major.renner - 2017-03-03 01:10:31

This movie is….an awkward subject to be honest. >.> World wise I love it, the Dryads have a cool design, the characters are likeable, but it sort of has one of those “I want to like it” feels. I loved it the first time I saw it and I was so into it that I asked a friend to watch it with me, but then when I did I started to feel a bit embarrassed, seeing a lot of issues the second time around. It draws things out a bit too much in some parts, has really unusual imagery that is meant to seem meaningful but comes off more pretentious.

I can’t bring myself to say it is a bad movie, it has so much potential in it to be interesting, but the way they go about it makes things feel a bit forced like they wanted it to be so much more than an interesting tale. They clearly did as well, and though I have nothing against making a story hold meaning, trying to slide that meaning in where it doesn’t belong hurts this movie more than it helps.

mcclure.gust - 2015-09-05 04:42:10

Origin: Spirits of the Past follows Agito in a world where humans and the forest no longer live peacefully. In Agitos attempt to get extra water for his father he is caught by the forest and in his attempts to escape he stumbles across, Tula a girl put to sleep inside of experimental coffins in which people from the past can awake in the present day. Throughout this series you see humans struggle against the forest or so they thought. This is a heart warming story of preservation of humans, the earth, and a love story of two kids from another time. I personally think this series is fantastic with a great art style for the time. Along with a great story and characters to grip you into the story. There are very few minor things I didn't really like I'm not sure it really held up with time. I still really did enjoy the series anyway, I love the meaning behind the story and really recommend this film.

arvel25 - 2014-10-27 23:34:09

To sum the story up, it's all about: Tuuuuulaaaaa!
Could have become a good movie, though. Well. 

nolan.howe - 2014-08-17 04:20:28

Personally I liked this movie VERY much, and I suggest to anyone who might either like this type of style, story or genre (sci-fi), I suggest that they watch it. It has  a good concept, however anyone will/ would interoperate it as.

christiansen.everette - 2014-07-07 06:39:05

Origin: Spirits of the Past Review

Starring: Ryo Katsuji, Aoi Miyazaki, Yuko  Kotegawa

Director: Keiichi  Sugiyama

Year: 2006

For those who don’t know I enjoy anime, but so far I haven’t watched a whole lot, and this is the first anime film I’ve watched not based off a series. The first time I saw this movie was it was a commercial in one of my DBZ box sets, and I was looking for anime to watch so I actually wrote the name down. Then when I saw it on Netflix I instantly watched it. I actually thought it was a series until I saw it, but considering I didn’t have time to go through a series maybe that was best. I’ve watched the movie twice now, the second time just now, but I liked the movie enough I feel I could watch it a hundred more times. But I can see why somebody wouldn’t like it at all. I’ll start just getting the bad out of the way early. First, the characters are mostly plot pieces and one-dimensional. And although they wear a variety of outfits, they’re character models aren’t fantastic either. Each character can be summed up in a variety of lines, but in the end they serve well for the plot and I do really like the characters, but they just simply don’t develop. I still give it the character badge simply because they do more than the job and I still like them. Also there are things that just didn’t seem covered. Like Toola has this device that let’s her get calls, but of course everyone’s dead so that shouldn’t happen. But she gets a call but can’t pick up, and it never even explains who the hell called her. Although in the final resolution it does kind of feel like a moment of never found out mystery was better. You’d have to see the final shot in the movie to get what I mean. The English dub has funimation friendly voices that I thought were very well. The writing is also eh. The voice actors couldn’t really do much with the script, and for instance the line of the movie seems to be the constant use of the main character Agito calling out Toola’s name. TOOOOLAAA! Your probably going to hear that about six times. Anyway, that was just the bad, but there’s a lot of good. Let’s just start with the plot. Origin Spirits of the Past is about a scientific experiment on plants gone horribly wrong. The plants that will be identified in this movie as "the forest,” backfired and became the most intelligent beings of the world and destroyed the majority of the moon and mostly wiped clean all of human civilization. Fast forward three hundred years and you find our story starting in a dependent somewhat industrial styled village that coexists with the forest. Our hero accidentally wakes Toola, a girl who’s been in a stasis sleep the past three-hundred years. The forest is threatened by her awakening because she could hold the threat of eliminating the forest. Meanwhile another person of the past who awoke five years ago is working with the Ragna, a military organization independent of the forest, and looks to be at war with the forest. He tells Toola he can restore the old world, but he needs Toola. Toola decides rebuilding the old world would be better than coexisting with the forest and leaves with him. Agito then takes the power of the forest gaining amazing strength in order to go after Toola. While all this goes on your not sure who’s exactly right, or if the antagonist is actually a good guy with a different perspective until the end of the movie. In the end it almost seems more of a worthy plot for a short series or a video game, but I’ll take it for the movie. The plot is probably one of the best things about this movie and definitely is interesting. I hadn’t really watched a really creative movie in awhile so this was basically just what I needed. It’s hard to follow the first time, but by the end of the movie you’ll have about ninety percent of it down, and by the second time it’ll be obvious what everything is and means. Also the animation is beautiful. I’ve stated before that I’m not picky with my animation. I don’t care if it’s an English dub, and I’m not an animation freak and look for anime with the best animation. But this movie is just so beautiful even I can just stop and talk about how amazing it is. The backgrounds and vibrant colors pop out, and other effects like the water and attacking forest are really stunning. Just watch the amazing opening to the movie and you’ll know what I’m talking about. Speaking of the opening it was amazing! The song and movement of the forest move perfectly in balance and the first time I watched this movie I actually just went back and watched it again. The song alone is bad ass just for being in the film, but being used twice, once for a awesome opening? Then it’s really bad ass! And at first you don’t know what the hell is happening, but later when you know the plot you’ll actually everything that goes on. Anyway another really good thing about the movie is the setting. The town that Agito is in called Neutral City looks really interesting and although I didn’t like the Ragna areas as much it really made the setting really diverse. Also the action. Although I would be a little hesitant to call this an action anime movie cause they’re just simply wasn’t a humongous amount of fighting, the action is still very bad ass. Agito’s enhanced form can catch and move things around him that should crush him flat, and his fighting style is very jumpy and kicky which is also fun to watch. The whole enhancement thing in general is a really cool idea, and it’s fun to see which characters are enhanced by looking at their white hair. I didn’t care much for the giant machines used for fighting at times, but oh well. Anyway the movie as a whole I was going to give an eight, but looking back on it now it was really just what I needed and was simply a beautiful movie. If I wasn’t as new to anime, or I hadn’t been on a creative absence it would probably be less, and this is a low 9, but I can’t help but give call this movie an elite for what it is. I feel like I could watch it fifty times, and it uses all ninety minutes, even parts of the credits to bash in a little more story. It’s a must see for any anime fan, or even if your just open minded enough to try it. It’s not a super weird anime, it’s one a lot of people could enjoy, so I would say just watch it and you’ll probably be impressed.

vorn - 2014-01-12 00:49:32

I can summarize this anime really quick: Because the forest!

It seemed rather good at first, but shit its the fan and isnt explained in anyway, but dont worry because the forest

asa64 - 2014-01-05 23:41:21

Giniro no Kami no Agito (A.K.A. Origins: Spirits of the Past) is like watching a baby take his first steps and tumble headfirst down a flight of stairs- it starts off beautifully and manages to get worse and worse until it passes the threshold from "so mediocre it's embarrassing" to "so bad it's funny" and on into "so bad it's insulting my intelligence".

Origins is set in a postapocalyptic world in which humans grapple with vicious mutant plants; the whole setup is a little reminiscent of Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, with a few changes. Overall, I really wanted to love the world of Origins, and initially, I did. The film's protagonist, Agito, is your average plucky shonen main character- cheerful, slightly mischievous, lively- mostly there for the film to have a hero. I didn't take issue with Agito- I rather liked him, and was drawn into his life in a little village, where he tended to his father, who was slowly turning into a tree.

One day, Agito discovers a mysterious underground ark turned mausoleum, where thousands of people lay in a sort of high-tech hibernation. Unfortunately, all but one of these people have died. The sole survivor is a mysterious girl (Tula) who, surprise, becomes the protagonist's love interest. It was a sad and predictable cliché to see a girl born a few centuries ago, at the end of her world, to wake up in what is entirely another and have a somewhat minimal reaction to what is essentially an alien environment, but being completely alright with it and falling for the protagonist. It's one of many things that went wrong in this film.

I'm going to stop talking about the world and story here, because the grand finale of this film is so stupendously stupid that it begs to be seen.

Aesthetically, I adored it- this song drew me to the movie, and I was blown away by the film's intro- I really thought I was in for a treat.

I have to give Origins credit in this aspect- the absurd final few scenes of the film are made watching by their visual fidelity and fantastic music. If you enjoy dramatic, grandiose pieces with strong vocals, you might want to check out the music of Origins- it's worth buying the soundtrack.

My main gripe with Origins wasn't just that it was awful, but that it started off so beautifully. It's as if I woke up and was suddenly draped in a fine silk robe by incredibly friendly surgeons, only to wake up in a tub of ice an hour later to the realization that I'm hallucinating and my kidneys are missing.

Overall, this isn't a film I'd watch again- not without friends. If you enjoy laughing at movies on account of their being awful and breaking the laws of logic, or if you enjoy movies that have gorgeous scenery and great music and don't care much about the story, give Origin a look. Otherwise, you'll want to call it a pass.