The music is marvel of composition, exquisitely performed by the New Tokyo Symphony Orchestra. This movie's soundtrack is on my list of all-time favourites. I was less taken with the animation direction, however. While it's a common film technique borrowed from Japanese melodramas, most viewers would think it to be corny. Convenient, but not particularily realistic.
Writing is less than even.
On one hand, you'll have the noble and idealistic freedom fighters, and on the other, underhanded and cowardly evil-doers and opportunists. Add to this an engineer who is able to build an incredibly large and powerful battleship under the occupation force's base by himself, and you pretty much get the idea that the writer is expressing some excess baggage that he's carrying. It seems that Matsumoto feels that post-war Japan has become somewhat a nation of sheep, and are basically no longer in control of their own destinies. Perhaps it's the Japanese side of my psyche, or perhaps it resonates with my own sense of idealism. All rights reserved.