I confess, before watching this movie I have to admit that I knew absolutely nothing other than it was by Type-Moon and that it is loosely connected to Tsukihime. So coming into this at a blind, I was open to accept whatever Nasu had to throw at the viewer and it was…interesting to say the least.
~~Colourful eyes~~
One thing which I didn’t expect (which I should have actually) was that this movie completely throws the viewer into the deep end and expect you to pick up the theme rather quickly, talk about a steep learning curve. This led to a rather confusing overall first impression as there are elements of good versus elements which are not so good in my mind (not good as in “eh!?” and not the “I don’t like what just happened” kind).
Another mistake on my part was watching this with an exhausted brain (honestly, final exams plus mysterious, thinking-type plotlines just doesn’t go well together, at least not for me). So watching this movie was just more stress on the mind as I am trying to piece together what kind of story we have here.
Ah, product placement. Why do I get the sudden urge to eat strawberry ice cream and to drink lots and lots of water?
It was quite interesting though as it clicked in rather quickly that this might, just might, be another one of those classic “first impression” type series (I’ll say series because saying movies just doesn’t make that much more sense :p) where you are treated to an everyday scenario before the actual story starts. And it was!
I have to say that it wasn’t exactly a newcomer friendly start as the movie seems to be targeting groups who already knew at least some of the original material, so getting them to familiarise themselves with the characters wasn’t much of a tough chore (unlike me ~ woe is me).
Erm…surprise?
But overall I was pretty “impressed” by the whole movie. Even if the story seemed to be wandering or lacks in substance/direction, it soon became clear that this is idealistically just a starting point for the series which briefly introduces the characters. The fun starts when the story truly starts which we see hints of in the preview (and how classic, a flashback to past events). In light of that, I quite enjoyed this movie if I keep in mind that it is a standalone, but I will be expecting some sort of connecting plot as the movie releases continue.
The whole theme of the movie was pretty dark and mysterious with lots of metaphorical questions being asked about “life”. Tohko’s description on “flying” and “falling” itself was also pretty interesting but perhaps for all the wrong reasons for me seen as I just can’t help but think that it is only natural that you end up “flying” after falling from that height. This probably calls for another look at the movie at a later time to obtain the non-funny side of things.
Just look at her and tell me that she isn’t moe. Nope, isn’t physically possible
The animation was really something to boast about though, especially the fight scene where the water effects really did impress someone as dull as me (dull in the sense that I don’t have much appreciation for art perception). But something I really liked was the soundtrack for the movie, not to mention the awesome end theme.
P.S: Shiki’s stubborn scene at the end was really quite moe if I do say so myself :3
P.P.S: I just found out that Tanaka Rie was the voice for Kirie, *fanboy mode*
When Anime Past Meets Present 
I love how product placements in anime always look so flawlessly drawn. I guess there’s a standard that must be met….ugh…
I agree.
This movie is sort of different in how it immediately seems to throw you into everything, which alludes the likelihood that it was aimed at people who were already sort of proficient with the back story.
When I was watching it, I knew pretty much nothing about the plot and characters except for Shiki and Touko, so it was difficult to tell what was going on at first; at the end though, it all made sense.
The Häagen Ice-Cream was mentioned in the novel.
That’s nice to know. Not that I’m one who can’t accept product placement *cough* it’s good to see how they are linking a product with developing feelings though. Watching Shiki “eat the dam thing” was a joy.
@Espydon ~ Yep…steep learning curve ^^
Now that the intros are over though, I am looking forward for more depth.
Actually the intros are in the 2nd movie…this one just gives you an idea of what to expect from the rest of the series. As someone who have read the novels i must say that the staff did quite a good job porting the novel to anime form. Easily done since Nasu-san’s novel is so detailed in every shape & form.
The animation i agree is top-notch, UFO table spared no expenses in creating a beautiful looking anime. The water effects after Shiki jumped (matrix style) is spectacular.
I found the ‘turn of your cellphone’ bit really cute, made me almost do one of those spit takes. Looking forward to the next installments…can’t wait for Lio’s appearance in the series!!!!
Scoops Haagen Dazs! It was just inevitable.
Oh, and the Stop-motion stuff at the beginning of each episode was the cute icing on a badass cake.