infernoguyrules

I went in with high expectations knowing this was based on "Drifting classroom", Which I've yet to read, but that I know heavily influenced one of my favorite anime, Sonny Boy, with its premise of a school being transported to another world. Sonny Boy, i can Highly recommend, this however was a bit of a slog.

I strongly feel this should have been a 30 minute show, with maybe a few extra episodes, most of the plots feel stretched and theres lots of looking at the same scenery.

My other 2 criticisms is the heavy reliance on romance and unexplained supernatural phneomena. The romance just doesn't do it for me, its very slow and the romantic tropes of the era did not age well. The strange phenomena just felt like a plot contrivance, and I'm curious to check out the manga (Which is very different, more horror, and focuses on younger kids i think) and see if maybe it better explains some of these scenarios.

Now, as for why i gave this a 6 and no lower, I have 2 main reasons:

1. Some of the characters are really endearing and well acted, and the scenario itself is a goldmine, its just not mined very well IMO. The plot lost its luster for me around the 7th or 8th episode, there were still a few nice moments, but i really struggled to finish it.

2. The environmentalist message of the show is laudible, there should be more media about subjects like this tackled in really engaging ways so we can convince people to make changes.

Ultimately, if you like or can tolerate cheesy romance, and some slow pacing, and you don't need the sci-fi/fantasy elements to be realistic, you might get more out of this than me, but if you don't some real strong interest, I can't recommend it, especially with how hard it was to find.

I enjoyed the movie a lot, but i admittedly enjoyed it less and less as it went on, and I kind of saw the end coming for a mile away and it didn't really do much for me. Through the first section i couldn't have predicted it at all, and so until near the end of the 2nd section, i felt like this move was maybe an 8.5. At that point, knowing how the movie would progress, i felt like it was an 8, but the last section admittedly just feels slow, and it doesn't wrap around to meet the first section in a satisfying way for me.

Ultimately this is a movie I'd recommend watching if it sounds interesting to you, but know that the ending isn't gonna be some thriller moment or a big wow, the movie oddly and gently floats you down to the conclusion, and i feel that was intentional, so it did what it was seeking to do, I just think it could have sought a slightly higher goal, and filled in a few more details, and maybe been a little bit more lean in terms of what was shown.

If i could give half stars, this would be a 7.5 for me, my criticisms are minor gripes and i appreciate an original idea, the flaws are only minor. I also feel this movie is aimed at a slightly different audience than me, and they will probably appreciate it more. A good movie to watch with a parent or a kid, IMO. Not a family movie with a capital F, but a movie about life thats nice to watch with family.