An enjoyable, if not entirely consistent, ultra-violent rotoscoped epic. There's some stiff voice acting in a handful of places that was a bit distracting, but not enough to drag the rest down. Regarding the episodic nature, I was quite pleased to find that none of the sections really fell flat for me, with enjoyment to be had in all of them. I really loved the unpredictable elements, particularly the story of the trio of winged avengers toward the end. The violence was suitably intense and the lore, vast and compelling. At the end of the day, the creativity on display in this movie greatly surpasses almost anything else you might choose to watch. Even if it's got some rough edges and a somewhat narrow intended audience, it is undoubtedly an admirable film.

A modern but old looking fantasy tale.

The design is pleasing with its retro style, however the animation is a bit too retro. Mainly what is blatantly annoying is that there is no change in animation speed, ever, whether the characters are walking or running, talking or fighting. This makes all action scenes look like weird slow motion.

The story is not linear but told through tales, mostly relating to a scholar acquiring an item of power that he finally masters and uses to dominate mankind. Most parts are interesting, focusing on different characters, but some are totally useless (what was the point of the couple's story in the middle ?).

The world itself is original, with different cultures, tribes, kingdoms, institutions, we don't see much, but as the different parts focus on various places (and times) and characters, we get a good overview.

Some of the fights are a bit gory, specially the one involving a blood ritual, and the slow motion effect makes it a bit weird.

The story mostly holds together, with a special mention for the legendary part explaining the origin of the lotus power.

[FANTBilbao '22] There is a certain kitsch nostalgia in this film admittedly indebted to Ralph Bakshi, but the animation doesn't have enough attractive elements, nor does the story build an interesting plot, made up here of several stories around a magical flower. There are segments that work better (the flower custody shadows) but in general they are too flat to seduce.

Level "Interesting" • 7 :heart: • Entertaining and Good.

The coolest thing I've seen this year! I actually wanted to wait until it hit Shudder next year but I had a feeling this would be great. And my god it fucking rules! It is a fantasy horror adventure following a young man who steals forbidden knowledge from a magical flower. He falls to its darker temptations and unleashes ages of suffering onto mankind and as his power grows over the years, it falls to people of different eras and cultures to attempt to stop him. There's a lot to love in here. It's wildly original, creative, and just so much fun to watch. The film immediately pulls you in with its insanely gorgeous hand-rotoscoped animation showcasing its marvelously built world and the variety of its universe. It's easy to get lost in its nonlinear story but thanks to the rich cosmic horror elements, fantastic characters, and graphic violence, it never fails to entertain and once I figured the structure, I started to enjoy it even more. I need more adult animated fantasy films like this.