Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

This is an excellent film that should get anyone who reads science fiction (or watches it) interested in the series. The scale of the setting is epic and the use of classical music (real masterpieces ala Mahler, Mozart, Beethoven, etc, etc) gives it an integrity that I find lacking in a lot of anime with cute pop songs and even cuter characters.There's nothing cute about this one; the series centers around a war and depicts it graphically. If you look real closely, you might pick up on some ideology and social commentary while you're at it.