Meh, I can see that the staff worked really hard on this movie, and I truly appreciate the effort that went into its creation. However, despite their hard work, it didn’t resonate with me emotionally at all, which is disappointing for me to admit. It always feels kind of unfair to criticize a film’s emotional aspect without explaining why exactly, but honestly, I’m not entirely sure why I didn’t connect with the emotional aspect of this movie. I can get emotional over touching scenes, even if they’re not entirely logical, that’s not an issue for me. But for some reason, I couldn’t care for this movie emotionally at all. The emotions were there, or at least they were supposed to be, but they just didn’t click with me.

the characters felt distant, their emotions felt forced or stiff to me. It’s one of those works where the movie really wanted to pull on your emotions, but instead, it came off very dry for me. The emotional beats came too suddenly, or too out of place, and they didn’t resonate the way they should have or at least click with me. That lack of connection left me frustrated, unsure why it didn’t work for me.

As for the story, there are so many ridiculous plot holes that detract from the film's overall impact. For example, there’s the scene where Maquia hangs the dragon fabric for no apparent reason. It feels completely random, as if there’s no real purpose behind it, and it left me wondering why that detail was even included in the first place. But let’s not nitpick small, unimportant details. I can imagine that Maquia got stuck in that situation and was forced to ride the dragon and move on, so I tried not to care too much on this particular moment. However, when looking at the story as a whole, so that the real issue lay not in small, unimportant details, but it's in the characters themselves, particularly Ariel and Lillia. Their flaws, both in terms of personality and decision-making, didn't make any sense to me at all.

Let’s start with Lillia, since her flaws are more obvious and simpler to notice. Her character arc is one of the more disappointing ones. In the beginning, she refuses to go with Krim because of her daughter. The reasoning behind this makes sense, as it shows that she really cares for her daugther, but then, after the war, she suddenly and out of nowhere decides to go with Maquia without hesitation. What’s worse is that this decision was in front of her daughter, who is left standing there, alone and abandoned by her mother. There’s no real explanation for why Lillia would make such a drastic change, and it seems like a lazy plot device rather than a well-thought-out character decision.

Even more confusing is the fact that Lillia doesn’t even hug her daughter, despite the fact that it was one of the things she longed for the most throughout the story. This moment should have been emotional, but instead, it felt more like a cheap twist that was thrown in to create drama for the sake of drama. The sudden shift in Lillia’s character didn’t feel earned or believable, and it left me scratching my head, wondering how the writer could have let such a significant plot point fall flat like this.

Ariel, on the other hand, is an even more incomprehensible character. None of his decisions made any sense, and his development throughout the story left me utterly confused. I get that he’s a teenager, but come on, what was this 59-IQ-level decision-making I just witnessed? At first, I thought the movie was setting up for a tired and cliche incest trope, considering the countless hints that were hard to ignore. Ariel’s did some uncomfortable undertones moments with Maquia, at first, it seemed like the movie might lean into that disturbing trope. and i was not prepared for an another usagi drop so i was very frustrated by it.

However, out of nowhere, the movie decided to forget about this aspect and slapped the the frick out of this trope like it didn't exist in the first place, and we got Ariel decides to join the army to protect his mother. But how does joining the army relate to protecting her? At this point, I was already questioning his logic. If anything, joining the army iss actually the opposite of protecting and it puts him further away from his mother because the royal family are maquia enemies, so for me his decision to fight in the war doesn’t seem like an act of protection but rather a misguided choice that only benefit the kingdom. This decision did not made any sense to me, and I couldn’t understand why he would make such a decision when his family needed him the most.

What made Ariel’s actions even worse was that he knew his mother’s true identity, yet still chose to make decisions that put her in more danger. he has really bad lack of understanding about the consequences of his actions yet somehow didn't care or he's too stupid to understand the issue with his decision. so im not sure how can if i justify it and treat Ariel as a purpose naive at best or its just bad story-telling. This was particularly frustrating because the movie didn’t do enough to show Ariel showing with his conflict and what's in the frick his problem was with his mom. It would have been much more powerful if his choices had been explored in a deeper way. Instead, it felt like the writer just has decided what his main plots without digging about it at all, maybe the movie was too short for the story, still not justifiable at all for me, either commit fully for it or just quit and don't show some of the plots.

Later, when the war happens, Ariel refuses to help his mom, who’s caught in the middle of it. He also leaves his wife alone in the chaos, choosing instead to fight with his "nakama" as he said. This decision made absolutely no sense. How does abandoning your family to fight in a war align with helping the family which was the reason if you joining the army? If anything, his decision felt more like blind loyalty to the kingdom rather than a genuine desire to protect his family. His actions were confusing, and it felt like the movie was trying to paint him as a hero when, in reality, It's only showing how incomprehensible the storytelling and Ariel's character are.

Overall, the movie felt like a discount version of Wolf Children, especially when it comes to the relationship between the mother and son. Wolf Children is a similar anime movie that explores the bond between a mother and her children but with much more depth and emotional resonating. The struggles the characters face in Wolf Children feel more earned and real, whereas in this movie, the characters’ actions seem very reasonable for their personalities. its a very similar story with almost the same ending so This comparison was hard to avoid, and unfortunately, the movie failed to live up to the emotional richness of Wolf Children.

That said, I didn’t completely regret watching this movie. The visuals were very high quality, and the world-building was rich and immersive. The animation style itself was beautiful, and the character design by Akihiro yoshida "who made Nier design" was unique. The world felt alive, and it was clear that the animators had put a lot of love and attention to detail into every frame.

In conclusion, while this movie had stunning visuals and impressive animation, it ultimately fell short in terms of its emotional depth and character developments. The plot holes and it inconsistency story-telling, which is why it's failing to leave a lasting impression for me.