This was okay. I really wanted to love this film. Honestly, I did. Fantasy and action genres are right up my alley, but this film was just a big ravaging mess. See what I did there? Anyway, this movie was made more for people who've read the story; not for uninformed individuals. Anyone searching for a beautifully animated action film to watch would like this, but put it on hold if a concrete plot-line is what you're looking for.

The characters, cinematography/animation design, and landscape were all beautiful and wonderfully done. I absolutely loved the expressions of the characters, making them lovable and believable. The costumes, magic, monsters, and landscapes were awesome, although not anything new. The musical score seemed almost nonexistent; besides the theme song, which had multiple versions sung by different artists, whatever melody was played throughout the movie was not memorable at all. The major drawback of this film is the story, particularly how it was told. It might have been the translation/subtitles that threw me off and didn't explain the story well, but I want to blame it on the directing style. The beginning and middle were interesting. At times a solid, linear story was given, then confusing, but still very compelling, subplots and foreshadowing were thrown randomly into the mix. A fast-forwarding time skip (at least that's what it felt like to me) happened and suddenly the main characters and ambiguous new characters are in an epic battle with awesome beasts. Sides are drawn, and strange and unnecessary sacrifices were made as characters try to explain their actions, but a big blob of a cliffhanger is what is left at the end. It had so much potential, but the main plot was not revealed in a very detailed and clear manner, and a few subplots were thrown in there that left a lot of unanswered questions.

I just hope that a second film will follow involving more world building, character history, and relationship insight that will answer most, if not all, the questions that rose in this film.