Classic. The story revolves around two young individuals who got caught in a conflict between some distant tribes. They were strong and determined whose feet are on the ground. These people have faith in the ones they love. They truly had to fight for their life and kept fighting no matter what.
The storytelling is beautiful. It feels like an enchanted folk story but not generic and biased at the same time. The atmosphere is captivating which nearly distracted me from some funny minor faults in the animation XD. The overall art style is neat, especially the lighting, not only for aesthetic reasons but also cover certain blood scenes. And so, the climax is absolutely satisfying, personally because of the long-awaited amount of blood spilled. Yup, blood.
<<<the good points are so apparent, cut it off>>>
However, there are several points to make. Firstly, why capt the title? At a glance I thought it was "IT girl" =P. Next, as the plot goes, more background is reveal as new lead for the plot. That is, if they stay as background though. Indeed, the story expanded further from the story of "mr hunter" and "mysterious girl" which actually raises more questions. Specifically, it make me feel like there are more and this story just does not feel complete. Like, you know, a prequel that someone already mentioned. Again, this is personal preference - a story should be complete.
Finally, some *SPOILER* *SPOILER* regarding why it feels like a prequel.
1. The girl at start, the beast dies, the boy dies, the girl still lives and a little figure pops up at end credit => circle of life, sure but dead is dead and it's those who live that count; role girl > boy as girl becomes girl + 1 and the boy becomes dead.
2. Bad guys need no reasons to be evil, the fact that the king is actually not-so-evil only creates more problems. Justice for the king!!! :O
3. The flute thing is overused imo, unless it is part of something else, another story perhaps?
4. The dagger in the girl's hand in the final scene, is it from the king???
5. The end credit is a good way to hint a cliche "to be continued" even if not intended by the author. Especially so if it also happens to feature a complete different landscape and is somewhat not as dim (past) but bright instead. I believe it is meant to represent future (which is the whole point) but also somewhat recent future. Recent as in, you know, recent enough so there is another story that will still be relevant... And so on
This feeling keeps recurring because I care about the character. It's just that.
In the end, this is an awesome animated film, emotional as well as educational. 4.5 because you can do better and will be even more awesome mwahahaha :D