(TLDR Review at the bottom. Hopefully, that helped, in advance. Thanks for reading)
(Note: This is a revamp of one of my MAL reviews. If you for some reason have a problem with AL reviews. You can go check out my MAL version).
Obligatory Dream moment note:
I went into Promised Flower Blooms with high expectations, did the film meet those expectations? Well, not really. Did it meet my standards, however? Yes, certainly. To be fair, I didn't read any review or synopsis beforehand, I just dived right into the movie hoping for the best. And whilst I can say that the movie is no masterpiece, it is something that I wholeheartedly recommend that you shouldn't skip over.
I'm going to be honest, if you have had a decent experience with a movie regarding family relationships, you will see everything coming, the story is predictable and it has nothing new to bring to the table. It is sad really, that most dramas regarding family use the same formula of ups and downs in family, and whilst one could argue that that is probably the most realistic thing in a drama to do with family, although, it is by no means original. So then you might be asking, (considering I rated the story 8/10) what's up with the 8/10 for the story score? Well, short answer, the execution. A longer answer is that the execution just changed everything. Even though everything is predictable, Promised Flower Blooms is one of those movies where no matter how much experience you have with drama, you still feel as if this were your first time viewing one of its kind. I could have just said that, yeah, this is your mediocre kind of story you get every now and then since studios need to make a quick buck. But Promised Flower Blooms isn't in that group despite being anything of original quality. It is quite funny, people are quick to shun down average stories just because they are average. But sometimes even those that take upon the average path can still shine through the others that are just like it. So much so that I will be a story you can remember in the years to come.
I did try to find some flaw in the execution, but I didn't really get anything, everything flows so smoothly and nothing seems cheated or half-assed. To be fair, anything with great visuals like Maquia can actually pull off good execution simply because everything looks so good and realistic to the world it is set in, which is why I wouldn't call the story or execution a masterpiece, simply because it had activated the Konami code beforehand. Other than that, it does a great job of telling its own story.
The characters again, they suffer like the story with predictable behaviour and unoriginality. Despite this, the characters feel real in the environment and actions that happen towards them. What I really liked about the characters however is that both Maquia and Ariel are learning. They are both, in the eyes of their respective races, still very young people trying to go through life together with one another. Maquia reaches this target more so than Ariel however, she is someone who becomes a mother figure for someone she literally doesn't know anything about, did she have to do this? No. No, she didn't. But out of the goodness she bore within her, she did so anyway. I wouldn't know what most would do in this situation but if I had to guess it would probably be something along the lines of sending a child as Ariel to an orphanage or something similar. Though she didn't do this. She dedicated to go strong and whilst some may say, "well that was dumb". You need to remember that at this time Maquia had lost everything to her and had no more Hibiol (the memory paper), she had essentially lost some of her identity then too. The same is with Ariel. He had nothing, hell no one knows his real name too. Nevertheless, Maquia was the best fit for Ariel as a mother figure due to the similarities in the two. They really did come off as a good pair. I guess you could sound the convenient plot device alarm, but I would imagine with a movie of its kind. It wouldn't vary too much had Maquia never met Ariel, I think the movie set itself in a good position. so regardless of what happened next in Maquia's life. The same quality movie would probably still exist regardless. The side characters don't have a lot to offer and to be frank, they don't give anything special to the wider picture of the story except Leilia who had a deep life I will not go into due to spoilers. All in all, very good characters.
Very good visuals all around, though unlike your average Ghibli film or Makoto Shinkai film, the film didn't seem to pay attention to the setting/surroundings it had to offer. It kind of gave a simple, yet pleasing character design, and kinda just forgot the setting existed. I'm not saying that you will get what looks like your mediocre setting for an anime adaptation of an isekai/fantasy light novel, in fact, it looks way better than that. It just wasn't as focused as the characters. There are some beautiful shots here and there but all around the board, everything is just character detail at the end of the day for the anime. The animation wasn't bad. It had more detail than what you usually get in anime around its time of releasing. Nothing more to point out there other than it is a pleasing experience to watch.
My point with the scenery not having as my attention with characters. Also fluid animation (these are gifs, the actual movie is better)
Whilst I was writing this review when I had uploaded it at the time, I was literally listening over the OST lol. But I can say that since I have done that, everything feels like a variation of "Iorufu, Wakare no Ichizoku". Only non-similar audio I could remember where "Yakusoku no Hana" and "Viatoru". Both of which are great by the way. The varied versions aren't bad, but it just becomes a narrow selection of sounds to remember, in which, you have a better chance of remembering the original over the variety anyways, though, I will point out the variety in instruments the varied versions use as well as different pitches are quite nice as a change to the original. "Iorufu, Wakare no Ichizoku" on its own is an amazing piece to listen to though. I felt like it does a good job of telling the story of the Iorphs and their lifestyle. The VCs did a good job with the character and presenting their emotion too. Nothing more to focus on that, other than a job well done.
I don't really dislike anything I come across and Promised Flower Blooms is another one of those examples. Despite its predictableness and unoriginality, as said before, the execution made for a joyous experience and something that was certainly worth my time. As well at the visual beauty that was given.
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