Origin - Spirits of the Past: The Movie
by Keiichi Sugiyama
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Carrie SavageDirector: Keiichi Sugiyama
Brand: FUNIMATION PRODUCTIONS, LTD
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; Japanese (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1
Format: Animated, Color, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 90 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-02-20
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Funimation
Movie Reviews of Origin - Spirits of the Past: The Movie
Movie Review: A Great Eco-Fantast Anime; Similiar To Some Of Studio Ghibli's Greats
Summary: 5 Stars
Three hundred years after a global catacylsm where the coming of an entity called the Forest Dragon wipes out most of human civilization and restores a severely weakened natural world to a state of primal supremacy on the planet, a find from the past shakes up the global balance that's precariously positioned itself. The vast forest is supreme, but bands of humans still exist and have learned to grow in this new world - only two groups are involved in the movie (there may well be others elsewhere on the globe), one of which lives on the cliffs that border the jungle and have managed to build a fairly prosperous though low-tech existance, scavenging relics from the ruins and existing in a sort of comfortable truce with the forest and the plant-life humanoids that now dwell in it and seem to act as its agents/emissaries. The other civilization is a militaristic society that's re-industrialized a small slice of territory and whose ultimate aim is an outright war with the sentient forest. When a pair of young scavengers from the first (cliff-dwelling) groups stumble across an immaculately preserved laboratory/bunker deep under the forest and the ruins, they end up awakening a girl from suspended animation, who went under right at the end of the old world civilization. She's welcomed into the cliff society but aggressively sought by the militaristic state, who believe that she has knowledge from the past that could help them to restore the world to its pre-cataclysm state.
Though the cliff-dwelling society that's aligned itself in truce with the forest is clearly the 'good guys' of the two factions, the industrialized group isn't depicted as gratuitously evil. Most of its number seek to restore the previous state of the world because they see it as a better future for humanity, not out of any maniacal, blind hate for the natural world or mad powerlust. They fear the forest greatly, and don't seem to consider that it could have crushed the new human societies at any time but is letting them exist as long as it, the forest, isn't directly attacked. That's MOST of the residents of the industrialized state; their leaders seem to have a much darker and more control-hungry nature. The bulk of the industrialized society seems to view the forest and its 'entities' as having started the war with the catacylsm; the forest itself clearly would view that man started it with its widespread destruction of the natural world that forced it to act, with more power than anyone would have assumed nature possessed. The cliff society doesn't really seem to dwell on who started it, but have long since established a peace with the surrounding forest that leaves both sides from encroaching too much on the other and at peace. The leaders of the industrial society seem to view that as a weak path.
In the days following the awakening of the girl from the past (as it also comes to light that another from the past had awakened before), all kinds of secrets from ages ago, and revelations about the true state of the world, come out, as events that have been building up for years suddenly rush towards a potential armageddon.
The movie has one of the most mind-blowing openings ever put on film with the dawn of the Forest Dragon; it also has one of the most...amazing endings ever. I'd like to describe in what way it's amazing, but that would clearly give too much away. Just be sure to watch all the way past the end credits to see both the finale and its coda.
I know not everyone's interested in such things, but I thought it worth mentioning that the packaging of this movie is superb, with great artwork and metallic-looking, light embossing on its outer sleeve, and a fold-out inside packed with quick looks at a number of the distributor's other anime titles. Also a great trailer gallery for relatively obscure anime and non-anime titles, too.
My sole complaint is that this could have easily been far longer and have lost nothing, there's so much going on it. It's 90 minutes in length and could have easily been twice that. It could have even been a 5-or-6 disc series, and greatly beefed up the roles of some of the supporting characters and expanded on some of the secondary concepts. With it being this good though, I don't want to gripe too much. This is a must-see for fans of movies like Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind and Princess Mononoke, or of epic fantasy/adventures in general or big, imaginative, 'nature-themed' tales.
Summary of Origin - Spirits of the Past: The Movie
The rebirth of the future from the ashes of the past A young boy named Agito enters a forbidden sanctuary where a glowing machine resides. This machine preserves a young girl named Toola who has a mission entrusted by her from the past. Three-hundred years into the future the Earth's environment has been ruined by the interference of mankind and in between the 300 years the forest has come to life and is at constant war with man. It is an unsteady peace in an unnatural time. Only by searching their souls and examining the past will Toola & Agito realize the origin of all things and unite mankind with the forest. The first full-length feature film from Studio GonzoFormat: DVD Genre: ANIMATION/ADULT SWIM UPC: 704400023729 Manufacturer No: 1-4210-1605-2Similar DVD Movies
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