Reviews for Big Fish & Begonia

Finally watched this movie after I lost the name a year ago and found it again last week. I got to know about it because it's a collaboration between a Chinese studio and the Korean studio that made Korra. The art and animation are next level revolutionary. The character designs, flora and fauna, music, voices and everything visual are like endless orgasm for your eyes. You can see the Korra and Ghibli influences in it. I loved it. BUT it was a real real pity - the entire film happened too fast, it was one tragedy to another in minutes, too many characters that seemedimportant but were never or sparingly expanded on or explained. The girl made her decisions too fast without a period for developing her feelings to a realistic intensity. A lot of things happened that were hard to understand and messy. They missed out the opportunity to present and explain the beautiful world and concept they created for the movie. It felt like they tried to cram in too many emotional scenes to the point they some of them didn't feel emotional anymore. Not to mention the two main characters probably died and revived 3 times throughout the movie.

Could have been a 10/10 film if not for the very bad presentation/execution. It was really the amazing art that saved it. I still recommend it cuz I think it's worth the watch for the art.

I made an account on here just to write a review for this, since no one else has! This is such a beautiful movie. In my opinion (and I know not many will agree with me but whatever), this by far surpasses any Ghibli movies, as well as Kimi no na wa. Of course there were a few things it could have done better, but honestly, everything was too superb for me to notice many flaws at all. Art: 10/10. Literally so gorgeous. The vibrant colors and scenery were incredibly majestic and stunning, and the whole time I felt completely immersed. Not to mention, all ofthe characters were super well done. The men were really attractive, which is a plus for me, but in general -- everyone had their own little quirks about them instead of being bland and repetitive.

Animation: 9/10. I would give it a 10/10, just for being so smooth and extremely well done, but the use of cgi at some points was a bit annoying. Even so, the studio still managed to meld it together without it being too standoffish. It was unique, if anything, so I had almost no problems with it.

Story/Plot: 10/10. I might be sounding super biased, but honestly, I've never seen such a well done plot revolving around reincarnation, and the concept of life. It's perfect to me, and because I was raised around this type of belief, it really hits home to see something depicting it in such a way.

Voice acting: 8/10. There were some parts - especially towards the beginning of the movie where I was not yet used to the voices - that I felt the emotions were not being portrayed as powerfully as they should have been, and were lackluster. But overtime I was able to adapt quickly to it, and throughout the movie it almost felt like the voice actors themselves grew, as I was hearing much more depth in the tones they were taking on. I did, in particular, really enjoy Chun's older voice. Very wise sounding (as she should be, after all she went through).

Soundtrack: 10/10. I loved it. It's not too over the top, yet still very impactful. There were no scenes where I felt that the ost was out of place.

Characters Development: 8/10. I didn't see much of this with Chun, honestly. She seemed to stay the same throughout the whole movie, and I didn't feel like she grew very much. Qiu, on the other hand, went through a heck of a lot of development. He was somewhat selfish at first, caring more about what would happen to Chun than listening to what Chun herself actually wanted, and then ended up sacrificing quite a bit for her wishes nearer to the end.

Overall: Deep storyline, beautiful message, and lots and lots of much appreciated heartwarming feels. To me, it was perfect, and I will most definitely be re-watching this again.

OVERALL RATING : 1, PATHETIC. Hi, this is a very negative review of Big Fish and Begonia. Keep in mind that this is a conversation, please do not randomly get offended. So, here is why not only did I not like Big Fish and Begonia, but this movie actually made me seriously angry : STORY AND CHARACTER : 3, POOR.The plot is a generic seemingly harmless come of age story about a strong girl who thinks out of the box and follows her heart but...

First problem : IT'S CONTRADICTORY AND MESSY.

The story is clumsily told which is counter productive. I'll come back to the main character's problem later but, for example, it is so clumsily written that a scene that was supposed to be poetic and emotional became hilarious (cf the worst love confession scene ever).

Also, it is messy : there is no main thread to the story, it is a patchwork of random characters who just do things because... reasons...

For example, there was no need for a villain in this story, and yet one appeared out of nowhere with some random macguffin, and disappeared just as quickly without adding anything to the story. When you want villains in your movie, you have to make them relevant and important : first, give them screen time ; second, set up and pay off their evil plan ; third, conclude their story ; fourth, give them a motive that might add something to the main meaning of the whole movie. Otherwise, what was the point ?

Second problem : LAZY PLAGIARISM.

The main character's arc, her chara design and even some of her expressions (especially the strong willed serious girl expression) were copy-pasted from Miyazaki's classic main characters... without even understanding Miyazaki's work.

How to know the difference between lazy cash-grabby plagiarism and sincere inspiration ? Well inspiration tries to bring something new to the original material, like an hommage. For references, go watch Disney's Lion King (kind of a remake of Osamu Tezuka's Kimba the White Lion, which they still could have been courteous enough to mention in the opening credits though), or Lu Over the Wall (which was heavily influenced by old american cartoons and Miyazaki (and especially Ponyo)).

Third problem : THE GIRL IS A SELFISH ASSHOLE.

The main character is a selfish asshole who never learns from her mistakes. Also, nothing anyone does has real consequences, which doesn't help. So she endangers her whole village, actually gets some important people killed and goes "Whatevs, Imma follow mah dreams". How poetic ! Like I said, blind plagiarism is counter productive.

Worst of all, she never encounters any real obstacles and everybody just want to sacrifice their lives for this selfish moron, especially her best friend (well, love is blind...) and her grandfather. Her body count is pretty amazing.

And even SPOILER ALERT when she finally tries to sacrifice herself to make amends for what she has done, the best friend takes her place... and she goes "okay thanks" and shrugs it off, so she really did learn nothing.

Personal suggestion : WANT AND NEED. What this girl needs is a slap in the face and a reality check. This is actually an important point when creating a classic come of age story. The girl wants something, she discovers that what she needed was actually something else. Example : Chihiro doesn't want to move to a new house and wants to go back home. Through a scary and magical journey, she learns that what she actually needs is the strength to face change, for life is ever changing and that is what makes every moment beautiful. And by the way even the comedic subplot about Yubaba's perpetual baby who is accidentally freed from his overprotective mother and faces the outside world actually adds to the meaning of the story. Get it, movie ? That's just how well thought out Miyazaki's work is ! Try to understand what you plagiarize, at least !

Fifth problem : WASTED POTENTIAL.

The girl's best friend was original and had amazing potential... what a shame ! He is energetic and friendly but also violent and jealous. Every time he appears, the scene starts with something breaking. This is a brilliant idea ! Which was just completely dropped partway through. SPOILER ALERT the kid stays nice and even sacrifices himself for the girl without ever becoming a real threat. What was the point ?

ART : 5, MEDIOCRE

First problem : LAZY PLAGIARISM.

For example, the scene with Yubaba - hem, sorry, the Guardian of Souls : the old man is introduced in a sort of litter carried by cats. This was exactly the same type of animation as Howl's Moving Castle for the evil witch, (with a tinge of Ghibli's Neko no Ongaeshi)... except the old man is INSIDE a palace. Seriously. Grow a brain, movie. And then the guy reaches for his grasshopper cigarettes with the same movements as Yubaba and the whole scene was reminiscent of Yubaba's deal.

Same with the volume of clothes and the way they catch light (cf scene with water and fire camp) which were exactly Miyazaki's style and animation.

All that was missing was his enormous tears, expressive cat-like hair and big eyed weird creatures.

Did you think your audience was blind ? Well... you were probably right, seeing how well you are rated.

Second problem : BAD ASSOCIATIONS.

-The chara designs were clumsy : your main character is supposed to be the focal center both in the scenario and in the frame. The girl's design blended too well with her surroundings. The chara design that was actually the center of attention was the best friend's. Which added to the girl's general blandness.

-The 3D was disgustingly bad and badly integrated in the landscapes.

-Mixing cartoon-Tezuka-ish flashy dolphins with realistic enough humanoid characters just felt really silly and broke the poetic atmosphere it was aiming for. For once you should have plagiarized Miyazaki's creatures a bit more.

SOUND : 5, MEDIOCRE.

I don't remember it... Must have been pretty generic, then.

ENJOYMENT : 1, PATHETIC.

I wasn't even bored or disappointed : I was seriously disgusted and angry.

Lazy cash-grabs should not be rewarded.

*This review contains a few spoilers.* Da Yu Hai Tang presents itself with astounding visuals that few modern japanese Anime can compete with. Under the surface, however, the Movie suffers from bad writing/execution and doesn't have much to offer besides its fantastic animation, especially the highly detailed world, i.e. the nature or mystic creatures. My criticism is directed towards two main flaws of this movie: The story and the characters. The story is haphazard. The scenes don't transition well and the story essentially runs from one tragedy into another. It gives Chun no room to develop herself or to expand on any of the characters atall, instead it tries to encompass more and more different elements into it, most of which aren't even connected to main plotline itself. The main plotline would be Chun caring for the dolphin named Kun but the story develops in a very dark way and it's not even really explained why. Things happen because of unknown reasons and it's really hard to follow the "story", especially because of the lack of dialogue in many scenes (which the animation doesn't make up for). I'm not even sure what the core message of the story is. I understood that it's about life, death and reincarnation but the characters died like 5 million times (not literally) throughout the story and were always revived and I don't see what I'm supposed to learn from that. Apparently, every action of every character is inconsequential as well, as everything turns out good in the end.

The characters in this movie are extremely bad. Chun has full focus for 100 min, yet she has almost no personality other than being incredibly selfish. Her decisions seem arbitrary and I think that is also one of the reasons why the story seems so haphazard. Her own stupidity gets her into trouble again and again and after a while it becomes painful to watch. Of course, she receives no character development as well. All she does throughout the story is reviving a guy who saved her in the human world and then she spends the rest of the movie caring for him (reincarnated as a dolphin) and causing drama and more drama. The other main character, Qiu, is just as bad. He helps Chun throughout the story, even going so far as to sacrifice himself for her, but his motives are vague. It's hinted that he is in love with Chun, but I'm not a fan of blind love. All other characters are basically only plot devices with no real connection to anything. I want to highlight the "sort of antagonist" here. Yeah you're reading right: They even introduced some kind of antagonist but made her vanish without ever doing anything notable.

Nothing in this movie makes sense. Chun (for reasons not explained) endangers her village and people even die, yet she decides to stay selfish and care for Kun. But apparently the people around her don't care too much about that as her grandfather even sacrifices himself for her. Why would he do that?

This movie tries to be a coming of age story, but it's lacking the basic concept of coming of age. Chun faces no real obstacles (besides her selfishness and own stupidity) and essentially learns nothing. This is not how coming of age works. Her sole motive and catalyst for the entire story is Chun feeling sorry because some random boy from the human world (who she knows nothing about) died because he tried to help her. And that wouldn't be even a bad catalyst for the story (even though it's kind of generic). But Chun never reflects on herself if she did the right thing or how her actions could potentially affect her surroundings. She doesn't develop from there and for the viewer there's nothing to learn as well. The movie is crammed with emotional scenes and climaxes, but frankly the high amount results in exactly the opposite: You end up not feeling anything.

I think it's sad that the movie didn't expand more on its world. The world is definitely charming and stirring, especially due to the fantastic animation and highly detailled art, but the magic or the mystic creatures are never explored any further. Apparently the people are able to control the elements similar to Avatar but aside from the basic usage of elemental control there is not much more to experience. I don't weigh this aspect too much as this is a "what if?" situation and the movie was clearly designed to be a character-focused drama, but I think if this movie would have just been an action adventure, it would have been way better.

If not for the beautiful art, I would have rated this movie even lower. I was compelled by the art during the first few minutes but I quickly began to lose interest as this movie has nothing to offer beyond its art.

*This review contains minor spoilers for the sake of humour* China strikes again! But seriously, there are more and more Chinese animations that are coming out lately and managed to capture an overseas audience which is pretty interesting to see to say the least. So we really should find a better one word representation of this because “Chinese Cartoons” is 1 word too many for my mouth. That aside, let’s actually get on with the review. Sound: 10 We are going to start with sound because ear-gasms are apparently a thing. The music and sound effects are really well done and are used perfectly; melding together theart, characters and story into a piece of stunning visual entertainment. Suffice to say, without this the movie would definitely not be as spectacular as it could have been. Also the movie is dubbed in Mandarin Chinese, so if you really picky with your dubs, then you are going to miss out for sure.

Art: 9

The animation is great, there is no doubt about that. However, some parts of the movie is CG (like one object in one scene) which might put you off the magnificent art style and animation if you are a hardcore “ALL CG IS BAD CG” fan. Character design is also unique, since it is a fantasy film expect to see many different Chinese mythological creatures (many nekos).

Characters: 8

You shall meet three mains: 1 male, 1 female, 1 dolphin; let gender equality reign (unfortunately no apache attack helicopters in this film, since the setting isn’t in the modern world).

Female main is called Chun (not cousins with Chun Li), and the story is told through her point of view for most part of the movie.

Male-chan is called Qiu (good luck pronouncing that), and he will be accompanying Chun in her endeavours.

Dolphin-kun is called Kun (no seriously, I’m not lying), 他 is the drive of the plot of the film, so fairly important.

Now the development of the characters is not bad, particularly Qiu undergoes monumental changes from one end of the spectrum (cheeky and selfish) to the other (selfless and super saiyan) in the name of 爱. Chun on the other hand doesn’t change very much which is not surprising if I’m honest since there really isn’t too much of her to change. Kun is a dolphin, that’s ample development.

One last thing before moving on though, the side characters do what they needed to do, none of them were there to “fill the numbers” and all of them has a particular personality associated with them. Chun’s granny is a phoenix for goodness sake!

Story: 7

Ah, the minor pitfall of this movie.

Generally the plot flows, with powerful themes of life, death, love, reincarnation, family, rebellion… as well as philosophical questions like how much are you willing to lose to gain a certain thing. However, some parts of the film was slightly confusing, as it would make you question “why?” or “how?” or “wait, what?” but these don’t detract you from the entire plot point and many are explained/revealed down the line, it’s just the spur of the moment confusion might put some of you off the plot a minute or two. This is coming from a person who understands Chinese to enough of an extent that don’t use the subs so the effect might vary depending on your viewing experience.

All in all though, the plot made sense in the end and it does make you question your existence.

Enjoyment: 8

It’s a very stunning looking piece of visual and auditory entertainment. There are only a few minor chips and dents in the plot but otherwise everything is great. It might take you a bit of time to understand everything fully but it is well worth your time to watch it.

Overall: 8

Da Yu Hai Tang is like a Ghibli film, but instead of Japanese it’s Chinese, instead of No-Face it’s dolphins but otherwise it’s very similar to Spirited Away and explores many deep themes. So don’t be fooled by the visuals and concept, the film definitely makes you think.

This movie ultimately fails in what it is attempting to do. It draws on the idea of faustian bargain but the rules of the trade become convoluted and nonsensical to get to an ending that doesn't make sense with in the context of the overarching theme. Further the love interest of one of the main characters has no reason for being a love interest, they have been shown to have barely any interactions and their relationship does not grow or receive any attention until the very end. It makes the whole premise very unbelievable and unfortunate, because the original idea this character would haveplayed in the movie made it interesting but I couldn't see them fulfilling this role given the narrative.

Still as a Chinese anime the art was fluid and the ambiance was comfy. There were some scenes where the writer looped the same sequence several times back to back which made it drag on and made me lose interest in the scene. Still the animation being so clean brought me back in for a while.

Overall I'll give it a 6 because it was well animated, though the story was flawed.

(Minor spoilers in this review) Da Yu Hai Tang is an okay movie. Unfortunately, that's all that can be said about this movie and it is not one to leave a lasting impression. The movie starts in a fantasty-like setting where we meet our main character, our main character's best friend, and the main character's family and other random people in this fantasy society. In order to fully become an adult, at the age of 16 they must undergo an arbitrary task of going to the human world as a... red fish.. and then come back after a week and then they get to be calledreal adults.

When the main character enters the human world, after being told by her family to avoid humans at all costs, she gets saved by a human and low and behold he ends up dying to save her, leaving his sister behind as it is implied he is her caregiver, and now the main character feels guilty.

So she finds a way by some lucky miracle to bring him back to life and the rest of the film is the journey she undertakes to try and bring him back, as she must protect him (his soul embodies a fish) as he grows until he is able to return to the human world through flight.

In general, I picked this movie because it had an interesting premise but it turned out to be a low-grade quality studio ghibli like film. The voice acting in this film is bad as characters talk quickly and don't really have much emotion to their roles. One role that stood out particularly to me was the main character's father who was seeing her off, knowing he might never see her again, and in the most monotone voice basically says "ok leave". What?

The art-style in this film ranges from decent to terrible as there are inconsistencies with the visuals due to bad implementation of CGI. There are certain scenes where something will just look "off" to you and it can really take away from the experience of watching the film.

The story itself started off with a good premise but its execution is lacking. The story uses an old trick to progress the story. "Magic". This fantasy world has no rules, or rather, the rules aren't really explained and its hard to get emotionally involved in the story when you realize that there are no real consequences to the majority of the character actions because magic can fix everything. Without spoiling too much, there are characters near the end of the film who should die but instead magic saves them in order to push for a traditional happy ending, which is disappointing.

There are also plot points that are just... confusing. For instance, the attitude of everyone in the village is that they should never go into contact with humans and the human world is bad- yet everyone throughout the film seems to believe that the human world is much better. Yet, we rarely see anyone try and escape into the human world. One of the first scenes in the movie, a major character explains how in their journey to the human world they enjoyed it- to the extent where they implied it was better than their own world. Why does it seem like no one actually leaves this "other world".

There is another point in the movie that says that you need an object from the human world in order to enter the human world and leave behind their world- but in the instances we see of people entering the human world only once is there a human world object involved. It seems like the fantasy world in this movie has made-up rules that can change when convenient because "magic" and "happiness" and "We must push forth for a happy ending at all costs, no matter how bad the writing".

Did I necessarily dislike this movie? No. That's why I give this movie a 6/10. However it is mediocre in the sense that this feels like a movie aimed at children with a premise already done before. Romantic elements in this movie seem forced due to lack of character development, which seems great for a kid's movie but should still be criticized, and characters seem very one dimensional showing little growth and performing illogical actions.

In general, you won't be missing out on much if you skip this movie.

*SPOILERS AHEAD* Originality isn't always good, and this is a clear example of that. Big Fish & Begonia is a pathetic piece of work made by a team that has absolutely no idea of how to write a fucking film. One thing that annoys me is a good concept that was carried out horribly. This movie fails trying to explain itself, and almost all events happen with no fucking reason, and the audience has to guess why it happened; how was the fish related to the gigantic flood? Why was the rat lady punished? Why was the fish that big of a threat? Why did the protagonistsrevive that many times, when they literally sold their lives once? Why did the grandpa get set on fire? How did the world work? Why did the plot contradict itself so many times? None of these questions were even close to being answered, and it is completely impossible to follow a plot that doesn't know how to respect itself.

BF&B's animation is mediocre at best, and the character design is utterly disgusting and hard to look at. The only good aspect when talking about this film's visuals might be the scenery, as it looks surprisingly good. However, this film tries way too hard to combine 3D objects with 2D characters, and it's needless to say that it simply didn't work out.

One of the most gigantic issues this movie has is its incapability of creating likeable characters. Each and every single character feels like a inert piece of cardboard, and their faces express less emotions than a rock. I think the only character that's bareable at most is the soul trader, simply because he is an interesting concept of a character. The voice acting is utterly awful. Children sounding like adults is ridiculous, and their acting is simply unbearable and pitiful. Seiyūs like these make me want to vomit.

Overall, BF&B is a horrible piece of work that tries way too hard to create a likeable and complex setting with just 100 minutes of watch-time. This is undoubtedly the worst movie I've ever seen, and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. An utter waste of time.

This is my first review, I've been watching anime for over 10 years and I've never actually felt the need to write one until I watched this anime movie. I've posted this review in other places, so if it's recognized then it's not a copy-paste, I wrote the original review. It must have been a few years back when I first saw the concept art for this movie before it was even released. I was excited, I saw the potential and I couldn’t wait to watch it. In fact, I wanted to watch it so bad that I remembered the movie a few years later whenit was already released in English so I sought it out and watched it.

I have to say that I’ve never been so massively disappointed in a movie before. What disappointed me most was the lack of utilization of the amazing, stunning, beautiful background scenes, characters, and their powers. The story was a dull and uninteresting, done-before, story of a stupid girl falling in love and not realizing that being selfish in love leads to consequences.

There are magical powers shown beyond comprehensions, beautiful nature scenes, characters with weird and interesting traits like horns, but none of these incredibly interesting details are the focus in any point of the story. The movie didn’t need any of what they showed in order to make the story work. A story of a stupid lovestruck girl doesn’t need a background setting infinitely more interesting than her or any of her troubles. I can only feel sorry for the creators to make all of these amazing intricate details in the story that are only shown for a small fraction of the movie. All the potential is completely flushed down the toilet in this movie.

Some people compare it to Ghibli, and I can see where they’re coming from, but Ghibli doesn’t make the fatal mistake of making their setting more interesting than the character and their story. Ghibli fully utilizes the scenery, the objects in the background, the supporting characters, to add to the story rather than take away from it. Ghibli makes the character feel in harmony with their surroundings. You’re left with an impression and a sense of satisfaction from watching the movie, not with frustration of how badly done the movie was and left thinking of how much better IT COULD HAVE BEEN.

One time I saw beautiful pictures of a woman who must have spent thousands on an extravagant gender reveal party. It was above and beyond and you can just imagine how amazing that party must have been. But here’s the kicker, it was all for a pregnant horse. That’s exactly what this movie is, it sets you up for something amazing only to give you a complete joke.

yes for some the Chinese is going to throw you off a little bit but other than that the movie is on par in animation with Ghibli movies and Kimi no na wa, garden of words etc. The story was a bit weak but many supernatural storylines tend to have such effect. ART (10/10): one word stunning. You will be totally mesmerised by the level of detailing and the vibrant colours. The amount of work put in the art is completely visible in the incredible visual sequences. At some points you can notice CGI being used but the animators did manage to meld it in quitewell so it does not appear too standoffish.

SOUNDTRACKS(10/10): not too exceptional but no where in the movie it felt like the soundtracks were not meant for the scene.

STORY(8/10): it is a supernatural movie so to some people the story might not appeal so much and to some it may look not too well prepared and structured or given proper depth to, however the plot is well developed around the idea of rebirth.

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT(8/10): the lead role didn't show much of development however one of support roles had a good growth towards the end.

overall beautiful artwork, good storyline and heartwarming. Definitely recommend watching it.

I watched the movie Da Yu Hai Tang, also known as Big Fish & Begonia. It is a Chinese animated movie and I watched it with Chinese audio. Here are my thoughts: If I could describe this movie in one word it would be "strange." This movie is very strange. It involves a lot of supernatural and mythical themes. It makes me think of the absurd fables that are part of ancient mythologies, such as Greek or Indian mythology. This movie feels like a strange illogical fable straight out of some ancient mythological belief system. In fact, the movie apparently does draw on some themes fromChinese mythology. It could be that my complete lack of knowledge in that area impeded my understanding of the story.

Visually, it looked pretty good. Animation quality was high. There were lots of strange creatures too which were entertaining to watch. This movie doesn't really look like anime both in terms of art style as well as the animated movement itself. The animation style feels more like western animation, despite its Chinese origin. This felt like a demented Pixar film to me. It's worth noting that I am quite sick right now and I watched this with a fever which probably amplified the delirious feeling of the movie.

The story itself was quite incoherent and often rushed. Many things were unclear in terms of plot as well as character motivations. I spent most of the movie confused about what was happening. Both the writing and execution of the plot are the weakest aspects of this movie. The exposition during the first half of the movie was also quite rushed and left me confused before the plot even really kicked in. My confusion continued to compound as things progressed.

Audio in this was really good. Audio production quality was high. The soundtrack was very good. There were some really nice Chinese vocals that played during the ending credits as well.

My overall rating: 6/10

Despite my “high” rating for this show, I honestly wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. I know that sounds contradictory, but I don’t think this is a work you can enjoy unless you turn your brain off...which I did. Just like many of the negative comments point out, the story is very weak and the main character simply…sucks. The only reason I stuck around and rated it as high as I did was because of Qiu, the SML/best friend. I loved him, he was eccentric, cool, rebellious, he carried the entire thing for me. Unfortunately, they nerfed him toward the end. At one point, he even gaveoff “I’ll have her even if I have to do something heinous” vibes, but the movie never explores that. All the tension just fizzles out, and his character loses so much potential.

Now, about the FML...I didn’t really enjoy watching her. I was confused by her motives, because (spoilers) how can someone destroy their entire village, world, lose their powers, best friend, and grandfather…and still not grow or learn anything? Sure, you can argue “love” is the reason, and I get it...I love love too, and I believe sacrifice comes with it. But what exactly made her fall in love with Kun? Who is he, and what makes him special? If it’s just because he sacrificed himself for her, then by that same logic, Qiu should’ve been a contender too. Yet, just like Soulkeeper, he’s left alone with nothing but those damn cats (no hate to cats, I love them). Why does she get the ending she wants while her entire village is gone? Rebuilding won’t be a simple walk in the park, powers or not.

And then there’s the “villain.” Was she even really a villain? Why was she cursed? Why did they let her escape to the human world? Is she just free to roam now? None of it was answered, which left me with more questions than closure.

On the positive side, the music was beautiful, it gave me strong nostalgia from my favorite C-dramas. The art style also reminded me of Studio Ghibli. In fact, early on I literally said, “this is giving Ghibli vibes,” which raised my expectations for the message delivery. I think I get the intended message, but the execution just didn’t land.

Also, I’m really tired of media (especially anime) where there are no real stakes or consequences. What do you mean the entire cast just gets revived like they had a reboot card? When the FML sacrificed herself, I thought, “finally, she’s showing growth and accountability” only for that moment to be nullified.

All in all, it’s a decent watch if you just want to zone out and enjoy a filler-type story with nice visuals and music. But if you’re looking for something with depth, meaning, or resonance, this isn’t it.

If you haven't watched Da Yi Hai Tang and think you have a small idea about what it's about, you haven't even touched the surface of it. This anime pursues both the physical and emotional aspects of a story told through a young girl named Chun. This story cannot be replicated in any way and is a one of a kind. The beauty of this anime has brought me to tears. Not just the visual beauty. The beauty of the story, characters, and emotions put into it. It touched my heart deeply and i regret not coming across this anime sooner. Don't skip over thisanime for any reason, i assure you it's worth the watch. This anime represents the sadness of death and happiness of life in all of its worth. Life and death go hand in hand and Da Yu Hai Tang shows it well.

Short Review here - Recommended: for animation and art? Yes. But no for everything else Spoiler-Free?: pretty spoiler free! Some tiny things but that’s it. Nothing major Pros: the frickin art dudes, it's so beautiful its almost unfair Cons: The characters and the overall execution with the pacing of the show. And there was something off with the voice acting I guess? (both sub and dub) Best Character: Qiu ( they did him dirty and he carried the whole show damn 😔) Swears in review: it’s cleannnnn ♥ An in-depth review is here: [Story]: the story was alright, the romance sucked and kinda weird but besides that it's was areally nice story with a really chill life lesson. Super epic but at times the pacing of the whole thing seemed to be rushed and unorganized.

[Art]: the Art is absolutely breathtaking and it’s really what saved this movie. To the colours and to the character design they really built a well-designed fantasy world. I’ve noticed that they used CGI which makes sense cause they must’ve used it to get those shots that like go in a circle and that (like promised neverland.) but they were able to handle the CGI beautifully, in fact, I think they also used CGI for the characters (maybe?) and honestly this should be the new CGI standard. The only complaint I have about the art is a nick pick and it’s that during the movie they have this little ball thing and whenever a character would hold it, it just looked super awkward in their hand. But honestly, I loved the art so much.

One of the transition things was just a black screen and I didn't like that. Literally fading into a black screen isn't super epic.

[Characters.]I want to talk about the voices in the movie for a second before we transition onto the characters, For some reason, the lines in the movie absolutely sucked and fell flat. I have no idea why it's like that but it sometimes the lines didn't make sense for the situation they were in or when they were talking to other people, it just felt awkward and weird. Of course, there were a few lines that felt normal but there would be moments where you are wondering ”why are you saying that.” again, I found this issue in mostly dub but I found it in the split second of sub I watched. I don't know if this was on the delivery of the lines or the actual script given but it really took me out of the experience. Maybe it's cause I found the lines inconsistent with the characters or I really can't seem to understand the characters at all. I mostly found this issue with Chun, rarely Qiu, Feng (Chun’s mother.), Kun’s sister and Jumang (He's just some dude who shows up and speaks for a bit.)

Let's get onto the actual characters starting with Chun. Chun was very inconsistent for me and I found a hard time liking her. Honestly, her personality was strange and inconsistent and I don't know if this was because of the facial expressions or its cause she would randomly do things that I wouldn't associate her character with doing. I don't know if they just fell short trying to get her character fully development or something else but she felt off to me and so did her mother so, daughter like the mother I guess. Maybe it's because she was too stiff? One of the only dynamic characters was Qiu and man did he deserve better. Literally, he did everything for Chun and he was ignored by her the entire time. Like Jesus man, you deserve better and can do better. Their relationship to me was very one-sided and just felt lacking. Two of the characters i really liked ( besides Qiu) was rat lady ( Shu Pozi) and Ling Po. It probably causes their characters were more constant but their motives were strange, mostly on Lings Pos side.

There's a lot more i can say about the characters but the main point i want to say is that they felt rushed and unimportant. All of the side characters showed up randomly and had no foreshadowing to them and i honestly didn't know who most of them were despite the fact they were labelled important but that's just me.

[Overall]: honestly it was a beautiful story that just fell short. I think it could've been better if they polished up on characters and lines and all of that but it's pretty nice.

that was so damn beautiful the story was well done and very emotional. you have this magical mythological setting and explore how it interacts with human reality. there were some loose ends and there couldve been so much more but alas movie time is limited and it only made the world they built feel so much bigger as i already said this was beautiful. but not just the stunning art, i was also very captured by the sound. i usually dont bother or notice anything about the sound but here it was absolutely amazing. the music (both instrumental and vocal), the animal sounds (both backround and from themain chars). tbh chinese voice acting isnt as jarring as everyone makes it out to be. as long as you have well paced subtitles youll understand everything no biggie. i hope i can download the soundtrack somehwere.

there characters were great. there are some antagonists and you get frustrated but you also cant really blame them. i was really invested in everyones happiness making the story that much more bittersweet. the ending was well done and very satisfying.

i enjoyed this movie so much i wouldnt know what else to say

A very emotional film, with an enormous audiovisual force. I found it a very exciting graphic journey. I saw it with low expectations but I found a very original story with an excellent narrative and art. It's the first Chinese anime that I see and also produced by Netflix. Great bet and excellent work. The soundtrack fits perfectly at all the scenes and the combination of the 3D with the 2D gives an important weight to some moments that try to give that feeling of dimensional disengagement. Totally recommended. Story: 9. Art: 9.Sound: 8

Character: 9

Enjoyment: 10.

Overall: 10.

In all honesty, of all the non-action animated movies I've seen in my life, both Western and Eastern, this movie is almost at the same emotional level as Spirited Away. The characters are nearly top-notch in terms of designs (both the human, divinities and spirits), the backgrounds are just drop-dead gorgeous, the soundtrack is like the first time I had a Chinese herbal tea (in short, marvelous). The only microscopic gripe I have towards the use of CGI is sometimes a little out of place, like you can clearly see that it just don't add up to the rest of the setting of some scenes;but overall the animation quality is almost perfect. For a final note, I will go with a 9.9/10 (if they could've fixed real quick these CGI mistakes...)

I've seen plenty of movies in my life so far,but believe me..This is one of the most amazing Adventure/Romance.Supernatural based animated movie I've ever seen & It's my most favourite movie of this genre for now.😍😘 I'm not exaggerating when I say-This is a true Masterpiece & one of a kind. It's very sad to realize when this came out the same year as Kimi No Nawa & didn't even get half the recognization It deserves.🤔😥 But,Trust me,Bigfish & Begonia beats Kimi No Nawa in every possible way,both storywise,emotional impact & visually too..& Kimi No Nawa is just an example. Story- The most crucial part of any movie is thestoryline...& The storyline of this movie is so mastercrafted that It'll make you fall in love with every part of the movie,the dialogues,the characters & so on...The story is so amazingly engaging that you'll be absorbed into the screen throughout the whole movie,the romnace is not something typical or cliche either..In fact It's a very deep romance story that'll show us how far one can go to savs their loved ones & such profound matters...you'll feel every emotion they intended you to feel & you even bother to pay attention to your surroundings for the whole time...It's that amazing..It's like you'll have to pinch yourself to realize If you're back into reality or not after finishing the story.👌❤️

The way they connected Myths,legends & reality was was absolutely brilliant & astonishing at the same time.

Artstyle/Animation-

Oh,Boy...Maybe I just can't explain enough in words how beautiful,marvelous the visuals actually were...Right from the start of the movie every scene,every landscape,every visual effects of this movie is so fabulous,eye soothing that you can't keep away from the screen even for a second,I mean you'll have eyesgasms in every damn scenary change...The artstyle/animation of this movie was too amazing,too satisfying..Perhaps the best visuals I've seen in all the animated movies I've seen so far.😍

Characters/Sountracks-

Although,most of the movie is driven by 3 main characters...The character designs were very beautiful,accurate,their characteristics according to their roles were perfect too..Which made perfectly suitable for the storyline.

The blend of the soundtracks according to every scenario was really great..aside from that,you'll be so absorbed into the story that you'll barely notice the soundtracks tbh.

End Note-I don't think I've ever seen an animated movie overall this satisfying in my life till now,heck I almost shed a tears or two during some scenes,almost.😥😭

So,without further ado,please do watch this movie asap,best 2 hours you'll spend on anything..I'm not sure If can call It an anime since It was done by Chinese directors & staffs...Nevertheless,this is one movie you cannot afford to miss If you love strong Suprnatural/Romance based story driven movies.

When I first watched it it kept reminding me and referencing the Disney movie Little Mermaid, it is so similar to it on so many levels. But this movie has more depth into the story, more lessons, meanings and values that the little mermaid. It is not an easy movie to watch, it is filled with emotions on love and sacrifice. In addition to the meaning of life and death. The art is just beautiful and very meaningful, the story line is very catchy and it is hard to stop watching it. One must watch it more than one time to capture its meaningand lessons. My only take is that I did not like the selfishness of Chun I wished that she would have been kinder and more considerate to her own people and for the person who truly loved her.

It took me almost a year to realize that this title is not Japanese but Chinese. The realization hit me just when I was preparing to watch it. I thought,"A Chinese anime movie? Why not! This is gonna be interesting." I had my doubts. I also had my hopes. But it all stabilized when the story ha started. Trust me! This movie is worth it. For all the lovers of mythical worlds and magic, this is a very good choice. It's not even on earth to begin with. It's about sacrifice and noble feelings. The magnificence of the animation adds tothe story. It's this kind of movie that sweeps you off your feet and flies away. Epic, that's the word.

I'm not gonna say anything about the story. I will leave that to you. I'm gonna speak about the art. It's modern art but not that kind of modern that leaves you the anime was made in the 90s. It's something like Kotonoha no Niwa and Kimi no Na wa, so the colors are vibrant and the movement is smooth. To complete the legendary image, the music comes to support the scenes with the right tunes.

It's a shame that this movie isn't popular, so give it a try and invite others to watch it. Enjoy.

Story: 8

Art: 10

Sound:10

Character: 8

Enjoyment:10