Very well executed

Overrated and overhyped

For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

This movie is good for someone who is learn about Japanese culture before the world advanced. But the rock music didn't really help set the scene to be honest.Just be vairy that before you watch this film there is a lot of religious and god references to Heaven and Hell throughout the movie.Just to be clear this is not a movie for children nor it is intended to be (check out Paparika) especially because there is a few swear words used and in one scene we see two people get into bed together....not going to go into detail.However, the animation, art style and voice acting is good from the dub side of things.If you want to know how life in Japan was like especially if you were a painter I would recommend this movie.

It's 1814 Edo, Japan. Tetsuzo is a famous painter. He lives with his daughter O-Ei. She also paints but he often critiques her work harshly. Zenjiro is a hanger-on, a former samurai who turned to painting. O-Ei hates Zenjiro's inferior work and ridicules him as Zen Zero. She often visits her blind half-sister O-Nao who lives with her mother and Tetsuzo rarely visits due to his aversion of the sick.This evokes a time and place. It paints two great characters. The plot is episodic in nature and I would like more in terms of plot development. I love the woman haunted by O-Ei's painting. There are great bits of a story. I don't know if O-Ei's character development is enough. I am intrigued by her visit to the brothel but it comes to nothing. In the end, she marries but it's left to a postscript text. The script needs a plot development rewrite. It paints a beautiful picture but the picture doesn't really move. Does she become a great artist? Does she find true love? Does sex release her artistry? Is she gay? Does death give her art new depths? There are so many questions but this movie is reluctant to answer them.

For a movie that plays in the 18. century the chosen rock music is the worst and absolutely destroying the complete mood of the whole movie right from the start.I couldn't find any ups in the whole story, only one down after another, nothing cheerful in an harsh world that wasn't shown like one.I can't recommend to watch this one, because you will search for an happy end that never comes up.

We meet O-Ei, grown daughter of the famous Japanese painter Hokusai. She has a younger sister, O-Nao, who is blind. (O-Ei's name was actually Katsushka Ōi, but it also appears as "O-Ei".) Hokusai is depicted as a gruff, single-minded man, living in his studio, apart from his wife and children. The blind young sister is invented - as is most of the rest of the story. But she plays a very important part.There are great moments here. One incredibly beautiful moment occurs near the end of the film. And of course, there's a delightful scene involving his most famous print, "The Great Wave off Kanagawa".The animation is beautifully done, in typical Japanese fashion. Not as beautifully as Miyazaki, but still, good.The story covers a lot of ground, including the Japanese form of erotic art (shunga). Part of that thread involves an important plot element.The musical score is very Western and modern, which could be a little off-putting. As the credits went by, I saw one of the song titles given in Spanish!.It's a movie that keeps you involved, and doesn't let you nod off.PS: Keep your eyes on the little dog that shows up at the beginning.