Weathering Continent

Original Title: 風の大陸
Romanized: Kaze no Tairiku
Literal: Continent of Wind

Plot Synopsis

In the distant past the once-proud continent of Atlantis lays dying, ravaged by war and natural disasters that have left only a handful of desperate souls struggling to survive on the desolate land. Across this bleak world wander Lakushi, whose compassion has somehow survived the crushing hopelessness, Tieh, a sage man trained in the arts of magic, and Bois, a quiet swordsman. In this story, their wanderings bring them to the ruins of an ancient city fabled for its wealth, but now perhaps cursed by more than just the bandits who prowl the wastes around it.

Quick Review

Rating: 1 / 5
Reviewer: Marc
Review Date: 2005-10-01

Weathering Continent is an impressive failure; it pairs dark, stylish visuals with a bleak and tragic story about survival and perseverance, but its production quality and the detailed history and design of the ruined city in which it takes place are its only strengths. The characters are otherwise almost devoid of backstory or development, the plot is tired and stretched even thinner trying to fill way too much time, and any mood that might have made the whole thing watchable is utterly ruined by the attractive but incessant and totally out-of-place soundtrack. Sad when one of the only decent parts of a movie actively assaults the rest.

Weathering Continent is the sort of anime that should appeal to fans of nice-looking art, bleak stories, and dark fantasy, but the only people who are likely to actually enjoy it much are fangirls who can't get enough of Tieh and his sad smile and a handful of folks who love the setting and can't hear.

US DVD Review

The DVD's most notable feature is the attractive but oddly oriented cover art (it's "letterbox" style, so to speak, with the spine on the horizontal). As far as actual material goes, the video and audio transfers are acceptable but nothing more, and the only special features are two original trailers. The box also inexplicably claims the movie is twice as long as it is--a completely random "125 minutes" when it doesn't approach half that even including every trailer on the disc.

Content Guide

Rated 13-up for realistic violence and some mature themes.

Violence: 3 - Not overly gory, but several people meet with unpleasant ends.

Nudity: 1 - Nothing of note.

Sex/Mature Themes: 1 - Some implied mature themes.

Language: 0 - Nothing of note.

Notes and Trivia

Based on a novel by Takegawa Sei, which isn't available in English, so there aren't likely to be any carryover fans. It was, apparently, originally shown in theaters as part of a triple feature that included Silent Mobius 2 and the second Heroic Legend of Arislan feature (ironically both sequels, whereas Weathering Continent just feels like one).

Availability

Available in the US from Anime Works on hybrid DVD.

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