This was a pretty interesting episode. Like Vangelus and I'm guessing Keith, I knew nothing about the anime. Actually, i never heard of the Anime till I heard about this movie. I heard about this movie because I'm a fan of Kimura Takuya's work. I also thoroughly enjoyed the movie. Very heavy on the drama but I'm used to it.
I'm glad you mentioned Kimura's involvement in helping boost the quality of the CGI. But, I've read that there was another side to it. Apparently the crew was not happy with the decision, since it basically meant overtime for them but none for him. and his cut wasnt as substantial in the scheme of things, i think. I mean, he's been in the business for 20+ years with a jpop group, j-dramas, and movies. Plus, I think a lot of them thought of it as him stepping beyond his boundaries, since he's just an actor and not like the producer or anything. So I think a lot of the crew took a disliking to him after that. But, it seems it paid off cuz the film looks amazing.