Crystal Sky of Yesterday

Halex Sep 19, 2020

6.5

Chines Animation has come a long way, especially when it comes to movies. This is a good slice-of-life, but it will mostly appeal to people who love that genre. I'm not fond of it myself, but I still found it a good movie thanks to the animation alone, which is outstanding. It reminded me of The Garden of Words, although is not at that level of quality yet, however, considering the lower budget, I can only praise the animators for this quality work. They blend 3d seamlessly with the 2d graphics to create interesting sequences in a 3d perspective and at different camera angles. Both backgrounds and characters are very detailed and the shots are constantly changing so you can feast in the eye candy; this is what kept me going from scene to scene. I also find the choice of music very adequate for the mood of the film, some kind of indie Asian soft rock, that always comes at the right time without taking over the whole volume. The music was quite balanced and helped complement the visuals ver well. Like most slice-of-life, the problem is with the story, or rather the lack of story. The first 2/3 of the movie is just about the daily lives of the protagonists and their relationships with each other, there are hints of a "no guts" romance and that's it. The punch line for the story was delivered very well, but the conclusion is perhaps open to interpretation, wherever you want to say is "depressingly realistic", "nostalgically beautiful" or "an advisory tale of the shape of things to come... if you have no guts"; will be left up to your own view on life. Overall, if you like slice-of-life, this is a no brainer, you'll definitely enjoy this movie a lot. If you like good animation, you may want to give it a try, as it's basically eye-candy from beginning to end. If you are expecting romance... mmm... not really, it's definitely lacking on that feeling of romance, but hey, everyone is different so who knows? Anyone else may want to move to other types of shows.