Dual and Dorothy, faithful computer antivirus programs, monitor and constantly scan for corruptions in the simulated worlds of the Box of Wisdom. Whenever a virus is detected, it—and in many cases the entire world as well—is forcibly purged. This routine occurs every day without change, until the deletion of a particularly large virus cluster reveals an unknown program—calling herself Remo—with no memory of her function. She offers a fresh perspective into the monotony of Dual and Dorothy's lives as her influence causes the two programs to realize that there is more to life than just their mission.
No longer spending their time only watching over the worlds, the three girls start truly experiencing them. As they explore digitally recreated cities and landscapes, Dual and Dorothy develop a special appreciation for what they have, all while searching for clues regarding Remo's forgotten purpose.
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
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Spira
Asuka, Yukinon, and Menma become cyberpunk mahou shoujos and fight viruses in a speculative fiction setting under the supervision of Shin Sekai Yori's director, Masashi Ishihama, and Nozaki-kun's head writer and script composer, Yoshiko Nakamura. While this sounds like it has all the potential of being fucking great, all it turned into was an emotionally detached snorefest, trying to cram too much into too little and not doing anything with its assets. Not to say that it isn't without its highlights: it's certainly pretty, with some set pieces being actually gorgeous, making use of its movie sized budget to make sure shotsflow into one another with animation at a near consistent high note (though there's more than a few wonky edits), and the music isn't too bad (though its reliance on piano pieces as a gateway to melodrama feels forced and almost comical). There are brief moments that made my bottom lip quiver a little, so I guess it must be doing something right there. But even then, the film didn't really earn those on its own merits, it just used a lot of cheap tricks to pull emotion out from the viewer, complete with a "shoot the dog" sequence, ultimately making it feel shallow and working off of the audience's own inherent connection to those images instead of building something on its own. I can see it pulling a few heart strings if you're new to this genre of Dark Mahou Shoujo shows, but for us that are well versed in its various trappings it'll feel like a carbon copy of a certain other Dark Magical Girl show from 2014, down to its major plot points, world, and 'big reveal'. The character development in this is actually not that bad either, in that the ensemble definitely experience worthwhile changes as the film reaches its climax, which is neat, though the way they went about developing them was all wrong (I'll explain this point in a bit). There's also a reasonably fascinating setting here, one that approaches a prototypical speculative fiction backdrop in a somewhat refreshing way, and that's something worth crediting it for. While the notion of a post-apocalyptic world where lives are lived out through data is nothing new in this medium or any other, the manner in which this is presented places it further from the tech singularity of standard genre fare and into something just a teensy bit more unique than a few of its influences and contemporaries. With the correct approach, the universe being established here could be salvaged and make for good franchise fodder, though they'd have to steer clear of the pitfalls in worldbuilding that plagued this particular product.
But that's all I can really say in its favor. While the notorious pair at its head are known for spearheading incredible stories, this film somehow manages to pull off the unthinkable by being a paragon of mediocre storytelling. About a solid fourth of this hour long feature is nothing but infodumping, throwing a lexical onslaught of meaningless technobabble at the audience in the most repetitive forms of exposition available: the dreaded "as you know" and "as we both know" banter. This vice extends to the general dialogue as well, which comes off as inorganic and honestly a tad annoying at times, with characters constantly reaffirming their feelings towards themselves (at eachother) in bloated solipsistic monologues. I understand they're not meant to be human, and a certain form of uncanny valley is to be expected in their mannerisms, but they never felt strange or compelling in their inhuman behavior, they just felt poorly handled. I just couldn't really care what happened to any of these "people", and the fact that they start off as the most derivative forms of their moe archetypes doesn't help that cause either.
Going off on the exposition dump is one of the most ill conceived montage sequences I've ever witnessed. While the match cuts in the film's central Cute Girls Processing All Sorts of Things segment were impressive and the whole idea of it works well on paper, the fact that what should have been the most interesting part of the whole film was condensed into three consecutive music videos makes me incredibly frustrated. This shoehorned appeal to pathos severely disrupted the flow and pacing of the film, and this ties back to my previous statement about the film lacking "true" emotional resonance: in lieu of fleshing these experiences out, all three of the major character arcs are given life in 5 minutes through a combination of "watch these cute girls make food together! so cute!" and "watch these cute girls look sad as they stare at tragedies! so sad!" It's just bad usage of film length overall and boy is it frickin' dull. Considering this makes up about a half of the film's runtime, and the second half owes all of its impact on how well we connect to the first half, the whole experience just sort of falls apart right there before it ever really began.
Overall, this just isn't worth the investment, which is upsetting considering it's founded on some pretty solid ideas and found itself in the hands of some rather talented people. I felt like a big issue with this came from it feeling like an aborted television series, like if it were a recap film to a show never made (think MSG: F91). If this were given even half an hour more to breathe, perhaps we'd have something worth talking about here, but instead it's just a mess.
BakaKuro
Story Glass no Hana to Kowasu Sekai in my opinion 'Daily Life of an Anti-Virus Software' and takes place in a setting where the human race has become extinct. The story grabs your attention in the first 10 minutes as Dual deletes her best friend Sumire and then the sudden apperence of Remo. The story flows through out the anime making it really easy to understand. 9/10 Art The art was very good it wasn't very detailed like other A-1 animes but all was written off by the excellent story. The background CG is very vivid in colors which bring out the artist's emotions. (Good Job Naoko Fusako) 8/10 Sound Glass noHana to Kowasu Sekai had excellent sound quality, each scene had an appropriate OST and that piano OST (Yume no Tsubomi) at the beginning of the movie got stuck in my head and how tried linking the piano OST to the mystrious character of Remo also peaked my intrests
10/10
Character
Character designs for Glass no Hana to Kowasu Sekai were your usual 2D character sprites from normal TV animes but this is what makes this movie a great to watch as it was like watching a really long TV anime. The characters went into depth for Remo on how she has human feelings unlike Dual and Dorothy who were an Anti-Virus software. But there really wasn't any backstory on the other 2 main characters Dual and Dorothy excpet for the fact that they were created by humans
8/10
Enjoyment
I, myself enjoyed this anime more than I should have because i haven't watched a really good psychological anime is a really long time. Glass no Hana to Kowasu Sekai is a very enjoyable anime and I would re-watch it anyday.
10/10
Overall
Glass no Hana to Kowasu Sekai is a great anime movie and is great for killing time as it is shorter that your usual anime movie by atleast 30 minutes the story is great and the character development between the 3 main characters was very well portrayed.
9/10
TheOnlyKami
I just finished the movie about 20 minutes ago, and I've just spent the last 20 minutes trying to figure out what the hell happened in the movie. To no avail. Story: 4 Sad to say, I didn't understand what the heck was going on throughout the movie, especially the more hectic part towards the end. The height of my sadness of a cute girl was dying was as great as I was in my 'wtf is going on' mode. It was not coherent at all, and I'm left from start to finish just going 'yep, this just happened, and no one is going to tellme why'.
Art:8
The saving grace of this movie. The art was amazing, I'm pretty sure it was the cost of producing this kind of art that caused this movie to be only 1 hr long. There was one scene of various locations around the world, that actually made me go 'wow'.
Sound: 7
The music was good, however, I do question the selection and the creation of these pieces. Some of the piano songs did not reflect the sort of mood that the scene was trying to relay, and I was left quite emotionally confused. The songs on their own are very nice to listen to, and I would even invest in the soundtrack if it were to be released. Just... I don't know, get a better music director.
Character: 6
We see minimal character development in this movie, mostly because of the lack of plot explanation and the contribution of a short screening time. Although they were cute girls with separate personalities, none of them are qualified to be of any recognition in my after-movie life. There's nothing that I can defend any of them with in terms of decisions that they make in the movie if someone came up to me and told me this character was trash.
Enjoyment: 6
From my earlier comments, you can probably tell I'm not very satisfied with this movie at all. I think if there was more time spent on developing characters and making the movie coherent even by a little bit I would've enjoyed this movie a lot more than I did. There was a recent promo in my country before I was released, and that raised my expectations to quite a high level. Only to be disappointed I guess.
Overall: 6
If there was a part 2, I would watch it in my spare time. About this movie, I would suggest that you watch it, ONLY if you're absolutely bored and have nothing to do. I swear if you watch it because of what the ads tell you, you'll be disappointed. Also, you would watch it if you were interested in magical girls, but with a spin, as there are a lot of magically themed 'magic' in this movie. And quite a few 'transformation' scenes.
Stark700
Taking for granted, this film is 60+ minutes of mind twisty fantasy. Combine that with a bit of sci-fi, cute girls, adventure, and mysterious worlds and you get Glass no Hana to Kowasu Sekai. Now, I have to admit, watching this film for the first time felt like taking a chemistry course. It’s like all sorts of ideas thrown together at once. For such a product, it would have been better off as a TV series. However, Glass no Hana to Kowasu Sekai has something to offer and that’s a world of strange wonders. The film is directed by Masashi Ishihama. Anyone familiar with sci-fi thrillerslike Shinsekai Yori or Speed Grapher may recognize his work. Thus, diving into this film requires a bit of thinking behind the logics. The premise itself takes on a unique approach that transits between fantasy, reality, and emotions. The movie starts off with Dorothy and Dual doing their usual business until they run into a peculiar girl named Remo. From there, it becomes obvious that she is anything but ordinary. In fact, there’s hardly anything ordinary from the beginning as we witness a multitude of dimensional-like realms, reality distortion, and even altered timelines. Remo is particularly strange as she doesn’t have her memories intact except for her name. The phrase “"I must return to the flower patch..." is also part of major source of mystery about her character. On the other hand, there’s Dorothy and Dual. Both of them fight a mysterious enemy known as the “Virus” to protect the “Box of Wisdom”. Throughout the movie, we learn their motives and the essence of their enemy while also discovering the truth about Remo.
To be quite honest, this movie is a bit confusing. It takes a few times to really comprehend what the message is. A lot of terminology has connections with software and technology. Some of these include virus, anti-virus, bugs, etc. The “Box of Wisdom” invites attention as viewers will wonder about its purpose. Furthermore, we also have Remo’s role in the movie who has a mysterious significance in the story. It offers a Madoka-like feeling that combines sci-fi thriller, fantasy, and even slice of life. The SOL part comes from the friendship between the three girls. Their adventures takes them around the world as they see wonders. At one point in the film, they can even be described like “sisters”. The thriller part comes from the challenges the girls undertake as they fight viruses. There’s also a feeling of virtual reality that can easily be felt through the world fiction of the film. That being said, the film also has some more sensible topics that includes extinction, dealing with loss, and blurring a line between fiction and reality. As such, approach this film with a bit of trepidation. It’s one of those fictional works that either you’ll like or dislike. On a personal level, I think the film’s length is questionable. A television adaptation would be more suitable as it feels like there’s too much ideas thrown into a package all the same time. On the other hand, the film itself is thrilling enough to stand out on its own. It has the characters, a premise that invites curiosity, and stunning visuals that combines world fiction with adventure.
A-1 Pictures crafts the visuals with a stunning amount of effort. The backgrounds has a surreal-like feeling especially if you examine the Box of Wisdom. The action is also fluid and credible in terms of science fiction. Furthermore, the character designs is innocent and decorative for the girls. It almost makes us forget that there’s darker concepts going on in the background. As the screenplay is produced by Fumihiko Shimo (known for Air, Kanon, Clannad), expect facial expressions of the characters to show emotions. Furthermore, the characters’ voices are expressed in a way that is suitable for their roles. At the end of the day, you’ll probably remember the characters more than the story.
Make no mistake, this isn’t The Matrix in a more charming form. Rather, Glass no Hana to Kowasu Sekai is a technologically sci-fi adventure that will get people talking. Whether the talk is about the story, characters, or stunning visuals can be viewed differently in a variety of stances, it’s still a rather unique piece of work. Once again, confusion isn’t something that should be surprising when watching this for the first time. It’s tough to explain but how much more does a peculiar world with three cute girls really take?
Flawfinder
Before anyone asks, yes I went into Garakowa, or Glass no Sekai no Who Gives A Shit if you want to be a weeaboo about it, fully expecting to hate it. When I saw that A-1 was producing the thing, that they teamed up the director of Shin Sekai Yori and the writer of Golden Time for the project, and that the cast would consist of nothing but little girls, I knew right away that there was no chance I was going to get any enjoyment out of the film. The synopsis itself wasn't helping matters either. You remember how the second season of Higurashibuilt up Oyashiro-sama to be this all-powerful entity that causes people to kill themselves, only to make that retarded reveal that she was just an annoying little girl who went "haaaauuuu" all the time, effectively killing all the tension and causing the final arc to be one long snorefest? Garakowa made it clear from the very promo that all three of its main characters would follow Hanyuu's example in making the gods lame rather than being the kind of Haibane Renmei-like religious females I can actually tolerate.
Mind you, calling Garakowa religious is a bit of a stretch on account of the fact that it stretches the scope of its world so wide that it comes off like someone wanted to mesh genres for the sake of meshing genres. The show takes place in some weird virtual reality-like dimension called the Box of Wisdom where it's revealed that our world along with a bunch of other different realities are actually mythical computer programs that can be deleted at a moment's whim if they're infected by viruses. Sounds a bit Megaman Battle Network doesn't it? Occasionally the gods of this world, Dual and Dorothy, try to fight the viruses first before deciding the world is a lost cause and it is during one of their excursions that they meet a mysterious female program named Remo, who states that she has to return to a mysterious "flower patch", causing the two to take her in. I guess it's to the film's benefit that it's getting its Fractale-like twists out of the way first so we won't balk at it later, but that's about the only thing it does better than Fractale.
Garakowa shoots itself in the foot at the very start by assuming you already know who Dual and Dorothy are when we first meet them, and then proceeding to tell us what's going on through a load of boring plot dumps that flow about as naturally as a WWII subplot in the middle of a Vietnam War narrative. More importantly, it's world-building for the sake of world-building, preventing the story from even surfacing until more than halfway through the film, not helped by the fact that Dual and Dorothy (and Remo too while we're at it) are incredibly irritating characters who just react to everything that happens whilst having no relatable flaws or story to call their own. I understand that they're omnipresent emotionless virus busters who are supposed to be far above humanity and committed to just the job, but that begs the question, "why is the film about them at all? And why do I have to sit through incredibly tedious scenes and numerous montages of the two acting like BFFs with Remo if they're so emotionless?" "Because it builds character," is what people might say. "Yeah, how well did that work out for every visual novel adaptation ever?" I retort. "The story of the show is that programs can have feelings too," they fire back. "That's an incredibly boring and overdone story!" I say out loud whilst pointing a machine gun at them.
And it's incredibly charitable to say the story starts after the halfway point either. It's just more of the characters being reactionary, except with more of an action bent against some viruses that kinda look cool, but their lack of personality or individual threat makes it hard to really care about their destruction, as well as infecting Remo with a mysterious illness that wouldn't really add to anything even if she had been an interesting character. This leads to a very brief discussion regarding how our world was destroyed due to being incredibly dependent on technology along with a truth regarding the Box of Wisdom that I won't spoil, but trust me when I say that you won't be the least bit surprised by the twist because it's been used in every sci-fi premise everywhere. Instead, you'll most likely be asking "why am I not watching this movie instead?" And then you'll realize you do own this movie and then pop it into your blu-ray player so you can cleanse this film from your mind. Or at least you would if the film didn't go on afterwards by throwing in one more action sequence in order to have an awkward tear-jerking scene that not only came off as incredibly contrived, but it wastes a golden opportunity to really delve into the nature of what it means to be a part of a much bigger world then you realize in the process. Did I mention that the guy in charge of Golden Time's composition also did the composition for those Key series and Kokoro Connect? Yeah, dramatic timing is really not the guy's specialty.
As many people have already said, the film is rushed, but here's the punch line: even as a full-blown series, it'd STILL be bad. In addition to the lackluster characters, the lack of originality in the plot, and the ridiculous amount of padding this thing managed to fit in only an hour, the fanservice in Garakowa is really creepy to the point of being a deal-breaker. Numerous times when they're fighting, Dual and Dorothy are wearing outfits that leave them half-naked, which I think is just messed up considering we're talking about anthromorphic virus busters here. There's even one scene where either due to an animation error or because someone let a pervert into the room that day, Dual is crying whilst topless and covering her breasts with her arms despite the fact that her outfit never showed that much earlier.
Not that I'd blame her for doing so. After being stuck in a movie this bloody awful, I'd lose all hope in humanity and submit myself to the kinky fetishes of a vengeful god as well.
BohemianRhapsody
Glass no Hana to Kowasu Sekai is a 60-minute long animated film directed by Masashi Ishihama and produced by A-1 Pictures. Frankly, what made me watch this film was its relatively short length, so I'll describe its positive and negative aspects. Positive: (+) The art and animation I guess this is the section most of the budget went to. The backgrounds of this anime were simply gorgeous. The colors and details were amazing. The animation was also smooth and high quality. I didn't especially like the character designs, mostly because I dislike anime with little girls, but objectively speaking, there was nothing wrong with that either. (+) The soundtrack Thesoundtrack of this anime was comprised mostly of piano pieces, which fit well in most of the scenes. Overall, I liked the soundtrack a lot.
(+) The concept
Despite the flawed execution, the concept of this anime was pretty good. The events happen in a virtual world, where the main characters, who are anti-virus programs, delete corrupt files. Basically, imagine if the agents in Matrix were cute magical girls. I have to admit, the idea wasn't bad at all, but it could have been better, for reasons which I am gonna explain below.
Negative:
(-) Everything else
Apart from the great art and soundtrack, as well as the concept, the movie fails at pretty much every other department. Despite its short 1-hour length, this movie feels like 2 hours due to the slow pacing and constant information dumping. The characters speak endlessly about the details of their world, but without a proper explanation, everything feels like pseudo-scientific mumbo jumbo. The characters remain mostly under-developed, so you don't really care what happens to them. The action scenes were short, and despite the brilliant animation, you don't really know what's happening, apart from the obvious ugly virus monster vs cute anti-virus girl.
Overall, despite the attempt of doing something unique, this movie ends up being pretty much forgettable and with nothing much to offer apart from the good visuals.
Ksaraf23
Garakowa is a very interesting movie, to say the least. It’s not really about anything; just a collection of the most precious moments of life, and the three girls most connected to them. In this blogger’s opinion, this is truly a story worth taking a glance at. The film takes place primarily within an advanced OS capable of actually recording data of all periods of time and space, including the people who lived there. Two anti-virus programs, Dual and Dorothy are entrusted with destroying the corrupted data. Known as viruses, they infect the artificial worlds as well as the data of the people who once livedthere. Duel and Dorothy have to go inside the data worlds and find the ones that are too corrupted to be saved. Of course, this means they have to destroy the people there, including the ones they consider to be “friends”.
Those harrowing days soon change when one day, a mysterious girl known only as Remo falls from a defeated virus. Unknowing of who she is and where she comes from, Remo starts to hang around with Dorothy and Dual, and the three of them share an amazing bond that will transcend the very essence of what it means to be real…
If that sounded like a cop out…
CONGRATULATIONS!! You get a cookie.
The movie is way more darker than it appears to be. But it was a rich and endearing movie in so many aspects, creating a visual masterpiece with a simple but endearing message.
ART
10/10
The visuals were absolutely breathtaking in this film! I especially liked the parts where the girls visited data versions of landmarks like Niagara Falls, and how much work the staff took to not only recreating them, but animating them in a way that seemed like they were realistic. The viruses were just typical fodder; nothing too special about them. But the colorful landscape of the data world was an absolute marvel to behold, and while the character models were just typical moe, I didn’t seem to mind all that much. Moe is good when it’s done right!
MUSIC
8/10
There were two songs in the middle of the movie that were kinda iffy for me. However, what really worked for me was the background music. The piano not only complemented the story as an important plot point to drive the story forward, but was very stunning and kept me soothed and relaxed while watching. It was especially nice during character interactions and the final act of the movie how much the music got me to feel during those moments, particularly for tropes I’ve seen done on screen hundreds of times. But that didn’t really diminish my enjoyment of it.
STORY
7/10
Plot wise, there was nothing too different to separate this film from others of this genre. But it did raise some important questions about humanity and what it means when trying to retain it long after its gone. What’s the best justice towards that end? Is it only important to remember the most “beautiful” parts like joy and love and happiness? Things like pain and war are sad, but they are just as much a part of what make us human as the happy things. I thought that was a really deep thought, something I have seen in anime before but never really thought about until now.
CHARACTERS
10/10
According to the Director’s intro, the most important part of this film to him were the characters. There aren’t that many, and there wasn’t much time allotted I’m the movie to truly explore them, so I’ll simply go through them one by one.
DOROTHY
A “tsundere” program with a seeming nonchalance about deleting viruses and getting too attached with the data-people, Dorothy is not really that much of a focal point in regards to the story. Nevertheless, she does have an interesting character growth during the film. She initially finds human emotions and feelings like taste and happiness to be “weird”, but learns to appreciate life over time and realize things like “dreams” and “feelings” aren’t such bad things after all. It’s a trope that’s been done to death, but it was done here so beautifully that it appears so endearing when it happens to her.
DUAL Originally introduced as someone who does her job of deleting viruses like it’s no big deal, Dual is revealed to be more “human” than she initially lets on. Being able to taste yummy things if she tells herself they are “delicious” is just a small indicator of how self-aware she really is. This only increases through contact with Sumire, a data-person with a passion for piano that develops a friendship with her, and the enigmatic Remo, a girl who changes her world forever.
REMO
There are a few interesting things about her character to note, but the only thing that really matters is how dedicated she really is, both to her newfound friends and her secret mission, one that really demonstrates just how important humanity really is, and why it’s worth preserving!
OVERALL
While this is defiantly not “Anime Film of the Year” material, it’s DEFINATELY an enjoyable movie with a simple message about life (and maybe about technology) that will leave you thinking for at least a few minutes afterwards! Make sure to see it on Crunchyroll, complete with an introduction and Q&A from the director himself! You won’t wanna miss this one!
Garakowa – Restore the World can be found on Crunchyroll, complete with a intro and Q&A by the director himself, to describe key aspects of the film both going in and coming out of it. It’s really a treat to see, so I recommend watching those along with the actual film.
yanderes_anime
Ok this won't be a spoiler free review but I will try and condense it as quick and short as possible to save face. This is also my second review so bear with me. The overall is that the world is run by a system and there are two programmes which help keep the system in tact which are represented as girls of the system in truth they're anti viruses for the system. This system help to keep social balance and social order in a peaceful world however like most things there are more that meets the eye. Story: 6 I found even though this had major potentialin its story and came of with some good socialogical theories, it never really fulfilled it potential. The beginning was great as it described how the world in this story is set up as they meet a new character called Reemo. However for 30 minutes of the movie nothing happened to the point where 10 minutes of it had no dialogue what so ever. I found this very frustrating as it felt like they hadn't thought about anything for the story at this point and just left it with basically what was just filler at the end.
Art: 8
A1 pictures always produce great art work and this was no exception. The art work for this kind of story was spot on if not fantastic. A1 always do a job with their colouring saturating and bringing the animation to life.
Sound: 9
The best thing is the amazing soundtrack to it. I personality don't think I need to comment on this section to much because the sounds are really a base of opinion
Characters: 7
The characters in the series suited to what genre the story was mainly based on. Very similar to Selector WIXOSS and Madoka Magica, the characters are based on girls struggling on what comes to term with what happens in society.The main characters of Dual, Dorathy and Reemo are a perfect setting for this kind of show. The way the writers brings back characters that were suppose to have been killed off, show that each character even small have a major part to play in the movie.
Enjoyment: 7
They were parts that really irked me and i thought why am i watching this. But i kept to it and towards the end enjoyed watching it.
Overall: 7
Overall it is a decent movie which only lasts 70 minutes of your time and its something you don't have to totally have patients and invest time into. I found it a decent watch however i believe if they had more time if it was created into a series, this would potentially be better.
TheArchangel
After watching this movie with a really long and elaborate name, I like to think that my anti virus software is actually a collection of cute girls duking it out against viruses mahou shoujo style. The previously mentioned movie with a really long and elaborate name, Glass no Hana to Kowasu Sekai, also known as Garakowa -Restore the World-, and also *breathes* Vitreous Flower Destroy the World Backup, is a strange sci-fi adventure following Dual and Dorothy, 2 anti virus programs that eventually find an anomaly in the system that they cannot figure out. This anomaly, which calls itself "Remo," is also a cute girlwith a mysterious mission: to return to the "flower garden." Dual and Dorothy subsequently live with Remo to try to assess what the "flower garden" really is.
Garakowa largely takes place in the digital realm, which in this interpretation seems to look suspiciously like a scan of someone's brain. Right in the middle of the digital realm is Dual and Dorothy's spacious house, a place where they relax and do cute things when not battling against viruses. Right away, viewers are treated to the very imaginative digital world, with lights pulsating in every direction, bits of data floating about, and a myriad of nasty viruses which seem to take form as nightmares come true. However, a large contrast to the artificial, dreamlike world is the backups of data Dual and Dorothy frequently scan and visit, taking shape as memories of humanity from different eras. These data backups range from anything from Victorian England to 21st century Japan. One of the most successful qualities of Garakowa is definitely in the visuals. Since this is a digital world, the studio can flex its imagination and budget into breathtaking set pieces, showing the artificial digital world and magnificent sites grounded in reality, such as a sweeping mountaintop view, antique buildings of 19th century France, or the natural beauty of a modern day park in springtime.
Unfortunately, the visuals are one of the only absolutely good qualities the movie has. Garakowa has a very loosely associated plot that definitely dips into interesting territory, but most of the movie is cute anti virus software doing cute things. Glaringly, the middle of the movie has a very awkward music video inserted with no dialogue and no plot progression. Admittedly, much of what I loved about the visuals and the magnificent set pieces in the movie are from this music video segment. However, the very light-hearted tone of this segment is in stark contrast to the overall mood of Garakowa. In a few scenes, the burdens of deleting viruses begins to take its toll on Dual and Dorothy, particularly Dual. These scenes offer a glimmer of a more substantial storyline, but these moments are few and happen too quickly.
Speaking of storyline, Garakowa seems confused on whether it wants to show cute anti virus software doing cute things or a grim story about the deleting of humanity's memories. The mood shift is a little too strange for me, and I would have much preferred if they cut the slice of life moments in favor of going more into depth Dual and Dorothy's mission to find out just what Remo is. Only much later in the hour long movie do they delve into interesting territory, but at this point it's a little too late. Another thing to note about the storyline and world building is the very confusing use of terminology. The trio frequently talk about a "Box of Wisdom," but I have no idea what this mystic box is or its purpose in the film. Background as to why Dual and Dorothy are anti virus software are also touched upon, but I feel like not enough time was devoted to craft a detailed sci-fi world to really matter. Viewers have to simply accept a lot of things the characters say at face value, and imagine what could have been a very interesting, fantastic world.
On sound, I quite enjoyed the light background music and the lovely piano tune that is introduced, but soundtrack wise this movie is very light. Voice wise, Dual is played by Taneda Risa, so I was...really biased (in a good way) towards Dual.
I feel like there was a lot of wasted potential in Garakowa. The budget is there, the stunning visuals, the voice talent, and a director with a pretty good body of work. The most notable series the director for Garakowa has done is Shinsekai Yori, in my opinion. However, these elements simply can't exist without a good storyline to hook the viewer to want to know more about Dual and Dorothy, Remo, the mysterious "flower garden," and the suggestions of a digital apocalypse. Most disappointing is Dorothy, who has a paper thin personality that only briefly gets more development towards the end. And again, too much time was devoted to the music video in the middle. While pleasant to watch, it did not add anything at all to the storyline. The ending suggests a potentially engaging plot element regarding humans, but the film largely ends with not much resolved.
Regardless of its flaws, I found Garakowa at least mildly interesting and don't regret the hour I spent watching it. Not only is this movie something like a mix of Assassin's Creed, Code Lyoko, and Puella Magi Madoka Magica, it is fundamentally an imaginative look at anti virus software, giving it human form and emotions while weaving a mildly engaging storyline with moments of despair, joy, and reflection. If anything, Garakowa is at least unique and quirky, which is probably enough to warrant sitting down for an hour and being drawn into the strange digital world of memories, regret, happiness, and apocalypse.
...honestly, I watched this movie to listen to Taneda Risa, but all the stuff I mentioned before has my half-hearted seal of approval and I honestly do think Garakowa is worth a watch, if for the novelty only at least.
Temmu503
I really enjoyed this movie, however, there are better Story 7 I gave this a 7, because I felt absorbed in to the story (probably because it was my first anime after 2 years) and, despite how confusing parts get, some bits stay with me to this very day Art 9 The art was very pretty, and I loved the style the artists were going for. The colours didn't clash, and the visuals were nice to look at Music 8 Music was beautifully composed (songs like Sendan Life) and are very catchy too! It was not the best I had heard tho, anime ,such as Higurashi, did it better (songs likeDear You)
Character 7
There was not much character development in this movie, but I kind of understand why (1hr 7mins is never enough) and, to this day, I am still trying to figure out certain scenes with important characters in them.
Enjoyment 9
I really enjoyed this movie, and I felt many emotions when watching (sadness, anger, joy ect) and getting hooked to the characters. Even after the credits. I was still watching. (and crying)
Overall I give this an 8. Not the best, but not the worst.
Hope this is helpful ^^
ktulu007
Glass no Hana to Kowasu Sekai is a 2016 A1 original film. The script was by Shimo Fumihiko who also worked on Air, Bakuretsu Tenshi & Non Non Biyori. I honestly don't know what to expect because the output there is a bit mixed and the same is true for A1 themselves. They've put out some great anime like Uchuu Kyoudai and absolute rubbish like Sword Art Online. I guess I'll have to dive into this one and see where it lands. Story: Our main heroines, Dual & Dorothy, are anti-virus programs inside a device known as the "Box of Wisdom." Which I thought was the nicknamefor Athena's virginal vagina, but has a completely different meaning here. They scan various cyber worlds that come up based around Earth's past and erase viruses. One day, their lives change when they find a strange program named Remo after dispatching some viruses. Remo has no memory of who she is but seems strangely human. Their only clue is that she mentions returning to a "flower garden."
My only issue with the story is that the whole theme surrounding humanity gets to be a little heavy-handed towards the end. I'd like to really go into heavy detail about it, but it is extreme spoiler territory so I'm not going to.
Aside from that, the narrative is pretty fantastic. It really does a superb job of establishing what the "lives" of our programs are like. The flashbacks it uses are highly effective. The way it showcases the various worlds encased within the Box of Wisdom by having the girls visit while looking for clues to Remo's past is very nice. It's a montage that helps build the girls' relationships while also running the gamut of the human experience. I also appreciate that the ending takes some big risks and they pay off very well. The sci-fi elements are also handled very well.
Characters:
Since the film only really deals with three major characters, it really needs to get them right. Which it absolutely does. Shimo does an excellent job of giving us some sense of personality from Dual & Dorothy before they meet Remo & of developing them in a more human direction as a consequence of their interactions with her. Remo is also a great character with a good deal of verisimilitude. Even the viruses have a decent level of depth. And they aren't exactly talking, high interaction characters like the viruses from ReBoot.
Art:
The artwork is very impressive. The inside of the Wisdom Box has a lot of really cool visual elements. Although they might get a little too busy at times. The viruses have a really good look. Especially when you see them in the act of infecting something. The characters don't have the most unique designs. Dual & Dorothy look a lot like the heroines from OreGairu. They're still well drawn and the designs are good ones. The animation is nicely done too.
Sound:
The acting is pretty close to flawless. Hanamori Yumiri, Taneda Risa & Sakura Ayane are all superlative. The film uses a lot of really well done piano music and some nicely performed songs.
Ho-yay:
This film does get progressively more homo-erotic with its characters as it goes and our anti-virus programs start developing more human personalities. We're talking all three of our major characters are very shippable. Now, you might say they're programs so it doesn't really count. But they're programs that take on the forms of girls and have very human aspects to their personalities. So, I say it counts.
Areas of Improvement:
This is going to be pretty nit-picky since I don't have many complaints. And those I do have aren't major ones.
A little more subtlety with that whole theme surrounding humanity.
Character designs that don't look like they were ripped off from another anime. I get it, most designs have been done and getting something truly unique isn't going to happen. But I feel that the characters being programs was an opportunity in that regard. For instance, you could have given them an odd skin colour when they weren't engaging with recreations of our world or another odd feature that would have set them apart.
A bit more subdued backgrounds. As much as I like the aesthetic for the more computerised sequences, the backgrounds can be a bit much.
Final Thoughts:
Glass no Hana to Kowasu Sekai was a fantastic film. I absolutely loved it. That's why I'm going to go so far as to give it a 10/10.
Googies
I'll start out by saying that Garakowa was better than I'd expect from a movie rated ~6/10 on mal. If you can deal with somewhat convoluted, confusing plotlines and enjoy sci-fi / cute girls it's possibly worth a watch. Story 6.5/10: As you've probably already seen from other reviews the plot is considered to be pretty convoluted and things are not exactly explained in detail. In my opinion, it's not too hard to put everything together but the movie doesn't exactly spell everything out for you. The story focuses on the 3 main girls and explores the nature of the world and what exactly thegirls (primarily Remo) are. The world is pretty cool and unique but can be kind of shallow considering it's just an hour long movie. I'd say they did well with the time that they had though.
It's not as convoluted as some people make it out to be but it's also not the psychological masterpiece that others say it is. It's just a decent sci-fi story about cute girls learning more about Remo and the world they're in with some emotional moments.
Art 7/10:
The art and animation were pretty decent but not amazing. Pretty average for A-1 I'd say.
Sound 6/10:
Pretty much the same as art to a lesser degree. Decent but nothing stuck out to me.
Character 5.5/10:
On one hand I'd say that Garakowa does an ok job of character development in the ~ 60 minutes it has. On the other it's still shallow. Each girl has their own personality and all, but some development points in the story feel kind of forced and sudden. Remo was really the only one who had something beyond being an "antivirus program with a personality".
Enjoyment 6/10:
It's a pretty short movie so I didn't really get bored while watching it, but at the same time it's not super noteworthy. It does well to initially capture your attention and while it lulls a little bit in the middle with some slice of life stuff nothing drags on too long. There's some decent emotional moments and twists but nothing super impacting.
Overall ~6/10:
Overall Garakowa is a decent movie and while it's not a "must watch" by any means I'd say it does well with the little time it has. It's not super memorable but if you're bored and want a decent sci-fi story I'd say it's worth a watch.
DesiSkorm
Well, this is one way to learn what goes on in my laptop whenever there are viruses :D On a more serious note, in terms of art the anime is simply wonderful. The beautiful art style will surely enhance your experience from the story. I didn’t understand some aspects of the anime completely, but I did get the general idea. I cried at one point, that’s how much the anime touched me. The idea behind the anime is very nice and original, the art is gorgeous to say the least, the characters are pleasant to watch, the background music is great throughout the whole thing,and the anime manages to create a very detailed and captivating world, which I am certain anyone can enjoy. It isn't the best anime movie out there, but it was worth the watch.
LegendAqua
Virtual Magical Girls deleting viruses!... Glass no Hana to Kowasu Sekai has an interesting concept all things considered, our main protagonists Dual voiced by Risa Taneda and Dorothy voiced by Ayane Sakura being anti-virus programs fighting and deleting viruses until they stumble upon Remo voiced by Yumiri Hanamori and from there they find out what their jobs are TRULY about in the process of Dual and Dorothy finding "empathy" as well. Glass no Hana to Kowasu Sekai being a 60 minute movie has ALOT to unpack yet waits until the last half to spill all of it. What LA means is that for the first half of themovie entails getting used to the setting of Glass no Hana to Kowasu Sekai and getting to know the basis of Dual and Dorothy, then once Remo arrives you'd expect the plot to kick in...it does not, they "fluff around" in the different worlds for the most part. However LA would find some sense of of them fluffing around as for Dual and Dorothy to gain some sense of empathy through all the fluffing around, LA says this as Dorothy was the most unemphatic about her job and seeing the worlds she visited as nothing more than infected data. It's not until Dual's memory of a person she thought she erased (Sumire) that the plot really kicks in and we see the reality of Remo as well as the nature of Dual and Dorothy's job. The biggest problem however lies in how much of a rushed pace it takes with it's execution, with little less than 20 minutes to both world build, give us revelation to Dual and Dorothy AS well as Sumire in the process of showing us what Remo truly is...it goes at a very breakneck pace trying to explain everything AND resolve everything in the process. This rushed pacing is just the result of a mere one hour screentime and the characters fluffing around that it had to rush in the first place.
For characters, Dual is your typical kuudere with a bit of empathy of her job what with her feeling guilty of deleting Sumire's dream, on the opposite side Dorothy is your typical genki no-nonsense straight man of the trio who opens up to her job of deleting worlds thanks to Remo giving her a bit of human empathy in the process of the movie. Remo is your mysterious genki girl of the movie that's pretty much the focal point of the movie as well as what she really is being the biggest plot twist of the movie.
The animation done by A1-Pictures is decent to some gorgeous background work from time to time, LA sees Glass no Hana to Kowasu Sekai for A1-Pictures in experimenting and tech-demoing with what it can do with it's animation for this movie, is it a bad thing?, no..it just shows that A1-Pictures with it's backgrounding and for the most part it's gorgeous with many color palettes blending with the virtual "world" that Dual and Dorothy authorize.
The voice acting, well...LA would say that Yumiri Hanamori, Ayane Sakura, Risa Taneda and Ai Kayano did brilliantly in this movie, with special mention going to Ayane Sakura and Yumiri Hanamori, Ayane Sakura for giving us a wide range of vocal accenting and Yumiri Hanamori for the same.
The big revelation of Glass no Hana to Kowasu Sekai took a while for LA to understand however for what a breakneck pace Glass no Hana to Kowasu Sekai tried to explain everything as well as how it tried to resolve everything, LA understood it by the end of it as well as the connections Dual had with Sumire affecting Remo giving us hints in the first place.
Glass no Hana to Kowasu Sekai needed just a bit more screentime in order for this movie and interesting concept to be fleshed out more, nonetheless we do get developments from our main trio and the major conflict of the movie being resolved even if it is in a rushed pace. Glass no Hana to Kowasu Sekai is NOT a bad movie in LA's eyes, on the contrary it's an interesting movie with a good cast, great animation and voice acting with a good twist at the end, it just stumbled on it's execution no thanks to it's very limited screentime.
catsighs
I'd like to keep this review brief in order to allow people to come to their own conclusions about Garakowa. there are aspects of this movie that I really liked, and really enjoyed the handling of. the first few minutes are like being taken on a stunning, surreal ride through absolutely beautiful environment design. however, the writing of the characters really let it down for me. given that a central theme of Garakowa is how reality and sentience/humanity can arise from AI, the girls were not at all compelling human beings. it's an incredibly interesting theme, but if you can't write a compelling and realistic sentient humangirl, you cannot show the transition from AI to sentient human girl.
this together with the beginnings of some fantastic worldbuilding that was just never completed left me overall dissatisfied with the movie.
it makes me feel that at some point, as with Madoka Magica, making the characters marketable as merch became more important than pursuing the themes of the story.
