Lucybespro It is a performances centric movie

Maidexpl Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

Kaelan Mccaffrey Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Tweekums This OVA is set in feudal Japan; a time when the capital is threatened by banditry and disease. Young Kintoki is caught up in a family feud but is rescued from her murderous uncle by Raiko; one of a band of warriors. She is raised as a boy and five years later she is a skilled warrior. She gets caught up in battles but also develops feelings for Raiko.The first thing to say about this OVA is that it looks stunning; the artwork based on the style of Japanese art at the time. This animation nicely combines both 2D and 3D elements. The central story is interesting but I can't help feeling if it would have been better used as the basis for a series rather than an OVA. As it was there is little time to show the character development... one minute Kintoki is being rescued the next she is a warrior; we don't see anything in between or learn much about the world she is in. There is a medium amount of action and this looks pretty good; it is also fairly bloody with some scenes that might upset animal lovers even if the horses are only drawings. Overall I think this is worth watching; more for the visuals than the story.These comments are based on watching the Japanese version with English subtitles.

Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de) "Kai doh maru" is an animated 45-minute film from almost 15 years ago. It was directed by Kanji Wakabayashi, who is an experienced animation filmmaker and also contributed to the pretty successful "Steins;Gate". Writer Nobuhisha Terado, however, is not even close to Wakabayashi's experience and this also shows here I guess. The style and animation all isn't bad, the voice acting is fine too, but I just never really could get into the story, which was a mix of supernatural elements with problems that exist in the real world as well, such as greed, corruption and murder. The whole think looked rather bleak, but this is not necessarily a criticism if the atmosphere and story comes in the same tone as well. However, as a whole, this is not a disastrous watch, but also not a good one. Thumbs down.

dbborroughs This is a story set in Feudal Japan. Kintoki flees her uncle into the mountains and is rescued by Lord Raiko and his men who raise her to be a warrior. However her past comes calling...This is told with computer animation that mixed flat with 3D. The coloring is very deliberate and makes you swear that something is wrong with your TV set, its not, it, like the design of the film is made to look of the art of the period the story takes place in. It looks good if really odd. If you like Japanese art then you are going to really enjoy the film purely on a visual level.The plotting is such that, well, let me put it this way, The DVD I was watching was damaged and wouldn't play past the middle of the movie and I didn't care. I could have returned it for something else instead I just went on to another movie. It wasn't bad, its just that what was happening on screen was not living up to the visuals.Honestly is worth a rental but its not worth a purchase unless you are interested in the art of the time period, or the different styles used in different types of animation.Interesting Technically, but not emotionally

nvserv The animation is very good, though a bit pale in places. I can get into the storyline fairly well, but the English dub is so stilted, it makes it difficult to get into the story. Also, it would have been better to refer to characters as -san rather than Mr -insert name here-. Honestly, it flows better.A lot of this may have to do with the Western habit of doing dub work with the actors in a room on their own, with no one to play off. The Japanese practice is to have the actors all in the same room, where they may act off each other's performances.I'd be interested in seeing a reworking of this with a different dub performance.