Let me take you to a post apocalyptic where war is being waged between the industrialized human world and water hording forests. Sound interesting? Well now throw in a group of neutral humans who just want to build a better world for their children and want no part of the nonsense the other two are causing. There are also a couple of characters that are from the past to mix the whole world up. That’s Origin – Spirits of the Past in a nutshell one might say.

Amazingly detailed worlds are what you’d expect from the likes of animation house Gonzo. Origin does not disappoint in the looks department. From the moment you enter their world you get some amazingly detailed animation and some very nice character design. But the good news doesn’t stop there. Some of the people that inhabit this world seem to have some superhuman abilities that they borrowed from the forest. But those who borrow too much from the forest are destined to become one with the forest.

The first half hour of the movie is where you’ll discover most of the world’s charms. Sadly the characters aren’t as deep as the world suggests which makes for some lopsided story telling. While the current state of the world is explained in some detail the characters from the past are far too mysterious to be taken seriously. You could even say that there might be some scenes left on the cutting room floor.

But the overall feeling is that Origin – Spirits of the Past is derivative. The influence that stands out a mile is the products of Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki. While Origin doesn’t directly remind one of Porco Rosso or Howl’s Moving Castle there certainly something going on there. Maybe it’s the people transforming into trees? But the adventure is all too brief and one dimensional in the end. It all wraps up nicely in a high quality Gonzo package that visually impresses and mildly entertains. It’s more or less what could have been that makes this OVA a little disappointing. But having said that I would thoroughly recommend watching it at least once! Three stars.