Origin: Spirits of the Past
Origin: Spirits of the Past
| 20 February 2006 (USA)
Origin: Spirits of the Past Trailers

It is 300 years into the future. Earth's environment had been devastated by mankind's own foolish plans and humankind is beleaguered by the sentient forests which they have awoken. The world balance is tipped when a young boy named Agito stumbles across a machine that glowed in a strange blue hue inside a forbidden sanctuary.

Reviews
ReaderKenka Let's be realistic.
PlatinumRead Just so...so bad
Tyreece Hulme One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.
Ella-May O'Brien Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.
Neil Welch Origin: Spirits Of The Past is an animated Japanese movie. Set in a future after apocalyptic events, it shows humans living in ruined civilisation with encroaching plant growth. Young Agito is slightly rebellious and, while adventuring somewhere he shouldn't, he discovers Toola, a girl placed in stasis by an earlier civilisation. Releasing her proves to be the catalyst for a number of changes, most of which will be familiar to anyone who was watched Nausicaa, Avatar, Frengully and the like.The message is fine (if arguable) and the look of the movie is terrific - design and animation are both great. The problem with this film is more serious - it is that it never really grabs you.I am used to Studio Ghibli's contributions to Japanese animated cinema. They are weird (to my western sensibilities, at any rate), but they have bags of heart: they grab hold of you at the start and never let go. Origin, by contrast, never really does. The two rebellious lads come close, but after their initial exciting foray, the characters all become cardboard and you stop caring. It's a shame because, with a bit more effort put into the human story, this film could have been very good (if unoriginal).
Oliverl22 ...who wrote this script and came up with these stagnant characters???I watched this in sub and then pretended it was translated badly. Dub is fine if you can really stand it. I preferred being able to choose whether I wanted to read the rubbish or not.Lots of awkward expressions and reactions from characters with a rushed beginning like first impressions are just trite moments in time. I suggest if you watch this anime, switch off the part of your brain that enjoys witty or interesting dialogue and any dramatic tension and get ready for major plot dump.((Spoiler!)) It seems to pick up somewhere near the end but I think that's just because I was listening to the amazing soundtrack and watching the pretty visuals with branches growing out of people's arms and volcanoes springing out of the ground. The story ends with a wonderful deus ex machina as the the main character energetically transforms into a tree absorbing the baddie with him!Still, for some reason the movie seems to stick in my head as something worthwhile. Probably my artistic side of my brain being stimulated by all the colours and sound. Reminded me of a Miyazaki without the flare or intelligence and I'm sure the writer had a field day cutting and pasting from Nausicaa and Laputa.
Silverotter107 As many agree, Origin is a beautiful anime artistically. The music, graphics, and the world created are gorgeous and it really stands above most other modern animated works. However, if you are looking for more than this, than I suggest looking else where. The beauty stops short of its appearance, and when it really comes down to plot and characters, there's nothing special. Action is slow and minimal and the people are flat, corny at times, and do not act realistically. Not to mention the plot hole here and the plot hole there... So, in summary, oh my goodness, I've never seen an anime as beautiful as this one; and oh my goodness, it's like... -poke- people don't act like that. It took a GIANT step forward in graphics and music in anime, but it also took a few step backs to times of bad characterization, and unfortunately, there's not even that much action to make up for that...
deizblood Somehow i begun viewing this anime with a feeling of deja seen ... Hopefully somehow i was wrong ... The anime is really good even if the plot seems like an old plate out of the fridge and heated again it still holds something that few anime could be proud to have one of those is the charisma behind Agito the main character don't be prepared for a Miyazaki and at the end you will be facing something worth of his talent. Even if it's not the anime of the year nor even the best story, it's still a treasure worth to watch. There is a whole world to discover, and you take pleasure to discover it viewing pictures that stay in your memory.