D. B. Many people have commented that this film has a poor plot, but they rate the film highly anyway. This can be confusing, because it is difficult for a movie to actually be good entirely independent of the events within it.The trick to understanding this is that in many films with a bad plot the characters are trapped into acting in a grossly unrealistic and contrived manner. In Wonderful Days, the scenarios laid out, and indeed the physical environment are all laid out to create a predictable story arc.Unlike a number of other recent anime movies however, the characters are not contorted into an equally false shape. The behavior of the characters is not terribly surprising, and they are not necessarily characters of great depth, but such characterization as there is, is fairly well done. Particularly interesting is the use of stock anime characters, even including cute Pokemon type animals, in a meaningful and emotionally mature manner.The real strength of this film however, is in its animation/cinematography. Visually, Wonderful Days can be placed next to the best Asian animation like the Ghost in the Shell films. The artistic tone is well supported by the soundtrack as well, making it easier to appreciate the film if so minded.So to sum up, Wonderful Days is visually stunning, but fairly predictable and contrived. Intellectually, and in plot or character development the contrived and sentimental nature and construction of the film is difficult to ignore, but there is no question but that here, as well as visually, it is head and shoulders above Appleseed, or either of the Final Fantasy films. If you adjust your expectations accordingly, and take the precaution of watching the film with subtitles (thus avoiding bad dubbing) you will not be too disappointed.

Ephey G Absolutely astonishing! Not only the magnificent scenes, but more of the integrity of the story line, the moral behind it, the CGI, and the romanticism (not to be mixed-up with man-woman relationship/love, I meant the classic definition of romanticism - sublime)!Having read many mangas, seen countless anime as well as feature length films, I think this is, to an extent, the only one of its kind! Relating 'Sky Blue' to several analogous feature films, the former sees through the modernity and the implication of so-called civilization reflected from 'Ghost in the Shell' 1995, 'Innocence' 2004 and 'Appleseed'; the devastating consequence of being selfish, greedy and blind as typified in the classic 'Akira', 'Jin-Roh' and 'Final Fantasy Advent Children'; and the beautiful perception of human nature as seen in 'Castle in the Sky', 'Spirited Away', even in 'Monsters Inc.', and built an unforgettable masterpiece! Yet the combination is nothing ever dramatically, explicitly, realistically and beautifully expressed before!Recalling those CGI wastelands, to me there are something inside of them, not a single phrase to describe them! – Magnificent yet regretful, seemingly hopeless yet nostalgic!

burtbird I really didn't find anything remarkable or salvageable from what is essentially a terrible anime. I think everyone can agree that the plot is flimsy, unoriginal and uninspired, but for me there wasn't even anything worth appreciating visually.As an anime fan I find myself increasingly perplexed with numerous studio's obsession in integrating CGI with traditional animation. If I wanted to see CGI I'd go and watch an action movie or a 'cinema of attractions' piece such as the new 'King Kong' - that is marketable largely for its use of CGI. When I go to see animation i expect to see at least SOME hand-drawn imagery... it's not that the use of CGI in animation doesn't work; the 'Ghost in the Shell' TV series or 'Blood: the last vampire' is an example of when it works - used occasionally and effectively.'Sky Blue' however is a hackneyed attempt at visual beauty. The 2D animation is detailed, yet horrendously jerky and sparse - CGI is used whenever it can - whether it be a gun that a character is holding or a vehicle speeding across the screen. It seems that the studio has used CGI simply to cut down on production time, (CGI is quicker to render than painstaking hand-drawn cells). Apparently this film took 7 years to make... looking at the badly rendered CGI and atrociously animated characters, this is incredibly hard to believe. The problem is that apart from the beautifully rendered STILL backgrounds, most of the CGI looks rushed, cheap, and does not blend at all well with the 2D animation.The English dub is awful, the lead male's voice is so forced... no-one should have to try that hard to sound cool.An utter disappointment. I do not recommend this.

Phil Savory I had high expectations coming into this and was left feeling somewhat underwhelmed. I've heard that the Korean dub is much better and i wouldn't be surprised because the English dub is woeful. The voice acting is stoic and you can't help but feel that they needlessly manipulated the dialogue to the point where the films tone and message are obliterated. The movie felt cold, I couldn't get involved with any characters, they were well animated, but lacked expression and personality.However the films saving grace is the animation, an interesting blend of styles that apparently took 7 years to perfect. The backgrounds are stunning, but I think they pushed themselves so far in making it work that they were limited in where they could take the story. I feel that the concept was good but it would have worked better as a series. The characters were under developed and the film felt short and insubstantial considering its ambitious themes.Despite my disappointment I am eager to see the Korean Dub to see if their is an improvement, but i don't recommend the English Dub.