The rebirth of the future from the ashes of the past…A young boy named Agito enters a forbidden sanctuary where a glowing machine resides. This machine preserves a young girl named Toola, who has a mission entrusted to her from the past. Three-hundred years into the future, the Earth’s environment has been ruined by the interference of mankind, and in between the 300 years, the forest has come to life and is at constant war with man.
It is an unsteady peace in an unnatural time. Only by searching their souls and examining the past will Toola and Agito realize the origin of all things and unite mankind with the forest.
A post apocalyptic vision of humanity, having lost the grace their past technological achievements, and caught within an uneasy truce with the forces of nature is a common theme in anime Studio Ghibli made these themes famous in Nausicaä and later in Princess Mononoki. Final Fantasy took the theme of Gaia to a new level and now Origin makes its début in a world where nature is so much more than just nature.
Origins, Spirits of the Past is a gritty and beautifully animated movie in the spirit of the classics that have gone before and although some themes are now familiar – even a little cliché- this movie somehow makes it fresh and takes an original spin on the genre. In a way it is sad that movies like this have such big boots to fill, Nausicaä is a classic, it breadth of storyline and visual scope are mind-blowing even by today’s standards and like all that follow in the footsteps of legends Origins will be compared to Nausicaä and found lacking. In its own right however Origins is a superbly made movie and will not disappoint anime fans of the ‘nature vs technology’ genre.
South African’s can buy Origins at animeworx, Australian’s at Madman Entertainment
Official Origins site: http://funimation.com/origin/
Wikipedia stub: Origin
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