Quartile rating: 7.5/10 · 1 rating
A young girl, from a civilization that resides in deep underground tunnels, finds herself trapped in an inverted world and teams up with a resident to escape and return home.
Patema Inverted is a visually inventive anime that makes extraordinary use of its gravity-inversion concept, creating genuinely disorienting and beautiful cinematography that exploits the premise at every turn. The world-building is distinctive and the visual execution is one-of-a-kind, earning top marks for both Novelty and Cinematography. The plot is engaging and heartfelt but relies on fairly familiar dystopian and forbidden-friendship tropes once the central gimmick is established. Voice acting is serviceable but unremarkable, lacking the emotional depth to fully elevate the character dynamics. The ending resolves the central conflict satisfyingly but feels slightly rushed and overly convenient, undercutting some of the tension built throughout.