The story takes place in the 1940s of WW2-era Japan. It is mainly told through the eyes of civilians.
Even though it was released in 2016, the movie feels very old. Everything about it: the art style, the music, the voice acting, the story; they are all reminiscent of early anime productions from the late 20th century. I personally am not a huge fan of anime from this era (speaking VERY generally), so I might be unfairly biased towards this movie. Furthermore, I usually shy away from WW2-era fiction because of how I've seen it done ad nauseam in western media. So I might be biased in this respect as well, although the perspective of a Japanese citizen is relatively less common in western works.
Characterization is one weak aspect of this movie. Despite the 2-hour runtime, characters are not adequately fleshed out or even properly introduced at all. Random characters are just thrown into plot-relevant scenes as if the audience is expected to know who they are. This issue is exacerbated by the blob-like same-face character designs and dull earthy colour palette, which makes individual characters not particularly distinct from one another.
Although I didn't like the character designs, the background art is often quite nice. It has an organic look to it in that it often appears hand-drawn/painted. I frequently paused the movie to admire the landscape frames.
The main focus is on female characters and it felt as though gender roles were a consideration in the writing. The lives of Japanese women during this time period are explored in various ways. A lot of screentime is spent on the various domestic duties performed by women (mainly the MC). I enjoyed this aspect of the movie, but this enjoyment was derived from cultural interest rather than the usual mechanisms through which one appreciates fiction, like emotional engagement.
Good audio production quality. However, I did not like the voice acting. The characters mumble constantly and it is difficult to discern the words. Additionally, there is often very little emotion in the voices. Maybe this was a deliberate artistic choice but in any case I did not like it.
This movie has major direction problems. It tries to be sentimental and emotional but instead watching it feels like I took too much cough syrup. I often felt confused by what was happening, particularly during the first half of the movie. Basic plot components are never explicitly explained. It seems like the movie wants to be 'show don't tell' but it does this very poorly. Even before events take place, foreshadowing could have been handled better. Additionally, the characters' behaviour never seems to match the situation. The whole series feels absurdly tone-deaf; if this is an intentional artistic choice then it is a poor one.
Despite my distaste for the WW2 context, the movie does provide a rich view of the daily life of Japanese citizens during this time. From a sociological perspective it is interesting. The movie is clearly meant to be some sort of social commentary, and the characters and plot are just tools with which to accomplish this task. It does a good job of presenting a historical cultural snapshot, but perhaps at the cost of sacrificing any actual emotional engagement with the characters themselves. Throughout the movie I did not feel anything for the characters despite the tremendous hardship that inevitably comes with the Japanese WW2 setting. Emotionally, it felt like I was watching a documentary. Even though the subject matter is tragic, it was still viewed with detached emotionless intellectual interest.
In my judgement, the only reason to watch this movie is if you are interested in Japanese culture and history. I satisfy that criteria and for that reason I watched the entire thing.
Overall rating: 3/10
I am shocked by the praise that this movie has received.
For the record, nothing I've written here is intended to trivialize the events of WW2; I am simply stating my personal evaluation of a work of fiction.
Footnote: I watched the original length movie, not the extended version. Maybe the extended version would have been more coherent. Also, apparently there was a live-action adaptation (unseen by me) of this released a few years before the animated version.
