So I grabbed a drink, some snacks, made my self comfortable in my armchair and morally prepared myself to watch this promising film. It is to my disbelief that as the movie progressed the plot looked more and more disappointing. Despite amazing animation and stunning detail the atmosphere is missing. It becomes obvious that authors failed to connect the fantastic story with this rich realistic setting. As we follow main character Nadya, we are able to experience the grief for the dead, the hate towards the enemy and determination to go on. However, the fantastic ability to revive friends, to fight skilfully with a katana (why Russian girl is carrying a katana remains to be understood) and to easily defeat her foes whoever they may be, completely negate all those strong feelings towards the horrible period. The fights are abrupt, disjointed and always end with the victory for the good guys making the deep, dark atmosphere dissipate and even look ridiculous: why on Earth all these people die if you can just have Nadya slice the Germans up and send them all the way back to Berlin?
The characters are quite interesting. Nadya's friends look very much like the heroic portrayals of children of the War, the brave street kids who sometimes had more determination than adult soldiers. The Russian actors do their jobs well; the dialogues are well structured and are nice to listen to. Despite this, we don't have enough time to learn about these people, they look distant and therefore their presence is easy to ignore, especially for someone who doesn't speak Russian and doesn't know much about Slavic culture.
One feature which is worth highlighting about First Squad is historical commentary done by war veterans, psychologists and historians who explain a little bit about War and create a very nice connection between the film and the reality. However, as the story takes a mystical spin it wasn't necessary to have someone justify fictional facts about "spiritual connections with the world of the dead". There is a thin line between real historical facts and speculation, and as the story progresses, you see real people talking about Soviets communicating with the dead which looks absolutely ridiculous.
In conclusion, First Squad: The Moment of Truth is a major disappointment. It holds little value in terms of story or in terms of documentary. If you want to have a nice fictional anime to watch there are plenty of other films and shows which would be a much better investment of your time. Likewise, if you want to find out more about Great Patriotic War there are lot of great documentaries and books you can look at. It is a real shame that the authors failed to deliver and this setting remains an open ground for anime directors to explore. Perhaps one day we will be given a chance to witness a real masterpiece. Unfortunately, not this time.
