Arpeggio of Blue Steel - Ars Nova Cadenza- is the second and final film following the anime series. While the first movie was a recap movie with 40 mins of new footage at the end, Cadenza is all-new animation. It is recommended to have watched the first movie because it sets up the plot for this one and thus can get a little bit confusing at the various new characters and why Iona is suddenly weaker. Nevertheless, it is still not too hard to follow. The animation is a step up from the TV series and looks great. The set pieces are fun to watch, even though it is somewhat weird to see battleships submerging, flying around and breaking apart to fire lasers, they're exciting and suitably epic. Due to Iona's weakening of her powers, it keeps you in suspense on how Gunzou and team will be able to get out of the sticky situations they get in with the enemy. The movie does tend to use common plot devices such as the other characters coming into save the day. The plot pretty much boils down to Gunzou needing to head and meet up with the leader of the Fleet of Fog (sentient warships who wants to eliminate humanity). It elaborates on Gunzou's mysterious father and while it doesn't address the origins of the Fleet of Fog, the movie serves as a satisfactory ending to the anime. The ending in particular was done well, with a nice and sad theme song matching to the surprising events of the finale.
