Kaina of the Great Snow Sea: Star Sage

The new Nihei. I didn't watch the series, but that's not too big of an issue. The lore gets properly explained throughout the film, the rest is basic anime fantasy/sci-fi tropes. While not a bad film, it doesn't live up to some of the more ambitious films from Polygon Pictures, the someone gratuitous links to Blame! didn't help either.

Kaina and Liliha set out on an expedition to find water for their village. On their way, they run into malicious people who want to cut down the main water source, believing this will save their planet and eliminate the snow sea once and for all. Kaina and Liliha seem to hold the key to saving the world.

The fantasy lore is a nice mix of pure fantasy and sci-fi, though any attempts to link it to the Blame! universe are utterly pointless. It's also a little too clean for a Nihei project, the man is a genius cyberpunk author and I get him wanting to branch out a little, but a little grit would've done the movie good. Still, it's a nice film, just not quite as good as it could've been.