Guskou Budori was not the kind of movie I expected. I thought I was going to watch "Arashi No Yoru Ni meets epic fantasy battles with cats", spiced with a decent adventure anime plot. What I got was a slow-paced, deep, poetic and philosophical slice of life that really got me thinking about life. The visuals and the soundtrack are awesome, and I enjoyed the symbolic nature of the movie (though I feel like the movie derails a bit in the surrealistic sequences, even though I liked them). The characters and the dialogue felt a bit soulless now and then. Especially the tight-lipped Budori felt likehis sole purpose was to act as the eyes of the audience, so that the actual plot could unveil around him.

Still, as I watched the credits roll, I got more and more curious about the original novel, and I feel like this movie left out quite a bit of it. It's definitely worth watching, just don't expect to see a traditional fast-paced adventure story.