Abe Seimei (Kento Yamazaki) is an apprentice sorcerer in ancient times, but he seems disdainful of his fellow students, teachers and indeed the concepts that are being taught. He is summoned by Minamoto Hiromasa (Shota Sometani), a courtier somewhat related to the royal line but making a living as a musician at the Imperial court; while Seimei is inclined to refuse the other's request, when he learns that it has to do with helping Princess Yoshiko (Nao Honda), he agrees to talk to her. It seems that the Princess plays a lute-like instrument that seems to be possessed, with its strings being broken every night by what she senses is a golden dragon. Seimei solves the problem, but then a member of his school is murdered and the apprentices are all given five days to figure out who the culprit is and capture them. Their reward will be promotion to the next level, so all the apprentices are eager to try, except for Seimei who doesn't want the promotion - but equally he is the only one of them who *can* solve the crime....
This is a mostly gentle fantasy with a great deal of mumbo-jumbo about the conscious and unconscious worlds and the difference between reality ("facts") and subjectivity ("truth"), along with a lot of special effects which are very, very pretty. But the story itself is a bit all over the map and while I liked the acting, there didn't seem to be much holding the tale together. It's quite lovely visually (I especially liked the fire and water dragons) and there are bits here and there that are unexpected and some that are funny, but it just didn't quite all hold together for me. Overall, a competent film leaning a bit too heavily on special effects to tell the story.
This is a mostly gentle fantasy with a great deal of mumbo-jumbo about the conscious and unconscious worlds and the difference between reality ("facts") and subjectivity ("truth"), along with a lot of special effects which are very, very pretty. But the story itself is a bit all over the map and while I liked the acting, there didn't seem to be much holding the tale together. It's quite lovely visually (I especially liked the fire and water dragons) and there are bits here and there that are unexpected and some that are funny, but it just didn't quite all hold together for me. Overall, a competent film leaning a bit too heavily on special effects to tell the story.