Origin: Spirits of the Past (full-length film)
Hawkeye
“Ages past, the Forest was awakened and the Moon unleashed a ravenous Beast upon the Earth. Man cowered in fear…”
It’s been centuries since a horrible disaster caused nature to become a sentient violent being, and the human race has managed to survive, though split between the druids who live in the forest, the people of Neutral city who want to co-exist, and the fierce army that seeks to destroy the forest. Agito is a young boy living in Neutral City, and through a strange series of events, he finds a stasis pod in the crumbled ruins from when Earth was at its height of technology. Inside is a young girl named Toola, who still remembers the world from centuries ago. She longs for how things once were and is terrified of what the forest has become. As a result she joins with the army to try and launch an old program to re-terraform the Earth. What she doesn’t know is that there’s a terrible cost, can Agito save Toola and the world from being completely destroyed?
The story itself is a little preachy about environment, love trees, be one with the forest and all of that. But it was still a really intriguing anime. The characters were really richly designed with pasts and their own personalities that carried along with the plot smoothly. They also had the forest killing off people angrily, which really helped balance out the eco-friendly crap.
The animation and art on a whole was stunning, but there were a few things that just looked off here and there. The coloring of the characters had a sort of airbrushed feel and often a bit too simplistic. They had really rich backgrounds, so the sometimes overly simple characters stood out oddly. Even with this problem, the characters were still unique and well-designed. The animation itself was amazing. The fights were so realistic in the movements that it had me on the edge of my seat, completely caught up in the moment.
The sound was excellent. The picked the perfect music to help enhance the scenes and suck the viewer even more into the story. The voice acting was good, though I wouldn’t say it was the best I’d ever heard. It didn’t stand out as spectacular but it also didn’t strike me as misplaced at any point. Also there were absolutely no extras, which surprised me as it seemed to really be a title that FUNimation was pushing.
I really enjoyed this movie. The story was unique and interesting with a really rich cast of characters. The animation was often stunning and the music excellent. The only thing I could wish for was a slightly better blend between the characters and backgrounds, perhaps a little less preaching about how we should love the forest, and some extras thrown onto the disc.
Entertainment: 9
There was plenty of action and a pretty good story.
Technical: 7
The disc needed some extras, and the art a little tweaking.
Overall: 8
DVD Features: 90 minute full-legnth film, English and Japanese Languages, English Subtitles
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