Dreadfully Boring

Charming and brutal

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

This anime series follows a group of thirty young people who seek leave their various problems behind by moving to the 'lost village' of Nanaki. It isn't an easy journey but they manage to get there and when they do they find it to be deserted. They split up to explore the village and things start to go wrong fairly quickly; people start to disappear and suspicions break out between the remaining members of the group. If that wasn't enough they start seeing strange monsters and attempts to leave Nanaki prove impossible.This series looked promising but ultimately proved to be a little bit disappointing. The cast is a bit too large although it does at least concentrate of a few key individuals. On the plus side there is an interesting sense of mystery when some characters disappear and the others start suspecting each other. The monsters are also interesting as each person sees them differently and their exact nature isn't immediately understood. The story is told well enough but I felt it would be if it had been somewhat darker in tone. The main characters are okay if a little bland. The more entertaining characters are somewhat secondary but this isn't necessarily a bad thing as they could go from entertaining to annoying if they were used much more. The animation is decent enough and the designs are pretty good. Overall this is an okay show; not a must see but it passes the time well enough.These comments are based on watching the series in Japanese with English subtitles.