-ri feels like having the first real friend in her new school even though she has not met Ho-yeon yet.

Meanwhile, as looking for more letters written by Ho-yeon, So-ri befriends two certain figures in the school. One is a middle-aged female school employee, and she turns out to be a nice and pleasant lady with a cute chubby cat even though she is called a “witch” by many students in the school. The other one is a boy named Dong-soon (Kim Min-joo), whom So-ri encounters at a special private place for Ho-yeon in the middle of a forest right next to the school.

Needless to say, Dong-soon knows Ho-yeon well, and the occasional flashback scenes show how these two boys befriended each other during the previous year. When Dong-soon was cruelly bullied by a mean classmate of his on one day, Ho-yeon kindly gave him some emotional support, and they instantly became close friends after that, but then Ho-yeon was suddenly gone due to some personal reason.

Discerning how much Dong-soon feels hurt by Ho-yeon’s sudden departure, So-ri persuades Dong-soon to join her search for Ho-yeon’s hidden letters, and Dong-soon agrees to do that despite his initial reluctance. Although there are some unexpected obstacles including that mean bully of Dong-soon, Dong-soon and So-ri continue to look for more letters from Ho-yeon, and they are more reminded of what a good friend Ho-yeon is to both of them.

Around the last act, the story, which is based on the South Korean online graphic novel of the same name by Cho Hyeon-a, stumbles more than once due blatant melodramatic moments and some glaring plot contrivance, but its earnest handling of story and characters continues to hold our attention as before. There is a poignant moment when So-ri comes to have an unexpected moment of solace and solidarity later in the story, and we get some surprise around the end of the story when the actual motive behind Ho-yeon’s letters is revealed at last.

Above all, the film is constantly filled with beautiful visual moments to entertain our eyes. Yes, its cell animation style, which is incidentally supplemented by a bit of digital animation from time to time, instantly evokes the textures of many different Japanese animation films ranging from those charming works of Studio Ghibli to several recent works of Makoto Shinkai, but director Kim Yong-hwan and his crew members did their study and homework fairly well on the whole, and the overall result is mostly competent despite some notable weak aspects (For example, the main voice performers of the film sound a bit too old at times despite their diligent efforts).

In conclusion, the overall achievement of “Your Letter” is rather modest, but it shows considerable potential in South Korean animation film just like several recent notable South Korean animation films such as “Exorcism Chronicles: The Beginning” (2024) and “Mr. Robot” (2025). Although I did not like these two animation films enough for recommendation, both of them demonstrated at least that South Korean animation films can actually do better than what I and many other South Korean audiences usually expect, and “Your Letter” confirms that to us via its engaging qualities. Considering how the animation films of this year have been rather unimpressive except a few exceptions including “KPop Demon Hunters” (2025), “Your Letter” deserves some attention in my inconsequential opinion, and I assure you that you will be impressed and entertained enough.