invisibleunicornninja Plot - There is no story. This is just slice-of-life. Its mostly pointless filler with people doing things. The only thing to keep this movie together is the time period. Problem is, they do nothing interesting with it and this movie is just boring. Characters - As long as people think that putting their characters in time periods that the audience knows are sad qualifies character development, I will be annoyed. This movie is over reliant on making sad things happen to the characters to gain the audience's sympathy. If you are the kind of person who sees people in ww2 suffering and automatically feels for them, then you will probably need a box of tissues while watching this movie. However, if you are the kind of person who needs well-developed (or at least semi-interesting) characters to make a movie worth your time, then I'd recommend giving this movie a pass. Translation - I watched this movie with Japanese audio and English subtitles. Its not that great. The voice acting is pretty bad, and what they're saying for the most part isn't very interesting and doesn't feel like real dialogue. Animation - Whoever is staying that this film is unique in its art style clearly doesn't watch a lot of animation. The character designs are so generic that they are hard to tell apart at times. I'm not sure that the artists fully understood how to draw people. The proportions are all wrong, and no-one looks like the age they are supposed to be. The only times the animation is someone good is when it changes to look like the girl's drawings. That only takes up a total of like 30 seconds in this 2hour+ long film, so its not worth watching for that. There are so many other animated films that have more interesting art and stories that this one really isn't worth the watch. Overall, this movie is really boring and I wouldn't recommend it. The only reason it is set during ww2 is so that people will go "oh you don't like it because its sad" or to say that you're insensitive or whatever. Honestly this movie could've been great if they didn't go with the first draft.

phoenix 2 I would divide this anime into two parts: the first one was dedicated to the girl's early life, marriage and family. The second, the most emotional one, focuses on how simple citizens were affected by the war. The story itself is simple, with no as much of a surprise as to what will happen. But, because it's humane and simple, it captures the audience's attention. Easy to follow and easy to sympathise with the heroes, the movie doesn't overdo it with the war horrors, though the bombing scenes were too long. But, then again, maybe they had to in order to show what the civilians had to go through. I also enjoyed the fact that it wasn't just a historical film, but it also followed the girl's story and her relationship with her new family and her husband. One thing that didn't work for me, however, was that at some points the movie just rushed things and got a bit confusing, like showing one scene after the other. But, overall, a great movie, so 7 out of 10.

David Ferguson Greetings again from the darkness. There is something hypnotic about the hand-drawn animation of writer/director Sunao Katabuchi's film based on the 2007-09 Japanese manga (comic) by Fumiyo Kouno. With some similarities to Takahata's 1988 classic Grave of the Fireflies, it's more than a wartime drama – it's a story of the human spirit.It's 1935 and Suzu is a young girl who lives in Eba, a town in Hiroshima. She is an exceptional artist with a vibrant imagination and an adventurous approach to life. Her innocence and pleasant childhood existence is rocked when, as a teenager, she receives an out-of-the-blue marriage proposal from a stranger. Life with his family in Kure forces Suzu into a daily routine of cleaning, mending and cooking – all while longing for her family in Eba. The film clicks through the months and years, and provides a history of war time from the perspective of a family and village. While the date of August 6, 1945 hovers on the viewer's mind, we experience how family dynamics are affected by war time. For Suzu, her daily routines such as food preparation provide a necessary structure and distraction, despite the ever-worsening shortage of food and supplies. These stresses are compounded by air raid warnings over the radio and Suzu suffers through vivid nightmares.We so easily connect with Suzu as she continually fights through hardships – both physical and emotional – because of her determination to live a good life and overcome all obstacles. This is such expert story telling with a beautiful presentation, that the film periodically reminds us that war is close by. Even in a war torn country, the people must find a way to go about daily life while treasuring the rare moments of joy and understanding the strength of togetherness. It's rare that an animated movie can deliver such a humanist look at fully formed characters and their feelings … all within a historical setting.

austin0731 A coming of age story set during WWII depicting the story of Suzu a girl forced to marry away from her home. Viewers may find parallels to 'Grave of the fireflies' another animated Japanese film depicting war time struggles of the ordinary people. In fact the struggles of the everyman(woman) is heavily featured in this story of a young girl in a fish out of water situation while maintaining her inherent innocence in spite of the horrors of war. It is very interesting how through this character and the gentle animated artstyle a story of war depicting horrible imageries from bombings, to explosions, to death can all seem innocent and calm. A particular scene of explosions in the air transitions perfectly to colourful splatters of colours in the sky in the eyes of our protagonist. Her innocence and naivete is challenged throughout the film yet through the many challenges she faces yet it is maintained constantly. What's great about this film is that because of such a characterisation her struggles to daily life often seems even on par to that of the horrors of war, focusing on the everyman's struggle is a new and innovative way of viewing war, struggles from finding her way and managing rations. Such a character seems almost the opposite of war and bloodshed as she sets the tone for this film which seems unlike one that focuses on war setting In this corner of the world apart from the bunch. Yet we still witness the character mature and grow throughout even though she doesn't lose her sense of imagination and innocence, it's a tough notion to balance and goes against traditional ideas in a coming of age tale where a main protagonist must understand the 'true colours' of society, the world, humanity…… in order to come to fruition. By doing so solidifying itself as a staple supporting that of peace and the good in being ordinary.