Having seen Nobuhiko Obayashi's unlikely and commendable, yet heavily flawed, wildly uneven swan song *Labyrinth of Cinema*, i was unprepared for the emotional impact *Hanagatami* would have on me. While quite similar in its deliberately artificial pop-art style compositions (although less rushed and half-assed in its greenscreen work), this is a deeply sad story about a doomed generation of japanese youths trying to catch the last rays of sunlight before a whole world plunges into suffocating darkness - an apocalyptic vision through and through. The whole film is pervaded by a certain kind of melancholy that was already subtly present in his 1977 cult classic *Hausu*, but never as front-and-center as in this one. From every single frame you can sense how urgently Obayashi wanted to leave future generations a strong anti-war message, finally materialized in this lifelong passion project of his. This reminds me i should totally fill my gaps in the prolific filmography of a visionary director who is often reduced to his single most (in)famous work that is *Hausu*.