Tales from Earthsea

This is probably the first time I've ever found any of the voices in an anime to be intrinsically unpleasant. When Tanaka Yūko spoke in her sweetly snide voice, I thought I was going to cover my ears. As for the story, it felt like everyone was flailing from nothing to nothing and every time the characters got somewhere, the creators said: "Yeah, there could still be this theme, I like the stories about so-and-so, so let's put that in there too." As a whole, I don't find the film good, but the pieces are certainly interesting, just very clumsily glued together. The ending song is nice, but that's just Ghibli style. Just average. (23/02/2015)

Reflecting on Tales from Earthsea, I can't help but be struck by the lush scale and grandeur of the story, but also its factual emptiness. I see, feel, hear all the mosaics and pieces of inspiration. I'm conscious of the tugs on the threads of fate, the inevitability, and the envisioned mission. The resonating reflections and questions over what I want to be, what I want to achieve, pondering life, death and the universal good. But I search in vain for the connection, the harmonizing wholeness and completeness of all ideas. The lazy flow, the almost phlegmatic indecision and proactivity of most of the characters evokes a mild incomprehension, and the overall drive to the goal is coarse, even vaguely defensive. In 2 hours, we are told frighteningly little in the way of meaning and reasons; it detracts considerably from the emotional finale. Studio Ghibli's form hasn't been shaken one bit, but the debut of Gorou Miyazaki, son of the legendary Hayao Miyazaki, was very nervous and unclear at the very least internally. 3 stars (29/03/2021)