Aesthetics of Japanese architecture, kimono fashion, culture, beautiful men and women combined with an excellent fantasy genre - don't blink or you'll miss it. Time just flew past watching this film. I expected more of a Mills & Boon 'he hates her - she tries her best to win his affection' but whoah, how quickly he was enamoured by Miyo but she was so deserving of his affection. It was a fast paced film which could easily be made into a 20 part series, showing us the relationships, past the present, of Kudo, then with Miyo, then introducing us to the Special Skills soldiers - which alone warranted a much lengthier exploration of each character and their particular 'magical' attributes. Actually, if they made a series about this alone, it would still be a winner - Japanese X-men... yes please!