Good evening and thank you to the few who attended the last subbed viewing with me tonight.
For this review, please allow me to offer the following context:
- Yes I have read the book / manga / seen Edge of Tomorrow.
Expectations going in for ball knowers:
- This is from Rita's perspective with a new narrative
- I would hope the character design and bright colors would immediately tell you that is not a gritty sci-fi heavy film.
Spoiler, click to viewclick to hide
Expect little to no detail regarding the explanation of how the time loop started or it's functions being revealed in the movie, aside from like, one or two bits of information given on a slow feed. The mechanisms of the extraterrestrials are not are not explored in detail.Spoiler, click to viewclick to hide
This focus is around a singular one time only battle, not a war, there are no conduits, though the end is similar.
New viewers:
- Context is not required to enjoy the film. Please go see it without knowing any source material or previous movies based on the premise.
- You don't need to have a high sci-fi brain grasp of the time-loop concept to understand what happened/is happening.
- Loop starts, and the goal is that it ends. That's the movie.
- You may potentially be annoyed from the start due to how simple the plot seems, but please see it through.
The review:
Animation and design:
Bright and colorful, the character design and animation will be jarring at first. The animation quality increases as the film progresses. CG is used, but I can't tell every time where it was used. 98% of this has got to be animated. The animation par with what you would expect from an anime film with this premise and story. Maybe I am bias, but I felt the designs lead into good off-model animation. It had impact frames. It's good.
Characters and voice acting:
Character progression may appear slow and "late to bloom" but ball knowers will catch on to obvious camera pivots that offer plenty of foreshadowing. The striking red of Rita's hair even seemed to pop out more and more to me
Spoiler, click to viewclick to hide
before the suits became painted. As character relationships are established, more back story is revealed and the viewer naturally comes to relate with our protagonists and their trauma bond. Background character voice credits are literally "Junior Highschool Student" for the subs which I think is awesome; yeah that guy said that one line different ways a lot. Subs are good; little to no deviation from spoken word. I would see the sub since the animation matches it very well.
Story, plot progression, resolution:
The plot is revealed in no time. Time in fact, feels hectic and extremely short. You know what's going on, and you realize there's very little that can be done about it. Again, ball knowers will not feel the hollow hopelessness of this to full effect due to lack of explanation on the sci-fi (it's also bright and colorful and not grimdark I get why many would not like this). However the depression is made to be more emotionally accessible for a general audience; and I think that's a good thing. The pacing is there. You understand the determination, disappointments, and the incredible efforts to end the cycle. Tag-along side kicks lighten the mood and make the film feel cutesy and lighthearted in the face of Live, Die, Repeat. There are book-specific references to battle progression/learning moments with the protagonists. Personally I received the resolution very well. My spouse? A bit miffed; but agrees - It's enjoyable. It's cute. Hard to hate it for what it is. End movie spoilers and my opinion on it ahead.
Spoiler, click to viewclick to hide
Yes, it's just Shasta going OH MY GOD NOWWAYING as cute scientist girl with a pretty general statement on the power triangle here. Very glossed over. It's probably not clear what happens or why; but basically Keiji modifies the suits so that he becomes assimilation bait for Darol our large tree like plant parasite friend. While doing this, he forces Rita to fight him; we learn that her suit is also modified... to kill Keiji. Killed mid-assimilation to our plant friend, his sacrifice not in vain, we're met with a long panning shot that snap cuts to a starting loop again. Confusion and questioning. Darol the tree is dead with no explanation. Keiji returns having no memories of the loop. Rita is the only one left knowing the true resolution and horrors experienced that day(s). There's no axe to carry forward, no more wars to be fought, no more cycle.IN CONCLUSION I cried a little and the movie certainly made me want to go back to read the book. Tonally, the source material and this movie are completely different vibes. It's like Disney did ALL YOU NEED IS KILL. Sounds like a giant turn off but trust me it's worthy whether you're new to the characters and premise or not.
I used to never want to live for the day. Now I'm dying for tomorrow.
