I'm not easily impressed by a movie. Even worse with an animated one. But this one got me drooling. I picked this one up by recommendation, and I'll recommend it to anyone from now on. I was familiar with the story of the TV series, but that didn't excite me in the least. But at least I knew what I was looking at (and I suggest that people considering to watch this should familiarize themselves with the TV series first).
Although the violence is very graphic and the dialog can be a bit of a drag if you lose track, everything else perfectly makes up for it. The animation is fluid, the art is beautiful, the pacing is impeccable and the soundtrack is gorgeous. Now combine all these elements in a single concluding scene, and you've got at least half of its viewers reduced to tears.
This movie is very re-watchable. I've seen it at least 6 times already, and I'm eager to watch it again. Like most people advice; you should avoid the dub like the plague, but even the subs can be a bit misleading. I've had the pleasure to have seen 3 different subtitles on this movie, and the degree of accuracy of any of them is debatable. Although the plot doesn't suffer from this, the story and especially the details and references to factual Japanese history do.
But this shouldn't stop you from watching this movie, instead, it should encourage you to set out and find out as much about this movie as you can.
