The story itself sounds good on paper, it's a romance political thriller. And none of the plot beats would suede you to believe it would turn out mediocre. But problem comes with our two main characters and their relationship throughout the movie. Fuse and Kei and just two sides of the same coin. Fuse is stoic and aloof and Kei is stoic and aloof, just to a lesser extent. This means that they barely interact throughout the entirety of the movie, most conversations have Kei say something wistful and Fuse nod accordingly in agreement (I'm not kidding, you can practically count the number of words Fuse says to Kei on one hand). This led to a feeling of great awkwardness between them, as if nothing was there to tell me that they genuinely wanted to bond. *SPOILERS* This meant that the "emotional payoff" at the end left me feeling more shocked and surprised at such a sudden turn of events than saddened or upset at the death of someone you've grown connected to. I'm not saying you can't have two similar characters form a believable relationship; rather, you should attempt this in something longer like a series where you have the time to believably include both interactions and silent moments.
Another issue is the movies incessant use of "wolves" and "little red riding hood" as a metaphorical device. I'm not saying it was bad because it didn't make sense but rather because the movie decided to cram this symbolism down your throat at every avenue. The fact that every character has to speak in conspicuous allusions and vignettes involving "beasts" even when not referring to the character the metaphor applies to came across as overplayed and in poor taste. For the scenes where it logically made sense, like the hallucination, it was very well implemented.
I also wanted to add something that may be more of a personal nitpick but what is it with anime thinking that linking folklore to the story immediately makes it 100x deeper and more meaningful.
The animation was is this movies strong suit. It's incredibly well done and the art design is amazing, the Panzer suit being a particular highlight. It's all realistically proportioned and almost looks roto-scoped at certain points. Plus theres something about a 90s anime gore-fest like this which really appeals to the eyes. Personally, even if you don't like the story, the movie's worth it on its animation itself.
In conclusion, the faults lie more in wasted potential rather than any obviously poor decisions. It's incredible to look at but lacks the "special sauce" that other classics like Akira or Ghost in Shell have.
