Balsa5

If you liked the matrix, terminator, and ghost in the shell, then this show has all those elements and some.

The plot, characters, the music, the dialogue, the ending everything was beyond expectation. Wow. Color me impressed. The animation is not bad either.

The references to real world events (like the pandemic) were also seamlessly weaved into the story. It is really well done and quite underrated in my honest opinion.

Some of the characters like Steven Holstein was a clear depiction of late Steve Jobs which is pretty cool as Jobs was a visionary in the tech world which make everything relatable. 10/10 solid show!

Not my fave Miyazaki. I think there are too many themes, allegories, symbolism, subtexts, plus mixing two different genres. Yes it does have a bit of "Pans Labyrinth" feel to it but the plot really needs pared down and streamlined. Pans plot is much cleaner and refined.

I love GoF and another similar movie is from Up on Poppy Hill. Those are "war" time anime but doesn't contain any fantastical elements like from spirited away, howls moving castle.

Can it be a good movie? I think it can if it gets rid of some of the themes, symbolism, or fantasy features. When all added and mixed together- the result is a confusing mess of a storyline that expect the views to interpret the meanings. While the artwork of the animation is flawless, a good movie need more than good artwork to be good. Perhaps, his earlier works are just so much better that it sets up high expectations which is not met.

Just recently saw this on my recommendation and I loved it so much. It is creepy and we'll written and I'd say really good acting as well. Overall 100% recommend it. I think this show should be trending instead of bird box which is somewhat dumb.