Iblard Jikan

If anime was ever introduced into an arts class this would be the best anime to show to the students! This is actually the best way to descibe this anime.
The anime is divided into different acts, accompanied by a music piece selected to set the mood of each act. While you are exploring the world of Iblard Jikan strange things might happen. Big floating rocks might hover above you or flowers spring into bloom in front of you. The feeling is like you are inside this gigantic painting that comes to life.
This is not an anime for the action lovers. In this world everything has ... its own time, its own rules. Watch this anime in the evening after taking a shower, with a cup of tea and with the biggest ever screen size and the best ever sound setup and you are in for a totally visual experience beyond thoughts! One of Studio Ghilibi most ambitious, and perhaps too ambitious projects to take on, but wow they do it so good!

Background: 10/10
The artistry is amazing. The movie is directed by Naohisa Inoue who did the "Whisper of the Heart" backgrounds on the fantasy scenes (which has a similar feel). His paintings commonly take place in the land of Iblard (hence the name). Since he uses his actual paintings the backgrounds look great. An additional bit of info, it looks like his technique is similar to Sachiko's in "From Up On Poppy Hill" http://www.iblard.com/english/draw.html

Animation 2/10
To give the paintings life water effects are added over and other little things, the problem is everything sticks out like a sore thumb. Also they make all the paintings move to ... make it seem like you are actually in the world, but it ends up extremely clunky and flat. The animation is so distracting that I spent more time looking up the paintings than actually watching the movie.

Story -/--
There is no story so nothing to judge.

Character -/--
There are no characters so nothing to judge.

I want to say that if you go into this anime expecting to watch a Studio Ghibli movie with cute characters and a plot that rips at your heart as you get to know each person intimately, you don't really find that here. This is a very different kind of Studio Ghibli where the focus is primarily on the visuals. If you're looking for that, most reviews say you won't be disappointed,

I personally was looking for a Nausicca of the valley of the wind when I picked this video. Perhaps I should have watched that again instead. I tried to push through it and ... can say that while I do appreciate the arty, it wasn't what I was looking for. I still say go for it though.

I was only able to get through about 5 minutes of it, primarily because I was expecting something different and secondly the music. It didn't add to it at all for me. Perhaps it was where I was streaming from, but I found it loud for such quiet visuals.It needed a softer sound but the music had a more up beat vibe to it that the visuals didn't communicate.