So, I took a fair few screenshots and wanted to share some that I didn’t include before… just because, I guess 😀
Hopefully I don’t accidentally double up, but these are just meant to be shots or moments I found interesting in one way or another – if I have the energy I might add a few captions or comments here and there too.
Below, a shot from episode 4 which is actually where the manga starts, from memory.
Lots of dramatic, deep red and orange sunsets in Trigun.
Kuroneko Sama here appearing as she sometimes does, on a poster or a label etc, instead of in-person.
Below that, green, headless birds? 😀
Here is another (somewhat) rare shot of a city-scape that suggests the level of technology in the past/some parts of Gunsmoke is a fair bit more developed than most of what we see during the series.
Feels like the smoke below could almost read “SOS”.
Switch between power being the thing that hides clear view of Vash’s eyes and then his glasses:
Another costume/hair change for Vash.
For the two above, sometimes I forget the twin suns, obviously having some impact on how arid the setting can be.
I’ve always wondered who wrote this – sinister as it is, I can’t recall if Knives is supposed to be out and about at this point?
And done!
In the future, I might like to do this sorta thing again – have a series of posts for one show – and see how many I can build up. They tend to take a really long time though, so it might be a while.
Next time it could be Cowboy Bebop, or FMA or Neon Genesis or Samurai Champloo perhaps… not sure yet!
While hardly so divisive as the ending to Neon Genesis, there are a fair few disappointed folks out there when it comes to Trigun’s conclusion.
It’s not an unfinished series, and it’s not the discontent from “it’s not like the manga” that I’m throwing out here in this post either, but something I guess somewhat different… but more on that below.
[Spoilers of varying degrees from this point onward]
So, the leading episodes first.
Wolfwood is quite the scene-stealer and I think you could argue that he does this in the final arc, as his exit during the previous episode hits pretty hard. It’s a bitter end to Vash and Wolfwood’s friendship, to the influence they have on each other too, and the ramifications continue into this arc.
You could certainly argue that his death is in service to Vash’s character development but it obviously functions within his own storyline too.
I say that because, like many other deaths or injustices in the series, they seem to operate (not only) as justification for Vash to finally, directly take a life.Legato and Knives have pushed Vash so close to the edge that, when he must chose to save Meryl and Milly by killing, he does so – and the pain that act causes is a neat, cruel time-bomb left by Knives.
But again, I think of it as necessary in order for the audience to accept Vash’s action, after all the pain he bore to save lives and prevent death in the preceding 20-odd episodes.
Okay, to the ending itself finally.
As I said before, I think the conclusion to Trigun is inevitable and it’s also very clearly set up. That doesn’t mean I found it entirely satisfying, but I don’t think the anime could have ended any other way – Vash was always going to save Knives, rather than take revenge.
Here’s why I think that:
Vash is shown to be a pacifist, often and convincingly.
Rem is kind of Angel-like and her memory functions as a paragon, and one Vash has been striving to live up to for over one hundred years.
Rem charged him with “taking care” of Knives, which doubtless means not just protecting, but redeeming his brother somehow.
When Vash kills Legato, we see that even killing an enemy has quite the impact on him (and the storyline paused to show us that with episode 25) making it clear that he’d never be able to do something similar to his own brother.
Okay, so, having made that list, I definitely wish that Knives had experienced a different consequence for his sociopathic reign.
It did not feel to me that he’d earned forgiveness, nor Vash’s almost infinite patience, and so the final shoot out between them, while impressive, had less of a visceral impact for me. In fact, I think the final flashback (of their years together after the crash) ended up being more compelling.
And I’ve always wondered, actually, what would the final episode be like if we saw the shoot-out first and then the long stretch of their past together?
… and there it is, six posts on one of my favourites 🙂 If you’ve never seen Trigun and it’s already on your list then I think you’re in for a fun ride. It’s one of those shows that feels like it has stood the test of time pretty well – and coming up on 25 years old soon!
But before I finish up (for now) I’ll quickly mention a few quick things like usual:
I’ve always wondered whether the narrative ‘punishes’ Wolfwood and rewards Vash for their respective lifestyles.
Poor Milly!
(I forgot this last post, but‘Empty Smile’ guitar piece from the OST seems usually to be directed at Vash but its obviously aimed at Wolfwood instead during #23).
Animation quality goes up here in the last few eps.
Of course, as with many villains, Knives is deeply hypocritical – he still uses Plants himself for example.
…and finally, Milly’s laugh after the boulder is pretty great.
I think I will do a gallery/extra bits and pieces post tomorrow for fun – so one more Trigun post coming tomorrow sometime!
Post number five for Trigun – this time it’s a span of episodes that I’ve called something simple, just ‘Doubts’ as I reckon it suits fairly well.
To contrast with the excitement at seeing everyone together again (not right away), there’s an undercurrent of unease here, of impending doom. Part of that feeling for me is fed by the ongoing tension between Vash and Wolfwood’s respective approaches to life.
Opening up with ‘Eriks’ I’m always struck by the sadness that’s pushing forward now – Vash is doing his best to protect everyone by hiding away, but of course he can’t help but form bonds with the people he meets, bonds which we all know are going to be broken. (The use of ‘Not An Angel’ in the OST here always gets me too).
And more, while Wolfwood sort of brings the gang back together there’s a cost – once again, to those Vash loves.
Especially in the ‘Flying Ship/Out of Time’ episodes, as more Gung-Ho Guns attack and interrupt those important memories connected to Vash’s past. To me, it feels like a few bits might even be overplayed but on the other hand, it’s all building to something. The narrative really, really wrings Vash out here, forcing him to absorb more grief on behalf of the promise he’s trying to keep for Rem.
Of course, even the fearsome Vash the Stampede has a limit. And while we don’t see him reach it in these episodes, he gets plenty of trauma to nudge him further toward Wolfwood’s way of life. It’s trauma the narrative needs to show the audience, I reckon, in order to have them accept something that’s due to happen later.
And Nicholas himself is still pushing Vash too. Maybe he can’t accept that someone could ‘permit’ the suffering of many by a refusal to commit violence, while clearly also wanting to prevent it. I guess it’s another facet of the tension between Vash and his world view and so many others upon Gunsmoke. (Actually, maybe that’s a bit simplistic of me).
I guess you could argue that it’s an extension of the ‘outsider’ trope, a classic one that Vash fits really well, not just via his character design with the red coat and blonde hair, but of course his pacifism. Which kinda sets him up as an underdog too, which is another way to manipulate an audience… but I’m always happy to go along with it.
And Vash has the contradiction of being a gunslinger but one who doesn’t want to draw blood – at times he’s covered in the imagery, poses, props and conventions of violence as equivalent to ‘cool’, but the goofy side, the gentle side both add that internal tension to his character.
So, getting back to the arc itself again, toward the end of this stretch of episodes is where Wolfwood confronts his own reluctance to commit a certain act (that I won’t spoil just in case). And I’ve always found it striking that he tells Vash “don’t tell me your dream in a place like this” here, another quote that always leaps out at me.
Some more quick observations:
Milly being late to work 20 times, I think it was
The rare costume change in ‘Hang Fire’ (#19) for Vash
I always thought the puppet master/dolls are creepy designs that double as good ‘fodder’ for Vash and Wolfwood – allowing the heroes to do some damage, and give the audience that outlet, without murdering
Chapel is a pretty memorable character, maybe a bit under-utilized perhaps
Finally we get to learn the sad truth about Plants
Well, it seems that the next and final* post is suddenly right around the corner – the ‘Final Shootout‘ with episodes 24 – 26!
(yep, I had to use a Western trope for the title of this arc).
Fourth in this short series of posts about Trigun – time for the Gung-Ho Guns Arc.
Here the series takes a bit of a turn again – a gradual darkening begins and then quickens, kicking off in dramatic fashion with ‘Diablo’. The appearance of Monev is fantastically menacing with those blues and reds, and his attack onthe city definitely pushes Vash to the edge because once again, he’s not able to save everyone.
Earlier, Legato Bluesummers had already begun to torment Vash – kicking off a recurring theme from this point forward. Upon second viewing too, you definitely notice something re: his character design, but again, I’m trying to mostly avoid spoilers 😀
But what probably stands out most for me is that first glimpse of rage from Vash when imprisoned, and we sort of switch out of his POV for a moment, to experience that moment with the insurance girls and in theory, feel the same shock they do.
This block of episodes are also important because a vital character, Knives, is given a proper introduction with some flashbacks (in episode 17 ‘Rem Saverem’ especially). There, the way both Vash and Knives approach life is quickly established, as those formative experiences on SEEDS end up ricocheting through the rest of Trigun.
The theme or central conflict of pacifism coming up against more ‘survival of the fittest’ style beliefs are echoed all across Gunsmoke; in the characters and the ‘wild west’ setting itself too, and it’s obviously exemplified in one relationship by Vash and Knives.
Rem’s importance comes into focus in this arc too, as she urges Vash to “take care of Knives” – and based on how important she is to Vash, we know he’ll do everything he can to live up to her request – which leads to what I see as an inevitable ending… but more on that later!
At this point, the series still squeezes in a episodic storylines, a bit of a recap ep and more run-ins with the Gung-Ho Guns. Obviously ‘Fifth Moon’ is a huge moment but I think of Dominique’s episode as just as impactful due to maybe another big shift in tone (with that corpse pile) but also, it’s another point where Vash once again makes it clear to the viewer that he’s far more than he seems, far more than a “Broomhead” 😀
Vash also does his best to scare the girls away in this arc, kinda snapping at them, and of course he’s doing it in that hope of protecting them – and to some extent this works, as we don’t see the Meryl or Milly for a while.
Okay, some more fav moments gleaned from these episodes:
The mix between action and montage at the fountain, mixed in with the unsettling change in sound design, where the reverb drops over everything (In Diablo)
The string-bending little guitar phrasing here too
I always get a real ‘Judge Dredd’ vibe from Monev’s design, which I liked
And it should be this arc that features what feels like the very first use of green in the scenery, with the ‘Little Arcadia’ episode
Here is also a return for the Nebraska family
‘Vash Pack Horse’
Somehow, the cat survives that gunshot 😀
Feels like Meryl might be beginning to realise her feelings in #16, or at least more than before
Wolfwood’s motives are called into question in this arc, adding another layer of mystery on your first watch
And that’s about it for this time, next up I’m allocating the episodes 18 – 23 as the ‘Doubts’ arc, where ‘sins’ of the past and present start to come together.
Time for the third Trigun post – the Wolfwood Arc. (These middle posts are probably going to be shorter than the first and last in the series, I reckon.)
Here, two things seem to be the main focus: introducing Wolfwood and having him slide neatly into the gang, while having Nicholas and the audience continue to wonder about who or what Vash truly is.
At least in the case of Wolfwood, he either knows exactly what Vash truly is or strongly suspects… due to ‘reasons’, reasons which I certainly won’t mention at this point due to spoilers. And while the team is still wandering across the desolate world of Gunsmoke, having Wolfwood join narrows the focus a bit.
This is my second favourite arc in the series too, in part due to something I mentioned in an OWLS post a while back (spoilers in that link), which is the huge impact Wolfwood has on old Needle Noggin’.
Over the course of Trigun Vash often struggles with Wolfwood’s approach to justice but we also see how they respect each other, despite differing methods. For the most part, they have common goals, which tends to ensure they work together well, and so there’s a fun buddy-cop thing that they have going and which kicks off in this arc with episode nine, ‘Murder Machine’.
To widen my scope for a tic, during the course of the series, Nicholas spends a fair amount of time sort of urging Vash toward violence. And of course, Vash always resists this and it takes a few big events to finally drive him to break his own moral code. Equally, I think Wolfwood tries to absolve Vash of some of the guilt he obviously feels at not being able to save everyone he meets, which is something invaluable.
But yeah, that aspect to their relationship hasn’t really kicked off at this early stage – it’s still fun with rivalry and cautious friendship 😀
All right, some more dot points – again, just various stuff I noticed across the episodes:
Linked to my point above, there’s a Wolfwood quote that always stands out, when he says that Vash is “hurtling like crazy and grinning to hide it”
The ‘portable confessional’ is a nice moment of levity
‘Quick Draw’ is one of my fav single episodes to chuck on sometimes when I just want to watch one ep
I think there are a few more hints about ‘Plants’ around here, which I recall really latching onto when I first watched Trigun
Done! Which means that the next arc will be The Gung-Ho Guns Arc and I’m including episodes 12 – 18 in that span, from memory.
Welcome back to more Trigun! Second post already, covering the introduction to the Sand Steamer:
So, in terms of the shift I mentioned last time, one is that from this point forward the girls are more or less on board with Vash, having pretty much accepted who he is. (Here also, Madhouse gets the chance to work on a connected storyline that spans more than one episode.)
I think it’s also a point where the tone shifts a little, considering villain Brilliant Dynamites Neon and our first flashback to “July”. These episodes certainly leave no more room for doubt that Vash is more than he seems. Despite revealing a bit of real pain for the first time here, he continues to defy expectations too.
Elsewhere, Milly’s ‘concussion gun’ provides more comic relief, along with Milly herself, especially when drunk or having “two stomachs”. Milly is one of my favourite characters in Trigun actually, and so it’s always sad to see her suffer – though we’re spared that for a fair while longer yet.
At this point, the tone is still overall somewhat ‘light’ as befitting the feel of adventure story, but tension is high with so many lives at stake on the runaway Sand-Steamer. And while I love the Steamer, there’s one example where it shows the age of the animation perhaps, contrasted with a similar night shot:
The action sequences in Trigun always feel great to me and I have seen criticisms around ‘off-model’ faces at times, which I assume exclude the moments it’s done purposefully, but I wouldn’t say Madhouse did a bad job – at all. Even if this is a show I watch primarily for the characters, storyline and world-building, everything still looks convincing for an action/comedy series.
Probably my favourite bit in the arc however, is not a shoot out or a laugh, it’s a pair of quieter moments. [Spoiler follows]
At one point both before and after Vash has outwitted plant engineer Elizabeth, the audience is given a glimpse of something unusual about Vash and his true nature, as he both grieves for and comforts the Plant, who is essentially a family member/sister imprisoned and drained for electricity.
Despite this injustice, Vash knows that many will die if the plant is ‘broken’ and so, in his utilitarian way, he restores her and the status quo. At this point, the audience doesn’t fully realise what’s going on but hopefully they’re still responding to his tenderness and obvious empathy.
Okay, now that I’ve explored a few things from the episodes I think it’s time to jump to a few quick dot points – this arc had some fun little bits and pieces I noticed:
Nightow’s neko (Kuroneko-sama) appears on a poster here instead of in the flesh
There’s an impressive instance of ‘super-deformed’
Vash has what I think is his first clash over pacifism with Kaite
BDN is voiced by one of my favs, Unshou Ishizuka
Next up is an arc I had a few names for but couldn’t really decide on – I settled on just the Wolfwood Arc but nearly went with ‘clues’ or Beneath the Surface Arc for episodes 9 -11, but it seemed easier to mention Nicholas instead.
Still, it’s a fun stretch of episodes since Wolfwood brings a lot to the table 😀
Here we go – the first of six posts where I ramble on and on (and on) about one of my favs: Trigun 😀
The first five episodes introduce Vash with a few lone gunman tropes but also carefully set up audience expectations around comedy and violence, as you learn pretty quickly that Vash will work extremely hard to preserve life.
It’s a fairly episodic stretch of the series while the world of Gunsmoke is established via long shots of desolate cities and dry hills and deserts, of saloons and townsfolk facing off against bandits, all the while offering little hints that the world is not wholly like Earth.
Here, Vash wanders around helping whoever he encounters, usually trailed by two other main characters the ‘insurance girls’ Meryl and Milly, rather than travelling with them.
That’s because this early in Trigun, the girls don’t accept that he is really Vash – the very man they’re seeking – and so this is part of why I thought these episodes would be a good arc.
No-one really knows who Vash is and since his description varies, save for a few easily replicable details, criminals often use this to their advantage. And so a lot of the jokes around mistaken identity occur in this arc, in fact the whole first episode has a great stacking effect of such moments.
I really liked the way that the opening to the series drops in some exposition via the talk of strangers, building Vash up as the ‘humanoid typhoon’ and then comically contrasting the rumours with his gentle exterior.
I remember noting that the tone YA tone is established pretty early too – for instance, while there’s the unwanted sexual advances in the bar or the more overt sexual threat with Descartes the mutant, the slapstick and also the time episodes often take to show us things like henchmen surviving violence almost gives the show a PG-feel.
Of course, that’s not accurate really, but nor is director Satoshi Nishimura taking cues from more bloodbath-style Westerns; there’s a bit of an adventure feel instead.
And surely, Vash’s pacifism helps – I’ve always wondered to what extent any boundaries set by Shōnen Captain may have potentially impacted the show’s violence at a certain level, vs say Nightow’s beliefs?. (Wolfwood springs to mind here, but now that I’ve said that, I do want to mention that I don’t like to go too deep into possible biographical criticism due to its pitfalls).
Something else I noticed was how much these early episodes feature either Western or Samurai tropes. Obviously you have things like bandits and crooked sheriffs and wanted posters and fancy revolvers etc, but one of my fav moments here is the trashcan-lid moment in the shoot out between Vash and‘Vash’.
Just as often, these conventions are subverted by Vash’s pacifism – especially when he solves situations that seem to demand killing, without actually shedding blood. These moments also provide great foreshadowing for the central moral and thematic conflict.
In this arc I also enjoyed the early hints that Vash is more than he seems – and so is the world itself wrapped in some mystery too.
There are touches of the anachronistic with the headphones early on… at least, on first viewing you might wonder about that, but aside from the Western + Steampunk feel, the setting is obviously more than it seems. This is driven home with the first appearance of the plant too – but, like most good storytelling, not every secret is revealed right away!
At this point the bigger storyline is yet to be revealed but enough hints are set out that I remember being hooked on the world (and Vash himself) upon that first viewing. I had so many unanswered questions that I didn’t need a ‘main’ plotline yet 🙂
Okay, so to wrap up at last, I thought quickly I’d note a few things as dot-points here at the end – otherwise I’ll go on for far, far too long:
First Cat-Face from Vash
First glamour-face from Vash too
First appearance of Nightow’s mysterious black cat
This fun line from Meryl: “He saved us but he’s embarrassing to watch”
The goofiness of the humour is established nicely via things like off-model faces or the crab walk or Vash having to ‘caterpillar’ his way across the floor
In terms of character design you will get a bit of ugly person = bad person
I’m pretty sure that it’s in the second episode that I noticed the first appearance of my fav piece from the OST: Stories to Tell
And done!
So, what’s next for these Trigun posts? The second one covers a much shorter group of episodes, just three for the The Sand Steamer Arc, but it’s one which introduces the first shift in tone perhaps.
Other names tend to grace lists of ‘favourite/best studios’ more often, but maybe it’s easy to forget that Studio DEEN can certainly pull out all the stops too.
And Read or Die has some cracking action sequences indeed.
On that note, everything really did feel fluid and vivid to me, with scenes usually full of exciting near-misses. I was usually glued to the screen, partially due to the direction, but also since ‘The Paper’ is a less typical heroine when it comes to action leads.
Her ability to use paper as both protection and weapon was fascinating, and that’s another aspect I really enjoyed. Her fights were less about brute force and more problem-solving, in a way. And the anime really casts an unreservedly wide net for its historical villains and their powers too – more unconventional stuff that was most welcome, especially if you’ve seen a whole host of classic choices for weapons or powers.
Now, if you haven’t seen Read or Die (as I hadn’t until quite recently) and you’re getting a superhero vibe from that previous paragraph, then that’s not precisely inaccurate, but ‘secret agents with super-powers’ is probably better. Here and there, I was put in the mind of other action shows but rarely enough to pull me out of the storytelling.
I will note that at times, Yomiko sounds like a lost lamb, which you could argue is meant to link to her role as a ‘bookworm’, and it’s an interesting contradiction to her character. She’s pretty cool under pressure but kinda goes to pieces over books – something which is usually played for laughs, but the OVA does feature a certain book as a MacGuffin to kick things off too. So literature is not just a comedic element.
As is my way, I haven’t said much about the premise or plot, but it’s very much classic ‘save the world’ stuff but with fantastic animation and very few ‘stock’ characters or settings. There’s also a fun steampunk aesthetic – something else I loved a lot about Read or Die.
Decision time?
Well, if you want to see Mata Hari, Genjo Sanzo and Ludwig van Beethoven (among others), battling it out with secret agent heroes with inventive powers, in an easy to digest 3-part OVA, then this is worth finding.
Sands of Destruction (World Destruction: Sekai Bokumetsu no Rokunin) 2008
Anime adaptations of games seem generally fraught with risk in my mind – and yet I can’t actually think of a tonne that I’ve seen and disliked, and instead, one obvious success seems to come to mind whenever I do think of games and anime, Steins;Gate.
But I’ll get to Sands of Destruction now.
So, even if individual elements didn’t always feel top-notch, I definitely enjoyed the anime and like other reasonably episodic shows, I was able to watch an episode here and there between other titles and not miss a beat.
Production I.G must have faced a fair amount of restriction in terms of what they could do because the series had to be linked to the DS game, but I thought the humour usually worked and while the setting and storyline is very much ‘classic fantasy’ (with an oppressive society for the characters to rail against) that was certainly enough for me 🙂
There were a few surprises and the pacing of each story drew me along nicely – one stand out was the ‘Dr Elephant’ episode, but overall the scene-stealer was usually Toppy. A tiny, teddy-bear-looking, monologue-ing hero, he was pretty great, I reckon. Toppy also scored a lot of great lines and moments, and to my surprise, the character-affectation of adding ‘kuma’ to the end of every single sentence was not as annoying as I thought it would be.
Eventually.
At first it bugged me a bit.
Elsewhere, I enjoyed the non-human character design more than the human design for the most part, and I felt like I was craving a few extra threads from the main plot to appear earlier than they do, but maybe it’s a minor quibble. The animation wasn’t always knock-out stuff but nor was it poor – at all.
I believe that if the show’s style of humour works for you then that will be enough to lift other elements that will probably seem a little standard. If not, you might not enjoy Sands of Destruction that much.
Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress (Kōtetsujō no Kabaneri) 2017
Action-packed and grisly at times (perhaps gratuitously so, and I understand that descriptor won’t match everyone’s opinion of course) this series is pretty fast-paced, building quickly to a finish that maybe could have been ‘bigger’ but was by no means a let-down, either.
In a way, the tagline writes itself and I can’t remember whether I’ve seen it used officially – but basically, if you can imagine zombies on a train then you’ve got it to some extent.
Obviously there’s a more to Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress than that, but not as much as I’d like in terms of world-building and any wider context appearing in the story. To a small extent the film that followed mitigates that feeling but overall, I think this could have easily been 24 episodes with a lot more exploration of how the world came to be the dystopia it is shown to be in the series.
The settings usually had lots of detail.
Still, I’m always willing to give a chance to a story that isn’t an adaptation and knowing that Wit Studio would produce something that (at a minimum) looked impressive led me to give the show a shot after stumbling across the film on Netflix last year.
Okay, time to jump in to some dot points:
Yukina and also Kurusu were underused in the story, I reckon.
The villain was the ‘handsome evil’ type and he really was a piece of work – clearly pretty much everything about him was a lie used to manipulate others, some good characterisation there.
I enjoyed the conflicting idea of being trapped – but trapped in moving thing, so whenever a train was attacked by the kabane, there was a sense that flight was both happening but also kinda useless. Having said that, maybe too many zombies were ‘shamblers’ so not always very threatening.
I didn’t buy the viewer resentment toward Ikoma I think I remember reading. If you’ve seen this series you’ll know he’s a classic underdog so I was on board with him pretty quickly. Most of all, he was almost always right about pretty much everything, and had to suffer fools almost constantly.
On a related note, one great thing about being so far behind everyone else with new shows, is that I often miss both the hype and the naysayers. It seems that at least to some extent, Attack on Titan fanatics piled on Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress a bit, considering it too similar or just a money-grab, somehow?
For me, the two shows are plenty different even with some clear similarities, and I think I’ve argued before a little on the important role of the cash-cow – without said cow, the more ‘risky’ or original shows just don’t get made. (And here I mean ‘original’ as compared to a show that is an adaptation of an existing manga etc).
Yep, he’s a villain.
Overall, I enjoyed Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress without being over the moon. If you’re a horror or dark fantasy fan (even a steampunk fan perhaps) you’ll probably find at least something to enjoy here, beyond the beautifully coloured art.
3.5 Stars
Hero shot 😀
At times, the show paused for what seem almost like glamour-shots, switching to a little extra detail while also adding an almost soft focus, as if they were setting up future stills for trading cards or other merch? There’s more than I’ve noted here of course, but I tried to snap a couple. (First is a better example).
The storyline is continued in a follow-up film that I actually abandoned last year, at the time knowing that I should probably watch the series first.
I definitely enjoyed the movie; it continued the main themes and struggles, advancing some character development too. I do wonder whether the relationship hindrances thrown up between Ikoma and Mumei were always natural?
Still, if you enjoyed the series you’ll like the film, I reckon.
The Review Heap 