... this movie is awesome. One of the best I've seen in a while. I went into it with only the knowledge that it had interesting character designs and the animation would be excellent. I had no prior knowledge of the plot or even what genre of movie it was. Needless to say everything about this movie is top-notch, and I was pleasantly surprised by the story.
No real spoilers below, but if you want to be a blank slate for the movie - as I was - then read no further.
The characters are all very well-done and believable, with the exception of the one-dimensional Hebi (Snake). The Yakuza guys and the cops all play their part well, even though they are just fluff for the main attraction: Kuro and Shiro. Overall the best part, hands-down, is the relationship between these two. It's an obvious, totally unveiled yin/yang dynamic (Kuro and Shiro mean black and white respectively) they've got going on, but it's done so well you really don't care that it could be considered cliche.
Top it off with some good, ol', violence and you've got yourself one masterful movie that I'd recommend to anyone [with a soul]. The only issue I had with the movie was it gets boring and drags in places and as a result it is really long (~1hr40minutes). At one point, it also put the fear of one of those wtf, Japanese, semi-philosophical, endings that have ruined many an anime in me, but such was not the case and everything makes sense and ties up nicely in the end.
trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWOCf1wNlk0
No real spoilers below, but if you want to be a blank slate for the movie - as I was - then read no further.
The characters are all very well-done and believable, with the exception of the one-dimensional Hebi (Snake). The Yakuza guys and the cops all play their part well, even though they are just fluff for the main attraction: Kuro and Shiro. Overall the best part, hands-down, is the relationship between these two. It's an obvious, totally unveiled yin/yang dynamic (Kuro and Shiro mean black and white respectively) they've got going on, but it's done so well you really don't care that it could be considered cliche.
Top it off with some good, ol', violence and you've got yourself one masterful movie that I'd recommend to anyone [with a soul]. The only issue I had with the movie was it gets boring and drags in places and as a result it is really long (~1hr40minutes). At one point, it also put the fear of one of those wtf, Japanese, semi-philosophical, endings that have ruined many an anime in me, but such was not the case and everything makes sense and ties up nicely in the end.
trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWOCf1wNlk0
