Excellent film; lots of eye candy, great story, compelling conflicts

Rating: 10/10 (30 November 1999)

Going into this film, I had high expectations, and I was glad to see them all realized. The animation is fantastic -- the attention to texture is marvelous, and the way that each scene exuded atmosphere was amazing. The characters were wonderful. There was none of the irritating one-dimensionality we see in typical animated fare. The story was an elegantly attired quest for personal salvation that touches on an impressive array of weighty themes, such as the environment, considered both philosophically and physically, economics, and spirituality. Adding to that was the fact that the movie was coherent and easy to follow (a frequent difficulty I've found with anime, no doubt due to different cultural referents). All in all, a very satisfying film. Go see it.