Sakasama no Patema

Okay, this is my first review ever.

Sakasama no Patema is a great example of a movie which has a more deeper themes than you initially would think.
The story starts with a girl named Patema living underground in a society of "inverts" who have their gravity inverted. One day she stumbles on the surface and nearly falls in to the sky, until she's grabbed by a boy named Age who lives on the surface in this totalitarian government of "normal" people, and that's how their story begins.

Story:
It's a scary thought getting swallowed by the sky, free falling into never ending oblivion and into the ... space. This movie takes an interesting perspective on themes like totalitarian governments, stereotypes, taking your first step in to the unknown and the most important theme of all..Trust in your fellow humans.


Art:
The art in this movie is top tier. The characters blend perfectly with the vivid and colorful scenery. I'd say their art style is somewhere between P.A. Works and Ghibli.

Sound:
The soundtrack is carefully crafted and of very high quality. It has this wonderful mix emotion and fits in to the theme of the movie. Even though there was some tracks that could of have more emotional impact.

Overall: Overall Sakasama no Patema is a very beautiful movie which has strong themes and interesting setting for the story. It reminds me of those old high quality adventure movies I used to watch as kid. It made me clench my fist every time they were about to do something reckless. For me this movie was 9/10. It could have been 10/10 if they would've set up more lore for the world.

Thank you for reading and sorry for my inferior english!

A very endearing and heartwarming story with a 1984ish setting
Yup, who would've thought those polar opposites would work so well together?

On the one hand you have the sweet encounter of Patema and Age, bursting with curiosity about eachother's worlds
And on the other, the rejection of said curiousity by their respective societies, with Patema's coming more from a more protective instinc (especially towards their young) but still being kinda open to the idea of exploration, and Age's, from an obsession with order and control (ring a bell?)

Though the initial pace is a little slow, the twist and turns it takes are definitely worth sitting thru to ... the end

2 Sentence Review: This movie is fantastic. It toys with the idea of perspective both physically in the animation and the mental concept of it, in what I thought to be a very creative manner.

Story 7/10: Not the greatest story in the world. Pretty basic to be perfectly honest. However, it did its job well. Its tone is relatively peaceful yet the message its trying to get across is rather direct. I cannot say much but I will say it could potentially leave an impression on your life outlook, as much of an exaggeration as that may sound.
Art 10/10: Nothing I've seen has so ... perfectly captured so many elements that are so hard to do in art. Parallaxing, Perspective, Velocity, Weight, Lighting, its all there. You know something is well animated when you feel a bit sick looking at times when a character is at risk of falling. If I do have two things to complain about they're the lens flares and the flatness of things. Complaining about flatness in an animation? Well, yes. With the method of parallaxing they used it sometimes looks like characters are flat images rendered in a three dimensional set. Is this bad? A little jarring perhaps, but I think it did at least somewhat add to the visual style.
Sound 8/10: Funny story, I finished Madoka Magica not long before watching this. I did not catch on that the main character was voiced by the girl who played Kyuubey despite them sounding pretty similar, and I feel like that's a testament to the voice acting in the dub. I am one of those people who focuses so much on the visuals that they forget to listen to the music, but I do remember there being a really smooth piano track and a couple incredibly fitting orchestral songs.
Character 6/10: I don't know, they were all a bit standard. They got the job done but I didn't think any of them were all that special. The villain could have stood to be explained a bit more and the protagonists could have done with a notable trait or two, but I think that's just personal preference.
Enjoyment 9/10: It was fun. It looked nice and took a somewhat unique angle on a story of pregiduce. I am a person who will take at least one break during most movies I watch on my own. I don't have a two hour attention span, or so I thought. Patema Inverted kept me thoroughly engaged throughout all of its hundred minute runtime. It faltered a bit during the last ten or so, but the rest blew me away.
Overall 9/10: Patema Inverted is not a "must-see" for those who are big on story and don't care about the animation. This doesn't mean its not good, you just may not get as much enjoyment out of it as I. For those interested in visuals and more experimental concepts, like myself, watch it as soon as you can.

I went in not knowing what I was getting into, and I must say I was pleasantly surprised. Sakasama no Patema is a very sweet story of a girl meeting a boy while in very difficult positions regarding the other. It's almost like Romeo and Juliet, although this story focusses less on romance and more on resolving the issues between both of the sides they are on.

Story: The story was good in the beginning, it was clear what was happening although you were not really sure to which party it was happening, and plot holes barely presented themselves. Later in the movie the story ... trips up a bit though, as it introduces 2 characters that are badly handled. One of them is very clichéd, while the other does not get enough exposure to justify his behavior. The ending also leaves you with a few questions you really should not be having in a film like this.

Art: The art is very decent, and the quality of the animation is hardly something you can speak ill of.

Sound: The sound was generally done well, and it matched the animation very well too. The music was not outstanding by any stretch of the imagination, but it was definitely not annoying either, slinking into the background very well, being more of a device used for ambience than something that makes the scene.

Characters: The main characters were done well. Both of their personalities are adventurous, which is nothing we haven't seen before, but they are handled well and there are really no valid complaints I could make about them.
2 other characters (I won't say who they are to avoid spoilers) are treated very badly though. As I said in my introduction, one of them is a cliché, and the other did not get enough development to justify his actions, which is of course a hard thing to pull off with only 100 minutes of time, but still.

Overall: I enjoyed it. It is a very sweet and heartfelt film, despite its negative points. The film did get a little worse the longer it went on, but a little worse than good is still pretty good, so overall this gets a strong seven from me.

I gave Sakasama no Patema 3, but I still would recommend it if you are new to anime or looking for something inoffensive for your newcomer friend. It’s not THAT terrible, just cliched to the t. It’s Japanese “boy meets girl” mixed with Western “young people rebel against the evil government”, you can mute the sound and still be able to understand what’s going on because you’ve seen this story, these characters and twists thousands of times. That’s why I don’t see any reason to write an in-depth analysis of this show, there is nothing to write about.

It’s truly a pity that an original ... concept was wasted on such an unoriginal story, but If you are looking for a good scenery and a heartwarming classic adventure, then this movie is perfect for you.

˙ƃuoɹʇs ʎlqɐᴉuǝpun sɐʍ sɹǝʇɹǝʌuoɔ ʇxǝʇ uʍop-ǝpᴉsdn ǝsoɥʇ ɟo ǝuo ƃuᴉsn ʍǝᴉʌǝɹ sᴉɥʇ ƃuᴉʇsod ɟo uoᴉʇɐʇdɯǝʇ ǝɥ┴

Imagine a cave where people have been imprisoned from childhood.
These prisoners are chained so that their legs and necks are fixed, forcing them to gaze at the wall in front of them and not look around at the cave, each other, or themselves.
Behind them is a large bonfire, and between the two there's a walkway where things that get placed on it appear as shadows on the wall in front of the prisoners.
These shadows are cast from people, animals, objects, many things that constitute our reality in their wide ... variety of colors and details. However, for the prisoners who can only see their shadows, those generic dark figures are "reality" because they have never seen anything else; they do not realize that what they see are shadows of objects in front of a fire, much less that these objects are inspired by real living things outside the cave.
Suppose one prisoner is able to escape. Suppose he's dragged out from the cave by someone.
At first he will feel the pain of the sunlight hurting his eyes, he won't be able to see anything, he will hate this outside world and hate the one who dragged him out.
Slowly, his eyes adjust to the light of the sun. First he can only see shadows. Gradually he can see the reflections of people and things in water and then later see the people and things themselves. Eventually he would realize this is the real world, these are the real things. With that notion in mind, he would try to return to the cave and share his findings with the others prisoners.
However, the returning prisoner, whose eyes have become acclimated to the light of the sun, would be blind when he re-enters the cave, just as he was when he was first exposed to the sun. The prisoners would infer from the returning man's blindness that the journey out of the cave had harmed him and that they should not undertake a similar journey, reacting with violence towards anyone who tried to drag them out of the cave.

Popularly known as the Allegory of the Cave, the short story above is a condensed version of one from the many dialogues Plato wrote in his work The Republic. It studies the effects of education in a society and how the human mind is conditioned to fear the unknown and often reject it. Today, it stands as one of the basis of modern philosophy and every graduation student will likely work with it. However, as many complex interpretations it may create, its message still can be read and understood by anyone.
That's one of the strongest points of Plato's work and that is the connection I wish to make with this anime.

If one sees many science fiction works (classic or modern, futuristic or contemporaneous) through philosophical lens, it becomes clear that they are basically allegories. Allegories of our society, our way of life and our thoughts projected into interstellar beings and steampunk technology. They start from a simple, yet strong, moral as foundation for the story-line and surround it with epic (in the true meaning of the word) Sci-Fi plot elements, immersing the audience into a distant world that yet seems so similar to ours. Finally when it's over, there's this lingering feeling that it taught you something but it's hard telling how and when did it happen.
That's Patema Inverted.

Patema's story is yet another revisit of Plato's cave, embellished by the cutest female protagonist it could possibly have, fun with physics and set in a dystopian future which sometimes seems to have advanced technology and sometimes doesn't.
Plato's allegory has a couple of main elements to it. The prisoners, the people outside the cave, those who create the shadows and the cave itself. All of these exist in this movie, it's now up to you finding who is who and which is which.

Overall, it's a great script. Minor flaws, no loose ends and a clear progression that makes for a comfy afternoon watch but nothing memorable to be reminiscent in years to come. Its strongest point is the development of the relationship between Patema and Age, two brave younglings who overcome each their own society's prejudice to help its fellow man (or girl, in this case) with the typical naive bravery of the martyr hero, making it hard not to fall for them.
This great development, however, is butchered by the most one-dimensional cardboard antagonist one could imagine. It simply feels as if the writing team just worked so hard on the setting and progression for the MC that they forgot how it integrated with their surrounding, resulting into a villain with no bigger goals or any excuse for its attitudes aside from being "a bad guy".
Was there even a need for a villain in this story? They could've worked it in some many ways without the need for a Judas, but unfortunately didn't.

On the upside though, it's very interesting how writers managed to use the now-repetitive "secluded society" theme in a refreshing setting. It deviates from the usual underground setting common on many titles such as TTGL and City of Ember and introduces a world where there's literally inverted people. Think gravity, no spoilers.
This was surprisingly well executed in the physics department with only a few acceleration flaws to be accounted for.

Story and its merits aside, the artwork is neat with some very detailed background and gorgeous sky/horizon shots. The way they worked with perspective is very curious to say the least, and there are some scenes that will definitely drive those with vertigo insane.
Utter respect for the crew responsible for particles animation as that must've been a nightmare.

This simple yet careful drawing tied with a very emotional OST does make of Patema a noteworthy experience. Michiru Oshima (same woman who did the music for Sora no Woto) delivers again with a great selection of instrumental pieces and a strong ending theme.
Reason I bring up Sora no Woto is that, those who watched it will recall that the final ending theme was somewhat peculiar. "Servante de feu", by musician Matthieu Ladouce was in french, nothing more fitting for a series that mixes up a bunch of international elements than an international song.
The same happens this time, as "Patema Inverse" by Estelle Micheau is in no other language than Esperanto. An international constructed auxiliary language, created with the objective to make easier the communication between people no matter the nationality. Perfect for a movie which teaches about solidarity and cooperation.

Likely the biggest hit by Yasuhiro Yoshiura this far, as Eve no Jikan and Pale Cocoon continue to be somewhat of underspoken series, Sakasama no Patema is definitely a solid watch be it for its philosophical undertones, creative camera perspective or simply the "love knows no borders" romance.
A bit cliché? Sure, but as fantasy mimics reality, life also can be cliché at times.

While the basic idea is neat, the execution of it deserves execution. The antagonists are so comically evil, you'd think it's satire, but it is not, this shit takes itself very seriously. Whatever depth this movie could have gets destroyed by the movie shoving everything into the viewers face, no subtlety at all. this is the most obvious when the movie repeatedly flips the image upside down to tell you something about how important perspective is, despite how obvious that message already is given the main gimmick of the film. The only good thing about this dumpsterfire is the character Patema herself and the animation ... itself. All other characters are either boring, only have one character trait, don't have any reason to be in the movie or all of the above. From the first 10-15 minutes onward, you can just guestimate wtf is going to happen next. I suppose if you don't care about that and want to be treated like a gradeschooler by a visual artform, go for it

If you could choose one person to help you when your life is at risk, who will you choose?

One that has a strong will to never give you up, one that has a strength to protect you from the dangers, one that can give you courage to do things you never dared for and one that you would deeply believe in just by looking into his/her eyes.

This is a story about the chosen one. In a world where 'peacefulness' and 'order' is under strict implememtation, by simply looking up into sky will bring you a lot of troubles. A world controlled by a good old-fashioned ... mad mayor who is self-righteous and seek to capture 'inverters' from other world no matter what it takes. Facing the adversities, a young girl and a boy who support each other and cling on each other so desperately to save each other and indirectly, the world. The romance is just as beautiful as their adventure, shining in the darkness and reaching to the peak of brightness.

This is a story where your perspective will literally change. Two different world connected as one through them and their eyes are the windows that project it.

The artwork of inversion of the world and the detailed aspect of how inversion would have worked is simply amazing. Every now and then, you'd have suspected, from whom eyes are you viewing the world as? Is it yourself, the audience? Or is it from one of the main characters, if so, which one?

After watching the synopsis or some of the reviews, you might think this is just another creative yet typical anime movie but I assure you that would not be the case. This plot will mess with you from the inside, leaving you questioning the world you are living in as the credit scenes roll.

It's a story about a 14 years old girl 'Patema' who lives in underground and loves to explore, and by her curiosity, she found something really surprising. An Inverted World!! And that's how the story began, But the real question here is, "who's Inverted here?"....

The Art style, Story, Sound everything was really beautiful. The two main characters are to some sorts well written but they could've used more depth. One that has a strong will to never give you up, one that has a strength to protect you from the dangers.

What if you have no ground to stand? What if Gravity is working ... against you? what if your surroundings are upside down? What if you're holding on something but if you let go you may fall in to sky? If you wanna know, Just go for it.....

"Patema: Inverted," after having initially seen the trailer back in 2013, this movie had been on and off my radar since. Through the trailer alone I was captivated by the concept of the "gravity" element and what gives purpose to the titles meaning. To cut the review short, yet succinct of my thoughts...

...much of the characters are tropes, but that doesn't equate to the film being bad, but illuminates a single honest flaw of the film. I think where this film truly shines is in concept being recognized through execution of this inverted world that gives perspective just that, perspective. Without spoiling anything, one could ... imagine that this being a film set amongst a dystopian backdrop or at least one that the viewer is introduced to amidst an early break in the first act, that there is a resounding message to be provided and received. In addition, it would be remiss if I were not to mention for art design sake of a very interesting mesh of steampunk and cyberpunk aesthetic for the 2 worlds.

My only true complaint is that the direction perhaps could've been tighter to give/provide more depth to flesh out characters, say for example the militaristic despot leader (his zealot pseudo-religious perspective is weak) and even some scenes, characters and settings (Patema's steampunk home).

Ultimately, I believe the execution of the concept was the adhesive holding everything together and it's in a matter of opinion I suppose that you, myself or we look at it together or separate in an upside-down or downside-up position, in which we absorb and receive this film. I for one rather enjoyed it, though as I said somethings could use adjusting, but it worked well enough especially in the last 10 minutes where everything can turn that upside-down perspective, right-side up...

All-in-all, as I stroke the last few keys for this less than stellar review, I've come to think or rather have deduced that the title "Patema: Inverted" is meant to illude to Patema's (main character's) perspective, thus "Patema('s): Inverted (Perspective)"




Preach!

This film is weird! It's full of unanswered questions, mysterious back story and a mysterious setting which is kept a mystery throughout the whole film.

The concept, art and music is all so beautiful and I love these aspects of the film. Visually, Patema Inverted is a beautiful adventure and journey which makes this well worth the watch and something which I am very happy to have on my shelf. The two main characters, Eiji and Patema are also very likeable.

On the other hand, this movie has enormous plot holes which really lets the whole thing down. How and why there is inverted gravity ... is left a mystery throughout the film, which is a shame. So, if you decide to watch this film, don't watch it for the sci-fi element, because that bit is virtually non-existent. This film is a story of two types of people from two very different worlds who when they crossover, uncover the long lost history of their worlds.

I did enjoy it though, so I do recommend it.

I had relatively high expectations coming into this movie, but it totally blew them out of the water. Between the pacing, the story, the conflict- this movie kept me interested from beginning to end. I highly encourage anyone who's even thinking about watching to try it- it's only 99 minutes.

Story-8
No summaries here, but the plot never fails to produce situations which seem relatively likely to happen even the circumstances (exception of one scene). Other than that, a few plot twists kept me guessing at where the story would go next.

Art-10
I would rate this a 10 even if it was paper cutout ... over those backgrounds. The backgrounds are amazingly detailed. It reminded me of Ookami to Koushinryou except on a larger scale. Every piece is highly detailed, to the point where they almost feel real. In particular, the broken bridge under the tower was so well done that I sometimes felt like I was looking at a picture. Still, the character design and animations were never lacking and were pleasing to the eye.

Sound-9
For an emotional movie such as this, an emotional soundtrack is needed. Fortunately, Sakasama no Patema delivers here with a beautiful soundtrack that ranges from curious to melancholy. The ED was particularly nice.

Character-9
There are really only 2 important characters in Sakasama no Patema- Patema and Eiji. Fortunately, they're interesting enough to keep us satisfied.
Patema- Patema is the princess of her underground kingdom. Does she act like it? No. Instead of being spoiled and acting snobby, she sneaks out to explore at night and maybe get a glimpse of another world. She gets lonely and is afraid of being alone, leading to some rather heart-wrenching scenes in the second act.
Eiji (Age)- Eiji is a high school student (surprise, surprise) who encounters Patema one day. He would have been the most boring character ever if they went with that trope. But instead, he is a rebel, an adventurer, and Patema's one link to the ground. He's not afraid to fight back, and finds wonder in the sky which Patema floats towards.
The chemistry between these 2 is great, and they literally need each other to survive.

Enjoyment-10
There was never a boring point. Also, I found the pacing to be perfect. This movie totally blew my expectations out of the water and I need a sequel.

Overall-10
I've only given 4 shows (including this one) a 10/10. I can say it totally deserves it. Never have I ever found so much enjoyment in a movie. This is a movie you should watch and it deserves twice the attention it's getting.

Which way is up and which way is down? I'm Loveanime93 and welcome to my Review for Patema Inverted or Sakasama no Patema.

To Start, I didn't know about this anime film I've heard of Studio Rikka who did time of eve but not this film and I only watched this as it was recommended by a sale person at a comic con event. And Boy was it something.

Firstly this film is a mind bender and can give a headache and it will leave you constantly questioning things at least i did.

The story is a simple but original and drives on the different points of views ... people have and the best way i can describe this film without spoiling it is that it a truly gripping adventure that will leaving for more and more.

Art Wise, it looks fantastic and is extremely well animated and it can bring in a fear factor to your experience when watching it. And if you afraid of height well it can possible bring it out on you.

Sound wise, it was a lovely soundtrack and the music really fits the film in total and can enhance the experience entirely, but the music isn't the only thing the voice actors are also well done and suit the characters only problem i have is sometimes i missed some of the dilect and had to rewind.

Characters are good and have depth to them and there is some development within them that bring out each of their personalities. The characters superbly drawn and in my view brings out the personality of the character in question i.e the villain has face features reflect the tone of the voice.

Enjoyment wise, i'd say it great to watch alone or with your friend as this film can give you a major headache like it did me and my friend and we loved ever second of it.

If you we're ever thinking of getting them an anime film i'd recommend this as it widens the spectrum of anime that we have out their and i think this anime should get more prestige for what has been given to us as an anime community.

Overall its a charming anime that you will love to watch and is easy on the eye and it will take you on an incredible adventure. highly recommended on a must watch basis.

Quick Review: Patema Inverted has a very interesting concept which appears to relate to Nazi Germany. While its cast is not particularly strong (hard for them to develop them in such a short time), I feel they are sufficient enough to take you on a beautiful and enjoyable ride. This movie should definitely be given a watch if only for the unique story and pretty animation and sound.

The concept is simple (I'm surprised no one had ever thought of an inverted world before) and the plot's nothing new, but the way that this movie portrays a world other than ours that is close but so different is, to me, pure brilliance.

I'm gonna try and be short and simple. Skip ahead if you want.

Story: It's been done, so it wasn't OMG WOW SO CAPTIVATING!! Girl and guy from different worlds meet, there's some weird bad guy with his own agenda after the girl, some sort of lame and totally misguided thinking behind the need for the separation of said two worlds, there ... are competing love interests, dead parental figures, etc. It's actually fairly similar in plot to Tenkuu no Shiro Laputa (Castle in the Sky). The only difference is the back story of how people became inverted. While this is the most interesting aspect of the story, it's a little lacking, in my opinion. Some small details aren't explained (if you were thinking about it critically, you would be wondering, if Eiji's sky was actually the ground for Patema, then where were the real stars? how does the sun come up, and from where? how can such a seemingly advanced society (Eiji's) have such a flawed understanding of outer space that they didn't notice that, OH, the sky is actually the ground. and if we only see birds for the first time in the last scene of the "real" earth's surface, assuming it is earth, then where and how did they eat meat/protein/dairy?!? .....just, you know, some small observations....). 7.5/10

Art: I have nothing to complain about. It wasn't ugly, it was very fluid and consistent, and it wasn't so lazy as I've seen other animes to be where no one seems to move like real anatomically correct human beings that bend at the knee when they walk. I'm just talking about the moving characters. The background art, like the sky, well, DAMN. That really takes your breath away, especially when you see it from the perspective of being upside down. Scaaaary. They do a good job at really making you feel the vastness of the sky, which I haven't seen before in other movies. 8/10

Character: I dunno. Eiji changes a bit. Kudos. Patema is cool. Patos is funny. Gramps is the typical old man. Bad man is typical bad man. Bad man's right hand man is the same, typical. Similar to story/plot, nothing new, nothing outstanding. No amazing character development. But, you know, I didn't hate any of them. Except the ones that needed to be hated, like the bad guy. But that goes without saying. 7/10

Sound: Y'know, I didn't really pay attention. Seemed ok to me, wasn't jarring to the ears or anything. But, that could mean that it was effective in producing the right kind of ambiance. So there. 9/10


So I'm giving this a 9/10 simply because above all else, the simplicity of the concept was so well executed. There.

Summary:
Patema is a girl that lives in an underground city, all people there wear protective clothes and live a peaceful life. Patema loves exploring, especialy the ‘danger zone’. Even though she was scolded and told not to go there again, her curosity took over and she visited it once more. This time through unexpected events, she falls into the pit leading to the ‘outside world’ where she meets a boy named Age and falls in love with him.

Review:
Sakasama no patema is a beatiful story about 2 people from 2 different worlds, meeting each other and falling in love with each other. Even though both are ... ‘inverted’ for each other, they still were able to relay on each other. In the ‘outside world’ they believe that ‘inverted’ like Patema are demons from underground that will take ‘sinners’ that look into the sky from the ‘outside world’ with them into the skies.
Story has a unique twist. There are 2 not so different worlds, one living on top of the other, because of a failed government experiment, both are inverted to each other aswell.
Sakasama no Patema is completed with amazing music, artwork and animation. Without those things it would be just another romance movie. But with them it makes something special, something that makes you not forget about this movie.
So to sum things up, It is a beatiful romantic story with an unique twist, that is completed with artwork, music and animation.
Rating:
Story: 10/10
Artwork: 8/10
Music: 8/10
Animation: 9/10

Gently Compelling
Okay, so it was a mid watch, not fantastic but simply good. The basic concept kept me engaged. “It’s not a groundbreaking film, but it does give you some food for thoughts.” I believe the movie could have been better if they had spent more time developing the script and tell us a lot more about this world etc, like more interesting characters and a better villain. I would have appreciated a complex version of this story.
Animation was pretty good considering the year it was aired.
"Inverts," like Patema, are sinners that will be "swallowed by the sky," ~ phrase that made me watch ... it (also the key art)

The concept and story is actually great. Many people who gives this anime a bad rating is because they didn't understand everything in the movie. It's a nice and interesting movie. I recommend it.

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This movie is life changing. You will walk out of the theater, living room, bedroom, or whatever you watched it in staring at the ceiling to make sure that you have something to stand on in the event that gravity were to suddenly invert. The concept on it's own is revolutionary. The CAMERA, oh my God, I haven't seen cinematography like this since Bakemonogatari. Watching the characters compensate for and interact with an upside down world while discovering the truth is thrilling. The amount of foreshadowing is insane, and only becomes apparent upon re-watching. The art is beautiful, with extremely detailed underground scenes and vibrant, ... blue open skies. Though the dialog can at times be generic, it conveys the emotions of the characters well and is very fitting while staying "down to earth". The voice acting is sublime. You can completely empathize with the fear, anger, sadness, relief, and almost every other human emotion that the characters display. All of this comes together to make a 10/10 movie you can enjoy again and again. If I were to have one complaint about this film, it would be that it isn't long enough. There is so much more that could be done with this world, it could have a 3 season, 36 episode show.

High School Physics and forces resonates with this film.

A film about 2 different types of humans, the biggest difference between both are their inverted gravity physics. This premise might not appeal to the anime community alone but slap a couple of opposite inverted and an opposition government and you've essentially reached the level of Makoto Shinkai. If I had to say, this film seems like the source of inspiration of Makoto Shinkai's recent work 'Weathering with You'. However, let's get into why I rated this film so highly. ** Please be informed that SPOILERS will appear in my review from here-on out **

Plot: ... The main hook for this film was the antagonizing force and overall dystopian conditions, the premise in which this film is set also makes for a very controversial situation. That being said, I feel the film accurately executes the notion of different inverted or opposite ways of living - The main strength being the risks involved in exploring taboo land by Patema. The story sets to question the reality of Patema's universe, Patema is forced to believe that the society she resides in is of normality and consider outsiders to be bat-men who are mysteriously upside down; However, the opposite is true for Age where society he resides in is the normality and thus refer to Patema's people as the 'inverted'. This idea is very deep and requires ongoing interpretation as the plot develops which entices the user to view more to understand more.

Art & Sound:
I didn't realize this film was released in 2013 from the art & sound, I would say the animation style is on par with anime released extremely recently, I guess the quality of animation will be timeless for a while now. I really enjoyed the animation none the less, for studios I've personally never heard of producing a film that I've also never heard of at a high standard must mean I'm sleeping on a lot of potential. Although it doesn't triumph over recent works by Makoto Shinkai and his reputation, I'd say it sets a high standard in the industry for what is really reliant on both plot and animation. I wasn't as invested in the VA so I didn't really pay attention as much but I wouldn't say that the audio was this film's shortcomings - It's probably been perfected to the point you wouldn't notice or focus on it. As such both art & sound are near flawless!

Character:
As mentioned in the plot section of this review, we aren't exactly fed information within the first 10 minutes of the film. In all honesty, I didn't understand what was happening until Age and Patema first met each other. However, as the plot developed all characters developed proportionally, beginning with a first person view of a stern evil looking man finally made sense toward the end of the film; I still haven't confirmed if it is true but I suspect it was Lagos being held captive (the ending where Lagos is captured after Age's father attempts to leave in the balloon supports this assumption)
This is just an example of the depth this film goes to in order to force the viewer to think and constantly reference current events and characters to the past. For that, I became instantly addicted with the film...

Enjoyment: you can tell I enjoyed this film from the extremely high rating. However, what I'd say was missing from the film was the antagonizing force - Age and Patema as well as the other underground inverted defeated the commander/governor Izamura without much fighting. None the less, the scenes where they do fight were fairly interesting for a film that isn't solely dependent on action to develop the narrative. Amazing watch, I can't believe I haven't seen it in the 7 years it's been released...