Polygon Pictures and Murai Sadayuki are well-known entities at this point.  They’ve teamed up multiple times already (Sidonia no Kishi, Blame), and the one’s aesthetic seems to fit the other like a glove.  From Murai you’re going to get old-school hard sci-fi, with Lem-like sociological pondering and a fair amount of angst for beautiful young humans.  From Polygon an overall above-average CGI experience that will often look really pretty until the camera zooms in in the characters and reminds you why we love cel animation so much.

That’s the context for a premiere that offered no major surprises in either direction.  Ooyukiumi no Kaina (it’s technically a manga adaptation but the manga was launched in anticipation of the anime, and Murai only does the scripts), is classic Murai and classic Polygon.  The story concerns a post-apocalyptic world gripped by a deep freeze.  In a tiny “village” in the canopy above the snow sea lives Kaina (Hosaya Yoshimasa sounds way too old for the role. honestly), along with a bunch of oldsters who believe they’re the only humans left in the world.  On the surface lives a princess names Liliha, whose nation is at war and has no idea there are still people living up there.

Actually, this reminds me quite a bit of an old Gonzo series from their early-2000’s period (as Murai can).  That’s not a bad thing (I liked a few of those a lot) but it does leave a strong impression of treading on familiar ground.  Kaina sustains his relatives (I assume they are, anyway) by hunting the giant insects which “fix” the holes in the canopy.  Meanwhile the tree that sustains the group is slowly dying, which seems to be the main reason why all the other villages above the canopy died out.  As for Liliha she and a group of soldiers are off hunting for a “floater” (think hot air balloon) so they can meet a sage of some sort, when they’re set upon by an enemy ship.  Only Liliha escapes via the floater, which is quite a surprise for Kaina when she reaches where he is.

This is all fine more or less, but not especially gripping in any specific way.  The main pair are obviously a destined couple of some sort who’ll have the fate of the world in their hands (we’ll see how that plays out), most likely with Kaina leaving his village behind and joining Liliha down where all the people are.  If this is the prologue I won’t formulate any final judgments until the story proper starts, possibly as soon as next week, but so far Ooyukuimi no Kaina is lacking a bit of sizzle for me.