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I watched it years ago when I rented the blu-ray disc from Netflix. For a very long time, it was an under-produced disc that carried a hefty price tag. Thankfully the price has finally come out of the stratosphere and I have finally bought this absolutely gorgeous and endearing movie. Frankly though I couldn't remember much of it: "it's beautiful and the ending is very intense."
Basically the story is that a mysterious ronin samurai teams up with a grouchy little boy and his dog. For reasons that aren't clear until closer to the end, the boy is being pursued by a team of hardcore warriors. As is to be expected, the samurai ends up having to come to the boy's rescue. What is NOT expected is the emotional gravitas that the film exhibits at that point in the film. The combination of the slow-trickle of character development, the final show-down that's been established, the way the action is animated and staged, and ... THE MUSIC. Oh baby Jesus, THE MUSIC!! At times it feels like it might be trying a bit too hard, with both the music and just the way everything is trying to tear down whatever emotional wall you've built up about caring for fictional characters, but this movie will break you down and leave you reeling from anticipation and emotional turmoil. I hate to oversell it but the climax of this film is pure cinematic poetry and really pulls the whole of the movie together.
One of the things that many "not-a-fan-of-anime" people might appreciate is that the physics and movements of the characters are reasonably life-like. Our characters aren't super-humans who can jump fifty feet in the blink of an eye and land on a dragonfly's wings while all the opponents burst from the sword strike. Also, the animation is drawn in such a way that there's a camera that puts you in the middle of the action. Almost like a subtle shakey-cam, where it barely notice it but it adds to the events on the screen. The fighting, the action, and the animation in general are all very well done.
I mentioned the music earlier, which is like How to Train Your Dragon good, but also like HTTYD: if you have a good surround sound system--GET THIS FILM! It's not overly bombastic or anything but it is exceptional clean and dynamic but it has an extremely engaging surround mix. I don't know if it was my imagination but I felt like the dubbed version might have been a tad bit better in this department. While I prefer subs, my roommate prefers dubs and as I switched over to the dubbed version to test it out, it seemed like the atmosphere of the sound mix opened up to another level. The dub is decent enough--the main characters are well-done but supporting characters often had me laughing with their horrendous line readings.
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Top reviews from the United States
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Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 14, 2019
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Top reviews from other countries
Callum
A bit pricey but wort it if you love the film.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on September 21, 2018
Matt Q.
Enjoyable but lacking.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on August 26, 2019
William Curtis
Story starts and continues at a good slow pace with an explosive finale that mad my ...
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on February 1, 2018Amazon Customer
Get it! Modern classic anime
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on April 24, 2021
