Whoever once said your teen years are the best time of your life deserves the guillotine. At least, that’s what 14-year-old Kokoro thinks. Every morning she walks to school with a heavy heart, afraid to be cornered by the same group of girls – nay, harpies! – who hurls the cruelest of things at her. “Go die in a pit, moron!”, “You’re so ugly, no boy will ever want you!”, that sort of stuff. No, if it were up to Kokoro, she’d disappear completely into another dimension far away from school. But how many other teens with similar thoughts have a mirror that suddenly starts to shine magically? Kokoro does and, with a little hesitation, she crosses into another realm where, together with six other teens, she finds herself in a floating castle. There the Wolf Queen, a little girl hiding behind a wolf mask, awaits them. She gives them one year in the castle to look for a key that will grant one wish of the one that finds it. The castle, much like a municipal administration, is open from 9 AM to 5 PM. Whoever fails to jump back to their own dimension before five will be devoured by a real, bloodthirsty wolf…

Japan alone seems to hold the secret to tackle the often-grave issues youngster wrestle with in beautiful coming-of-age stories rendered in stunning animation. But beware! Much like the real, non-Disneyfied fairytales of old, this castle has some very dark and grim rooms that make it not suitable for a very young audience. So, we recommend it for ages 12 and up.