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Not quite what I expected. While the artwork is fine by itself, the characters and story were sub-par.

Story:

If you read the summary, it follows two magical sisters' as they interact with children from our world. Danger ensues. I appreciated the slice of life moments and the use of magical technology (very small, but sweet). What was disappointing was the distractions that fell their way and the deus ex machina's revealed at the end. There were far too many, so it felt very unsatisfactory.

In addition, they touch on death in an interesting way. However, one of the main character's most dramatic moments rang very hollow with ... me and came off as cheap at best. Why? There was very little investment in the character involved. It was difficult to empathize.

Finally, the relationships between the characters were very shallow, established in brief moments that felt forced.

Art:

The artwork had an interesting sketch-like quality that was a little distracting at first, but nice. The colors tended to blend in to each other from what I could remember, more towards the beginning.

Sound:

I'm not an expert, but I thought there were noticeable moments of silence that felt strange. The music that existed was fun at times, and overall it did its job.

Character:

The characters were shallow. This could be attributed to the fact that it's a children's movie.

Since there are two magical sisters, I expected the movie to explore their relationship more. Instead, it focuses on the antics of one sister in our world and only touches on their relationship when support is required. Honestly, I felt like one sister could be summed up as: the one who supports the other sister and is otherwise quiet. Now, this would be fine if there was something else and if the main character had more to her (besides being in-your-face energetic and reckless). Unfortunately, it's not the case.

The side characters are all right, but their reactions at times seem inappropriately exaggerated to force tension or compromise. It comes off as hard to believe, but for a children's movie, it does its job.

OVERALL RATING: Meh

If you absolutely love magical girls, it's fine. If you just want something fun and cute to watch, there's better options, but this could work. It's not terrible, but it's not fantastic either.

Beautiful artwork, disappointing plot development.

Watch only if you don't mind unexplained motivations and emotional scenes that carry very little weight (due to unexplained or weak motivations).

It could be just me and my preference for certain types of plots, but I thought this held a lot of potential and was disappointed as a result. Reserving the reveals for the end left it feeling like a confused, mish-mash attempt at an ending with loopholes to make it work. It simply wasn't believable, even given the myth-like feel that it has.

There's beautiful artwork and an interesting plot line surrounding a very strange family (to say the least). The ... artwork is clean, colorful, and almost radiant, matching its strange characters in turn.

I appreciate how the anime crosses weird, clean-cut, advanced technology with folklore to create strange and interesting characters. Character-driven, there's a distant plotline that's followed, but the characters' internal struggles take front seat until the end (when the makeshift ending happens). Unexplained motivations, again, made for an unbelievable ending, but if you are willing to suspend belief and accept the fact that the ending will be sub-par, at best, then accept your fate and give the anime a shot.