this is the 200th film that I've watched this year, and everything about it was gorgeous: the art is enchanting and full of life, the story is engrossing, at times thrilling, the music is lovely, the characters are sympathetic and human, and the themes and imagery which back everything up work so, so well together. I was expecting to like this but not this much (I wasn't expecting a shot of a beautiful green caldera (or some such thing) to make me cry, either).

I was absolutely awed by the scene following taki drinking the kuchikamizake, but then I generally love it when animated films introduce another form of animation to convey an extreme event or feeling. the ending is perfectly low-key, too, with everything preceding it a flawless combination of comedy and drama and fantasy. this was exactly the kind of film I wanted to hit that 200-film mark with. just... incredible. I'm shaking. it's a shame I'm still in a review slump cause I really think this film deserves more than just a couple of hasty paragraphs :(