What can I tell you...

Rating: Null/10 (22 July 2003)

This certainly is a depressing cartoon.
I would not call it a "masterpiece" though, as others have, because it does have its flaws. The story pretty much revolves around two kids, and in my opinion fails to emphasize enough the reason why they are suffering so much, while others around them seem to be doing fairly "alright".
The cartoon does however gives us well rounded characters so its easy for us to understand everyone's motivations, even though they do not play a big role in the story.
The art style has a "hand-drawn" feel to it, creating a sense of intimacy between the cartoon and the audience. But there are certain parts, such as the montage of memories about the recently deceased, which quite blatantly goes over the top in its sentimentality, as if the screenwriter wrote "cue in tears" on top of that scene.
The biggest achievement of this film I think is that it shows the death on the civilian side during the war is an excruciating slow and agonizing process, as opposed to a usual quick and violent death of a soldier on the battlefield.