The story begins with a red haired girl named Tuan Kirie who is first seen doing some sort of illegal operation with a refuge group. We then learn about the setting that our story takes place- a future utopian society in the very distant future. The world is supposedly perfect as issues such as disease are no longer a concern. The narrative is told through the perspective of Tuan: both in present and via flashbacks.
The most important thing to note about the story is the complexity of it- and I must say- if I have one major complaint it is that the movie did no justice to the story. The execution of the story was pretty poor and the movie would require many re watches in order to fully comprehend it without looking up explanations online. I feel that the enjoyment of this show will be lost to most who will be unable to fully understand the story. I don't mean this in a condescending way- as I only grasped parts of the story myself and was left clueless at many parts.
The other main character we learn about is Miach who is the main character's childhood friend. We learn about Miach mostly through the flashbacks of Tuan, which has its pro's and con's. I for one believed Miach to be the most interesting character of the series and the most meaningful philosophic statements to be expressed were expressed in scenes dealing with Miach. Unfortunately, she barely resembles a main character as she gets little screentime in the present day Utopian world.
Without spoiling anything about the story that isn't basically given in either the first couple minutes or the synopsis- I can only mention that the ending was another great disappointment to this show. Not that I didn't like it necessarily- but because it felt incomplete and anti-climactic. The show felt like it was progressing towards the ending which would be epic and mind-blowing and what we got instead was confusion along with disappointment.
While the characters are interesting- many of them are too complex to relate to and sometimes- even after learning a great deal about them- their actions are unpredictable and hard to interpret. The ending is a great example of this- but there are many moments in the show where your perceptions about a given character will change suddenly due to an out-of-the-blue action.
The pacing for this show is another major problem for me as the beginning was ridiculously slow to the point where the person I was watching it with got bored and uninterested. Meanwhile- the ending felt pretty fast paced whereas I would have liked there to be more substance near the end of the show. You watch through this show hoping there will be more but you just receive more vagueness and ambiguity.
While the writing suffers and can be super confusing and hard to interpret: the production value of this show is amazing. The visuals, animation, and sound are all above average and quite excellent at times. The stunning visuals are apparent from the beginning of the series and some breathtakingly gorgeous shots are presented later in the film.
But a film with great appearance cannot fix broken writing. I DO recommend this show for people who are looking to challenge themselves intellectually. If you like works like Paprika and Penguindrum perhaps this movie will be up your alley. But I fear that for most, the story was presented in such a way that it is hard to keep up. With complex dialogue and narration- many people will feel lost without looking to the internet for an explanation for this movie. And having to look up what happens in a movie kills the enjoyment for me.
