Saint☆Oniisan (Movie)

This Anime Is exactly what it is advertised as, a silly stupid movie about Jesus and Buddha going on a holiday in japan. There really isn't a plot besides the fact that they go on adventures but thats ok. The dialogue is fun and interesting, the side characters while not super flushed out they become part of what makes this movie so fun to watch just because of their reactions to whatever stupid thing Buddha and Jesus are doing. While this movie is not a Masterpiece it was never intended to be one, I advise you watch it and just appreciate it for what ... it is.

After hearing a lot about this anime from random peeps on the internet, I was really looking forward to watching this. I mean, it's about Jesus and Buddha in modern day Japan, so what can go wrong?

Well sadly it didn't meet my expectations of a funny slice of life anime.

Most of the jokes are forced by the over-exaggerated expressions and I can't help but cringe at several scenes for their divine awkwardness. The pacing feels very slow, and you can't help but feel the entire movie is one big filler episode. At about 40 min in, I have an urge to drop the entire ... thing.

Animation and voice acting are pretty good though. And at least the sauna scene is pretty hilarious.

Average score: 5.6/10

Saint Oniisan is simply not a very funny comedy. That's what ultimately matters most, and while there were some good moments, overall, this was a dull and unstructured film.

Jesus and Buddha are vacationing in Japan. That's all that really needs to be said about the plot.

Firstly, there were some good jokes and moments. There are some jokes about Buddha's spot, 'parting the seas,' and the bit with the mafia was genuinely really great. I wish the entire story pivoted around these arcs because they were easily the best jokes. I also found that Jesus and Buddha were mostly likable. The art style is good, though ... overly cute at times, with some designs that stuck out as oddly cartoonish and out-of-place like the kids. Overall, the presentation and the first two acts were tolerable to good.

There is quite a lot of negative to unpack. The plot of the film never really begins or ends. Jesus and Buddha are already vacationing at the start, and the concept does carry Saint Oniisan for a good while at the beginning. It does get old over the course of the story. It feels like three episodes, maybe of an OVA, haphazardly put together without much of a point. There's some connecting threads with the kids and mafia characters, but they could easily be placed anywhere. The pacing is nonexistent.

The film starts to overstay its welcome hard in the final act. There are much fewer jokes nearer the end for some reason. It really peaks with a moment where Buddha interacts with the kids one final time. That is a good segment, but it comes a good ten or twenty minutes before the end. I would probably give this a point or two higher if not for how much the ending sucks. It becomes almost unbearable and ruins what goodwill it had built up with the solid jokes it was telling.

Another significant issue is tone. No one reacts to Jesus and Buddha, even to comment on their bizarre behaviour. It's just odd, and while it contributes to some jokes alright, it's a strangely dry approach that only makes the film harder to stomach when it does start missing with the jokes or outright not trying. The ending especially tries to be semi-serious with some of the flattest material when it is not really earned, and the film has had almost no development for any characters.

Overall, this film was a letdown and just isn't funny enough or structured well for a film. It feels like a montage of jokes or events put together as a "movie." I cannot say I recommend it, and you are better off just seeing the few funny scenes or moments because they aren't used effectively in the overall story.