in plot and spirit, and details are far from indifferent." The reviewer also applauded the film's juxtapositions of the different characters including Gerda take on a spectral tone: "On the other hand, it is precisely this that makes The Snow Queen so poetic, the ability to trace through the wonderful drawings by, among others, made by the great Fyodor Khitruk; the extreme beauty – and ugliness – of the creation, the continuous contradictions that characterize human existence." Reviewers and critics from Japan had positive reviews for the film. Takuya Mori for the Eiga Hyouron (Film Criticism) emphasized the Japanese viewpoint of the film once it released in 1960. The critique of the film in ‘The Genealogy of Soviet Animated Films: Focus on the Masterpiece The Snow Queen’ stated Mori was moved by the animation despite seeing the film in a black and white television screen: "The Snow Queen, I will daringly call it a gem – one that was first entrenched in Walt Disney, but then melted, and from which a new, single crystal was extracted. This is no longer something borrowed from America. It lacks comedic gags, and even a sense of rhythm, but this is no drawback, for gags and rhythm are not necessary to produce physiological pleasure . . . In the clear air of our neighbor to the North, the climate is harsh. But it is exactly the theme of this story that is able to melt snow with a single-minded love . . .and this because she [Russia] yearns for Spring."Ghibli Museum Library states the movie is akin to a myth: "This work, which was produced under the auspices of the Soviet government at the time and in a system unrelated to commercialism, is a solid story structure that focuses only on Gerda, the main character, by removing useless episodes, and it is also likely that the interpretation unique to Russia is projected, such as the idea of animism and reverence for nature. Even though it is a work of the previous 50 years, it still does not lose its luster." , children's literature critic of Japan stated the film adaptation is clear and coherent along many fronts in comparison to Andersen's story: "Therefore, the story is much more consistent and clearer than the Andersen version." The detour of Gerda's original sedate personality to a courageous determined one was a new innovation that the reviewer