I don't usually watch or write reviews for this style of movie often, but I enjoyed Howl's Moving Castle enough that I was interested to see how this movie would play out. This review will probably have some spoilers, but nothing major.

Firstly, I'll mention the thing I didn't enjoy as much, which is how the pacing feels a little dated. Though, this is hardly a fault of the film and more an issue of personal preference. This movie's plot is completely driven by the characters, and in particular our lead, Shizuku Tsukishima. It's very Slice of Life, to the point where nothing outside of the characters is really happening. I didn't really come in with expectations, but I think in the beginning I thought it was going to be like an Alice in Wonderland, and some exciting incident would occur that would ultimately be a reflection of the characters. This is true to an extent, but having watched the show now, I'm glad it remained grounded and explored those ideas in a more 'ordinary' way.

But back to the issue of pacing, I found that when the idea of placing characters into situations to grow and develop becomes the primary aim, you can start to lose the undercurrent of a plot driving everything forward. Some character moments were slightly foreshadowed, and some appeared a little out of nowhere (though it all fit into story quite well), but everything focused completely on them. There were a number of peaks in the story, and if this was a romance series, could probably each be considered a sort of climax where you would expect the show to end. But in this case, it continues on past this point (albeit slowly), and without a driving plot, all you're left with is the continuing development of the character - which means this film relies quite heavily on these characters being relatable.

This gamble does pay off though in the long run, as each character in this show is very believable. Each has their own motivations and attitudes, and they never act out-of-character for the sake of cheap drama. Apart from disagreements at times, none of the characters are really against anyone else, and there's no one the audience supposed to dislike. Ultimately, it's a feel-good movie, where you'll be rooting for each character to take courage and achieve their dreams.

This plays into the themes of the film, which is the typical mixture of romance and finding your self-identity. Though personally I had a hard time knowing where the character progression was going at times, having finished the film and knowing where the characters ended up, I don't really have any complaints. I can see the amazingly subtle ways Studio Ghibli developed Shizuku, and why each arc was important for her. In one part of the film, we see her journey related to the process of writing a novel, with having a rough 'unrefined' version which can continue to be polished until it becomes more beautiful. As someone who does a lot of writing myself, I related to this moment, and it got me more invested in the character herself.

Audio/visual elements in this film are really well done. There's not really any memorable soundtracks I can recall, but there is a consistent use of Country Roads that weaves itself into the plot and wraps the whole film together like golden lace. Visually, for a movie released in 1995, it's quite beautiful; and on top of this, there's many instances of visual story-telling which is so needed in any movie. The world around the characters feels alive, and the characters are able to express a lot emotion (often without words).

In summary, this is a beautiful movie that focuses much more on story than plot, that has great visual/audio elements that compliment this story, all while hosting a small cast of relatable characters that are both consistent and likeable. If you're a fan of classical movies or Studio Ghibli, chances are you'll probably quite enjoy this. I perhaps didn't enjoy the pacing as much as I could have, at times not sure where the development was leading. But though in the end this didn't detract too much from the experience as the ending all made sense and tied up all the development of the main characters.