The world is destroyed due to war, pollution and I don't know what. But that's not important, because the point is that; the world is re-seeded into something much precarious and hopeless existence than today's extravagant and frivolous society. When the rain is toxic and earth barren; sky as dark as the imminent doom hovering the fate of human society. The last standing city Ecoban which is the nearest hope one can expect, is home to people who dominate and rule the stray living outside the city. These people called diggers are employed and exploited by the Ecobans to do their digging. A rebel group arises among these diggers threatening the destruction of Ecoban.The main protagonist of the movie Shua is a scientist exiled from Ecoban years ago, living among diggers, plotting to destroy Ecoban. His childhood friend Jay still lives in Ecoban and she is now fighting to bring down the rebels which brings them on opposite sides in this conflict.Though the plot is simple, the backdrop of the story is beautiful and surreal. The animation is quite good, for you should watch this movie just for that. A somber mood throughout the movie gives it a somewhat unique feel among other post-apocalyptic stories. If you liked "Vexille" then you will like this one too.A must watch for sci-fi animation movie fans.

Absolutely astonishing! Not only the magnificent scenes, but more of the integrity of the story line, the moral behind it, the CGI, and the romanticism (not to be mixed-up with man-woman relationship/love, I meant the classic definition of romanticism - sublime)!Having read many mangas, seen countless anime as well as feature length films, I think this is, to an extent, the only one of its kind! Relating 'Sky Blue' to several analogous feature films, the former sees through the modernity and the implication of so-called civilization reflected from 'Ghost in the Shell' 1995, 'Innocence' 2004 and 'Appleseed'; the devastating consequence of being selfish, greedy and blind as typified in the classic 'Akira', 'Jin-Roh' and 'Final Fantasy Advent Children'; and the beautiful perception of human nature as seen in 'Castle in the Sky', 'Spirited Away', even in 'Monsters Inc.', and built an unforgettable masterpiece! Yet the combination is nothing ever dramatically, explicitly, realistically and beautifully expressed before!Recalling those CGI wastelands, to me there are something inside of them, not a single phrase to describe them! – Magnificent yet regretful, seemingly hopeless yet nostalgic!

I find it interesting to note that the previous reviewer mentions a supposed "lack" of a better story for Wonderful Days -- and yet still rates the film as an "8" (based on "artistic merit"), and then, oddly, states that the film "improves with repeat viewings".From my perspective, no amount of eye candy alone rates an "8" with me, and the ONLY films I watch more than once are films that have a good story.I would submit rather that the previous reviewer's remarks may have been clouded by personal notions regarding any of several plot points, or perhaps a predisposition to identifying (or not) with one or more of the key characters, problems which I did not encounter at all with this film.This is an important distinction for a reviewer to make. Personally, I found the story in Wonderful Days to be worthy of merit, well executed and illustrated, and that with a fine sense of style and wonderful dramatic touches."Poetic in certain passages" might even be a better descriptive. Please, by all means, view this film and enjoy.

Sky Blue is another formulaic futuristic sci-fi animated feature with an apocalyptic vision of mankind's fate in much the same mould as Square's cinematic bomb Final Fantasy:The Spirits Within. Like that worthless movie, Sky Blue serves up an ambitious central plot set in the distant future (2142?) after a global disaster, in this case a man-made disaster, and then proceeds to clumsily fumble with some important themes such as friendship, love, dreams and the environment through a poorly written story with a weak cast instead of developing the environmental message into a cohesive and engaging yarn like one would expect. Earth is in peril due to humans causing an ecological catastrophe that has blacked out the sky. The set up is familiar, borrowing the same formula as FF:SW. We have the last remnants of our species gathered in a giant, covered city with the entire planet now one big wasteland, a troubled 'hero' who drifts into strange dream sequences and battles against time to save mankind (in this case by destroying the city to let the sun shine through the clouds!?!) and a squad of 'lovable'(annoying and stupid more like) warriors fighting for the cause. There is even the crude tacked on 'romance' that is both completely unnecessary in such a film and undeveloped, but it seems filmmakers these days feel obliged to have a tacked on love story at the core of every non romantic film so I can almost forgive the scrip writers for this crime. Unfotunately there are no weird aliens in this film and the characters are amongst the weakest ever created - the hero, the girl (who's only discernible trait is having red hair) and the (oh so sci-fi animation cliché) villain are all devoid of personality and the script they deliver is weak, cold, corny and unrealistic - every line seems to be an explanation of the plot (which is so thin it requires little explanation) instead of any meaningful insight into what is going on between the characters. Another film from the orient that attempts Hollywood style story telling (for some reason) and fails miserably.Sky Blue was a very poor film indeed, however it will look great on a HD Widescreen display, if only for the backgrounds. A lot of time and money was invested in this project however there are some very noticeable problems with the animation (the only thing notable in the production). Shadowing is poorly done creating disappointing effects on bikes and the flying bike things, most moving objects don't look properly integrated with backgrounds. The 2D characters are the worst aspect of the film's animation as they all look too similar (and all appear pretty healthy, clean and well nourished considering there has been no sunlight for 100 years and there is no explanation about food supplies etc) and are horribly animated in contrast to everything around them, they look terrible against the lush 3D backgrounds because they just don't look like they fit in at all. In the English version the voice acting is the worst I have ever encountered in an animated feature, matching their animated characters the voice actors are wooden and emotionless adding to the general atmosphere of boredom. All in all Sky Blue is just a poor man's 'Spirits Within' without the A list voice talent. Sky Blue is at best mediocre as a visual spectacle, some backgrounds are eye popping, but overall it is nothing special and the plot is short, underdeveloped and predictable. Ghost in the Shell and Advent Children are superior in visuals and story. 4/10 - boring and uninspired, avoid.