Review by segaltoons

Synopsis: Okawa the daughter of a merchant family and Matsukichi, disowned by his family, are drawn to each other.

Director Ôtomo is legendary for writing and directing the anime masterpiece Akira. But this is a very different film, a story about two childhood friends, one of which becomes obsessed with becoming a fireman. Much of the film is dialog(subtitled) which is my least favorite approach to animation. Almostthe entire story is told with extreme long shots, so you can barely see the character's faces. The animation has an acceptable amount of detail, but less that what we've come to expect from Ôtomo. There is very little action in the film until the climax and even then there really isn't a proper ending.