I had watched this, like, 15 years ago and back then I had liked it. Upon rewatching it some 15 years later (and most of all: HAVING READ THE BOOK MEANWHILE!!!), my judgement is now different (after all, I'm not the same person I was 15 years ago, I think it's just normal that my tastes have also changed). The movie is not too bad, it still gets the passing grade, but the production made too many bad choices: instead of adapting the brilliant novel faithfully, they changed and/or cut too many details, thus crippling the story. The cast was also just so-and-so (the best actress - Takeuchi Yuko - only had a minor part with a few lines). Watchable, but nothing special. I remember I originally liked the sequel "Rasen / Spiral" much more, one of these days I'ma watch that one as well so as to see if I still think so or what, LOL