First I'll say that I didn't think this was a masterpiece by any means, but it is good. The thing is, I wouldn't want to watch it again. It's something you watch once, survive through it, and never watch again. That doesn't mean it's bad! There is hope in the core of this anime's message, but in order to get there you do have to be prepared to go through a lot of physical and emotional trauma.

We follow a family that is trying to survive in the midst of a fictional disaster the likes Japan has never seen before. As you might expect, not everyone is going to make it, and the deaths are treated as par for the course for such a devastating circumstance. Don't get too attached to any one character though because no one is really safe.

Although I say no one is really safe, there are times when it is inconceivable that certain characters survive, especially given the realism of other deaths, but I get that the story is trying to tell us something and so it's good to just go along with it. If you get too bogged down saying, "there is no way they would have survived that" or "WHY killed them now!" you won't like this anime, which I think, would be a shame because one can tell that there is a lot of thought behind the execution of it, even if sometimes it feels clunky.

The art is classic Yuasa so ugly it's beautiful at times, so beautiful it's transcendent at others. The character models are somewhat bulky and strangely geometrical at times but have enough details to convey emotional moments without dialog.

The score is made to wring emotion out of you, but it's also there to give you hope, it is almost telling you not to give up hope even when the story is giving you nothing but pain. It does act as a warning to you, letting you know when something dramatic is going to happen, and for that, I am honestly grateful. It can also let you know when it is okay for you to be at ease, which, in an anime like this, is important.

The characters are the weakest point in this anime, but that doesn't mean they are bad. The story is not here to give you fleshed out backstories and motivations. Nevertheless, from what little they give you, you understand them and they do feel like individuals. I would have liked to get more characterization and to have a more personal human drama, but this is not that. It is a fable, told for the purpose of delivering a message.

That said, all in all, this is a story about being proud of who you are without forgetting that we are all in this world together. It is a love letter to Japan but also a warning. And taken like that, I really really liked it. Many will only see it as suffering porn and won't like it, but if you look a bit beyond, you'll find something worth watching.