Going into Munto, the expectations are very high. After all, it's billed as "a magical adventure from the key animator of Grave of the Fireflies and Akira," two highly respected, excellent anime titles. But by the time I finished with Munto, I was not only disappointed, but bitter. Heck, I was a little angry.

That's because Munto tried to do way too much in the 50 minutes it was given, leaving the casual American anime fan confused and wanting someone, anyone, to explain to them what they just saw. No doubt, the animation is lovely: Sprawling, dynamic views of the mystery world above the Earth are prevalent, and excellent animated battle sequences are drawn to the smallest detail. But that's all there is to Munto, one long pretty picture, because the story is so lacking, you find yourself screaming at the characters, wanting them to tell you what they're up to.

In Munto, young 13-year-old Yumemi is a schoolgirl who has always been able to see a world above ours, floating among the clouds. That world suddenly finds itself at the brink, with different factions fighting over the safekeeping of "the Heavenly World" in order to...well, to...because....well.....well, we just don't know why. And that's the major problem with this movie.

Yumemi is thrown into this struggle, and King Munto appears to her on Earth, begging her to "give me your power!", her "Akuto," several times. What power does she hold? How can she save "the Heavenly World?" And just who is that strange blind woman up there? The audience isn't told any of these things, not to keep us in suspense, but likely because the creators were told to keep the movie under an hour. Too many characters are introduced in too short a time frame, too many necessary plot elements are gleaned over, and some of these characters and side stories would have been better suited for the editing room floor.

Simply put, if Munto's creators wanted to keep this anime at 50 minutes, they needed to cut at least 20 minutes worth of the story that deals with Yumemi's experience here on Earth. A lot of her story is slow and boring and could have been better used telling us why certain people want to destroy the seven pillars holding the world above afloat.

Sadly, the time here on Earth and above is roughly even, not to mention equally confusing, and by the time Yumemi bothers to ask King Munto "What is this Akuto, anyways?" the audience is probably ready to give up, because that's the same question we've been asking for half an hour.

Video:

Full frame presentation only for Munto with a pretty much flawless DVD transfer. No problems at all with the animation, which is bright, fast and colorful.

Audio:

The sound isn't inspiring, but it isn't awful either. They should have really pumped up the volume for the few battle sequences we're given, however the moment-to-moment sound we hear during the movie is about as good as anything else in anime. One issue we noticed was that music was often laid over obvious discussions being undertaken by the characters. This could have been the same with the original Japanese release, however.

Extras:

Screener disc we received did not include the extras, sadly. Listed on Central Park Media's DVDs extras list are an art gallery, character sketches, backgrounds, a Japanese trailer, previews, and a Japanese TV warning with "super-deformed" characters.

Final Thoughts:

Munto has its visual moments, and the animation truly is up to par with other animes in the domestic market. But the story was essential to Munto's success, and sadly it fails. In the end, when Munto tries to wrap everything up in a nifty "this is what we meant" package, it turns into an anime that tried to be epic, and ended up only being confusing. Skip It