This week has certainly been a memorable one for me, in terms of branching out my new discoveries.

Now I am expanding my knowledge within the anime world. The only ones I have seen so far is the entire collection of Studio Ghibli. I am aware of many different types of anime, and I cannot wait to discover them.

But I decided to try this particular film, due to the success it has been getting and that the director Makoto Shinkai is being billed by some people as the new Hayao Miyazaki, who has been the director for nearly all of Studio Ghibli's most successful films.

I am so glad I went to see this, as I now want to see more anime's outside of Studio Ghibli. I got to see something that not only was great, but was clever, sweet, outrageously funny at times and hugely profound.

While the first act has its most outrageous and possibly cheesy moments, it has some fascinating and really clever ideas that certainly had me enjoying the experience. Then the second act starts to see the real dilemma our two main characters are in, and this is where I think this film will win many people over.
Then the final act starts really well and ends in what I thought to be a generic rom-com finale.

What I loved about this the most, was the story. The amount of depth made me having to work everything out for pretty much all the film. I liked the little strands that eventually meshed into one main story. I have to give huge props to the director for that. While the development of the romance may seem cheesy at times, his clever use of sci-fi manages to make it look refreshing.

As for the characters, the two leads are really good and make you believe in the premise. They are developed brilliantly and you would root for both of them. The supporting cast have great moments that is mainly comedy based and they all felt integral to the story rather than eventually ignored.

Another positive, is the animation. It's imagery is extraordinary, beautiful, powerful and is easily as impressive as all Studio Ghibli's style of animation.

The only negatives I have are all minor, picky and sometimes harsh. The very final part of the film was nowhere near as great as the rest of the film. It felt too generic and lingered far too much on the situation. That is probably the reason it just misses out on me giving it a really high rating.
Also from a film-making point of view, the pacing does take a couple of strange turns that slowed it down dramatically. I don't know if that is the directors style or if it's how most anime films are like, but those small moments felt alien to me.

That being said, the strength of this film steamrolls those small negatives. This is a very clever, fun and engaging film that manages to be both outrageously funny and emotional at the same-time to a high standard. It is one of the those films that really makes you think and work out everything throughout. There are many spectacular moments both in its images and its writing and I will be shocked if this does not end up in my top 10 of the year.

Despite his strong story-telling with challenging ideas, I don't think Shinkai is the new Miyazaki just yet. His style I don't think will fit into Studio Ghibli's. But this film has made me want to see more different sorts of anime and the rest of Shinkai's previous works. I think will a little care, I can see Shinkai being a saviour of sorts to possibly be the changing of the guard for Miyazaki.

Rating: 8/10