Mamoru Oshii seems to be one of those directors whose work has a naturally polarizing effect. Some people love him (guilty as charged), others loathe him. That said, I’ve long wondered what people outside the circle of anime fandom think of Oshii, whose animated work owes more to French New Wave and Russian experimental film than it does to Oshii’s own contemporaries.

And thanks to the L.A.’s Foreign Film Examiner’s Lydia Ianni, I now know.

Now that we have that definition out of the way, I  am not an otaku. While I’ve watched more than a few anime, I have never watched Dragon Ball Z and try as I may, I could not get through more than a season of Neon Genesis Evangelion. I am probably not the ideal audience for this film so maybe I should just recues myself right now. If you are interested in a deeply meditative sci fi war picture which deals less with the context and stakes of a war than the characters caught up in it then go see this film. If you’re not, well…. I think you get the idea.

Don’t worry, Lydia – nobody had to sit through more than one season of Neon Genesis Evangelion, since they only made one season. But I’m being snarky. To be honest, I’ve heard the same reaction to Sky Crawlers from plenty of anime-faithful friends – which means I’ll probably love it. Enjoying Oshii’s work is less a measure of how much of an otaku one is, and more a measure of how much you mind his endless philosophical meanderings and self-indulgent pacing.

So don’t feel bad, Lydia – you’re not alone.