i literally just sighed out loud early on when within like 10 minutes our 12-year old main character just says "I hate myself." partly because i could just imagine the rest of the runtime being about whatever silly little problem children have that don't mean ANYTHING and partly because i've thought that for so long from around that age that i just did not want to revisit it in any capacity, even through a movie. but then she starts talking about the asthma and feeling like a burden and i was like 'oh fuck, this is me'. Well, not the asthma. And then the adoption stuff came up and it was like 'oh so it's not like me at all' because she has like, reasons. But the 'feeling like a burden' part I'm very familiar with and for an extended period of time, i just felt guilty for eating because in my mind, it was taking away food from somebody who was actually worth something. Even the part where she talks about finding out her guardians get 'paid' I could link to similar thoughts I had, but as I mentioned in earlier posts, while completely understandable why she thinks that way, she's missing the perspective that she'll have later in life. I'm not saying this is a character flaw or anything, but rather it actually makes her even more relatable and is a particularly important character moment.
As far as some other stuff...they REALLY laid it on thick with the possible romantic overtones? like that rowing scene or them just constantly telling each other they love one another. i was wondering about possible cultural differences like how platonic love was expressed and even Anna's androgynous character design plays into it. so i was like whatever but then the end happens and it's just funny because it really is love.
It's very pleasing visually but it's inevitable that I'll always compare new anime I see to the ones that just push the medium completely (even other Ghiblis!) especially since there WERE fantastic/supernatural elements here they could play with. Overall good.