I've read the light novels and seen the anime and they are both quite entertaining. This live action iteration, however, isn't. I have so many beefs with this that I can't begin to explain how disappointed I am. First off, the movie doesn't dwell too much on explaining how this world works, the many prominent clans, and their powers. It just gives you a brief narration about it in the beginning and then that's it. The characters seem to exhibit tattoos whenever they use their powers, which I found distracting and unnecessary. For a fantasy story such as this one, I found these specific choices severely disappointing. If you're not too familiar with this world and story, there might be some things that you'll find confusing and inadequate. Not to mention that it packs so much stuff in just barely 2 hours, making the pacing of the film far too fast for the uninitiated.

Second, the casting, as a whole, is pretty solid. Imada Mio as Saimori Miyo is a good fit. The rest of the cast did what they could with what they were given. Although I wish they had given some of these characters more fleshing out. Koji was reduced to practically just the neighbor who helps Miyo. His love and devotion towards her non-existent. Yuuki did what he could with what little screentime he was given. However, I think the casting for Kudo Kiyoka is off. First of all, he is NOT what I had imagined for Kudo based on the manga and anime's descriptions. He is supposed to be a beautiful man, almost too pretty to be a man, and Ren is not that. Sure, he's attractive, but not the kind of drop dead gorgeous as the anime and manga suggest.

I found Watanabe Keisuke who plays Arata more appealing and engaging. But that's just me. Meguro Ren is simply not my type. I'm sure he is a fine young actor and has displayed some fairly good acting skills in his other works, but in this movie, I find him very much lacking. Kudo may be stoic at times but he shows very obvious facial expressions even in the anime. Ren sticks to portraying the typical tsundere character and rarely shows emotions, even the way he speaks makes him look so uptight and constipated. And I found it weird that he's the only one who wears a silver wig when everyone else has their natural dark hair. They could've gone with his natural hair color, he would've looked better and less jarring in a long dark wig. They could've chosen Okada Masaki instead and his age gap with Mio would've been better considering Kudo is almost ten years older than Miyo. Plus, he's a more seasoned actor who could've better pulled off the nuances in the emotions that Kudo displays imho.

Third, the movie is marketed as a romance and yet I don't see a clear romantic chemistry between the leads. I may be biased as I've never been fond of Ren's casting for Kudo and there's the fact that I am not into romantic stories so maybe the cynic in me just can't see it. Last, the production value of the movie is superb, from the set designs to the costumes. It boasts eye-catching cinematography and dramatic camera angles. The production is definitely the best part of this movie. The costumes, sets, cinematography, and camera work are excellent. But the writing and plot, not so much. Whoever decided to change the subplot about the grotesqueries and the last battle was most likely thinking about the budget constraints. They probably spent too much on the costumes and sets that they ran out of money for the special effects. Instead, they wrote about insects found in the burial grounds infecting humans and turning them into zombies. WTF?! But I suppose they didn't have enough budget to recreate the grotesqueries so they just opted for humans possessed by grotesqueries??? Whatever. I think it cheapens the story.

And another change that I found incredulous was turning Miyo into some kind of Mary Sue who could do anything and save everyone. She doesn't have that kind of power. She might have the potential for it but definitely not powerful enough to pull off that kind of feat with her present abilities. Her powers lie in dreams, she can enter the dreamworld, influence other people's minds and even see glimpses of the past, present, and future. But the powers she exhibits in this movie are too ridiculous to even comprehend. Then there's Arata's powers that aren't fully explained in the movie either. The anime does it well by having him duel Kiyoka and defeating him by creating illusions. In the movie, it's just one expository scene after another. Show don't tell. But I guess the writers don't care for showing things but would rather tell. It saves time and budget, after all. I am so disappointed with how they handled the “gifts” and the grotesqueries. They didn't even get the love story right as I barely see any kind of “romantic” moments with the leads. I can see why this was a hit in Japan, the production alone is appealing and it features two of their promising young stars. But it's vastly inferior to its anime and manga counterparts. I'd probably watch the sequel too just to see if it has improved, but I'm not hopeful.