For a movie that plays in the 18. century the chosen rock music is the worst and absolutely destroying the complete mood of the whole movie right from the start.I couldn't find any ups in the whole story, only one down after another, nothing cheerful in an harsh world that wasn't shown like one.I can't recommend to watch this one, because you will search for an happy end that never comes up.

American films are a shallow, inane mess. That's why people go see foreign films at art houses. They want to feel good about themselves, and they want to look good to others. Miss Hokusai probably isn't playing in theaters anymore. But if it was, it's a great place to take a date if you want to impress them with your amazing and elitist tastes.I'm not one for typical anime. And of the other anime-ish films that were big in America - Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, etc. - I guess I kind of liked them, but I'm not sure why, other than I'm supposed to like them, and it's good and right to like them. Agree, NPR crowd?Well. Miss Hokusai is a film critic's dream. As soon as I saw it playing at my local college town theatre, I already knew it got 100% from Metacritic and consistent red tomatoes on Rotten Tomatoes. Film critics' tastes are extremely predictable. The more pretentious and experimental a film, the more it merits 5 stars, or 10 stars, or whatever's the highest rating of X publication or website. Why Miss Hokusai gets rave reviews from critics:-It's Japanese anime-ish, and critics and TED lecture fans alike all salivate for those. -It has - gasp! - LBGT in there, and it's not even implied or subdued!!-I don't know what the f--- it's about, but it sure looks good!-Japanese Edo period, about famous artist/painter! Critics love artsiness. -Beautiful Japanese anime-ish characters! Critics appreciate different cultures. -Japan, Japan, oh how they love and adore Japan!-Gorgeous 19th-century Edo cityscape and scenery. Critics adore and appreciate cinematography, history, architecture, and the outdoors - a plus if it's a different culture!-And what is the film about again? I don't care, it seems experimental and cool, so I'll upvote it!Anyway, I'm guilty of thinking like critics, so I was pretty impressed with the film, and I enjoyed it. I'd hate to say this, but it really is way better than typical American films. Art-house elitism!

We meet O-Ei, grown daughter of the famous Japanese painter Hokusai. She has a younger sister, O-Nao, who is blind. (O-Ei's name was actually Katsushka Ōi, but it also appears as "O-Ei".) Hokusai is depicted as a gruff, single-minded man, living in his studio, apart from his wife and children. The blind young sister is invented - as is most of the rest of the story. But she plays a very important part.There are great moments here. One incredibly beautiful moment occurs near the end of the film. And of course, there's a delightful scene involving his most famous print, "The Great Wave off Kanagawa".The animation is beautifully done, in typical Japanese fashion. Not as beautifully as Miyazaki, but still, good.The story covers a lot of ground, including the Japanese form of erotic art (shunga). Part of that thread involves an important plot element.The musical score is very Western and modern, which could be a little off-putting. As the credits went by, I saw one of the song titles given in Spanish!.It's a movie that keeps you involved, and doesn't let you nod off.PS: Keep your eyes on the little dog that shows up at the beginning.

I watched this movie, because I loved the trailer and I was waiting forward for a nice biography of two great painters! And all I got was some misplaced rock songs, 3 or 4 paintings and a lot of verbosity. Thank Buddha, at least it was well drawn.The movie has a great start and a cool ending but inbetween we see almost nothing. Just vague pieces of their lives. The writing is incredibly bad and boring and the plot is nowhere to be found! Even the final plot twist is confusing.So, watch it only if you want to see a well drawn anime movie with almost nothing going on.A great disappointment.