What I love about this story, as I mentioned in my other comment on the TV edition, is the gentle and eloquent situating of sadness, both in the images and the stories within, and it's crucial to mention that the "visual poetry" is of higher caliber on the OVA, while in the TV edition the "narrative poetry" is far more prevalent. In this version, we are missing an ingredient most important, that is the Western shinma and their connection to Larva, only a brief and sketchy appearance of one in the third episode, unlike the memory embossing and haunting passages we have of them in the TV edition (that blonde girl with a conch on the flying sea ship). On the other hand, the traditional calligraphy role is far more better here, giving some of the most chilling and almost dancing-like performance of fighting scenes, resembling the movement of brush and paper cutting, emphasizing the Kabuki reference, it's almost talismanic and ceremonial at one point. The only parts of the narrative here that I can applaud are the ones in the first and second episodes, I can contemplate on such stories and images all day.
I'm quite aware that not many see what I'm seeing in this anime, and despite the technical inconsistency here and there; I guarantee it's worthy of your time to meditate on these ephemeral streams of blood, ink and tears, try giving it a chance. I'm crossing my fingers that the original manga will be the one nearing or attaining perfection.
