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Synopsis

Lue'der is a protege of his village's wind master. Born with one blue eye, he has to learn to unlock his mystical powers when his village was ravaged by Sana'ku and his forces, and lead by Sana'ku's daughter, Aga'lee.

Review

*sigh*

Now HERE'S a title with some potential ... that was completely screwed up in the duration of the movie. Allegedly "from the creator of Ghost in the Shell - Shirow Masamune", I later learned that he had very little to do with this project. Some minor character designs, I believe? Trying to sell something off as more than it really is, are we now? Hmmm.

I'll have to admit, though, that said character design is quite pleasant. The animation, while not impressive by movie standards, were decent enough. And I really, REALLY hope that the dubbing I heard was an exclusively European one, because it was really, really doinky.

(Uh... where did THAT come from? O_O )

Anyway, that leaves us with the characterization and the plot. And we had some real potential there, wasted in a most disappointing manner. Lue'der and his mysterious eye made for some good plot points, and the whole concept of the powers as pertained by the differently colored eyes would be a good tool in the hands of a good scriptwriter. It's a shame, then, that most of the movie is caught up in action scenes, with the main characters either running away from their pursuers or planning said escape. Only at the end is the subject of the eyes explored, and half-assedly at that. (Something with a goddess, I believe.)

As action features go, it's not too bad of a deal. With the nice character designs and some good craft-designs at that, we DO get introduced to some rather nice action sequences. Where this movie fall flat, though, is on the character development and the focus on the main plot. It got off to a good start, with a good balance of mystery and pacing to keep you interested. Then it tried your patience by having the main character escape/run for a good half of the movie. And THEN we get a rather nice scene with Lue'der bonding with Aga'lee (of all people) and some more introduction regarding the eyes and the powers behind. But after that, the movie rushes through the rest of the plot in an effort to get done quickly. It was disappointing, to say the least, because little to nothing is really explained and part of it left me wondering whether I was watching a Monty Python animation, anime style. (Giant HANDS growing up from the ground?)

So, even though the ending itself made me smile, the movie as a whole is better left alone.

A rather weak effort. — Stig Høgset

Recommended Audience: Well, there is a lot of violence and deaths in this one. Also, our two main female leads tend to wander around naked at least once in the duration of the movie. And lastly, there is a scene where our main evil overlord-like character seemingly stabs two crystals into his eyes, a scene I really wish I didn't see. (Quite understandably, he screamed quite a lot upon doing that. >_<)