Watch Lu Over the Wall For Free

Pretty Good

Just perfect...

For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

Expected more

I love how the director's style matches up nicely with the background of the story, with water tunnels flying all over the air and even people and animals going all wobbly. The story is kind of bonkers, with dancing mermaids and huge fish disguised as a tall man. Furthermore, emotional overloads can be too much for some people but visual treats and casual abandonment of conventions are so invigorating. A must for the fans of the director and his hit film 'Mind Game'.

It's an anime film about Kai, a gloomy middle-schooler who loves music, but whose father and grandfather are against it. They live in a town where the only industries are fishing and umbrella making, because the mermaids cursed the village long ago. Through a long and rambling story, Kai gets involved with a couple of other pre-teens in forming a band, a mermaid known as Lu and... well, it's a weird, complicated fantasy story.There are several issues with this feature, and it's hard to say whether it's an issue with the film makers or the people who did the American release. Some of the anime fantasies I've seen over the last few years have had very elaborate magical theses, and when the denouement comes along, there was is no foreshadowing in the movie... or was there? Was the escape clause the good guys used to avoid their evil fate just invented at the last minute, or was it mentioned in the original Japanese version about 15 minutes in and the translator botched the job? Or am I going to be lectured that if I had read the 4300-volume manga that the movie is based on, like I should have, I would have seen it was mentioned twice?I think the translators did a fair job of foreshadowing. I must admit that I was distracted by the use of at least three completely different style of animation used in the movie, depending on whether it was the workaday world, when the mermaid was present, or when some major magic was operating. It's a fair and reasonable way of doing things, like different lighting for different eras in a film, but it was a lot to absorb.In the end, though, one goes to a story film for a story, and a story is about people changing, and that's what happens here: the selfish pre-teens stop being so selfish, the older people open up about their own issues and the need for the youngsters to live their own lives and so forth. It's just that this is a weird movie. And in the end, I think that is a good thing.

It is not a conventional Anime at all still it is very beautiful with a deliberate playfulness witch you will like. The mermaid itself and the characters all are amazing. The first half is more beautiful than the second but at whole it is a fine Anime film which is worth watching. Just do not miss it a recommendation.

Lu is a rare twin-tailed mermaid who loves music; when middle schoolers Kai, Yuho and Kunio secretly practice their indie-pop music on Merfolk Island, a pile of rocks near the fishing village of Hinashi, Lu cannot help but dance! Her tails turn into legs and she becomes a swirling dervish of movement. She also wants to be friends with everyone, but the people of Hinashi have many old tales about the merfolk, including that they eat people, and Lu may be in danger from those humans if the teenagers can't save her…. This is a lovely animated film, very colourful and with a mostly upbeat story line that young children would probably enjoy very much. All that, plus J-pop music too; a real winner!