Story:
Our main heroines, Dual & Dorothy, are anti-virus programs inside a device known as the "Box of Wisdom." Which I thought was the nickname for Athena's virginal vagina, but has a completely different meaning here. They scan various cyber worlds that come up based around Earth's past and erase viruses. One day, their lives change when they find a strange program named Remo after dispatching some viruses. Remo has no memory of who she is but seems strangely human. Their only clue is that she mentions returning to a "flower garden."
My only issue with the story is that the whole theme surrounding humanity gets to be a little heavy-handed towards the end. I'd like to really go into heavy detail about it, but it is extreme spoiler territory so I'm not going to.
Aside from that, the narrative is pretty fantastic. It really does a superb job of establishing what the "lives" of our programs are like. The flashbacks it uses are highly effective. The way it showcases the various worlds encased within the Box of Wisdom by having the girls visit while looking for clues to Remo's past is very nice. It's a montage that helps build the girls' relationships while also running the gamut of the human experience. I also appreciate that the ending takes some big risks and they pay off very well. The sci-fi elements are also handled very well.
Characters:
Since the film only really deals with three major characters, it really needs to get them right. Which it absolutely does. Shimo does an excellent job of giving us some sense of personality from Dual & Dorothy before they meet Remo & of developing them in a more human direction as a consequence of their interactions with her. Remo is also a great character with a good deal of verisimilitude. Even the viruses have a decent level of depth. And they aren't exactly talking, high interaction characters like the viruses from ReBoot.
Art:
The artwork is very impressive. The inside of the Wisdom Box has a lot of really cool visual elements. Although they might get a little too busy at times. The viruses have a really good look. Especially when you see them in the act of infecting something. The characters don't have the most unique designs. Dual & Dorothy look a lot like the heroines from OreGairu. They're still well drawn and the designs are good ones. The animation is nicely done too.
Sound:
The acting is pretty close to flawless. Hanamori Yumiri, Taneda Risa & Sakura Ayane are all superlative. The film uses a lot of really well done piano music and some nicely performed songs.
Ho-yay:
This film does get progressively more homo-erotic with its characters as it goes and our anti-virus programs start developing more human personalities. We're talking all three of our major characters are very shippable. Now, you might say they're programs so it doesn't really count. But they're programs that take on the forms of girls and have very human aspects to their personalities. So, I say it counts.
Areas of Improvement:
This is going to be pretty nit-picky since I don't have many complaints. And those I do have aren't major ones.
A little more subtlety with that whole theme surrounding humanity.
Character designs that don't look like they were ripped off from another anime. I get it, most designs have been done and getting something truly unique isn't going to happen. But I feel that the characters being programs was an opportunity in that regard. For instance, you could have given them an odd skin colour when they weren't engaging with recreations of our world or another odd feature that would have set them apart.
A bit more subdued backgrounds. As much as I like the aesthetic for the more computerised sequences, the backgrounds can be a bit much.
Final Thoughts:
Glass no Hana to Kowasu Sekai was a fantastic film. I absolutely loved it. That's why I'm going to go so far as to give it a 10/10.
