First part is spoilerfree:
On the positive side I really have no complaints related to the animation. It's really well done. The art style they used is not one I like, but this is more related to taste and doesn't impact the rating for me.
What does impact the rating though are the story and characters. The story is extremely messy in how it is put together and edited. There are a lot and huge time jumps throughout the movie also causing sudden changes in character behavior and apparent motivation. The problem is also that the movie is not showing any real development of the characters. It often just tells us through exposition on why a character supposedly does something which in general is bad story telling.
Also due to the time jumps there are various characters that fall extremely short. There are various scenes that are supposedly "beautiful" and "positive" where I was just thinking "that character in this situation is a freaking ****".
In my opinion the story would have needed a 24 episode anime show to fully utilize its potential.
***Spoilers*** ahead now: My main problems with the story are related to various questions that popped up while I was watching the movie which where never really answered:
1. What's up with Medmel? We see two scenes with her. She wants to see her mother and is not allowed to while her mother Leilia apparently has only one purpose in life which is to also see her daughter. She only has that purpose because she thinks all of her people are dead.
Then when she sees her daughter for the first time in years (supposedly) there is no real interaction and she just jumps of the castle and flies away with Maquia leaving her daughter behind supposedly never seeing her again. As the daughter i would be "a little bit disappointed".
And why did one of the soldiers have such apparent hatred against Medmel? The movie neither showed or told what was going on there.
2. What's up with the dragons? There were a lot and they suddenly die due to some illness? There was no real explanation behind that whole part of the story.
3. Why is Ariel suddenly so invested in fighting for the kingdom? To defend his family? But the kingdom loses (at least it looks that way) and there are no repercussions for him or several other surviving soldiers. What is going on here?
4. How was that idea to get a new male heir with a long live supposed to help prolong the kingdom anyway if the main military advantage (the dragons) are dying? There was no explanation whatsoever.
5. How did Ariel get together with Mido? One scene he leaves Maquia to join the military and the next he says he's becoming a father and then we see him together with Mido. What the heck is going on here?
6. What's with the various Iorph people? At the start they supposedly capture most of the women. Where are they? Are they all enslaved? Are they dead? What happened to the elder? It sounded like she was dead but we never really saw or hear anything specific about her fate.
7. Some of the guys were trying to free Leilia (shown in a flashback) but supposedly killed but then they apparently survived? How and what was going on there?
8. What happened to the king? Was he killed by the enemy? Did his own soldiers kill him? Did he surrender? What about the prince that supposedly fathered Medmel? I think we saw him once during a parade on a dragon. What happened to him?
There are a lot more issues with the story, but these are some of the main questions that popped up.
What does impact the rating though are the story and characters. The story is extremely messy in how it is put together and edited. There are a lot and huge time jumps throughout the movie also causing sudden changes in character behavior and apparent motivation. The problem is also that the movie is not showing any real development of the characters. It often just tells us through exposition on why a character supposedly does something which in general is bad story telling.
Also due to the time jumps there are various characters that fall extremely short. There are various scenes that are supposedly "beautiful" and "positive" where I was just thinking "that character in this situation is a freaking ****".
In my opinion the story would have needed a 24 episode anime show to fully utilize its potential.
***Spoilers*** ahead now: My main problems with the story are related to various questions that popped up while I was watching the movie which where never really answered:
1. What's up with Medmel? We see two scenes with her. She wants to see her mother and is not allowed to while her mother Leilia apparently has only one purpose in life which is to also see her daughter. She only has that purpose because she thinks all of her people are dead.
Then when she sees her daughter for the first time in years (supposedly) there is no real interaction and she just jumps of the castle and flies away with Maquia leaving her daughter behind supposedly never seeing her again. As the daughter i would be "a little bit disappointed".
And why did one of the soldiers have such apparent hatred against Medmel? The movie neither showed or told what was going on there.
2. What's up with the dragons? There were a lot and they suddenly die due to some illness? There was no real explanation behind that whole part of the story.
3. Why is Ariel suddenly so invested in fighting for the kingdom? To defend his family? But the kingdom loses (at least it looks that way) and there are no repercussions for him or several other surviving soldiers. What is going on here?
4. How was that idea to get a new male heir with a long live supposed to help prolong the kingdom anyway if the main military advantage (the dragons) are dying? There was no explanation whatsoever.
5. How did Ariel get together with Mido? One scene he leaves Maquia to join the military and the next he says he's becoming a father and then we see him together with Mido. What the heck is going on here?
6. What's with the various Iorph people? At the start they supposedly capture most of the women. Where are they? Are they all enslaved? Are they dead? What happened to the elder? It sounded like she was dead but we never really saw or hear anything specific about her fate.
7. Some of the guys were trying to free Leilia (shown in a flashback) but supposedly killed but then they apparently survived? How and what was going on there?
8. What happened to the king? Was he killed by the enemy? Did his own soldiers kill him? Did he surrender? What about the prince that supposedly fathered Medmel? I think we saw him once during a parade on a dragon. What happened to him?
There are a lot more issues with the story, but these are some of the main questions that popped up.