Giniro no Kami no Agito

Like some bastard child of Akira and Princess Mononoke, Origin is one of the strangest movies I've seen in a while...

STORY - Origin's (I'm going with the English title because it's easier) central theme is the age old man versus nature. What I found particularly interesting though, is the semi-lack of advanced technology and the steampunk-like environment of the movie's present day, even if the conflict was initially caused by the usual advanced bio-experimentation we're all used to. Further intriguing is the fact that the audience is not automatically expected to side with nature in this movie (as is usually the case); because the people ... of the post-apocalyptic world are essentially dependent on the mercy of the quasi-intelligent forest, it seems almost as if nature is oppressing humanity. The main idea might still be that humans and nature should strive to co-exist peacefully, but Origin certainly breaks out of mold for this one.

It's also worth noting that technology gives way to something like fantasy in this movie, thus straying out of genre lines. The powers that are granted to Agito are fantastical, and yet remniscent of those given to Tetsuo in Akira (that's so strange), except that they came from a "natural" source -- it's just that nature's been mutated by technology. Makes for a strange roundabout, but interesting, yes?

CHARACTER - Admittedly, I wasn't too ataken with any of the characters in Origin, but I'm more inclined to attribute that to my tendancy to be critical of characters in general rather than the idea that the characters were bad, because they really weren't. They just weren't phenomenal. Agito was an good character with steady development throughout the movie that allowed him to mature into a hero. He had questions, doubts, and uncertainties, but the dedication and ambition to overcome them all. My only real quip is the general goodness of his character and the spotlessness of his morality -- it's just way too easy to make characters like that. Toola was a more interesting character because of that; since she was from the past where technology reigned supreme, she had to struggle with deciding whether she wanted to preserve the status quo or return to what she was familiar with. Conflict is good.

It was also refreshing to see that there wasn't just one character who happened to survive the major disaster. When Toola was first discovered, alone in suspended animation, I was groaning. Japan seems to really like putting girls in boxes, just waiting to be discovered. It was great then, to see that Shunack had been discovered in a similar manner. Of course, the fact that both of these survivors happened to have been important in the past (or at least, had a relation to someone important in the past) is conviniently coincidental, but some realistic sacrifices always have to be made for the sake of story, hm?

ARTSTYLE & ANIMATION - Origin was a really visually pleasing movie filled with superbly detailed backgrounds and smooth animated sequences. I was especially impressed with how the forest and forest creatures were handled -- details in how water was rendered and how things moved was just awesome. The machinery and pieces of technology also looked great, contrasting well with the more modest environment. Once again, I find that the beauty of the artwork and animation of a movie is one of its strongest points.

MUSIC - Nothing amazing, but still good. You know, the average goodness.

VOICE ACTING - I saw this movie dubbed (because the person I saw it with didn't feel like reading subtitles at the time). It was pretty good, as seems to have been the case for most movie dubs in the last few years. Toola's voice was a bit annoying, but many young, female characters seem to be that way, whether in Japanese or English.

OVERALL - I enjoyed Origin. It surprised me in many ways, which is always a refreshing thing. The story explored a popular theme in an interesting new way, and though the characters could have been a bit more dynamic, they played their parts well enough. And the animation is just gorgeous. If you're a fan of the technology/humanity versus nature stuff, I would definitely check this out.

Having heard great things about Origin from various sources, I jumped at the chance to purchase the DVD cheaply on Amazon. When it arrived, I was excited, the blurb on the case leading me to remember the hype when it was first released; 'dreamily beautiful,' 'breath-taking,' 'almost painfully beautiful,' one couldn't blame me for expecting a lot from the film, and I couldn't help but expect a lot, with Neo's feature on the film in mind which compared the film to Ghost in the Shell: Innocence! Now, I'm not an enviromentalist by any means, so I do admit I was skeptical when I ... read a lot about the film being heavily involved in such themes, but what the Hell, I thought, a great film will always be great even if I don't agree with its agenda; the Battleship Potemkin was voted the greatest film of all time and it was a propaganda piece for the USSR!
The problem with Origin, however, is that it is NOT a good film. Ignoring my own frustration at the plot's subservience to nature over man (I'll leave this out of the review, but honestly, place a human figure in place of 'the forest' and you have a tyrannical regime that limits resources to retain obedience), the story is disjointed and poorly paced. Rather than the characters developing at all, they are mere mannequins forced into various situations, insanely scaled to advance the plot with no little hint of deus ex machina. Relationships blossom without so much as a word or meaningful conversation between characters, and the viewer is left wondering why, and did they miss something? In trying to pretend its artistic and intellectual value, Origin has missed out on coherence, instead feeling like a rushed project cobbled together from a collapsed series (indeed the story might be better served within such a setting).
This might all be partly forgiven had the film measured up on another count, but the visuals in Origin were nowhwere near as spectactular as I had been lead to believe. The CGI, which in films such as Innoncence fitted perfectly with the subject matter, clashed horribly with the organic design, and the characters were poorly designed, with expressions and shadow seemingly omitted. Most offensively, smoke stacks (of which there were undue amounts in the film) were represented as completely static for the most part, even in lingering shots. This I might expect from a series, but in a feature?
The only element which Origin managed to pin down was the music, which worked well in the admittedly brilliant opening sequence (one feels the critics watched this part of the film and nothing else when writing their reviews). Overall, however, I'm just glad I bought the film cheaply, because if this is the best modern anime has to offer, I'm not convinced. A coherent plot, less static art and adult character design are demanded, especially if a film is expected to live up to comparisons with Miyazaki and Oshii.

After reading the synopsis, you would probably think this movie was something for Studio Ghibli to create. And the truth is, it's not just obviously inspired by Miyazaki's [early] works—it feels more like the creators were moved by Laputa, Nausicaa, and Princess Mononoke so much they tried their best to outright rehash their story and some of the characters here. Which, admittedly, was a decision that both made the movie as good as it was, and ironically, hurt it the most.

The similarities are in fact so intense it would be easy to confuse with the aforementioned movies. We have here a remarkably comprehensive reproduction of ... Miyazaki-specific clichés, from the brave and selfless protagonist down to a confrontation between natural and industrial civilization (with the usual "we should embrace the nature" undercurrent). Now this doesn't make this movie bad or uninteresting per se, but you have to consider the glaring lack of originality and, perhaps more importantly, proper explanation for many events that didn't quite made sense—up to the point where it leads me to believe the screenplay writer was so obsessed with some aspects of the story they decided to postpone explaining the rest until it was too late to explain anything. It's mildly fun to watch, but not anything we haven't seen before—more precisely, it contains just about zero original ideas, and its only saving grace in this respect is choosing good enough ideas to borrow.

To move on to the better aspects of the movie, let's say the animation is brilliant—and it really is. I would love to see a little more detail in character design, but the rest was very good: lush landscapes, fluidly animated machinery, and everything in general being a treat for the eye (make sure to watch it in HD!). To put it shortly, everything visual was superb—no complaints here.

Sound work was alright, but nothing to write home about. It matched the visuals convincingly and did well to represent them, but wasn't otherwise memorable.

Character development is by far the weakest point of the movie, being next to nonexistent, and the characters themselves are utterly bland and uninspired, as is par for the course in movies like this. After all, many Ghibli characters are easily interchangeable as well (and I'm not talking about their face design here). For that exact reason, and in order not avoid spoilers, I will abstain from any further comments on that part. Let's just say I was completely disconnected with the characters, so there weren't really any moments that touched me or evoked strong feelings towards them.

At the same time I would lie if I said it wasn't an enjoyable watch, either. As a whole, I regard this movie, give-or-take, as worthy of your time if you want to see something reminiscent of the classic Ghibli output... On the other hand, you'd probably be better off watching the actual Ghibli movies instead. Yeah, go do that.

Day 1: Origin: Spirits of the past

Take two of Miyazaki’s greatest classics, "Valley of the Wind" and "Princess Mononoke". Put them in a blender with choice elements of "Titan A.E". and "Ferngully: The last rainforest" pulse a couple of times, strain and call it a film. That is pretty much about what Gin-iro no kami no Agito or Origin Spirits of the Past is.

I have heard that every so often an anime company will try their hand at making a story that is reflective of the works of Studio Ghibli. This is I’m sorry to say is apparently Gonzo’s attempt as well as ... Gonzo’s first attempt at making a theatrical film.

It’s hard to find the words for how to describe this film and how I feel about it. I had wanted to like this film and do like it…sort of. Unfortunately this film is also a great disappointment which most people who have seen this anime can attest. Yet while it’s easy to say that I like something or I don’t like something and then praise it or bash it accordingly, I’m going to go out on a limb and also offer some justifiable defense for this film. To be perfectly honest this film isn’t one of my favorites, but it is far from the worst anime I’ve seen. Disagree with me if you wish, but please hear me out.

While visiting the official Funimation website for this anime, I came across a quote from Scifi.com that says “Origin is almost painfully beautiful.” This statement is rather astute on two counts. In the good points of this anime I have found the animation and scenery to be beautifully done all though blindingly garish at moments. The CGI is on par with Gonzo’s standard fair which you may take or leave as you will, and the music by Kokia is astounding. However as beautiful as the music and animation is, the plot is unfortunately quite painful.

Overall the pacing of the story is rushed, the plot is so thin and convoluted that it can give you a headache to even attempt to make any sense of the story. It’s also extremely difficult to even care about any of the characters. I can sort of sympathize with Toola somewhat, because even I would find it hard fathom what it would be like to wake up and suddenly find everyone and everything you knew was gone. However most of the time I wished someone would just run up an smack her one whenever she went into one of her “I want the world to be normal again” moments. So while it is clear this film wanted to be good; and it even tries to be good, the overall story results in an epic fail that no one really cares to watch.

I’m not all together sure that Gonzo had honestly intended to make this into a Studio Ghibli-esc film. It certainly does attempt to contain and promote the messages of environmentalism that is shown in some of Miyazaki’s more prominent works. But it also lacks the depth and drive that made people fall in love with Miyazaki’s classic stories begin with. It feels more that Gonzo was trying too hard into making this into a Studio Ghibli-like film rather then letting it be its own story.

Also the 94 minute length may have been a strike against this anime as a whole. Gonzo did honestly have something with this story and they certainly could have done alot more with it. The plot of the story feels as though it could have worked better as a 12-13 episode series at least. The movie itself comes across as though it expected the viewers to have some understanding of the back story and over-all personality of the characters and the world they currently live in. This leaves the viewer feeling as though they were thrust into a middle of the story with no idea as to what is actually going on. If it had been a series rather then a film, perhaps there could have been more time to explain some of the excluded back-story and concepts that were never explored.

Story: Honestly, good animes aren't based on art but story - how their tale enthralls and awes viewers with a the story that lingers long after the end. This story was indeed interesting with the plant-apocalypse, robots and superhuman hybrids. Wait what!? Really!? And a volcano weapon!? It's like Saturday cartoons all over again but this time there's a twist! It's prettier.

Art: The art is beautiful almost comparable to a Miyazaki film. The cg/anime hybrid was worked in well. Unfortunately the art begins to degrade as the movie goes on. In the beginning, they do a great job immersing the viewer in a fantastic new ... world but towards the end you almost always see lots of desert, metal walls, or tons and tons of green blurs (forest).

Sound: The music for the movie is great. But like the art, it becomes more bland towards the end. The sounds used for gunfires, explosions and buckets are very well placed.

Character: I've seen plenty of anime movies but this one is completely ridiculous. The character development here is close to non-existent. Halfway through the movie I was confused as to what drove the main character Agito to do what he did. Outside of the 2 main characters and the antagonist - the rest you don't even care for.

Enjoyment: At first it was great. I was drawn in. As the movie went on however, I became more and more confused, frustrated and bored as to what was going on.

Overall: It has great art and music, both of which are amazing at first but become poor at the end. The story and characters... don't even get me started. Oh, might as well. The story and characters sucked. Period. You can find a similar post-apocalyptic setting and pre-pubescent characters in other anime. However in other anime, you actually understand their motivations and their significance.

To be honest this is my first review of an anime on this site. And you may be wondering why?? Why now write one for this anime??? Well to keep it simple it was how disgusted I was at this anime.

First off I am going to go over the things I liked about it.
Once Origins starts It gives you the appeal of an anime that was well done and had a lot of work put into it. The art has stunning visuals and is mainly the reason I continued to watch through out the story. It captures you into their world right from the start. ... Unfortunately I noticed that as the movie went on the art degraded getting closer and closer to the end. Being the strong point of the movie I was very disappointed by this since the art started as a 10 and slowly drifted to a 7.

Another thing that was quite strong was the sound effects through out the movie. It was not the best I have heard but it was very good.

Now on to what disgusted me.
First off their are two reasons anime's are appealing to an audience. One the story is intriguing and two you get attached to the characters. Origins does present a great concept of a story but just doesn't deliver by making it confusing and tiresome through out it. There were many things left unanswered and some information was said and pretty much just forgotten or hard to understand.

The Character development was a huge disappointment. It starts off at the beginning in trying to develop the characters and pretty much stops. None of he characters were developed in the way that you really care about them. Not even the forest was developed which seemed it needed it for the point was to save the forest even though they made it look like the forest was evil.

The dialog in the story was also repetitive and annoying at points with Agito calling Tula's name frequently.

All this put aside due to the art and sound I am giving a 4 but if those were just as bad as the story then surely this would be my first 1 on my list.

"We cannot command nature except by obeying her."-Sir Francis Bacon
There is a time and space when the world changed overnight, all that was left were a few survivors, ruins and over these,governing as a mighty shadow,was the forest. It obeys no one, but needs to be obeyed,it isn't the same nature we knew,it is chaotic,destructive and belligerent. However, even in these harsh conditions, man learned to adapt, trying to co-exist even with this hostile nature. After a harsh struggle,man finally reached an agreement with the forest. They may reconstruct a town to live over the ruins,in exchange of a few of them being possessed by ... the forest, sharing the mind of forest,turning with time into a tree themselves, reuniting with the nature.
Amid this pre-existed rules, comes a strange girl,named Tula, whom the towns people never saw before. She was released from her dormant sleep,where she was put into a cryogenic capsule,by a young man,named Agito. Finding out about it,the guardians of the forest,release a humungous amount of water in order to drown the suspicious girl who come from the past,but to no avail,the girl being saved again by Agito.
Tula tells him about how the world became like this,how her father's team whom conducted an experiment on plantes,tried to find other purposes in nature.However,a mistake in the conduct let to the nature to go beserk,transforming the world into a jungle in ruins.
Tula has to take now the responsabilty of turning the world the way it was,trying a dangerous method.She leaves Agito's side,who thinks that the way the current world is can be improved,by humans co-existing with the nature...And so the "real action" starts...
Yes,I know what you'll say, the nature taking over the world, definitely Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. The conflict between nature and technology,Princess Mononoke, the awaking of a human from the past into a post-apocalyptic future, Blue Gender.
Indeed, Origin is all of the above, however, executed in a clumsy manner,trying to give a message,but can't really deliver it. Is this movie trying to frighten us,showing how a failed genetic experiment destroyed the earth,quite possible. Is this movie an original,innovative idea?God no.
It is more of a showing of the various ideas of animes such as Princess Mononoke to the current, young, gullible audience, but in a flawed, all thumbs and awkward manner It would have been acceptable in anime format,where imperfections are somewhat more hidden by the lenght,but as a one hour and a half film,the plot holes and flaws are inacceptable. The beginning starts slow,and the ending seems to be too rushed, leaving a foul taste in my mouth.
Story:5

The art wasn't skyrocket good, but it wasn't too bad, either. For a 2006 movie,the animation was decent,even if in that year anime movies such as Toki o Kakeru Shōjo and Paprika had such innovative,imaginative ground-breaking story as well as art,raising the bar much higher.
Some of the scenes such as the hand of Agito turning into a monster, was copy pasted from the scene of Princess Mononoke, when Ashitaka's hand was being infested by the boar-god,another minus for lack of originality.
However, I will give props to the openning scene, where a dragon covered in grass swallows the earth, symbolyzing the destruction of the world by the failed genetic experiment. I have to admit that the scene gave me goosebums, but I also blame that scene for giving me false expectations.That scene's epicness can also be atrributed to the bewildering music, which I will review next.
Art: 7

As soon as I hear:"Shizukesa no naka hitotsubu ochita da ke" (In the calmness only one drip has fallen), shivers came over my spine, the music leaving me me in awe,speechless.This breathtaking music is entitled "Chouwa oto ~with reflection~" performed by the very talented KOKIA,now making its way through my top favorite soundtrack in a anime. KOKIA's varied rage and playfullness is really enchanting. The lyrics,the way it is performed, the anguish, the torment, the passion which transmits to us viewers is awe inspiring.It indeed sends you into a calm state,as the lyrics suggest, transforming your consciousness into a clear drop of water who falls into the core of the universe. However, the other songs pale in comparison,not being as powerful as the first one.
Sound: 9

The main characters even if created quite clumsily, are quite likeable, especially Agito. His perseverance in defending the precarious equilimbrum between the forest and the humans, his innocent, earnest yet courageous pesonality makes this character quite charming for me. Not many youngsters his age choose to sacrifice themselves for the well-being of others,that takes bravery. Tula,however fades in comparison,even if she isn't detestable,the creator tried too hard making her likeable. In my philosophy, if the creator of the character doesn't take risks and only plays safe, by creating a avearge character,they end up hurting their own character.
The other characters are far from being memorable, Shunack guy seems suspicious form the beginning, making the audience already guess what will happen.
Another interesting but undeveloped character is Agito's dad, who seems like a fascinating human being, I would have preferred they would give him more screen time, instead of annoying characters such as Minka,who don't really have a purpose, maybe other then being a nuisance. The character of Agito raised the bar.
Characters: 5

My enjoyment wasn't all that great since I spotted so many similarities with other well established movies, as I mentioned above, in contrast, this movie seems like a creation of a fourth grader trying to recreate "Starry Night" by Vincent van Gogh. The only thing I really enjoyed was the soundtrack and the
development of Agito.
Enjoyment : 6

Overall: 6

“Gin'iro no Kami no Agito”, or “Origin ~Spirits of the Past~” is a great a great anime movie. Similar in some respects to “Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind”, “Gin'iro no Kami no Agito” tells another story of a vengeful forest that has slowly taken over Earth.

The storyline was really good and characters were likeable. I also enjoyed the soundtrack, I felt that each piece aptly portrayed the scenes for which it was played. The Opening and Ending themes were both really good. The story was entertaining and at the same time, fulfilling. The idea of having some villagers becoming one with ... the forest and gaining ‘superpowers’ was creative, especially the cost they eventually paid for doing so. Although this wasn’t a Hayao Miyazaki work, it had that feel to it…..the feel of a good movie I suppose.

I would recommend this movie to anyone who likes Hayao Miyazaki works (even though it wasn’t one of his movie), especially “Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind”, as well as to those who just enjoy good anime movies.

So much promise...

Story - 9
Although the story is something that has been told, and retold countless times and in various different ways, Origin: Spirits of the Past took a unique approach set in a distant future with memories of yet another future we haven't seen yet.

Art - 10
Perhaps the most compelling feature of the film, it was definitely what made me want to watch it. The world in this movie is simply gorgeous and the characters designs are great as well. The highlights would definitely be the forest scenes that mesmerizing and beautiful.

Sound - 9
The movie actually opens up with an amazing song that ... only promises more stupendous music to follow suit. Luckily, it doesn't let down. The score for this film is great and perhaps the second best part of the movie. I would not mind buying the soundtrack and listen to it independently for enjoyment at practically any moment.

Character - 5
There should have been so much depth... so much emotion. Yet we are met with very mediocre characters as cliche and watered-downed as possible. You never really get the sense that you knew anyone in this movie. This is where your imagination really has to kick to retell the tale to better suit what it was meant to be.

Enjoyment - 7
Amazing art, splendid music, and an intriguing plot. Please hold just a bit longer for an explanation...

...So what happened?

Overall - 7
Stellar art an music paired with a great storyline. Why did it have to ultimately flop? I know many people have compared it to a Miyazaki movie or even more specifically to Princess Mononoke. The animation and scenery was perhaps more beautiful than any Miyazaki movie, but what it lacked the most was its emotion. It was a great story, very poorly presented. It's demise clearly centers around the characters. Although I would prefer not to compare, to help explain what I mean, I will compare it to Miyazaki's Laputa: Castle in the Sky. The premise of how the two main characters met are very similar: a young boy deep underground, and a sleeping girl with a "magical" necklace. What sets them apart, however, is that the characters in Laputa are allowed to grow and spend a lot more time together. Their relationship and their affection for each other is believable and charming. In Origin, the two characters have one significant scene where they seem to be pushed to be together. Not long after, they are separated and hardly ever even speak to or mention each other for quite a while, yet we are left to believe that there was a special connection between the two that was never presented in a good way. Sure Agito has an outburst where it seems he confesses he likes Toola, but that is as far as it goes. Particularly with Toola, there are very, very little hints that she actually cares or likes Agito at least a bit.
This also isn't an issue of the length of the movie. Though I wouldn't disagree with a suggestion of a longer movie to play up the characters, there were many unnecessary scenes that were elongated, and some very short ones that needed to be expanded on for the sake of the story. For example (minor spoiler ahead), there is a scene where a character goes through a transformation and becomes a stronger being and we are left to believe that the transformation was really something brilliant within no more than 3 or so minutes.
As I mentioned before, I really wanted to like this movie. The beginning was very interesting, but it remained dull and lifeless throughout most of the film, forcing it to lose it's charm.
I guess in one word, the best way to describe the loss of the movie would be lifeless.
The characters seemed interesting, but were never played-up or presented as relatable beings. The setting for the story was brilliant, but it ran across far too many under-worked scenes and dialogue sequence that made it come across as cliche.

This is not a bad movie or story. It is simply very un-enthusiastically or monotonously told.

This movie is and will always be a true masterpiece.

Story: 10

The story was great. The beginning really sucks you right in with it's very dramatic destroying of the earth. The main character Agito, gets cool powers and saves everybody, been done right? Well this movie did it in a way I wasn't expecting. How many other movies have sent their character to the forest of all places to give him his powers? The ending of the movie leaves you with that epic feel.

Art: 10

The art was truly outstanding. Everything was full of life and the military weapons had extreme detail and looked almost CG. ... Every nature scene or even running through some place always had it's own beauty.

Sound: 10

The music was absolutely stunning. Of course I'm mainly talking about the ones by Kokia but even the orchestra pieces fit in very well with the scenes they were in. Now back to Kokia; her two songs always left me with that tingling down my back. What her voice added to the movie made it more epic than anything.

Character: 10

Agito and Toola. They go through some serious character development. We first find Toola in a freezing tube. Once she's out, there are a couple scenes explaining where she came from in more detail. At the end it's still giving details about her past. Agito goes through the most development I think though. We already know where he came from so it's not a big deal that they left out his past a bit. Even so, he gets powers from a forest, grows up a bit, and does some other awesome stuff like running down a freakin' volcano. Yeah.

As for the rest of the cast, they all held equally important roles. Like the other "enhanced", supporting Agito throughout the movie.

Enjoyment: 10

There wasn't a moment during this movie where I didn't fully enjoy it. Every scene had something to look at no matter if it was the characters or some small detail in the corner.

Overall: 10

Overall I'd have to say that this has been one of the BEST movies I've EVER watched in my entire life. It can only be described as epic. The music is insanely good. It just proves that Japan has better singers than the rest of the world. I recommend Origin - Spirits of the Past to everyone even if you don't like anime.

This is a brief yet well told story. The synopsis is a bit of a spoiler, but it's pretty much right on. Agito is an adventurous/curious boy right from the start, and it's easy to accept him as the hero of this tale. This isn't your typical action/adventure anime. It pretty much is a circle of life themed story with fun and well developed characters.

The usual post apocalyptic theme for a lot of anime is the heart of this story. Unlike nuclear destruction or demonic plague, it was onset by rampant genetically modified plant life. It's very easy to follow how the destruction occurred, and ... the future world of mankind has a certain kind of magical charm. The scenery is spectacular, and the characters are colorful and fun to watch. This is accompanied by wonderful music that fits well in the story.

Where I feel it lacks is the length. I wanted to see a bit more time spent on the imminent threat. Thankfully the characters were developed very well during the short amount of time taken, and it really is a fun story to watch. This is a general audiences type of story, and it has minimal violence.

I would highly recommend this to others. This is a must see.

Gin-iro no kami no Agito

Story: In the past, Man was doing genetic experiments on the Moon with plants, one day something went wrong, due to a genetic error, these plants gained life and a tremendous power destroying half the Moon, attacking then the Heart with a destructive power, ending the civilization as it was known.
Now 300 years in the future the forest is alive and is dangerous to the humans, it controls the existing water in the planet, but the humans managed to coexist with the forest, except one faction that believes the forest should not have such power and must be controlled or destroyed.
Agito ... is the son of one of the "Neutral city" creators and one day while trying to steal some water
accidentally ended in some sort of civilization ruins where he finds Toola on a timeless slumber
inside of a chamber accidentally waking her up.
Toola is the daughter of the scientist from 300 years ago who was running experiments on the moon; he also created a system to fight the forest but for some reason didn’t use it.
Now Shunack another Human from the past, an assistant to Toola's father, joined the Ragna Army whose purpose is to fight the forest, he seeks Toola has only her can find and activate the technology capable of restoring the planet to how it was before. Things won’t go as Shunack wants and Agito will receive the power from the forest to try and stop the destruction and save Toola from his hands...

Characters: There are very few important characters in this movie, as it only runs for 90m, due to the nature of the story, there’s no need for extensive character development and I already talked about the main characters and their importance; therefore I will skip this part...

Animation: This is absolutely the best part in the anime.
As soon as the anime starts, prepare for the jaw breaking sequence of the moon destruction.
The movie runs on a multitude of superb backgrounds, from the city founded in the canyons over the ruins of the past, the neighbor living forest and the desert.
The background in the city is mostly colored in a grayish mixed with orange rusty color making it look like a post apocalyptic city, during the race trough the ruins every little detail looks great, every artificial made object like pipes and constructions is drawn in 3D CG animation that blends perfectly with the backgrounds and characters, also the animation flow is so fast and rich that makes it look amazing.
As we approach the forest the green covers de rusty orange, as we get inside the forest, everything is huge; the use of colors here is great and the trees look almost real, the leaves are specially animated with great detail and is as close to real as possible, the forest is alive and has a mind, this shows during some attacks, the leaves suddenly start to agglomerate forming a huge mass at an incredible speed creating in the end a green dragon, here the animation is full 3D showing a stunning scene gorgeously animated.
The desert is similar to the city using grey colors and everything looks good.
The character design is simpler than all other animation, still, everyone looks great, and when there is action, the animation never fails to surprise.
To finish this part we will take a look ate the mecha design and particle system.
The Ragna Army, is a military faction trying to fight the forest amazing power, therefore they have
advanced in military technology. The army is composed of a dual train, basically its two trains attacked together running parallel to each other, its design is rather simple but still fully 3D animated, the train provides for a great scene when one of the compositions is destroyed, creating an amazing explosion. The train serves solely for transport, the army's strength is in the mechas, there are 2 different types of mechas the first one is a huge red machine that walks on 4 legs and has a huge canon on its bottom, its aspect is similar to a bug, great details are given while they move and fire. The other type is smaller, about one 10th maybe smaller; it’s colored blue and looks more like a scorpion with the canon coming from the rear. The mechs are in 3D, all nicely detailed and animated.
The fire explosions look great, a great particle system was using as we see the detailed sparkles from the explosion and the smoke also is full 3D, its color ranges from black to light grey...
The clouds seem to use the same system used in the smoke, maybe a little more advanced, when
approaching the city they look huge mass approaching, from close or under it, looks lime they where filming a real storm, except for lightning, its only a pacific rain, imagine a sunny day, there’s a huge mass of clouds approaching bringing a long waited rain, watch has it falls in the skies and the bright land bathed in the sun is covered with shadow and the blue sky covered in grey, that’s how it looks...
The best way to describe the animation is to watch by yourself, as it is hard to transpose its sublimity into words.

Music: The opening song is quite good, "Chouwa oto ~with reflection~" by KOKIA, the song focus on her voice while a gentle piano string plays in the background, the video sequence for the op
is the destruction that took place 300 years ago.
Overall, the music does a great work during he movie, always complementing the animation the best way and being in 5.1 all of the audio effects sound awesome during the breath taking scenes.
The Ed song "Ai no Melody" by KOKIA has a pop stile, it has KOKIA singing more melodic and the music is more complete, instead of a piano solo features more instruments making for a livelier song to appreciate while in background some scenes of after the storm are showed...

Overall: Gin-iro no kami no Agito is a 90m movie, so don’t expect a great story or a lot of character's development, instead turn of the light's, raise the volume and sit back while enjoying this light story on a rich world, where the animation is astounding and the music naturally enchants your years.
In the end you will fell satisfied with this great work.

Honestly, let me start by saying i'm a little biased against mecha anime but that doesn't mean I dislike all of them - I found Innocent Venus to be quite enjoyable. I didn't really like Giniro no Kami no Agito though, although i'm not entirely sure why. It just felt quite dry and bland with not much character development.
STORY- The plot doesn't sound too bad, actually. Maybe it was due to the plot execution?
ART - It was okay. Above average, I guess.
SOUND - Let me first say that the only reason I watched this was because I really liked the ending song "KOKIA-Ai no ... Melody". Ehh... but other than that, the OST is so-so. Nothing memorable, but not bad either. I do like the vocal OST before the ED though.
CARACTER - Maybe because it was due to the lack of character development, but I didn't feel anything for the characters (If any, a little irritation for the girl, but that's besides the point.) They just felt hard to relate to.
ENJOYMENT- It could be due to the fact that I was watching it at 3am in the morning, or maybe it's just not my type of show, but I almost fell asleep in the middle part. I found it a little slow.
OVERALL- Not a show that I found outstanding, but it's not all that bad. Maybe it's worth a watch if you got nothing else to do.

I apologize if I did not give enough information to back up my points. I'm still getting used to the review process.

Overall: 7
I meant to write a review that is more positive than this, but it didn't turn out that way unfortunately. Try to remember that despite its many shortcomings, I enjoy watching this movie. It is available for free on the Funimation site and it's certainly worth watching for that price.

Story: 6
The plot feels rushed and unnatural. It had some interesting concepts, but they were underdeveloped. The resolution is poorly fleshed out and unconvincing given how entrenched everyone seems to be in their ideological positions. There are a few clips during the credits, which are worth watching, but they don't improve the believability. The ... movie feels like it wants to say something, but ultimately any message is mired by underdeveloped and conflicting information.

Art: 10
Very impressive. The backgrounds and environments are detailed and compelling. There are some really interesting and powerful images throughout the movie. The mix of CG and traditional animation is well done. The choices they made about what and what not to do with CG are interesting as well.

Sound: 9
The sound and the music are well done and fit the movie. It's a mostly orchestral score.

Characters: 6
I think the characters are generally believable, but even the main characters don't see much development. Their opinions change for sure, but I didn't necessarily believe it. I liked Agito well enough, but he wasn't anything special. I wanted to empathize with Schunack, but we never really got to know him. They just sort of foist information about him on us because they couldn't move the plot forward otherwise.

Enjoyment: 8
I was a bit annoyed by the abrupt and underdeveloped feeling of it the first time I watched it. I liked it much more subsequent times since I was not expecting something I was not going to get.

This movie was eight years in the making and was originally five hours long. This is especially evident by viewing the early trailers (source: Special Edition DVD). Almost none of the animation in the trailers is actually seen in the movie. I really wish they would release the longer version as the movie showed a good deal of potential.

Special Note:
Pay close attention to the sequence during the opening credits. I was too impressed by the images the first time I saw it and didn't pay enough attention to what they were trying to convey. It seems kind of abstract at times, but it's literally portraying what occurred 300 years before the movie.

Origin: Spirits of the Past follows Agito in a world where humans and the forest no longer live peacefully. In Agitos attempt to get extra water for his father he is caught by the forest and in his attempts to escape he stumbles across, Tula a girl put to sleep inside of experimental coffins in which people from the past can awake in the present day. Throughout this series you see humans struggle against the forest or so they thought. This is a heart warming story of preservation of humans, the earth, and a love story of two kids from another time. I personally think ... this series is fantastic with a great art style for the time. Along with a great story and characters to grip you into the story. There are very few minor things I didn't really like I'm not sure it really held up with time. I still really did enjoy the series anyway, I love the meaning behind the story and really recommend this film.

Nature vs. machine, yes it's THAT again, yes, it's THAT predictable. What's the problem? The message doesn't work because 1 - the characters are downright annoying in their attempt to force their own beliefs on others, and 2 - "nature" which we're "supposed" to side with is actually the greatest EVIL of all!

Why does the best friend's little sister have a rivalry with the female lead? It adds nothing to the plot and only makes her appear whiny and immature! Why did the Colonel sabotage the lunar project? For vanity? Personal belief? Hell if I know!

And the main male lead, oh boy, what an obnoxious ... bible-basher! - he will hunt you down until he converts you into a tree-hugger like him, and if you say "NO!" for the umpteenth time, he can only repeat "why not???" as if the concept that people have different beliefs doesn't exist for him!

Which is the biggest problem with this film - the "nature" it so trumpets is totally a DICTATORSHIP! Arbitrarily controlling water to keep humans on their knees begging? USING CHILDREN AS BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS AGAINST OTHER HUMANS FOR THE INTEREST OF TREES? This is an evil tyrant! And we're supposed to ROOT for these evil things?!

And I'm no climate-denier! I want to protect nature! Nausicaa managed to make horrifying giant bugs humanistic, but I honestly want to eradicate these dictating monster trees from existence, along with their collaborating traitors!

This is a horrible propaganda film that managed to turn me, an environmentalist, against the "nature" depicted in this terrible film!

But on a genuine note of reflection, why DO we always portray technology and artificial creation as the bad guys? Are we still cavemen afraid of the light of a fire? Why must "nature" claim to be the only authentic thing worth protecting, but not technology, discoveries, history, CIVILISATION?

I weep for the animalistic tree-huggers of Neutral City! I weep for the progress that mankind has worked so hard for, and so casually abandoned! This isn't a good thing! This is the barbarians burning Rome and destroying civilisation and enlightenment! If the trees are Nazis then the enhanced, and the protagonist, are their willing Nazi-collaborators!

I wouldn't say this movie is bad, but it also isn't good ether. The story is about how plants basically destroyed civilization and there's a conflict between man/machine and nature. The movie focuses on Agito who finds a girl named Tula who says that she's from the past. The problem with Tula is that the story makes it sound like she's a bad person (at first anyway) because she decides to go with Shunack, whose suppose to be this movie's main villain, to bring Earth back to it's original form (You know, our world). Also none of the supporting characters don't really help Agito in ... bringing back Tula. They just sit in the village and wait for the moment of truth. If I was the one making this film, I would at least have Cain and Minka help out Agito a little bit. If you want to see a great movie, this is probably not the one you wanna pick.

When I first watched this film I was mesmerized with just how beautiful the soundtrack and environments were. There are some stunning visuals in this movie and each music score is made for specific scenes, unlike a lot of anime which just repeats the same music for scenes with the same emotion (sad scenes, fight scenes etc.).

This film does actually have some great characters with potential, but it's just sad that the creators of the film didn't develop them enough. The film focuses mostly on Toola and Agito while other characters either only have small moments when they are focused on or they are ... not focused on at all.

I thought that Agito was a likable character to start with, but when he became enhanced he seemed to lose his adorable personality. I found his moments with Cain to be humorous and I wish that I had seen more of them together, but sadly after Agito became enhanced the film just focused on him and his strength.

Toola was probably the character with the most development in this movie which isn't a surprise since she is the one the film centres around. We see her flashback scene where she remembers the accident in the past and we see her change from how she was at the beginning to how she becomes at the end, and she is the only character to actually have stages of development, whereas Agito literally just touches the Forest's hand and is suddenly a new person.

I felt bad for all of the other characters since they didn't get much focus compared to Agito and Toola. Hajan was only in a few scenes for a very small amount of time, but since he was one of the enhanced humans who carved out Neutral City I felt as if he needed more attention. The same goes for Agashi and Yolda, though Yolda did have more screentime due to being the town's representative. I've already stated how Cain seemed to vanish once Agito became enhanced so I don't need to repeat what I previously said. Then there is Colonel Jessica who didn't even have her name mentioned once. She was practically silent until the train fight scene. Again, I feel as though she should have had more focus since she was probably the strongest woman in the film and had quite an important role, especially towards the end (where she got a little more attention).

What also irritates me is the amount of unanswered questions this film has created. Who are the Druids? To me it sounds as if they are supposed to me humans who have given into the Forest completely, but this is never said directly. What was the book Toola was reading? It may have been hard to notice, but when Toola was using her raban to locate E.S.T.O.C. she glanced down at an open book which Shunack looked at and then closed. What is with the 6 rabans on Shunack's wrist? He states that his own raban was lost during a fight with Neutral City, so what's with the ones he has? He can't use them because Toola already states that "the raban only responds to the person it belongs to", so why did he have them? How did he get them? And also, how did he call Toola if the rabans only work with their original owners? This might just be a plot hole, but it is worth noticing. Unless, of course, that phone call was from someone else from the past...

The film has many more unanswered questions which should really be answered, others including how Toola survived hibernation while everyone else was dead and what caused Shunack to leave Neutral City (Yolda blames herself and the Forest for driving him away).

Don't get me wrong, this film is still outstanding in it's own way. I think it just requires an imaginative mind to enjoy it completely as it is a great film for coming up with theories. The idea of water being a currency works perfectly as the world could very well end up that way, though in the film the accident is caused by a mistake in a project which was meant to bring good to the world.

Overall I do recommend that people should watch this movie as I think that it is quite underrated. Personally I would want to see it remade into an anime series since I've seen many characters and scenes which were cut from the movie, not to mention that an anime series could answer all of those unanswered questions and fit in everything that the creators tried to shove into the film. Maybe an anime series would show more flashbacks from the past instead of just having characters talk about the past.

If you haven't watched the film, do watch it. It isn't as terrible as people say it is. Trust me. I've seen worse anime movies.

Upon watching the first 20 minutes of this anime I was delighted by the world design and art. The opening sequence was for me a masterpiece of storytelling. However, after the initial introduction to the world and its characters, the movie went downhill exceedingly fast. While the quality of animation kept up with the beginning, it lacked cohesiveness, and seemed to push for an ever grander scale of wonder that pushed the integrity of the artistic value way over the line.

As for characters, there are none, only empty voids giving shape to an ever increasingly erratic plot. There is no reason for writing to ... be this bad in a movie that had so much effort put in to the world design. It feels like they made specific plot points on a timeline but didn’t know how to connect them. Except for the beginning every character seems dissociated and hollow, the forced link that allows the plot to move. Everything about the characters development with each other feels unnatural. The characters themselves never change, and the time in which the changes in relationships occur are poorly presented.

The plot of this movie starts strong but becomes cringey. There are certain points where I question whether in the process of making the movie they realized just how forced and choppy it seemed so they attempted to compensate by making the series of events more and more extravagant.

All and all this movie does not live up to its hype and fails miserably in all but the initial world building and art.

heres a shitty review.
fuckijn ell, i tried to like it. especially with the intro. great song and visual and it felt good. i was enthralled. not 100% perfect mind you but certainly an astonishing intro. then the opening sequence thing. also good at showing some world but its lacking in places. for example it could establish towns customs and worlds lore visually (since post-apocalyptic setting and by nature very different) and does some but not much. instead it goes for a more character driven/development way. i could of handled this if the characters weren't also shit. they're stupid (both in actions and as characters ... knowing things they shouldn't know), unlikable and not developed enough. characterization was thrown out the window (except that 'main character throws an important personal item away from them to symbolize they have grown' cliches witch is still lazy) it continues like a flawed gem but slowly reveals more flaws than gem.
the plot is generic but that isn't really a criticism. boring characters, sub par acting, and bad writing. i didn't feel a connection with plot, characters, world or anything. it didnt make me invested. many easily spotted cliches and predictability. a message that is misconstrued because of plot elements. deus ex machinas right out of asses. continuity fuckups. a graph of this movies awesomeness over time would have negative correlation. ending shit
all in all, this movie had promise. setting and some plot could have been awesome but it ends up being shit. the reason why i hate it some much tho (and am writing this) is because the intro and opening sequence were great. should have been in a better movie. although re watching opening in my current bitter cynical view it seems more shit that i was lead on to believe.