Uchiage Hanabi, Shita kara Miru ka? Yoko kara Miru ka?

This movie is a bit of a disaster. The art was okay, and the story was HORRIBLE!! I want to tell you why. First up the starting of the idea of going back in time with a small orb is great but the switch up between 1 friend who wanted to date that girl by winning a race and the main character who is the 2nd date by throwing a orb to win. The back-story with one of the characters was heart breaking and sad but the main character is just a cocky little snake who wants to date this girl. The idea of it sounds alright but the length of the movie didn't capture it in time. The movie said, "We're out of budget so cut to the end already." It felt rushed with this 90+ minutes of a movie. They're better ones out there. If you want to watch this because you see the other ones, then be my guest. I didn't hate this movie but didn't love it. My heart for this movie never made it sad because the characters wasn't well explained. If I were to take my other time than watching this movie, I sure would. I don't wanna sound harsh, but it was a bit bad. If it ever were to be a sequel, I would give it one more chance. Knowing studio Shaft, some of their movies aren't too popular to produce a well budgeted movie. I would recommend it if you just wanted to watch it for fun but for the others then no.

Taking my time to watch this ended up making me hate myself more than I ever have. This film felt like it was created by people with dementia and was made to spread awareness. Instead of watching this film, here's a similar option: Watch paint dry The fact that some people rated this film as a 6 or higher scares me. It's evidence that shows the Coronavirus is mutating and becoming a long term disease This is proven by those people suffering from one of the most common symptoms of the Coronavirus: having no taste. If you liked this film: Are you okay? Do you need help with finding some positive coping skills? Are you seeing a therapist regularly? It's okay to expect more from yourself.

the best thing about this movie is the song at the credits (this review has spoilers!) I rarely write reviews so ill keep this short but seriously don't watch this movie. It's rare that I watch an anime that pisses me off so much that I have to fast-forward bits, this managed to do that. I started this with high hopes coz I heard the song by DAOKO and kenshi yonezu, and also saw miyano mamoru in the cast. I was very excited but as the movie unfolded I realized this is like one of those john green books but worse. Firstly the whole argument in the movie was "are fireworks flat or round" which I thought at first must be like a joke or a small convo...but the fact they used that to determine important aspects of the movie pissed me off. The main female lead's whole reason to run away was that her mom was remarrying and she had to move away. It is a crappy situation but the fact they made her whole personality that was just wrong...as the movie went on i hated her more and more. Its the most basic and lazy character writing istg. Also, the whole time travel thing makes 0 sense, there is no explanation apart from the fact he threw the thing...I cant understand how or why anything happened. Why did the other dude stand her up? why is the mc such an idiot? why do the other characters have 0 personalities? wtf is the ball thing they throw? why does he manage to go back in time even when he doesn't throw the ball? why does the mc even care so much? wtf happened in the end? she moved away, but where did he go? did they run away? the movie left me with more questions and no conclusion at all spare yourself don't watch this movie. that being said definitely listen to the song fireworks by DAOKO and kenshi yonezu.

For some reason, a lot of elitist are complaining about this movie. Let me clarify. People complain about anything online, period. I gave this review and rating the highest because this movie deserves it. It has great characters, great music, great art, and an interesting story. The best part about this movie was its slice of life edge that makes the viewer wonder what part is really happening, and which part is fiction. If you are an artist like me, you would instantly admire how this movie goes all-out in its production and depth of theme. This film reminded me about Spirited Away and The Lovely Bones. Spirited away because of its non stop twist of new events, and the lovely bones for its joyful depictions of emotion. The real topic at hand, is if someone can understand a movie that does not really on heavy dialogue. If people need someone talking to explain the story, doesn't that take away the experience of viewing a film? This is why this movie is so admirable. The animators knew a good situation and they were able to convey as much emotion of it as possible. Sadly, there will continue to be people that overlook the potential in a film because of their opinions of what sequence a movie should follow. If you watched 5 centimeters per second, you should be aware that a movie does not need to give us a blank answer for its conclusion. Movies that stay open are the deepest and most enjoyable art there is. It's like poetry. The less a poem explains, the better it is to enjoy it.

Muito bom o filme, bem emocionante. Uma bela arte, sonorização, desing de personagem e historia. Infelizmente não possui um final fechado para entregar um "Fan Service" mas ainda sim e um bom filme. (E do diretor de Kimi no na wa então era o esperado). Assim como qualquer filme japones ele tem sempre uma lição no final, onde ele mostra que o "E se" não existe e não há como mudar o destino, então não fique parado, mude sua vida, para não ficar depois se perguntando "e se eu fizesse isso diferente", pois infelizmente a vida não e um anime, então nada vai mudar como em um passe de magica. :D

This movie is well worth the watch. Spoiler free: Go in without the expectation that this will get an acadamy award and knock out "Kimi No Na Wa" and you will enjoy the movie for what it is. 10/10 would recommend to watch. Animation: Theres some mix of traditional hand-drawn animation and CG, and after watching Gigguk's video on the matter I went in with a more critical eye. At first I was taken aback but I then started to appreciate how the two art styles mixed. Shaft did a well job in this respect-- some of the scenes are what you would expect from a high budget piece. Whats this movie about: The movie dwells with some coming of age material and challenges some notions of brotherhood, but more than anything I feel it gives you a different view of slice of life. Usually slice of life has your "misunderstandings" and problem solving, but here we see what Japanese boys would probably talk about in an actual conversation (starkly different, and at times funny, from what you typically see in anime) Overall its about an 8, absolutely worth the watch, and a good movie in its own right. But comparing it to masterpieces is an unfair assessment that results in the lower review scores on this site.

It doesn't matter what world we are in, as long as we're together ====== This review is not spoiler free read with caution (This review will probably make you not want to watch the movie anymore) Story 4/10 The story was not very well done. It was of no relation to fireworks whatsoever. The main target for the characters was to find out the shape of the firework. But... the movie went circles around the main focus, dragging the movie time. The movie is more based on rewinding time and is more of an atmospheric movie that didn't actually have a plot. The movie was extremely predictable for me, what comes next etc. This may be because I watch alot of anime but... I can tell by the story that this anime was dragged. The writer literally threw in as many alternate universes he can think of to drag the movie time (at least from my perspective) I could still understand where the writer was going at. He wanted the MCs Norimichi and Nazuna to sort of keep separating and eventually end up together (every romance anime ever :^P) but he didn't have a good plot. With that said, the story was pretty creative, using a firework shell to reset time? Never heard of that before. But even so... Bad plot. According to other viewers I went with, the movie was difficult to understand. Because of the many alternate universes, they cannot tell from the real world and the alternate world (I can, but I have film education and I watch alot of anime) so it might not appeal to many viewers. The ending was also a cliffhanger, a poorly done one. Many people could not predict what would happen next (to me it was pretty obvious but I practically had to explain to all my friends what happened...) Art 9/10 The art is what you'd expect from Shaft! Flawless! You can even say I just wanted to watch because of the art. But, the art could not depict the story, unlike "Shelter" by A-1 Pictures, the art itself wasn't enough to explain the messy plot the movie had. Music 10/10 I literally went there for the music, followed by the art. You can even say that I paid to watch the art and to listen to the well-synced music. The singing was also amazing! I was literally waiting for DAOKO to start singing her 5 minute song. They put her song at the end of the movie so I basically watched the entire movie because I was waiting for DAOKO. Character 3/10 The characters were poorly developed. At the end of the movie, I still felt like I didn't know the characters and they didn't even know each other. No relationship development between the MCs, they literally just like each other when they just met... No character background was even given too... They were a mess. Overall 4/10 All I can say is... I watched because of the graphics and the music. The noticeable use of trains was also wrongly used. Trains should normally help emphasise on relationships that cannot happen and eventually happens but the trains in this movie was just a way of escape and getting to know each other better... The trains might be used because the MCs were trying to separate themselves from the SCs I honestly don't know about this one... But if its about getting to know each other better, I recommend an empty bus. This movie was badly done. I heard people saying it was rushed... My ass, it was dragged... Take note that this review may be outdated. Always check my profile for my latest rating, I may have changed my rating due to various reasons.

While animation wise it looks like a couple of TV episodes the film is still a great alternative to Your Name. Most of the great animated scenes can be seen in the music video par a scene near the ending. It feels like two or so somewhat boring slice of life episodes and then turns into a time travel like story. The music was great though. While in some moments you can feel Akiyuki Shinbo's style the rest feels like some low budget CGI weekly series. Shame but the movie itself was pretty great. Some of the scenes are cheesy like the musical scene out of nowhere that looks like some vaporwave video. Was a decent movie but it likely would have worked better as a TV movie ala Ocean Waves than being released at the cinemas.

Anime Review: Uchiage Hanabi, Shita kara Miru ka? Yoko kara Miru ka? People have their own opinions about Uchiage Hanabi, Shita kara Miru ka? Yoko kara Miru ka? Some people mock it as a terrible anime movie, often critiquing its pacing, problem with 3D animation, or failure to express emotional attachment. But I think this anime deserves some extra points for its original story, gorgeous artwork, and quirky charm. It's not perfect, but to dismiss it altogether disregards its artistic value. Shall we strip it to the bare essentials: Music: 6/10 More emotional, more memorable music would have connected the story more, but what we have here is something that comes and goes and is forgettable. Characters: 8.5/10 Most of the merits of the movie really lie in its character design. All the characters are well-designed, and their look and feel are all fresh and interesting. Both Norimichi and Nazuna, the main characters, each have a design that transmits this sense of youth and yearning, which fits what the movie is trying to accomplish. The interactions between the characters, while not developed in astounding depth, carry enough emotional complexity to remain engaging. Visuals: 8/10 Visually, Uchiage Hanabi achieves its dreamy and surreal atmosphere. The seaside townscapes, the fireworks, and the creative framings are all gorgeous. The downside is that the combination of the 3D character animation feels somewhat jarring at certain points. It doesn't take away from the experience, but the slight awkwardness of the 3D animation will take some getting used to for some. Overall, though, the look and color palette of the film are certainly lovely and add to the immersive quality of the film. Story: 8/10 The story is where people are most varied. It's been criticized as muddled or undercooked, but I believe it's a fresh and dangerous tale. The idea of exploring "what-ifs" and alternate worlds with a magical machine is fresh and intriguing. The movie is bold enough to tackle time, choices, and perspectives, and leaves something to the imagination as well. It's not an easy tale, and that will turn off some, but its uniqueness is to be praised. Overall: 8/10 Despite its issues, Uchiage Hanabi is a hugely compelling movie with much to enjoy. The combination of stunning animation, interesting characters, and completely good plot creates a thoroughly engrossing experience. It's not going to be to everyone's taste, perhaps, but for those who appreciate the more arty and experimental form of anime, it's certainly worth a viewing. In short, Uchiage Hanabi is far from a middle-of-the-road anime movie. It won't be for everyone, but for the quirky fans and the people who love the craft of the visual storytelling, it's a treasure in the making.

Yikes. I was not expecting this. Look, it might look amazing ill come back to it but I was not expecting this terrible of a movie. The Story: The story frankly sucks. Neither character has any spine to them. When I heard the producers of Kimi no na Wa made it I watched it but it was nothing like Kimi no na Wa. Animation: Only redeeming quality about it. It looks amazing no doubt about it. That's the only *good* thing about it. Music: Nevermind, the DAOKO song is the only reason I heard about it. The song is freaking amazing, and it's part of the movie that. Why you should watch it: You shouldn't. If you liked Your Name or the Daoko song, don't watch it.

I love the art style in this anime, I thought it was amazing so that's what made me want to watch it. Also the song fireworks is freaking one of the best songs ever! But apart from those two good things about it... the rest of the movie just fell apart... Had a lot of potential to be a better anime then what we got. I would change a few things about and it probably be a little better then what we got. Since if you watch to the end... and the reasoning behind why they did what they did... it's like dude their just kids... it won't really work out for them. If they had changed a few things and made them at least college or 3rd year students, yeah I can deal with that. Also then add something more then just moving away... Anyways... I like the concept behind the parallel world and I keep telling people it's not time travel! Because time travel can't change the train track course...

After reading multiple bad reviews about this anime, I decided to try it out. Been wanting to watch it even before it came out but ended up forgetting to do so. Honestly, I was pretty hooked by the MV, so let's say that I am kind of an advocate of the anime. Nevertheless, it was as incredible as I expected. The story pace might be a bit slow at times, but it hits real deep. The art combined with the CGI creates a unique feel to the movie. The OSTs are INCREDIBLE! Characters besides the mains are pretty basic. But the ending had me reminiscing and feeling uneasy for the rest of the day. Something inside is provoking me, getting on my nerves, making me want to watch it again. The experience was quite nice, so overall, would recommend.

When a movie is billed as “the next Your Name,” you expect it to be great. If you go to this movie expecting it to be as moving as advertised, you will be sorelydisappointed. STORY: What a bunch of garbage. Based on the trailer, I went into the movie expecting a story about two teens who missed a chance to get together and, for some reason, end up making some sort of wish to redo the night of the fireworks. It reminded me of Koe no Kodachi mixed with Your Name. Instead, we get a disjointed story about a bland teen and his sexist, immature friends and the girl they all have a crush on. She’s just as bad, whining about a home life issue that was frighteningly common and wanting to run away because she doesn’t care about her family. It could have been a moving coming of age story as characters learn to care about more than just themselves, instead it was wish fulfillment (literally) and overly sexualized, privileged teenagers who don’t appreciate what they have. Yes, I realize I sound like an old lady shaking my cane at the kids to get off my lawn right now. You will too by the time you’re done with this movie. The kids have no character development or personalities that make you as the viewer like them. The closest you get is the early likeable Kosuke who, by the second “if” wish, has completely changed personality from the supportive friend to a murderous, jealous jerk. Ugh. CHARACTERS: The characters are frighteningly 1-dimensional. I kept waiting for the boys’ teacher to have a side plot. This honestly would have been much more interesting if all the characters that are randomly introduced got some sort of minor subplot or somehow get more development with each “if.” Instead, she is used for boob jokes over and over, and ends up with possibly 3 lines in the entire movie. The same goes for Kosuke’s dad, who is a doctor very intent on his golf stroke. They never address this again. It’s a one and done joke that could have showed up in other places. For example, even if they just added him in the background playing golf watching the fireworks or something! The main characters aren’t any better. Nazuna is a bland Manic Pixie Dream Girl with no personality. Looking at her as a parent, I see a whiny child that the animators over sexualized. I asked my son if he liked her and he said that there wasn’t anything to like (but he did like the male lead character because they match in immature personalities). Her story is laughable: running away from home because she doesn’t like her mom’s decisions, she ends up repeating her mom’s behavior, while giving her dad’s storyline 30 seconds of screen time and a MAJOR plot hole. But she gets TWO laughable idol solos (the same song from different POVs) in which she envisions herself as a princess. I also couldn’t get into our main protagonist. He’s overly bland with a voice actor that didn’t fit. We get no information on him other than his family runs some sort of shop and he’s immature along with his stereotypical pack of man boys. But, hey, the situation gets so out of hand that his best friend basically tries to murder him and no one bats an eye because it causes a different reaction than intended. ANIMATION: I cannot stand 2D mixed with 3D. I try to be open minded when it’s done well, such as in Land of the Lustrous. It can be done well if the 3D is cell shaded and smooth enough. But then there are really BAD CG jobs (looking at you, Golden Kamuy). The CG in this starts out just BAD. The movie is ridiculously similar to the Monogatari series in terms of character looks, mannerisms, and the way it is “filmed.” For example, close up on eyes, quick seemingly random shots, and slow mo moves up or down a body, and way too much fixation on young girls. The movie even goes so far as to use a school that looks like the 3D model was plucked straight out of the first episode of Bakemonogatari (complete with repetitively used circle stairs). At other points, the 3D is just downright intrusive to the viewing experience. Sometimes they obviously replaced the 2D characters with distant 3D models on a 2D or 3D background, and included real photos in background images. It looked like a game from the early 2000s. By the time Nazuna has her ridiculous idol sequence in which everything is made from cheap glass that any 3D CG beginner could have rendered, I was annoyed with the film and ready to leave. As the 3D gets a bit heavier, it’s obvious they were trying for a surreal Madoka (witch scenes) feel. This would have worked well if it was only used during the “if” sequences, but instead it is spread unevenly and intrusively across the whole movie. If there were any saving graces, it would be that the character’s “if” wishes are reflected in English in a really neat environmental object during the scene switch. SOUND: I was extremely disappointed with the sound in the movie. The music is all right, nothing special. However, there could have been much more of it. Instead, it was like: “Oh, there’s music. That means this is an important and/or surreal and pretentious sequence.” The voice actors are HORRIBLE. It felt like they all recorded separately, literally phoning it in as the volume and tone of all characters is the same through the majority of the movie. Their pacing and rhythm are awful. Nazuna is the only voice that seems to fit her character. The boys sound nothing like a group of bickering friends. The main character has a voice much too deep for his age and stature. OVERALL: Horrible movie. My middle school son enjoyed it for the garbage humor and lack of in-depth storyline, and the fact that it features a pretty girl rebelling. As an adult, I wanted to leave the theater by the time Nazuna was singing.

Sadly to say, I was really disappointed with this movie. Not only did I pay money to watch it in theaters, but a lot of components of this animation was just confusing or ended with no point. I'm just going to warn the reader now that this will be a down right not good not nice review. Not because I completely hated the movie but I just wish for a lot of things before watching this movie to have them practically shattered by the end of this film. There was little character development and I was still feeling like the characters were strangers with no purpose by the end. The story was just confusing with its repeated time travel, no clear reason for its purpose or the character's actions. The only good thing was the voice acting cast which I loved since it included lovely people such as Miyano Mamoru, Kaji Yuki and my precious Sakurai Takahiro (where one of his character's line was talking about a women's chest =.=). Also, the art was really pretty but it's like watching pretty pictures with a really bad story line (pretty much sums up the movie tbh). In the end, it's up to you if you want to watch it. For me, I probably don't want to ever watch it again with major regret paying to watch it and receiving such a sad everything.

I'll save you some time if you really want to, just watch the music video, but after watching the music video, don't let it persuade you into watching the movie, I made that mistake, and I can almost guarantee you'll be disappointed. Also a music video is a great way to advertise a movie or show, I mean it persuaded me. Minor Spoilers After watching Uchiage Hanabi, Shita kara Miru ka? Yoko kara Miru ka? I've realized a few things here, so I'll list them. Tried very hard to be The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, why you ask? It's rather obvious with the whole ball as a sort of time travel mechanism, a time travel theme is not an original or stolen idea, (Silent Voice) but the way they did it was stolen. Not a major reason why this movie wasn't all that great however. It did make a twist to the mechanism in that it seems as though it creates a different timeline per say, I won't go more in depth cause I don't want to spoil anything else, but you'll understand what I mean. Next is the art, although very beautiful, it's resemblance to the Monogatari series is so close that it makes it seem like this is a special episode, I know it's made by the same studio but c'mon man the two mc's are literally Identical to Araragi and Senjougahara, literally the first thing that came to mind when I saw the music video. It had a couple of choppy scenes were the anime had bad animation in it, seemed like an anime on a really low budget in those scenes, but overall the scenery was quiet beautiful. I was very disappointed with the character development, there was next to none, none of the characters personalities were really shown, and the voice actors were badly chosen, at least for the boys, their voices were very deep for their age and size and were very monotone. The movie left many questions unanswered, which is fine, but lots of unanswered questions were also major plot points, and the movie seemed very unfinished, not that it was just left on a cliffhanger and led the viewer to think what happened, but it seriously gave no hint to the outcome of everything and how can these kids fall in love in just 1 day, let's be real here, that is super unlikely. I have my own takes on what happened at the end of the movie but I'll keep that to the mind. Here's some advice, just watch the music video, it's well worth your time unlike this trainwreck. Story: 4 Didn't stay on track Art: 8 It was good just too identical to the monogatari series Sound: 9 I loved the ending song choice Character: 5 No character development, but the characters were likeable Enjoyment: 7 Although it did manage to disappoint me, It was still a good way to pass time Overall: 6.6 but we'll round it to a 7

I was so pumped up to see this in cinemas so I had really high expectations of this, something close to Your Name and A Silent Voice. Story: 4/10 Story and plot was fucking horrible. The way it progressed, the relevance of some items in the show make you wonder, how do they plan to end this well? Spoiler, they don't. Ending fucking sucks and it's really frustrating. Almost on par with Golden Boy for one of the worst endings ever. Art: 10/10 Shaft. God damn what beautiful animation. The scenes in the movie reminds me so much of Monogatari, in the sense of how they transition from one scene to another. Characters design are very Shaft like, with their facial expressions, features, their own style. Even in the CG's, the art was superb. Throughout the entire movie, there were only a couple of scenes which could have been done better but overall, this is an art masterpiece. Sound: 9/10 Sound is great as well. High pitched broken voices, condescending tones, background music, the theme song. What really stood out was singing from the MC. The VA did a really good job. Character: 7/10 Not much development but I liked it because the characters are very, very Shaft like. Head tilts, designs, models and the such. Heroine looks eerily similar to Senjougahara in her middle school age. They portrayed middle school life really well. Young enough to be kids, old enough to not be brats. Enjoyment: 7/10 I liked it strictly because of the art style and the music. If you are not a fan of Shaft, or have never seen any Shaft productions before, you're going to have a bad time. The art style, music, transition scenes and character behaviours may be a bit too much for you.

Indonesian anime audience had waited for this movie to come out. We knew very well that Encore Films (the ones who brought anime films to Indonesia) promoted this anime for a whole month and teased us with trailers, teasers, and soundtracks. At November 1st, 2017, we finally had this movie on cinemas and I took my pleasure to buy a ticket for the best seat in the house two days earlier. Being a music enthusiast, I easily swayed by the soundtrack. I would say the soundtrack is marvelous. The one thing that made me wanted to see this movie was its soundtrack. Starting from the theme song sang by DAOKO and Kenshi Yonezu. It was really heartwarming and it was making its own way to our personal playlist. The theme song really fits with the whole movie that rotating around flashing movements of fireworks. The theme song have this flaw of flashing beats while maintaining to be a heartwarming song. Then we have the score of this anime. It brought out the atmospheric value of this anime. It successfully brought out the urgency within the story line. About the story line... Well, we have a little bit issue here. The story building of this anime is very good but sadly it was destroyed by how the ending becomes and left the audience with the empty feeling. I would give the story a solid 9 if it was not hanging the audience. Sorry, but it's only 7 for you. We have this story of the feeling of regrets and what ifs. The characters were simple, a group of adolescent boys who love to do dares just like teenagers these days and a beautiful girl with a twisted backstory. We could easily relate to the characters and it was good. The thing is, I did not expected this movie to have that time travelling elements so the twist really hits me. But in the end, we never knew what happened to our two main characters and left us hanging. In fact, when I watched this, many audiences decided to wait for the credits to roll hoping there was some kind after credits scene which is none. In terms of animation, I would say this anime really want to prove itself that it was made by Studio SHAFT. The color palettes of this anime really reminded me of Monogatari series which was made by SHAFT too and of course the notorious SHAFT head tilts was there. I would not say that was bad but everything started to became cringy when the CGI animation rolled off. To be honest, the CGI was poor and made the whole atmosphere changed for worse. The story urgency suddenly dropped by the cringy CGI animation. Everyone in the studio started to laugh at the horrible CGI while the story itself must not be laughable. Ignoring the laughable CGI, I was actually enjoyed the thrill of this anime's story building. Even left with an unsatisfied ending, I still find a personal enjoyment to watch this movie. The good music had made me stayed along, too. Since, MAL could not have half-half score I would give this anime a fair score of 7/10.

So, whatta say... I just watched this movie on theaters. I had to skip lecture class because there is no other chance for me to watch this with my friends. However, I feel really disappointed after I watched this. I try to enjoy the movie as much as I can, but just couldn't do it. The story that seems repeated over and over is so tiresome and it's hard to catch the meaning of the story. I kept thinking "maybe this is the type of movie that is too deep to understand and have to be watched twice or more to get the meaning". But, at some point I also think that this movie is not worth to rewatch to get the meaning. Why? The character development is really bad. For me, there are no likeable character in this movie at all. The MC is just like a normal country boy, and the MC girl is such a bitch, crazy and psychotic girl. For someone who usually watch film based on the characters like me, wouldn't enjoy the movie. Overall, what's amazing in this movie is the animation and the music, especially music that's playing in the middle-end. In the sea(?) I'm sorry to say this, Maybe it's also because of my regret for skipping lecture class. If I have that strange ball like in the moviel, I'd have throw it to change my past and choose not to watch the movie and go to my lecture class instead. lol

Honestly, this movie was a complete letdown. It tries really hard to be deep and emotional, but the execution just doesn’t work. The whole time-travel concept felt messy and inconsistent. Thus, instead of being clever, it just got more confusing with each reset. By the end, I didn’t feel moved or satisfied, just frustrated. The characters didn’t help either. Nazuna could’ve been interesting, but the story never gave her proper depth, and Norimichi felt more like a plot device than a real person. Their relationship had no real weight, so all the “dramatic” moments came off hollow. The supporting cast was even worse. Visually, sure, it looked nice in parts, but the weird switches between 2D and 3D completely broke immersion. Some scenes were gorgeous, then suddenly you get clunky CGI that felt straight out of a low-budget game. The soundtrack was probably the only saving grace, but good music can’t carry a bad movie. At the end of the day, this film felt like wasted potential, nothing more. The soundtrack was really amazing though.

I watched this film after it spent an unholy amount of time being shelved on a watchlist, slowly gathering dust over the years. The primary reason behind such a long delay was due to my high expectations for it, due to the phenomenal 1995 film on which this one is based, the involvement of Shaft, and the music and OST that I had previously heard. Needless to say, that backfired tremendously and the fact that I was a major fan of the 1995 film meant the plot failure for this adaptation only highlighted how it fared against the original. If this were an independent or original film, I would have certainly rated it a 7 (or a 7.5 at best), but a 6 seems to fit it best due to the injustice it does, compared to other great animated adaptations. Overall, go into it with a fresh mind, and you shall not be disappointed.