folie

 Bakemono no Ko.

A title I've wanted to see for a long time, but didn't really have the time to do so. I haven't really watched anime in a long time, so I kind of grew out of it and it gave me a bit of a different perspective.

So, to start my expectations of this animated movie were pretty high. I wanted to see a sweet movie about two characters from different backgrounds  that get to change each other and develop a strong bond and I kind of got that.

The beginning is nice, we get a brief introduction of our main characters background and circumstances. He gets introduced to a new world where he has to adapt, he learns and forms a close bond with his parent, it's good.

However, midway through the movie, all changes. Action shifts to the other pole,  two new characters get added and they affect the world in what seems like a rushed way to me, the main character has a sudden change of heart , then the main conflict, that seemed to have been forgotten since the start of the movie is brought back up but then it goes away as quick as it came, only to be replaced by another and end up in a rather confusing mix of sadness and joy?

It's like the director didn't know where he wanted to go with the story, the beginning is slow and at some point everything speeds up, all character development halts after this jump in time, there is no real progression anymore, the movie loses it's structure, it feels like 2 movies badly edited into one, cutting essential parts out of it.

What this movie lacks is a set goal. It starts as something and ends as something else. 

My personal opinion is that there should have been a lot more character development, at the same pace the movie started out. I would've loved to see more about kumatetsu's past, a better representation of the world he belongs to and it's customs/inhabitants way of living, relationships between those, especially his rival and the grandmaster, maybe add another point of interest to him, beside Ren. 

The artwork is pretty, characters are nice and brightly colored. But there seems to be a distinct lack of backgrounds. Be it due to a low budget or not, the action happens in the same couple of places at all times. We get to see very little of this fantasy world, and that is a shame, because that is the entire beauty of the genre, exploring vast places filled with interesting creatures and magic. There is so much lost potential here.

The soundtrack is okay, nothing special, but not too bad either. It's there and it does it's job.

Voice acting is pretty decent as well for the first half of the movie, not so much for the new characters added after that.

Animation. Fights are decently animated, there's a lot of moving and swinging and jumping and it all looks good, but that is being limited to rather few scenes.

This is hardly a proper review, more like a personal opinion, under no means do I try to deter people from watching Bakemono no Ko, I am only sharing my expectations and the way I feel about it after having watched it.

TLDR:

-A good start, lovely characters with good development for the first half.

-Extremely rushed second half, action shifts too much, conflicts changes too often, storyline becomes an amalgam.

-Disappointing ending.

-Wasted potential on world exposure and characteristics of a fantasy world which should be it's strong point.

-Decent voice acting.

-Mediocre soundtrack.

-Good animation for the few scenes it's being used in.

6/10