It slows your pulse down. This is a war story told at drift speed, set in the undersea world of Mer, where the real hook is not the battles but the question nobody can answer: how did tiny Bars suddenly get strong enough to come at Moslem and Agadia at once. Jo and Oz are not chosen heroes, they are two spiritual knights taking monster-culling jobs to eat, and that gap between working stiffs and a continent-scale conspiracy is the whole show. Don't come for spectacle, there isn't much, and the ones who love this know that. Come for the score, which does the heavy lifting the animation budget won't, turning long stretches of open water into something that actually aches. A 1997 curio for people who like their fantasy quiet and their mysteries slow.

Beneath the ocean's surface lies Mer, an underwater world thrown into war. Bars, until recently a small and peaceful kingdom, has somehow grown strong enough to challenge its larger neighbors, the principality of Moslem and the old and renowned kingdom of Agadia. No one understands the source of this sudden power. Jo and Oz are young spiritual knights who earn their keep by slaying sea monsters. People fear their abilities and see them as a possible danger rather than as heroes. Against their will, the two end up fighting the army of Bars and the dark forces that have taken control of it. The result is an undersea fantasy adventure.