Fantastic

Rating: 9/10 (30 December 2004)

Eastern storytelling always seems so much more open ended compared to the West. A good Japanese story in my experience is a lot harder to both pigeon hole and second guess.
Animation was quite beautiful, as was the general pace and the characters. The music was delightful also.
My only gripe in this story is it felt as if it would benefit from being two movies. One that dealt with the Bathhouse and one that took her on her quest to the sister. The dynamic of the 4 travellers seemed worthy of more time however the film had run out.. and so the pace picks up a little too much after she leaves the bathhouse - as if they are squeezing this final section in. It would have been nice if they had made the film a little shorter and followed with a sequel. I found the train journey was captivating and made me wish she could explore more of the spirit world, however there was no time to do so.
Great pity. Fantastic feel nevertheless. Worthy of it's hype.