Ethan’s review published on Letterboxd:
"Then I realized I was the only one left. Just me. Flying slightly above the sea."
"That just means that your time hadn't come yet."
"I thought that I heard someone telling me to keep flying like that forever... totally alone."
Honestly, I thought I wasn't the hugest fan of it halfway through, but then the final thirty minutes come, and the ending... holy shit. In those final moments I realized how much the movie was really saying, and what the film was doing with its deceptively simple plot. There's so much there that slowly reveals itself.
And the "Marco's Story" scene... possibly one of the best scenes in Miyazaki's entire filmography.
"It can't be! You're such a good person!"
"The good ones were the ones who died."