I believe that the philosophy of the answer pre-death exists ccommonplace in anime. Now, if this makes any sense, Serial Experiments Lain did something like it, except for some ppl, the answer was death itself. Lain.. such a confusing show with no end and a almost true-to-life environment. *shudder* my head hurts.
and back to the movie. I think that the movie is like a 2-part ep saga, melded into one giant dvd. And the plot was sorta resembling that of the first episode. Kinda.