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If you've heard of Yoshitaka Amano or if you've seen some of his artwork elsewhere (and you likely have), you probably have an idea that Fantascope Tylostoma invites you to an artsy, experimental, uncommon viewing.

Particularly in an age where fluid movement and colorful palettes are some of the main characteristics of a praised or popular show, we are just not used to an anime that is visually told the way Fantascope Tylostoma is: highly stylized monochrome paintings accompanied by narration. I don't think a modern viewer can be entirely blamed for finding something like this OVA "boring" or just "weird". To some, that will ... be the nail in the coffin. But others might be willing to give it a try, and embrace this unusual journey.

This story uses the narrative device of "Story within a story". The narrator tells us the myth of the immortal Man who appears every 700 years, and the mysterious Man tells a joyful prostitute he meets his own story of how he came to be that way. There is some interesting playing of this device, but I will not spoil it for you. The meaning of the title is the first thing explained, and is a thread all too interesting to follow; I was immediately intrigued and this feeling remained for the entirety of the episode. As perhaps it's expected from an experimental movie so tied to its visuals, not every character action and not every thought is clear. The narration functions as a fine anchor and although its presence is a tad excessive sometimes, its existence is thoroughly justified: Fantascope feels very much like a tale, told verbally to you by someone else.

As for the characters. As I want this to be a spoiler-free review, I'll try being brief about this point. The (few) characters are appropriate for the setting they're in, and I think they're well-done for such a short story. The Man is a jaded and taciturn person, but he also doesn't shy away from telling his story, and to share his past actions (not all sympathetic, by the way). It would've been easy to have him be a distant, alien-like voyager, and I thought interesting that he's a more approachable protagonist and generous narrator than one might think. The prostitute who takes an interest in The Man is a charming character, and has some great lines of dialogue and an interesting form of enunciation that I talk more about below. The Goddess in the Cave is what you expect from a divine character: uncanny, passionate, and hard to fully grasp.

There isn't much in the way of character development, not only because of the running time, but also due to the very nature of this being a "legend" of sorts; in those, the tale and setting tend to override the characters and their psychological aspect.

The art is an imperative aspect of Fantascope, and any other artist would make of this an entirely different thing. Liking an art style or not is of course subjective, but Yoshitaka Amano's flowy lines and his ghostly, otherworldly characters so perfectly fit the post-apocalyptic and wavering gray setting, that it's hard to dispute its efficiency in introducing us to this world and the characters in it. The subtle movement of hair and water in static scenes were some of my favorite details to catch while watching the episode.

Another interesting point that I mentioned by passing above is the voice acting. I do not know if this was an artistic choice or a matter of budget, but the characters' voices in this OVA don't seem to come from trained or experienced voice actors; they feel bare, like real people talking. It's something I've seen used in "down to earth" anime movies (the adult segments of Ghibli's Only Yesterday come to mind), but in fantasy is rarer. It's a positive stand-out in my opinion, and it adds to the aura of mystery and unorthodoxy.

Honestly, I too was expecting no more than 30 mins of an out-of-my-comfort-zone experience, and was ready for a healthy amount of boredom, but Fantascope was actually quite enthralling to me. I'm not sure if it's a gem of storytelling or a must-watch for obscure OVA's. It's a fairly simple story (with its layers of complexity being open for interpretation), but it competently sets its atmosphere and aesthetic and maintains it firmly to the end. It'll probably give you, at least, an interesting half hour of entertainment.

This review may contain spoilers.

Having an appearance that is not what society considers conventional is not easy. It's even harder on teenagers in high school.

The shoujo genre is usually filled with stories about beautiful high schoolers with slender bodies, cute big eyes and who are considered cute even when in-universe, they are supposed to be plain. Sora wo Kakeru Yodaka does have one of these protagonists in Ayumi, but brings a stark contrast in its deuteragonist (and antagonist) Umine; and takes a step further when they switch bodies due to Umine's influence.

What I like about this manga is the honest sensibility with which the ... author decided to write a character like Umine, who could've been easily mishandled. For starters, Umine is thankfully not a "plain shoujo character with glasses and dark braids", nor a "Long bangs creepy girl who's actually quite cute when looked closely". She is appropriately drawn in a way that you don't often see in this genre, and that would be unlikely to be considered attractive. While you might have to read more than a few chapters (which I don't think it's a lot to ask, considering it's only 15 chapters) to realize this, it's eventually clear that the narrative isn't trying to paint Umine as the "evil ugly bullied girl stealing perfect girl's life." The manga does not justify her actions, but it goes out of its way to show that the way she was mistreated solely based on her looks shaped her personality and greatly impacted her actions. Her theft of someone else's body is of course portrayed as awful, but her motivations are properly nuanced; also, her suicide attempt (which is not a spoiler and is what the body-switching magic essentially was, had it gone wrong) is not portrayed lightly, nor is her depression.

Ayumi can be a tough pill to swallow. She is cute, has not one but two guys into her, seems to be rather popular at school and has a happy family life. However she is also extremely nice, perhaps too trusting and just the right amount of silly; in any other manga, this would at best make her a generic "too kind for her own good" protagonist. However, Ayumi's sincerely distraught reaction to Umine's suicide attempt despite barely having spoken to her, her utter confusion once in Umine's body and her unfailing optimism makes her endearing, and we feel no joy at her misfortune — even though we do understand the reasons Umine had to want to trade bodies with her when we learn of her depressing school and home life. The author also smartly has Ayumi make a big effort to understand Umine's reasons and seldom thinks truly ill of her. Even when Umine is combative and mean, Ayumi still tries to reach out to her, and manages to not appear spineless or overly naive while doing so.

This manga has several glimpses of extremely insightful writing for such a short story, such as a rebuttal of Umine's "victimization" and of the notion that had she been a bit more cheerful the bullying wouldn't have happened to start with; also Ayumi's realization that, unlike in her old life where she existed separatedly from others due to her prettier and "adequate" body, now she is comparing her appearance to other girls' daily, as well as questioning how "ashamed" her friend Kaga is to be seen with someone like her. These uncannily realistic bits truly elevate the story from a little body-switching wacky account to a narrative that, despite its flaws, is truly trying to get somewhere deeper than the average.

As for those flaws: some of the directions the plot takes are rather implausible and sometimes seem to be there solely to shock you for a limited duration, Shiro's personality switcheroo being the main example. At the end of the day you're not sure at which points he was being genuine or not; a problem for a character who is supposed to be, ultimately, sympathetic. Narratively, it's a waste of time and could've been better written.

The manga also undermines the fact that Ayumi's family didn't seem to notice the body change at all; a wasted opportunity as one of the themes is exactly that external appearances cannot change what's inside, not to mention that Umine's mother (whose relationship is nothing like the loving one between Ayumi and her own family) does notice something wrong. Apparently your classmate who's into you will notice that your body was swapped, but not people you've known and lived with your entire life. As for the love triangle, its resolution didn't hold a significant weight to me at the end, perhaps due to Shiro's wobbly characterization, or because at that point the romance angle just didn't seem so relevant anymore given what was at stake in the climax; it was essentially just a loose end that had to be tied.

Some of its feel-good moments might also come off as forced and overly idealistic to some, such as Ayumi!Umine managing to make a boy stop making fun of her merely by pointing some of her cute points herself. But this manga's objective isn't really to teach what would be the correct way to avoid bullying and exclusion. I see it more as a story of how being alienated and looked down upon despite doing nothing to deserve it can have a huge, lasting negative impact on someone's personality to the point of it becoming unrecognizable, and can drive them to drastic measures.

Finally, it explores how sympathy and making an effort to understand and approach others makes a significant difference to someone who suffered this type of alienation, as the last chapter shows us, in shiny and unmistakably pure shoujo fashion. In these objectives, Sora wo Kakeru Yodaka succeeds quite well and is worth the reading.