Note: I saw the Japanese subtitled version

I was very keen to catch this at the cinema, as it may well represent the last time I'm able to see a new Ghibli release on the big screen. I went in knowing absolutely nothing about it other than that it's an adaptation of an English children's novel.

I also haven't seen 'Arrietty' so I wasn't sure how Hiromasa Yonebayashi's style would differ from the other Ghibli directors. What is consistent with past films is Makiko Futaki's beautiful animation - the village that Anna travels to is rendered quite stunningly and I know that the standard of animation is occasionally variable in some Studio Ghibli films, but it's of the highest standard here.

What surprised me a little was the nature of the story. There's whimsy here, certainly, but Anna is a character who's suffering from a great deal of alienation and to see that rendered so specifically at the beginning of the film set the tone for what followed. That's not to say that there aren't gentle moments of genuine warmth throughout the film, but the nuanced depiction of someone who is struggling to come to terms with themselves and their place in the world was a nice change.

Anna's character makes it slightly easier to accept her behaviour when she first encounters Marnie. Rather than question the strange nature of her new friend she is instead keen to drink in the sense of friendship and belonging she's experiencing. The reveal unfolds in a slow and fairly natural way - it never feels like the film is holding your hand, but nor does it feel as if the rug has been pulled from under you at the film's end. I liked the way small characters were allowed to hint at deeper things without them ever being explored; there's a lovely moment where some schoolboys mock Toichi the fisherman for his silence before being called back by their teacher. Toichi silently winds his fishing line and the incident isn't referenced again. When he does choose to speak, he adds a little shading to the story of the film but again, the film moves ahead without exploring this. It's refreshing sometimes to have a sense of more history untold.

There isn't the sense of enchantment that some of the other Ghibli films have, but I came away from this with a smile and if this does prove to be the final film from the studio, which seems unlikely, it's not a bad one to go out on by any measure.