NARRATIVE: 7.25/10 A short story, yet 50 minutes was all that was needed to flesh out the world and to bring a climactic ending a bit more grandiose than what I would have expected. The preternatural aspect of the film is evident right after the intro sequence ends, and continues right up till the end. I won't summarize the story here, but it was very well paced and features all the story elements / structure you would expect in a feature-length film. While the story, setting, and characters all really do work well together, I felt there were multiple scenes that while entertaining, and succeeded inbuilding and fleshing out the world, really didn't add anything to the plot, and there were a few too many filler scenes of "everyone wants to eat the lil plant dude". Perhaps some of the events in the anime were a little to mundane in contrast to the wacky world and characters, but at the same time it feels more realistic and grounded that way. All things considered, every little detail of the film still comes together so nicely, and is so engrossing that you really just forget about all that.

CHARACTERS: 7/10

A regular young girl alone, surrounded by a number of strange almost dangerous feeling oddball creatures of all kinds. Not many of the characters in the film are very friendly; most of them seem to just live their own lives, and who aren't revolved around the main character. Many don't serve much purpose and don't drive the plot forward in any meaningful way, but rather exist as antagonists who have no real desires or driving force other than to consume that which the girl seeks to protect. The peculiar cast while ultimately insignificant, were great at creating the dream-like setting, and each one was indeed very unique and felt like they were their own fleshed out people in this living-breathing world.

PRESENTATION: 10/10

10 years in the making and it really shows. You could take any still from this film and hang it on your wall, it's that good. Most of the animation is fairly choppy but it still works well with the art style and doesn't detract from the experience at all. Plus there are multiple scenes which are very fluently animated and look absolutely gorgeous. I can't imagine how much work must've went into animating all this, and it's a shame this masterpiece hasn't gotten much attention. If realistic hand-drawn art is your thing you cannot pass this anime up. Kurosaka's art is at it's peak in this film and with it, all the oddities, and grotesqueness you would expect, blended with the unique fully hand-drawn and animated cells, bring a real treat to your eyes the whole way through. Stunning.

SOUND: 8/10

Many of the sound effects used were generic stock sounds I've heard hundreds of times in other media, but they were all used so expertly that it really didn't matter. There aren't too many sounds in this film but every sound effect clearly has it's place and purpose. The music fit the atmosphere quite well. Most of the film has mainly oriental / orchestral sounding atmospheric tracks that gives the whole setting a almost peaceful feeling, and takes some of the edge off the gory art and somewhat disturbing scenes. The music helps the anime feel more like a fantasy dream world rather than the more depressing dystopia the plot and art lead it on to be. Oh yeah I loved the voice acting performance for the main character too, it was really well done and had just the right amount of energy.

OVERALL: 8.15/10

This film strikes the balance of being eccentric, and disturbing enough to pull you in, yet grounded enough in reality with believable actions and circumstances to immerse you in the draw-droppingly gorgeous world that is presented to you, and has enough of a story to keep you interested until the conclusion. If nothing else, watch it for the beautiful, gross, and twisted animation that Kurosaka is known for.