I went into this film quite trepidatiously, but boy was I wrong. This goes to show you to never judge a book by it's cover (in this case movie cover). The film was emotional, heart felt, beautiful, and dramatic. The dialogue and characters kept me enthralled as much as the gorgeous visuals. There were two dramatic shifts in the narrative that were a bit jarring, but in the end they only added to this amazing coming of age story. Towards the end I also got "Akira" vibes which is never a bad thing. Overall I highly recommend this film.