*might contain light spoilers*
Let me start by giving some backstory information: I am huge fan of drama series, but unlike most people who consider themselves a fan of drama: I hate almost every drama that is being made today. No matter how highly praised the series and movies I watch are, they always end up disappointing me. Shallow teenagers cry in them for no reason whatsoever. Emotional depth is at near 0% if achieved at all. Story telling and characterization rely too much on spoon-feeding the feelings. The world building is miniscule since the sole point of the series is always just to offer some cheap tearjerking for those who never ask for more. Execution-wise, silence; situations where nothing needs to be said are the heaviest possible way to convey drama, but the audience is almost never respected or trusted in this way. So instead, the drama is directed at viewers via over-exaggerated voice acting, crying scenes and downright pathetic yelling sequences which only purpose is to show how much emotions the characters are feeling, but the viewer is always forgotten. What 'When the Promised Flower Blooms' does is different because the feels are not hitting the characters: they hit the viewer instead. For the first time in 7 years, the anime industry has managed to create something that made me cry.
I will keep this as simple and honest as I can.
Story:
-Takes place in a world that is a mixture of high-tier utopia fantasy where peaceful beings similar to elves are coexisting with nature and medieval human race in where kings and knights rule their part of the land in highly immoral and not-so-peaceful manner.
-Mixes together political thriller, war, drama and daily life of both races.
-Focuses on interracial willing and unwilling relationships. The main plot line being about elf-woman and a human child starting a family together where she takes the role of a (foster) mother. Another heavy motherhood-related concept is related to another elf-woman who is raped by the human king and becomes a (biological) parent to her child, but never sees her.
-Deals with heavy questions about family, love, living, finding your own place in the world. As well as regret, adapting and one's purpose in life.
-Several different themes are presented via different characters and their circumstances to a point that it is hard to see how at least one of these POV's wouldn't resonate with its viewer.
-All of this is build around a solid story and inside a world so masterfully crafted that despite its drama-heavy content, it could as well be called just a fantasy movie.
-Build together in such an impressive manner that after finishing the 2 hour movie, I felt like I had seen a 24 episodes long tv anime. So much content, hardly any filler, smooth and impressive from writing to directing.
Characters:
-Simply put: they are genuine, often very lost, trying their best, miserable beings at times, yet developed into something beautiful.
-Most of them struggle to face reality, some simply can't. Ideas such as suicide are brought on the table. In generally, great many characters are put in places that are against everything they would prefer. The best part is how much sense the drama makes in the series and how honest the character reactions to every situation are.
-Elf-people are have close-to-immortal lifespan which creates confusion especially in the main plotline where our mother realizes she is cursed to outlive her adopted son. The son simultaneously has to deal with his own confused feelings where he starts maturing and surpassing this person who no longer starts to seem like a mother to him, but a litle sister.
Art:
-Fucking amazing.
-Very familiar feel to it. Fantasy world similar to video games such as ICO, Shadow of the Colossus, The Last Guardian + also the Disney Movie Atlantis.
-Character movements can look occasionally weird for they can never truly match the backgrounds that are so insanely beautiful.
-No money was saved in the making of this piece of art. It looks cold and brutal at times, yet so often incredibly beautiful. Water surfaces work like mirrors, the lighting and color pallet make details come alive.
-In generally, the art serves the immersive nature of the series so well that it can't really be said to be none less than its very own thing. Something that can't quite be found anywhere else.
Sounds:
-Some of the cast are voiced by annoying "shonen-like" seiyuu's which is a minus.
-The important roles are highly fitting to the characters. They offer personality and practically never go over board with the seiyuu work. Even the rare emotional voice acting feel real and genuine.
-Music is used in the smartest possible way. Otherwise this doesn't have an OST I would listen separately, but it really feels like it was made just for this movie.
Enjoyment:
-The first 15 minutes made me think this is going to be highly mediocre drama like all the other recent drama.
-Rest of the movie quite literally flew by.
-It left me with a long lasting impact, highly memorable piece.
-My eyes got wet in total of 3 times, and I legit cried during climax of the story where everything went down.
Conclusion:
-Highly recommended.
