It cost nearly 1 billion Yen (In 2021 money) to produce and it REALLY shows.
Unfortunately I can't say quite as much nice stuff about the rest of the movie.
The characters are bland, the music is so awkward its actually painful to listen to.
The story is very cliche, boy meets girl. Girl changes his world view and he undergoes some kind of deep seated change. Very standard stuff, just with a heaping tablespoon of religion and moralizing.
Honestly though, the art is so outstanding. It more than makes up for the above shortcomings.
There is only one scene that I can say nearly broke me, near the final act of the movie the main character. He outright sexually assaults the female lead in a scarily accurate sequence that turned my stomach.
This isn't some James Bond guy kiss girl, girl slap guy, guy kisses her again and then they're into it.
This was full on, push girl naked to ground and pin her limbs so she can't escape.
It was frankly disgusting and ruined the entire tone the movie was going for, even during the climax of the movie I couldn't get it out of my head.
I guess I'd say watch this movie but that scene alone was such a dozy I don't know what to think.
Apparently a sequel has been in some level of development for the last 20 years, though I can't say I'm interested in exploring this setting again.
