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.