So basically the movie is about a traveler Yukito. He's a lone wanderer who picks up cash by performing a little puppet show. One time he stops by a town with the intent of earning some money at the Summer Festival they hold. But he is soon spotted by Misuzu who gets him to help her do her field work in exchange for a meal. Misuzu's field work is about the legend of the winged beings who lived in ancient times. As we, the viewer, find out more about the tragic story of the winged being who was forbidden to love we watch as Misuzu's life replays the story. It's really sweet how we get to see a bit of the legend and a bit of Misuzu, the two stories where perfectly matched and such a heart-breaker!! The overall effect is almost haunting, but so sweet at the same time! It's hard to explain. although the idea of love is a bit dodgy, it all seemed a bit too sudden to be true.
There aren't many characters. Misuzu, Yukito and Misuzu's mum. Misuzu's dad and the Doctor are brief characters, but they don't do enough for me to be able to judge. So, Yukito first. At first he's such a brooding teenager, "lone wolf" character. Looking at family's and judging their smiles as insincere but at the end he's head of heels in love. A fairly inconsistent character you might say. Then there's Misuzu's mum, might as well clear it up now, she's not actually Misuzu's mum, in fact she is her aunt. So I shall refer to her by her name Haruko. Haruko is a lot more consistent. Through out the whole movie you can see her sincerely caring for Misuzu, it's beautiful! It's easy to take her character as a joke since she's a bit of an alcoholic. But she still holds three jobs, so it could be worse. However, the tears she shed for Misuzu, especially at the end; it breaks my heart. Finally, my favorite (not that she had much competition) Misuzu! A bit of an odd ball (I mean, who invite homeless people into their home?) but so cute! Her little laugh "nihaha" and obsession with dinosaurs really make me question her age. However the force behind her love proclamation was... kind of creepy. But she has such a brilliant personality, the determination and cheerfulness, with her condition is astonishing! So much admiration.
Now, the bit I didn't want to come to: the art and animation. Mostly because I'm fairly sure I could only find a LQ version so I worry about saying something that was only a problem because of the streaming. For example the awkward looking motions or the bad coloring However, somethings are bad regardless. There was a number of scenes where the characters heads where deformed. I mean like really messed up, the view would pan and part of their head would pan too! Also Misuzu's over dollified eyes. I like shoujo art, but her eyes were just ridiculous. Finally, I don't know who's idea it was to put split screens in there, but they should be fired. They were over used and mostly just looked stupid! Really Toei Animation, what were you thinking?! In fact, the whole thing was lackluster quite how many scenes were made with still frames, I don't know. But they were never good still frames. It's just..... I almost couldn't stand to watch the whole film!
It's been a while since I had a sigh of relief at the end of a film. But there were so many things dodgy about it!! The main problem was the art and animation but the plot too, although nice in concept, wasn't that well thought out. However the final scene was too much for me and it did fill me with emotions which I shan't share with you. So clearly they were doing something right!
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