Another World review – kaleidoscopic afterlife fairytale with the dark fury of a Greek tragedy

Adorable spirits guide the dead towards reincarnation in this beautifully strange Hong Kong anime – but watch out for the gut-wrenching violence

The wonder of Studio Ghibli meets the gruesomeness of Game of Thrones and the dark fury of a Greek tragedy in this striking and deeply strange animation from young Hong Kong film-maker Tommy Kai Chung Ng. His film is a gorgeous fairytale glutted with gut-wrenching moments of violence that make it strictly not suitable for kids. In one scene, a medieval feudal lord burns peasants alive in a grain store; in another, a teenage princess lashes the back of a general she blames for her father’s death to a bloody pulp.

It opens in a place called Another World, an afterlife stopover for humans who have died, on their way to reincarnation. In this netherworld we meet a troupe of adorable pint-sized spirits called soul keepers, whose job is to guide the dead to the next life. The dead leave their unresolved resentments behind in Another World; they become knots tied in beautiful threads of red silk. The place is run by Goddess Mira, who despairs that after millennia of untying knots she has failed to eradicate human hate and cruelty. It’s a world beautifully animated in a kaleidoscope of trippy pastels, with some breathtaking images.