One of the most accurate and subtle displays of life in its most pure form. Its the most introspective and heavy anime Ive ever watched I usually watch it when Im in a bad state for the immersion and it helps me a lot to calm down. Its a symbolic movie so if you want to watch it for fun or any kind of positive emotion youre gonna be disappointed because its not easy to digest and understand this film. I dont wanna be exaggeratedly assertive so you can interpret it in your own view but I just cant watch this movie without the point of view Im going to share now. The main text is about how life is chaotic subconscious and conscious or primitiveness and virtuousity both exist and they are like two different worlds and they are always connected even though they are totally different sometimes its hard to distinguish them you cant change this its inevitable. Surrealism is an artistic movement in which the artists try to portray their subconscious ideas breaking the standard conventional logic then creating a new logic with layers of allegory so every visual element shown in this movie is not literal and they work as entire projections of related information. The first symbols I wanna talk: the ear and the bugle. 2 of the first characters to be shown on screen and they represent both action and reaction in general we are always trying to say everything thats inside our minds as possible and were at the same time cursed to hear what people say to us therefore making it a bond. There are also some moments when eyes are shown and they basically represent the same thing as the ear. Characters dont have identity you wont care about their names and their personalities because they dont have any theyre intentionally made to represent mankind in the most collective way so everyone is just the same it doesnt matter who they are the protagonists are probably the same person as a youngster and an elder giving this idea of lack of identity. There are also a lot of symbols related to idealism and reality the realistic ones: underside animals water the threads the little man a building people inside the building holes giant ribs debris The idealistic ones: upside light disease lighthouse the woman at the sky with a button head the scissor the dreams the giant feather and the giant story that little man is writing the birds and the stairs of the building. There are some elements like the top of the building and the ground the universe time and the music etc that I cant distinguish if they are conscious or unconscious since the movie is nihilist as fuck it even portrays the ideal side as an insignificant failure and there is a lot of subtext related to collectivity and connection how originality and creation are illusions and everyone is just fake puppets manipulated by fake puppets in a loop in which you dont know what the fuck is going on anymore. The screenplay is perfect and subtle so lets talk about how technical and atmospheric the production and direction are the art is beautiful and at the same time the lines are scribbled its spot on for the disharmonious essence it portrays. But what surprised me the most about this movie is the music dude the music is so perfect some avantgarde stuff that sound like modern classical and jazz the huge variety of instruments is off the charts exploring each timbre with perfect arrangements rhythm counterpoint polyphony and polyrhythms and a lot of dissonance music is the soul of this film its really important for the screenplay and it makes the movie more enjoyable since there is no dialogue if the music sucked it wouldnt be as good as it is. I discovered this movie and Koji Yamamuras work recently and Im already calling him a genius Ikuta no Kita is by far his best work and its one of the best author films Ive ever had the opportunity to watch one of my favorite animes/films ever and I cant believe how underrated it is in every goddamn rating site I can understand why its such an overlooked film because its a completely subversive work its form is extremely unconventional since most of the films we are used to are primarily focused on narrative this one is the exact opposite it optizes image music poetry and subtle languages in general over clear constructed storytelling.