Jason Lao

This review contains spoilers. — While the vibrant animation of the film should be given praise, the overall movie was far from enjoyable to watch — various issues were present throughout and left unexplained in this lousy attempt to subvert a well-known fairytale. Let’s break down some of these issues. Plot: It is not explained or believable as to why or how these ‘alien bubbles’ happen to be in Tokyo, why they were angered by Hibiki and destroyed Tokyo, and how all these complications were resolved at the death of Uta. In addition to this, the parkour teams all compete over rations which they are staking to each other but where do these rations come from? The plot can’t be considered ‘simple, short and sweet’ as it is just plain lazy story writing. Visual Elements: Many of the scenes where the parkour occurred with both Hibiki and Uta had ‘bubbles’ or ‘floating debris’ coincidentally next to each other for them both to achieve a parallel jump at the exact time. This is not believable and can be done a lot better by utilising more creative animations and exploring the use of varying camera perspectives. Audio Elements: The use of the ‘song’ is too repetitive and does not add much to the overall story, there is no deeper meaning to this other than the obvious association between Uta, the song and the bubbles. Audio choices could have been varied much better rather than play the exact clip of audio numerous times throughout the film, this ultimately takes away from the possible significance of this ‘song’ rather than reinforce it as intended. Character: The characters leave more questions asked than answered. Why does Uta want to be with Hibiki? In general, all characters feel heavily underdeveloped by the end of this animated film — especially those such as the Undertakers. Why do they use an electronic device to communicate?