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Truly disappointing. At first, I thought it was going to be a realistic war film depicting the tragedy of a protagonist during World War II, perhaps from Bosnia or Poland. But it turned out to take place in Russia—and ended up being just another film where the Japanese cram in their obsession with supernatural powers.
Black magic, ghosts, monsters, a mix of the living and the dead under clashing and shallow rules, interdimensional travel, mind-reading, and so on...
A complete mess with no solid foundations or coherent writing.

On top of that, the voice acting—especially the protagonist’s—along with the sound effects was poor, and the production was mediocre ... overall. Nothing stands out, really.

I didn’t like several aspects of this anime, and I’ll mention some of them here:

The exaggeration in this anime is baffling. From the excessive misery simply for the sake of misery, with no real substance or context to support the horrors presented, the series comes off as juvenile and edgy, showing little interest in genuine thematic depth, realistic portrayals, or even addressing the very misery it parades. The show also exaggerates every abuse scenario to such extremes that, despite being rooted in real and traumatic ideas, they lose any sense of grounding.

One example is Naoki’s overblown complaints about how no one appreciates his efforts, even ... though everyone in his class admired his intelligence and diligence and constantly praised him! I can’t understand why they felt the need to portray him as some kind of pitiful, forcibly suffering character.

The same applies to Marina; her suffering due to some fights between her parents is greatly exaggerated, despite her living a perfect life. I can say that the writing of Marina and Naoki's characters is extremely poor.
Despite Shizuka's extreme and unrealistic weakness when she is being bullied, to the point of not even uttering a word or resisting with glances, at least Shizuka remains a far better-written character than Marina and Naoki.

Not to mention the bizarre—and frankly disgusting—facial expressions in certain scenes (like the extreme innocence and one-eyed expression). Add to this the strange reactions to serious situations, such as shame and admiration in the midst of a murder case, and the whole thing feels more like an unrefined dark comedy than a serious narrative.


There are also plenty of illogical events: I don't understand a child's intense desire to eat pancakes that his mother didn't willingly prepare for him to eat, but rather prepared dozens of times to serve as a form of threat or punishment. Any child would feel humiliated and resent them, not obsess over them! Then there's Junya’s sudden kindness and affection that came out of nowhere. How is it possible to live with Naoki and not notice he’s suffering, never once asking, caring, or trying to support him—only to have his feelings (and apparently his brain) suddenly switch on so he finally noticed and delivered an emotional, heartwarming 'big brother' speech?
And that’s not even all of it…

As for the ending, it was cartoonishly naive and completely undermined the buildup of previous events and character arcs.
[spoiler] "Oh, so because of some chatty ghost voice, Marina and Shizuka reconcile and everyone lives happily ever after?" What a rushed and shallow conclusion!

This anime is incredibly overrated.
It's an average, good anime to enjoy new experience, art style. but overall totally far from great or even very good.

I read the first 5 chapters in my native language but chapters weren't complete + translation was bad, so I completed the rest of chapters in english.

Anyway here is a simple review:
first the art style was unique and good I liked it, in a way human design and their faces in this manga reminded me of some maybe 60th manga art style that I have seen before.

so average and repetitive story and events. I didn't feel anything special.
The ideas of childhood, motherhood, family, love, beauty, and ugliness were presented in a very ordinary way. I didn't feel any deep meanings or symbolism.

I will not ... give it Not Recommended because it not that really bad, also I'm sure there are people who might like this manga. specially that it can be read in a one sitting.

As someone who doesn't like romance and I heard a lot of praise that it is one of the best romantic anime specially from my friend, I was very optimistic, but it disappointed me greatly.

A lot of silly comedy is not believable even in serious situations. Most of the events are comical and weak.
26 episodes, many of them were boring episodes that do not serve the story. For example, instead of producing episodes that develop Usui and Misa's relationship well, or episodes about Usui or Misa's past, they produce a whole episode about Yukimori's little sister who wants to be a little princess!! And a ... whole episode about Usui's imaginations of imaginary and boring events!!

Also, I liked Misa's character, she is different and distinctive with her spontaneity and perseverance, but the matter develops to an exaggerated extent, she became a contradiction, a tsundere who is shy and loves and expresses that sometimes, then suddenly she hits and is surprised and hates. I would understand if she did not want to express her feelings publicly, but even she herself is unable to understand her feelings and acts foolishly. It is not reasonable that she asks herself about him and why he bothers her and.....etc. Even a blind or disabled person in real life would realize that he loves her. This is provocative, stupid and completely unrealistic.

Totally overrated anime.

The film was very superficial and fast-paced. It didn't give the main story and events of the revolution their due. Everything was unclear and rushed. Most of the focus was on the relationships, while the deeper, more important historical events of the story were neglected. I understood the ending because I had already watched the original anime; otherwise, the plot would have been vague.

In addition, the film made it seem as though Oscar's happiness in the end was due to her finding love, and that the entire dilemma revolved around it. This is partially true, but it's not the main reason. The deeper reason, which ... was ignored, is that she finally rebelled and followed her heart and freedom after being a mere scapegoat following orders her entire life. Oscar was also portrayed as a much weaker character than in the anime, breaking down and crying in front of the army! Oscar was never like that; her image was distorted and weakened greatly.

I can excuse them since it's a movie, and they're limited to a certain length, thus neglecting some aspects and events. We all know that the romantic market is strong, so it's natural to focus more on the aspects of love to ensure greater success and returns. Overall, the movie is incomparable and does not reach the level of the original work, the seventies anime, at all.