Please watch this movie.

Rating: 10/10 (25 March 2006)

I am no fan of animated features, but this film is extraordinary by any standard. The Japanese "anime" method doesn't focus on the animation per se, which would be considered "primitive" by contemporary American standards, but the scenery and backgrounds themselves are dream-like watercolours, even if many of those dreams in this case would be nightmares. The story is set in Kobe during the Allied firebombing, but the message is transmitted obliquely through the plight of a young student and his little sister who are rendered homeless in the devastated city. In an interview, the creator remarked that it would never enter his mind to use adults for the children's voices, despite the arduous task of guiding a five-year-old girl through the multiple takes required in a full-length film. Always by indirection, this sincerity makes a great impact. Perhaps I'm just a softy old coot, but I'm choked up even writing this review. This is NOT just another movie about WWII.