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High Rise Invasion stands out from other manga because it's about two girls kicking butt and taking names.

The genre of this manga is action, with some horror elements. When you come in with this expectation, this manga will make you happy. If you are expecting some hardcore survival games or psychological eldritch horror, or a complex story, you will not be happy. Many people will die, some right after they introduced, and some characters will be caricatures - but fun ones!

Two things that are unique about this manga is the world of masks and high-rises, which is oddly compelling, and of course, the ... female protagonists. I find it oddly so hard to find women in the lead in shounen genres, and Yuri and Nise are two well-drawn characters that have a meaningful relationship spanning through the story. I cannot express how happy it makes me to see them in a genre where most protagonists are random faceless young teen males which further makes this story memorable to me.

Saw this at Anime NYC on the big screen with a wider audience on November 20th. Note I am a 22 y.o. male college student, people in different demographics might appreciate this differently.

TLDR; enjoyable for the music but the plot requires you to turn off your brain. Average overall.

Belle is a subtle take on Beauty and the Beast that takes place in the virtual world. Suzu is a shy, depressed, girl who turns into a beautiful avatar in the virtual world where she is confident enough to burst into song. Meanwhile, the Dragon is a vicious creature whose outbursts of violence in that ... world cause him to be hunted down. But is Dragon a villain, or just misunderstood?

Let's start off with the positives. The sound design and music is very good. Suzu and "Belle", her alter ego, sing throughout the movie. The chorus of the main theme is still stuck in my head a couple days later, and the music carries the movie. It is because of the music that one emotional scene in the movie nearly made me cry.

Belle also looks good, with original and interesting character designs if you don't mind the CGI. There are some very humorous moments that made me laugh out loud, mainly involving Suzu and her classmate's awkward yet earnest romantic lives.

There are two main negatives to this movie, and they are both massive: the themes are a mess and the movie is contrived. There are light spoilers ahead, so skip the following if you would rather judge the movie on your own.

The first negative is that thematically this movie makes no sense. Suzu begins the movie as an anxious, depress, girl with a broken relationship with her father. Yet the movie's main focus is Suzu's relationship with the mysterious Dragon. You can make a long allegorical argument about how the Dragon represents Suzu's dad, but it's just not clear and the ultimate resolution to the father-Suzu subplot seems to come out of nowhere. Meanwhile the Dragon plot's payoff is ridiculous to everyone except the most ridiculous optimists based on how it is presented.

The second negative is that this movie is very contrived. I will not spoil, but at the end the main characters are solving a mystery. Because of a series of coincidences, increasingly implausible, they are able to quickly crack it. The creator intends through this scene that "Suzu and all her supporters come together to solve the mystery" but it falls flat because this emotional scene cannot be taken seriously.

Overall, a movie with great music and fun scenes that just don't work when strung together. This movie falls far short of Wolf Children and while I would consider spending time to watch it online I am not sure that this an anime movie worth going to theaters for (a la Your Name)