wished for a "happy ending" - jokes on me. if Close-Knit left me sad idk what i feel now, just know i'ma carry this depressed feeling for a while. this aint for the faint hearted. this was a rude awakening, considering i was looking forward to something along the lines of Close-Knit - which in comparison is light and has more positive heartwarming scenes - this is gritty, dark and raw from start to finish (which ironically is positive - kinda). even if there were light spots, they were overshadow by the melancholy character's.

must admit didn't like Nagisa at first, got that she was suffering too much, to notice the other's pain, let alone help. that's why their first meeting wasn't heartwarming. and even made me hate Nagisa, cause Ichika was a blameless, defenseless victim that wasn't any better off then Nagisa - she for sure didn't deserved the treatment she got from her. so thinking that she would find a safe-haven with him/her and seeing how abrasive Nagisa was towards an abused child was angering. even their getting closer wasn't a slow burn, it was stagnant - the breaking point where Nagisa "got" that Ichika was a kindred soul, suffering as she was, was after the whole "private room" incident - outing the fact Ichika was doing it so she could afford the dance lessons. Nagisa seeing her break-down and self-hurting, bringing home that just cause she looks fine doesn't mean that she is. that broke down the wall Nagisa built around her heart.

the rest sadly goes from bad to worse - cause Nagisa thinks she needs to change (physically) in order to be a worth parent - while Ichika doesn't care - she just needs to be loved and cared for. if this point would've been driven home, maybe Nagisa wouldn't have done what she did - letting things spiral downwards to that sad freakin end.

wont say this was perfect as there were bits that i didn't get cause Ichika's character relied a lot on facial expression's - well not even that, so guessing when there was no dialogue or even facial expression's from her - ur left wondering what does it really mean. and not even go to mention Rin, another poor soul aish this movie did my heart in 😶 great acting and story but aish a one off