Personally, I don't care for anime in general, and I don't think this style of filmmaking suits Middle-Earth. I could end up being pleasantly surprised, but based off this trailer I don't think that will end up happening. Which is a shame, because I initially had high hopes for this film.

On a slightly more controversial note (although it really shouldn't be), why does the narrative have to center around female empowerment? The source material is about Helm Hammerhand. Can't we just have a story about him, instead of how Hera has to break free of the bonds set by her well-meaning but patriarchal father? Not really the story I wanted to see, and I suspect most LOTR fans familiar with the source material would agree (or at least I hope they would, feel free to express disagreement).

The style doesn't feel quite right does it. To be honest, there's nothing there at all that would tell me that was The Lord of the Rings if it didn't say so. Looks like a typical fantasy adventure that happens to share some of the locations. I wasn't terribly convinced by this before, but it's certainly difficult to see how anyone's meant to get excited about it after watching that. But if they do then good for them.

I'm vaguely familiar with the source material for this, but regardless think that female characters are so sparse in Tolkien's work that we should take what we can get, canon or no canon. Essentially, I think it's a mistake to bemoan "why does it have to centre on female empowerment". The answer is it doesn't have to. Some of us see it as a fault of Tolkien's work that it isn't progressive (enough), rather than believing it to be untouchable regardless. It's easy to dismiss representation, but it genuinely is important, and if doing this gets more women and girls interested in Tolkien's work then that can only be a good thing.

I get the impression that sometimes people think I don't actually believe the stuff I say. But 100% when it comes to adaptations/extended media, I would rather see a progressive take on Middle-Earth than a loyal one. That's what the book's for. Anything else can and should push in different directions.

This anime style is not really good.Regardless, let's hope they put together a good story.But I like the soundtrack.

@WizardWarrior1 I agree.I had similar thoughts in my head when I watched the tralier.I'm not saying we don't need a story like,but that's pretty much what we always see in fantasy,history etc.By the hundredth time it's boring,and I wouldn't have wanted to see a story like that in Middle Earth with Rohirim.

@FH2104 I agree with you on a level, although that's not exactly the story I wanted to see in this war.There is no problem if we focus on female characters and the inclusion of women and girls in Tolkien's stories is a good direction just don't push it too far.I hope they won't...