Crippling Disappointment
Story: 6/10 B
Animation/Art: 10/10 A+
Sound: 9/10 A-
Characters: 7/10 B-
Acting(dubbed): 8/10 B
Enjoyment: 7/10 B
Overall: 7/10
Story:
What happened here? The story in this movie is not good. There are 2 big problems with the story in this movie. One, the pacing is horrid, the entire first half of the movie is unbearably slow and the second half, despite strong improvements, does not do enough to compensate. The second problem is that too much of the movie diverts attention from the main story focus toward side plots revolving around one of Violets' clients and another side plot in modern times. The plots themselves are mostly mediocre. The plot during modern times is completely unnecessary and does nothing except waste time. The main plot is mediocre and certainly does not live up to the incredible story of the show. The story with Violet's client is easily the best part of the movie and is comparable to some of the best parts of the actual show. In fact, it’s good enough that it singlehandedly saved the entire movie from just being bad to being ok. Overall, while it’s still at least entertaining as a whole and a satisfying conclusion to the show, it is nowhere near as good as the show and ends up being a disappointment.
Animation/Art:
It’s good. Really good. It’s extremely beautiful and on par with some of the most beautifully animated movies and shows in all of anime. The way the characters look now that they are older is done very well. Can’t really say anything more about it, if animation quality is a big part of a movie for you then you won’t be disappointed in this category.
Sound:
Actually really good. Better than the show and has a very memorable and emotional soundtrack. The music enhances the scene it plays well and immerses you in the movie without getting distracted. It’s a massive improvement over the already good soundtrack of the show.
Characters:
I am sad. The best part of the show was by far the characters with each having incredible development and emotionally moving stories revolving around them. This movie is not that. Violet's character seems to have backpedaled from the show, with her ending up as serious and emotionless as the beginning of the show for most of the movie. Other characters have practically no development at all. One character that does (can’t say name bc spoilers) have development has it happen way too fast and they aren’t well done for most of their screen time. Overall in comparison to other movies it’s still good, but when compared to the show… I’m really upset.
Acting(dubbed):
I watched this with my family so I had to watch it dubbed for them. It’s pretty good acting. All the actors are just as good as they are in the show. The president in particular does a very good job in his acting, conveying incredible emotion and power during some specific parts of the movie. On top of that, having seen some of the subbed versions, the dub improves on the sub in many scenes. As dubbed it is a viable alternative to watching sub.
Enjoyment and Overall:
Now I love the show. The show is easily my favorite, completely surpassing anything that came before it. But this movie. I just didn’t like it that much. I did like it but not thaaaaaat much. It was closer to mediocre than it is to great. I really can’t say anything else other than that this movie was such a disappointment. It was good but still so disappointing. The story of the movie makes me feel that the creators were merely trying to pad the runtime, something that the movie could have done without. The side plot with Violet's client could have and should have been its own episode in the show or at least an OVA. There wasn’t enough focus on the main story for it to be compelling. The characters are done way worse than the show. The two best parts of the show are done absolutely terrible in this movie. While other strong points of the show remain, such as the animation, the movie for the most part is the show but worse. I just feel so conflicted, the movie is genuinely good but compared to the show disappointment is all I can feel.
24.5 out of 43 users liked this review