The plot is very standard, as you can read in the synopsis: normal guy receives the "call to adventure" after his friend has been captured, and it turns out he is some kind of "chosen one". Thus, he needs to defeat the bad guy. The problem is not the lack of originality, specially since there are some pretty interesting ideas, but the lazy storytelling. There's not enough time to actually care about what's going on, yet the movie insists on throwing plot element after plot element, until it simply ends, without even having a proper sense of closure. It's not an open ending, just a sub-par ending.
The animation itself is not bad, though obviously dated, and the battle sequences have some nice fluidity. However, none of this helps a lot when everything seems so bland. Have you ever seen the stereotypical shounen heroes that teen boys create when they are learning how to draw inspired by manga/anime? That's Seirei Tsukai's character designs for you. Odds are, you'll forget the characters' faces within 48 hours after watching it. As for the soundtrack, it's nothing spectacular, but decent enough.
It's possible that the lack of engagement is not because of the plot, but rather the characters. There are lots of examples of characters who are capable of stealing the spotlights and carrying the plot all by themselves due to their charisma, while some works choose to develop the main cast as a whole and offer meaningful relationships which the reader/viewer cares about. Similarly, poor characters can ruin the entire experience.
You'll probably not hate the characters, but you won't like them either. They are just actors fulfilling their roles on the stage, bi-dimensional figures moving around. This is supposed to be a sort of coming of age for Kagura, who sees himself completely alone in the world now that his sole emotional support has been gone and must awaken his inner powers to get the girl back, as a man. It could be charming, if it wasn't so literal. Kagura has no visible signs of actually maturing or coming to terms with his problems, he just pulls a magical power out of his ass and saves the day.
Yet, after all of this, Seirei Tsukai manages not keeping the viewer entirely bored. But don't give it much credit, as most of it derives from a feeling of nostalgia which summons the "inner kid" inside of people. It is, after all, an adventure filled with dangers, abilities and battles, such as Dragon Ball, Hokuto no Ken, Yu Yu Hakusho and other classics.
But the ultimate question for a battle shounen is: are the battles interesting? Well... they are nice to see, but hardly memorable or unique. And that's a shame, because the characters have such huge and almost unlimited abilities due to being able to manipulate elements. Compare this to JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, which can consistently deliver exciting battles with simple abilities used in extremely clever ways, and you'll see that there's no real competition. Still, you shouldn't be very disappointed if you want to see some powerful warriors kicking each others' butts.
So, who is Seirei Tsukai recommendable to? Mostly nostalgia fans from the 1990's, and even so with some caution. Ultimately, however, it's just a superficial journey to the past, without anything remarkable on its own.
(Reviewed for the club "Reviews for the unreviewed")
