[UPDATE] The article's hidden content has been fixed and a cover image has been added.
Introduction#
I happened to see that "The Sea in the Box" was about to go live, and thought I might watch it tonight. After watching for a few minutes, I suddenly thought about live streaming it to watch together, so I grabbed Grass Block to watch this movie that has been in development for three and a half years.
Here’s a brief introduction to the movie:
22 receives an invitation from a game company to participate in a trial of their virtual reality game "The Sea in the Box." In the game world, a southern coastal fishing village celebrates the Lantern Festival by parading the statues of their deities in the streets. 22 and three other test players discover a previously unseen female deity, "Saint Ci Zhou." As they delve deeper into the origins of "Saint Ci Zhou," they gradually uncover traces of tampering from outside the game, revealing a mysterious force subtly influencing the NPCs in the game. Meanwhile, 22's sister, 33, also discovers suspicious behavior from employees outside the game. A huge conspiracy involving malicious companies, NPC fishermen secretly planning mysterious rituals, and companions who seem to harbor secrets gradually comes to light.
It turns out the movie is overall quite good, and the atmosphere of two people watching and commenting together is very enjoyable. Below are some short reviews I personally wrote, which may contain spoilers, displayed usinghidden content. You can also see Grass Block's short reviews here.
- If you have some understanding of Cthulhu elements, watching this movie with obvious Cthulhu elements will make it easier to perceive some background of the evil gods in the story. However, even if you are not part of the Cthulhu audience (like me), it does not affect the understanding of the overall plot.
- The storyboarding and transitions are commendable, such asthe scenes of Bai Mian and Ta Lin acting separately, which have a bit of a "It Takes Two" vibe, watching it all in one go is quite enjoyable.
- The character development is good, with the most impressive beingOld Xuan and Bai Mian, along with the inherited (
classic) setting of 22 and 33. - There are indeed some grand scenes, and quite a few of them. For examplemecha fighting the evil god.
- The plot has its ups and downs, but some twists may not be too surprising; however, I still find it amazing. To give a side note, I had quite a few "not bros" (where "bros" does not necessarily refer to male characters) in my chat with Grass Block.
- The story provides enough punchlines, and the ending is quite profound. “Reality is just a bigger box,” when we think it’s a happy ending, the fear of 22 and Bai Mian seeing those things reappear in the aftertalk also reaffirms this statement, and who is holding this box in the easter egg is quite eerie.
- Of course, some characters' actions may not withstand rational scrutiny; viewers who pay close attention to character motivations and behaviors may need a place to store their thoughts (?
Conclusion#
Overall, as a domestically produced animated film, it’s quite acceptable; spending 6/12 yuan to watch is reasonable (if you have a membership ticket, don’t be like me and watch for free; for regular viewers, considering the movie is not encrypted, it may already be available elsewhere), at least it’s worth the wait of these past few years. Personally, I tend to give it a score of 85~90 (out of 100), hoping that Dream Guide and SPICE Animation will continue to work on a second part (
By the way, here’s a follow invitation code: 1GC^D1H.4'2_[*C2)d<G2_m6M, and... a little conversation?
- You just give out the invitation code without giving us some face?
- With your face, you only deserve to know that this string of characters used two encryption methods without keys. One of them is stronger than base64; I forgot what it’s called, just remember that the name of this encryption method has a number in it, which appeared in the main text. The other encryption method is two digits per split, commonly used in the computer field. Don’t be fooled by how complicated it sounds; in reality, just use a cyber tool and it’ll be decrypted in no time.
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The original link is https://zwh.moe/notes/8