yessenia37 - 2014-07-24 16:32:49

Story: This is a story about two sisters named Yoyo and Nene. They are witches who work as Noiroya (or cursers) by using magic in their world. One day while doing their usual business, they suddenly spot a giant tree with buildings attached to them that look like they're from a different world growing in a forest. Curious and confused, the two go to investigate on what it could be and where it came from. While searching, Yoyo comes across a strange elevator that ends up taking her to another world... in this case, our world. Yoyo then encounters two children named Takahiro and Aki, who get terrified of her sudden appearance and rush back home. While getting there, they find that their parents have been turned into monsters! Since Yoyo has no idea how to get back to her world, she agrees to help get rid of the curse while trying to find out about the cause of the tree back at her world.

The story may look to be a bit complicated, but its actually really not. Sure it might confuse you a bit but the story is pretty simple and is easy to follow and get invested in. The pacing is really fluid and there is almost no moments of rushing or dragging out ( though some scenes in the movie take way too long). The twists at the end is also really well done, though some may see it coming from a mile away, the climax and ending is especially great.

Then we have the animation and artwork. The animation is fluid and while some of the characters expressions are a bit odd, their movements were spot on.

As for the art, its a mixed bag. On one hand, the background art is really beautiful and detailed, from the magic world, to the human world. They look basic at first, but then when the last half comes in, especially with the magical special effects, it looks dazzling and breath taking.

On the other hand, the character designs are very generic and basic like you've seen them before dozens of times and... I dunno there not hard to look at but they don't look amazing. I think they were trying to go for a basic and cutesy look to contrast with the backgrounds and it doesn't look that bad so... I guess that's fine, especially since other anime have done this before.

The voice acting is fine, I've got no problems here, and the same thing goes for the music.

And then we have one of the most important aspects in a show, the characters: They're alright, we have the main character Yoyo and her sis Nene who are like Mario and Luigi (the small one being the older sibling and vice versa), Yoyo is the eccentric happy go lucky can do girl who wants to be the hero and wants to do things her own way not taking a crap from anyone, while Nene is the more mature and calm one unless the situation becomes dire, and doesn't get much screen time sadly.

There is some pretty nice development with the characters later on, so that's always a plus.

Then there are the characters in the human world. Takahiro is the serious one who just wants a normal life and doesn't believe in magic, but still wants to do what he can for his family, Aki is kind of like Nanako from Persona 4, and Kansei is a sort of voice of reason who also seems to have a crush on Nene.

The rest of the characters don't really have a purpose in the story all that much, are just there to drive one plot point in, or cannot be mentioned due to some major spoilers. Now don't get me wrong, none of the characters are bad or annoying, just that a couple of the side characters are not... memorable to say the least.

Overall: This movie is a very magical experience that should not be overlooked by anyone, especially fantasy fans. See it if you haven't already~

Thanks for reading my 51st review~