Totsukuni no Shoujo (2022)

The legends tell of a god of light “GoL” (happiness and good fortune) and a god of darkness “GoD” (play tricks and steal joy), where “GoL” punished “GoD” by turning “GoD” into a monster, banishing “GoD” to the Outside, cursing his monstrous children with a condition that spreads upon touch. In this fascinating world, the little girl Shiva, meet a the monstrous yet kindhearted Sensei, growing closer as they learn & heal each other’s company, despite Sensei knowing fully well that this isn’t where she belongs.

Most stunning visuals of the season, even taking the production-differences of movie vs TV-anime into consideration, brilliantly presenting its ... fantastic narrative with a rough storybook-style. High consistency and with certain breathtaking moments of animation / style changes / imagery, truly brings its characters and world to life.

Heads-up:
- While Shiva and Sensei as both individuals and their connecting is brilliantly portrayued, parsing together the more fantastical elements of the story/world, can both feel cryptic and unrewarding, based on the limited material we get in this adaption.
- Some people may feel like “nothing is really happening”, despite said “nothing” being the highlight of the movie.

Favorite aspects:
- Shiva and Sensei’s father-daughter-like relationship is extremely heartwarming.
- Exceptional lighting & colors, especially loving the “darker scenes with light source, like a fireplace or something”. Feels like rejuvenation for your eyes, with how pleasant and warm it feels, brilliantly showcasing the contrast of its worlds/characters with the lighting & coloring as well.

Least favorite aspects:
- I found the mysterious elements of the story/world, purposedly leaving out certain information to be intriguing, but I was sadly left quite unsatisfied by the end, and found the most interactions/content after they left the house to be less enjoyable.
- The ending left me a bit unsatisfied.

Overall, a very pleasant viewing experience, both its audiovisual presentation and the interactions between our 2 main characters, despite leaving me a bit unsatisfied in the end.

I scored this a 6

The question for if you will enjoy this small 3 episode OVA (wouldn't classify as a film per say) is: Do you like the poster art work and/or the trailer? If yes and your only expectation is good art, then you won't be disappointed. If no and you want something deeper, then you might not find it here.

The reason that I bench a lot of your enjoyment of this work on the art-style is that the overall story can be confusing to decipher and interpret. It does have a message and you will understand it and the themes present, but the ... in-between of getting to the smaller conclusions might have a lot of confusion mixed in that make it not as enjoyable to watch. Its like watching works that are really good at expressing concepts (March Comes In Like a Lion, Monogatari, Ranking of Kings) and having those expressions miss the mark.

What carried this show was the art-style and animation. Never disappointed when I hear unique art-style and Wit Studios in the same breath. Again, if you like the teaser or just the poster art for this and that is all you care about, you won't leave disappointed at the least.

Maybe it's because I'm getting old, I can't understand what Totsukuni no Shoujo or The Girl From the Other Side trying to convey. Yes, you might say the general idea of pain and acceptance is there. But when a short anime that leans too hard on vague mystery and disconnected storytelling, it's never gonna end well.

There are two main characters in this OVA, a beast-man and a young girl, nothing that we haven't seen before. And honestly, the man's development feels too rush while the girl is flat out one-dimensional. This combine with the blurry story make the movie longer than it actually is.

The ... only positive thing is the strange artstyle and some catchy melancholic OSTs. So overall, The Girl From the Other Side is not something I would recommend even just for an hour break.