Ekkusu

What is up with this movie! Can someone tell me? Please? I don't think I've ever seen such a strange movie! There was no plot, no characters, and pretty much nude women with swords being either stuck into or extracted from their bodies. This film makes Lynch, a big mysogonist, look like friggin Ayn Rand! Every woman in this film is either innocent and sickly violated, or evil with a pair of giant hoo-hoos. The only redeeming thing about this convoluted nonsense is the artwork, and it it BRILLIANT! I've never seen such outstanding animation. This puts Akira to shame!

Rating: 4/10( My advice, ignore the dialogue and the nonexistent story and look at the breathtaking artwork)

I'm not an anime fan myself, but these movie is a HUGE exception. The landscapes look extremely natural, the characters have personality and the sound track is solemn. But what took my breath away were the fight scenes, that no matter how violent and bloody they were, they didn't fall into the shameful gore category. Actually, they looked strangely beautiful, metaphoric and aesthetical. I loved the detail of the sakura leaves rain and how Kamui couldn't ever catch them. If you're into anime, this is a must see. If you're more into human films, like me, this is a must see for you too.

As a fan of the long running manga (I'm at Volume 11 of the Japanese release) I did not enjoy this movie. Sure, the animation is beautiful, at times you can see the insane detail that the animators pushed into each cel, and the dark "cold" colors if you will, fit the mood perfectly. The art was beautiful, but a movie is nothing without characters and a developed plot. In the manga, much of the backstory is revealed through Kamui's aunt and small sidestories at the end of each graphic novel, but neither Kamui's aunt nor the sidestories were even hinted at. As for the nonexistent characterization, just as you think you're beginning to understand one of the characters, they die. In the manga, most of the action doesn't even begin until the 8th volume, but everything before it builds up the plot and the characters, slowly but surely. However, the movie is almost nonstop violence, leading to the godawfully anticlimactic ending. Thank God that the folks behind X (CLAMP) are going to release an OVA and TV series to follow the manga, which is still yet to be finished.

Everything about this movie is great;the animation blends perfectly with the CG effects (unlike some American cartoons),the soundtrack is one of the best I ever heard and acting is top-notch.

This movie isn't complete without a couple of flaws however. The depressing and disappointing ending will only make you say "That's it?". This is due to the fact that the manga series is unfinished and still far from completion (the manga is said to be 22 books long and so far only 11 of them has been published as of this writing,with vol.12 coming soon).

Another flaw is that certain points of the storyline aren't explained in the movie,only in the manga,and most of the characters lacks development. You barely get to know a supporting character before they die.

It is still a good film,but I recommend you to read the Manga before watching the film (which is available in English through Viz Communications) in order to have a general understanding of the story.

This movie will probably only have deep or lasting appeal to fans of the manga series. Standing completely on its own, however, it really leaves a lot to be desired. The plot is really quite simple, but the setup is at least somewhat interesting, with the supposedly "bad" guys fighting for the future of the planet by destroying mankind and the "good" guys fighting to save mankind from the aforementioned baddies. For the most part, the main character just spends his time brooding over his "fate", occasionally displaying a burst of sympathy for an old girlfriend. This made it very hard to view him as being very human, and thus to sympathize with him or his place in the gigantic struggle taking place. Some of the incindental characters, however, showed a great deal of personality. But alas, only seemed to be introduced to die in a semi-climactic fight scene five minutes later with little to no characterization in between. The graphics are, as stated by others, top notch. The fights get fiery very quickly, and the big dollar property damage ensues as you'd expect when fates collide, but they tended to end all too quickly, with no real explanation as to why the killing blow was successful. So, if you want to see pretty pictures, or are a real die hard fan of anime for its style alone, you'll probably get enough of a kick out of this. But if you're looking for animation that will engage you on several levels and introduce you to interesting characters you'll actually get to know, steer clear. Indeed, Princess Mononoke actually touches on very similar themes in a much more engaging way.