Da eun – Google

For the first time, I was very disappointed with a studio ghibli's film. I can't even give a better rating just for the sake of the beautiful animation art that I very much adored as a child. Mahito and everyone else are unrelatable, there was no character development, and the adventure was definitely not memorable. Spoiler: I am completely puzzled with what exactly the moral message is (if there is even one at all). To accept you're father's new wife as your mother without any lingering feelings? However, the boy, Mahito, didn't even show any obvious sign of ingratitude or attitude towards her from the beginning. It's only natural for a kid like him to get uncomfortable and have a tough time, recovering from his mother's sudden death, (he still had nightmares about that night) living with a lady he just met after his father just introduced him to her as his step-mother, moving away and living in an unfamiliar place, on top of that, being an outsider in his new school, AND dealing with bullies. Like it's already hard enough adjusting living with his new mother that he had never met. But despite all this, he still acted very mature for his age. When his attempts to rescue his step-mom/aunt failed, he realized that in order to save her and bring her back to reality is by calling her his mother? Hence, he truly accepted her as his own mother completely? After encountering the other world, he miraculously felt a lot better now that he "made up" with his step-mom/aunt? I didn't even understand what the tower was, what it was there for, and why his mother was staying there as a young girl? Why was his step-mom there for deliverance? She didn't even give birth yet. Why did they say that the delivering place was taboo? Why was the grand-uncle in charge of the tower? In the end, I am left very confused and as I said again, this is such a disappointment......