Kumo no you ni, Kaze no you ni

Although this isn't a work by Miyazaki Hayao, you'd almost swear it was. Ginga is very much like a Miyazaki heroine in personality, and the art style is also startlingly similar to Studio Ghibli's work. This is partly due to the fact that some Ghibli animators worked on this movie. The artwork looks a tad low-budget by comparison with Ghibli, but that's probably an unfair comparison given that this movie was made for TV. In any case, I quickly forgot about this aspect once the story started.

This movie stuck with me in a pleasant way. It left me with things to think about, and I became quite fond of some of the characters during the short time the movie ran. And it is short, only about 90 minutes. A longer running time could have given the story more sweep, but no doubt the demands of television wouldn't allow it. The story still works with the tighter focus.

"All Ages" rating note: There's no nudity and surprisingly little violence, given that a revolution is part of the story. However, some mature themes are touched on and a couple of characters do die (though not graphically).

Bottom line: a nice little movie which will almost certainly appeal to Miyazaki fans.