At first, I thought this would be an effort from Ghibli to contrast urban areas with rural areas. But rather than that, it turned out to be a narrative about establishing one's own place in the world. A common narrative, but I'm not opposed to common narratives so long as they're done well. The main issue here is that, while alright, there's nothing particularly exceptional about the narrative. Instead, you just get another version of a story that's been retold for centuries. It comes off as more derivative than interesting.

The animation can be a little questionable at points, but is generally pretty solid with great background work. You could easily guess this film was by the same studio that made My Neighbor Totoro just from looking at it, never mind the logo at the beginning (or the quick flash of the studio name on a bus, for that matter). Which is to say it's pleasing, but it doesn't quite "wow" you.

The music here isn't particularly memorable, which means it was neither interesting nor awful enough to stand out much. That's not the worst thing for background music. But you don't have to take the same track as FLCL to have good background music. Look to Cowboy Bebop and you'll find an example of having memorable background tracks that don't steal the show.

This is a rather low 7, but a bit too strong to be a 6. Consider it somewhere betwixt the two. It's simple, ordinary and constructed alright. Don't feel overly compelled to watch it, but you probably won't mind it if you do.