Human Lost: Ningen Shikkaku

Despite the poor reviews if you have read the 1948 novel you realise that this is much more than a CGI anime film witha convoluted story line that makes little or no sense. It is in fact a vivid reimagining of a japanese classic, putting the plot and character in to a futuristic world. Initially I came in blind before erading the book ,And even then i could comprehend the plot. However my full amazement at this film came once i started reading the novel. Once I rewatched it I began to feel nostalgia, remembering the book and marvelling at the epic that was Humanlost. This is a brilliant film, however if you go in blind with no intention of reading the novel then you will, most likely, have wasted your time.

I seen the UK Premiere of this movie at Scotland Loves Anime, and it was also the first time I've seen an anime movie on the big screen and also the first time I've willingly watched any anime in the original Japanese with English subtitles. This movie was very enjoyable, I'm not a professional reviewer by any means and it's not something I do very often but I do feel the need to recommend this movie. The story is loosely (and I mean very loosely) based on the autobiographical novel "No Longer Human" by Osamu Dazai. The biggest change being that the movie takes place in acyberpunk 2036 and while I can't comment on the novel seeing as I haven't read it myself from what I've heard the movie does represent some of the main themes of the novel in its own unique way. Regardless the story is satisfying and has left me the urge to read the original source material. The art uses a mixture of well done CGI as well as traditional 2D artwork that compliment each other very well in my opinion and even at times add some nice contrast. The characters were likable enough and were quite well animated. The movie is quite enjoyable and -I'd say at least- fairly unique in the way that it has adapted its source material, it's definitely worth a watch and I look forward to watching it again when it hopefully gets a dub release and its blu-ray release.

I don't understand why this show is rated under a 6.00 average. Sure, the show has problems, and I *did* rate this a 5/10, but it's definitely not a *bad* movie in any sense of the word. At its worst, the show felt a bit cliche and predictable, but at its best, it does pose some fairly interesting questions (none of which however I would say it answered to a good extent). However, at its core, this movie is fairly underrated, especially for a show with a 5.85 average. Story: 6 The first few scenes absolutely drew me in. A society in which people can't die,a sci-fi setting that speaks volumes by itself, and a social structure that could've easily been analyzed further? To me, this was absolutely enthralling to watch. Heck, the first time the audience meets the protagonist was already rather creative in itself and aided in the viewer in understanding the complete scope of how the fictional society functioned. The main threat within the story felt a tad bit cliche, but it was an idea that could've easily been explored bit by bit. However, further analysis of these themes was never really present, and much of the later half delved into a lot more boring, and predictable territory. Felt like a waste of an interesting setting and themes. Art: 7 I actually kind of liked the CGI art style. In many cases, the art style was rather breathtaking, even if it was CGI, and contributed greatly towards my enjoyment and understanding of the film's settings and characters. The paintings in which the protagonist drew were highly expressive, and contained much thought towards the mental state of the protagonist. Pretty much the high point of the film. Pair that up with the interesting setting, and you have a story waiting to be told. Sound: 5 The sound was rather forgettable, but it served its purpose in the film. Nothing else really to say about this section. Character: 4 Now, this is where I personally have my issues with the film. With a proper setting, artistic style, and themes to dive into, this film honestly had so much potential. Its characters absolutely broke that potential faster than putting a melting ice sculpture into an oven at 250 C. Every single one of the characters were incredibly cliche, which meant that most of the dialogue were also incredibly predictable. In fact, during part 2, there was a confession sequence of the protagonist that was laughably bad because it came out of nowhere. One moment, he was talking normally, and the next he was on the ground having an existentialist crisis. Incredibly disappointed in this section with the film. Enjoyment: 5 With all of the interesting themes, setting, and social structure left mostly unanswered except for a few simple explanations, as well as dreadfully boring characters, and a story that gradually sprialled into mundanity, I can't help but feel a bit disappointed by the end. However, the intro section of this film is rather interesting, and had made me interested in this film long enough to finish it. Overall, disappointed, but still enjoyed it. Overall: 5 I know that some people working in this project put some amount of thought. However, the film just turned into a mindless show attempting to act smart by posing questions without ever having interesting solutions to the questions. Meanwhile, I still believe that this film is underrated as of the moment. Overall, the film started off rather strongly, but absolutely fell apart in the later sections. I give this film a mid 5/10.

In the beginning of Human Lost, I wasn't understanding anything from the plot. At the last minutes of the movie, I felt the same way I was in the beginning. It has great action scenes, but most of them are tied by a super weak and dumb plot that doesn't make sense, pretentious shit. It was clearly trying (and failing) to emulate Akira and Ghost in the Shell. The character design is nice (done by Kozaki), but that's it. I tend to defend CG animation in Anime and I think people are prejudiced in most of the cases they are criticizing not only the animation, butentire story just for the sake of criticizing. However, this movie really sucks — and believe it, the animation is the best thing here.