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Oct 24, 2015 6:28 PM
#1

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Feb 2012
3959
THIS IS AN ANIME ONLY DISCUSSION POST. DO NOT DISCUSS THE MANGA BEYOND THIS EPISODE.
----------------------------------------
Not many people stayed for this one at MCM Loves Anime.

Novels I have read/am reading pending approval: since November 10 2022
Nov 16, 2015 3:13 PM
#2
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Dec 2014
5
The movie comes out on DVD in Japan on February 6th so perhaps we will see it be licensed and subbed around that time or hopefully before.
Feb 10, 2016 6:07 AM
#3
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Dec 2013
97
I just watched the raw version and I'm confused?

What was that last scene before the credits??
Feb 14, 2016 8:48 PM
#4
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Nov 2013
59
I seriously need the Engsub because this is one hell of a ride, even I know a little of Jap.

So Watson is on an adventure to find a book that can revive the death, sure. But then there is also a test that Nikolai and Alexander carried on, which results in their deaths? Alexander said this is the new way to make a zombie with thoughts and words, but it is really meaningless in my opinion....because you kill a person...and how the freak Watson couldn't say back when Alexander said Watson was the same because he experienced on the corpse? They are not the same, dude...

Then they finally found the book in Japan, HAH OF COURSE IT IS JAPAN. Watson tried to insert the book's knowledge into Friday's mind/program. Okay so basically Watson also had invented a new way to create a zombie too. He inserted a program into Friday's mind, forced Friday to write down everything he saw and heard, so that Watson can use these notes to insert into Friday, pretend them as "memories" for Friday. I really somehow sympathize with Watson here because Friday still couldn't say a word even though he had memories, made Watson's objective a failure.

Back to the Japan things, Friday got crazy because od the book's knowledge, but Watson thought Friday was being revived, because his eyes showed pain? Soul? Whatever, you got the point. But the zombie guradians there attacked them and Friday and Watson had to leave before Friday finished the book, and also because Dr Fran came to take back the book.

Watson being emo and all when Lt Burnaby yelled and hit him, said because of his and Alexander's way of thinking that people died, reviving dead people when others die and all. Hadaly had power to calm zombies? Or stop their function? Eh whatever.

Watson tried to fix Friday by inserting stuff/memories again but didn't work.

Okay the next part is confusing and I couldn't understand. Dr Fran was captured by Prof M. Prof M used the book to make zombies go crazy/become weapon for war? Friday got crazy again and here we go the touching friendship scene between Watson and Friday, I do like that scene tbh.

Next scene is confusing and don't expect what I said here is totally right...

Dr Fan got out ( okay I was like pushing the skip button here so sorry...) and took Halady with him, revealing that he actually revived Hadaly before and he wanted a body to insert his soul into it, since his body is dying. He chose Friday because why not? LOL. The machine started to crystalize because of the book's power. His soul came back to his body and he wanted to do it again but Watson stabbed him together with Friday.

So...that is the end?

NOPE. Then we have Watson using the book to try sharing his soul with Friday or something, makes him crystalized and Friday actually gained a soul??? But what about Watson??? He doesn't remember anything or??

GAHHHH

Btw, it is still an enjoyable watch, since I really like the interaction between all the people here, the music and the animation is really a plus to me.
glaceon_cuteFeb 14, 2016 8:55 PM
Feb 28, 2016 12:36 PM
#5

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Aug 2015
528
This movie in a nutshell:

Beginning:
ooh, decent interesting concept and good animation

Later:
Info dumping, info dumping...
TL notes, TL notes...(all to quick to read)
Too many unrecognizable or unfitting historical names(The instrument of evil is named Paul Bunyan?...Come on guys)

Final verdict after the after credits scene:
What the fuck was that?!
AvidAnimeViewerFeb 28, 2016 1:13 PM
Feb 28, 2016 1:52 PM
#6
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Jul 2018
564088
AvidAnimeViewer said:
This movie in a nutshell:

Beginning:
ooh, decent interesting concept and good animation

Later:
Info dumping, info dumping...
TL notes, TL notes...(all to quick to read)
Too many unrecognizable or unfitting historical names(The instrument of evil is named Paul Bunyan?...Come on guys)

Final verdict after the after credits scene:
What the fuck was that?!


Its a shame, really. The show's premise was very interesting but it lacked developement and momentum. 2 hours are more than enough but the incoherent plot really ruined it for me, also the many wtf moments especially noticable at the end were a huge turn off. Those TL notes though, dayum...
Feb 29, 2016 2:08 AM
#7

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Nov 2011
129027
Hmm this movie seemed strange to me. It has a LOT of potential imo because of the premise, setting (yes, I really like the setting in particular of this movie), and Watson seemed like an interesting character at first.

I didn't like Friday much throughout the series as I find his connection with others to be hardly interesting. Hadaly is the breakout character imo especially in the latter half. Shame there wasn't much about we learn about her as the movie decided to focus on much bigger things.

Wit Studio poured a decent amount of budget into this and the animation is fairly good so I did enjoy the technical part of the movie. Quite a weird ending and seems like it's open ended. Meh, 6/10. It's tolerable for me but I can't say that it's very enjoyable. Good potential but didn't capitalize on it fully.
Stark700Mar 8, 2016 5:13 AM
Feb 29, 2016 3:42 AM
#8

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Jan 2015
15106
Lmfao I didn't understand a fuck. It had potential but the movie was confusing asf.
The post-credits scenes confused me even more.

Goddamn was it a long movie. 7/10 for the animation and the visuals.

XenocrisiFeb 29, 2016 7:53 AM
Feb 29, 2016 5:20 AM
#9

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Jun 2015
555
Alright guys, the end was really confusing.

1- Did Watson give his soul to Friday? Then why both of them are safe and sound at the end? (In this case, did Watson forget all? Why?)

2- Did Friday gain a new soul during the journey?

3- Was Friday's soul "always there"? (Remember the promise of pointing twice the pen in Watson's face, Friday did that like saying -see, I remember that promise, I'm here!- )

Basically, what the hell happened in that holding hand final scene? Who is Watson now? Who is Friday?
HELLO THERE, ONII-CHAN
Feb 29, 2016 9:31 AM

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Jul 2013
106
That was some good shiz.
Feb 29, 2016 10:36 AM

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Nov 2015
66
I wonder if you all missed the minute or so after the credits, "4 years later" and the few words Friday said during the last credits.

Besides that, I still can't get the scene of when Nikolai died out of my head.
Feb 29, 2016 2:27 PM

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Mar 2015
550
my_name_is_chef said:
Alright guys, the end was really confusing.

1- Did Watson give his soul to Friday? Then why both of them are safe and sound at the end? (In this case, did Watson forget all? Why?)

2- Did Friday gain a new soul during the journey?

3- Was Friday's soul "always there"? (Remember the promise of pointing twice the pen in Watson's face, Friday did that like saying -see, I remember that promise, I'm here!- )

Basically, what the hell happened in that holding hand final scene? Who is Watson now? Who is Friday?

1. It seems like that is a new soul, so maybe he really gave a Friday his soul, and used a different soul on himself?
2. ???
3. Yeah, it's pretty standard cliche - no matter what, they're be connected.
Maybe, in this moment Friday got a Watson's soul, so hint of appearing consciousness appears in his eyes and movements.
And it seems like Friday has become a Moriarty.
But yeah, end is somehow feel like Evangelion - it's hard to say that this is a bad ending, or not. Maybe, between.
TlahuizcapanteFeb 29, 2016 2:34 PM
Feb 29, 2016 5:32 PM

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Mar 2015
5491
Not bad for a 2 hour film. There were some amazing action scenes. The ending was quite unsatisfying for me. Solid 6/10 - whole thing felt like a pseudo-zombie film.
Feb 29, 2016 8:35 PM
SHSL Good Luck

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Apr 2015
7110
The premise was good but imo, the execution was weak. The animations were fantastic. But damn, am I confused O_O. And that ending makes it worse.

3/5
Feb 29, 2016 9:37 PM
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Apr 2009
4
So after all of that 2 hours of watching the movie, were they basically saying that whatever Watson did in that last scene before end credits had successfully 'rebirth' a new soul/consciousness in Friday by sacrificing Watson's memories?

Watson didn't die, Friday got better mobility and ability to convey his thoughts/feelings whatever (at least better than the 'improved' reanimated corpse).

The movie had so much potential and yet the ending was let down (for me at least).

Suddenly turning the after credit ending into a Sherlock Holmes prequel was not surprising, but it did thrown everything of the track. I guess the new Friday is Moriaty now.
Mar 1, 2016 4:04 AM

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May 2009
260
I'm confuse of what really happens.The story looks good at start but then become confusing later on.
Mar 1, 2016 12:19 PM
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Mar 2011
36
This movie will give nightmares to those that developed Guilty Crown PTSD... Shame, I loved the first half, the rest was off the rails. Wasted opportunity.
Mar 1, 2016 2:24 PM

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Jun 2015
555
zueri_na said:
had successfully 'rebirth' a new soul/consciousness in Friday by sacrificing Watson's memories?

Watson didn't die, Friday got better mobility and ability to convey his thoughts/feelings whatever (at least better than the 'improved' reanimated corpse).



Nice explanation!
Still I don't get why if Watson gave up his memories, Friday could get more consciousness; it makes no sense to me
HELLO THERE, ONII-CHAN
Mar 1, 2016 9:55 PM

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May 2015
619
This movie of Project Itoh’s novels was an utter disappointment, imo.

A mess of story and characters. A waste of budget, resources, and time.
I heard it wasn’t a success at box office.... even the the Blu-rays (Limited Edition) sold rather poorly for a high budgeted movie.

Please, let Harmony and the almost-axed-because-Manglobe-bankruptcy Genocidal Organ be better than this.
zero-rMar 1, 2016 9:58 PM

We ultimately fear what spawns from within us ~Shinsekai yori
Music is freedom. ~Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso
Mar 2, 2016 7:24 AM
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Dec 2012
424
this movie started off quite well but went a bit downhill :P
the animation looks amazing, enjoyed it.
Mar 2, 2016 11:55 PM
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Aug 2011
19
i dont know why but the movie gives the same feeling as Gundam: G no Reconguista
you watch and you dont understand what is going on... the story sucks and using the names of famous characters makes it suck even more... even after credits too much questions left unanswered but not in cliffhanger kind of way but in way that something is missing even if it should be there
english subs by russian mate who translated them from russian subs leaves much to be desired
the art is amazing but hey this not naruto(or one piece) with episodes every week so it would strange if the art in movie sucked as much as the story and character backbone...
Barnaby as the character i liked the rest not at all....
Mar 3, 2016 12:56 PM

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May 2014
415
I think it's understandable as long as you pay attention and think about things. If you could understand the plot of Evangelion or Serial Experiments Lain, SNT's plot isn't rocket surgery by comparison.

Keep in mind though that Itoh died before the book was finished, so the movie probably relies on some improvised storyline.

My only complaint is that the characters probably should have been given original identities, rather than basing them off the Sherlock Holmes universe - they had very little in common with their literary counterparts.
Typing on an ipad is like driving carpentry nails with a sledgehammer.
Mar 7, 2016 5:59 AM

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Aug 2013
5418
So WIT Studio went into CG too? :|
I expected visuals like Rolling Girls and Owari no Seraph, with beautiful hand drawn backgrounds and effects.
What I got? CG garbage. I couldn't even focus on story :/ BTW, story was just average too. I don't know how to rate it. 5/10 will be fair.
rsc-plMar 7, 2016 6:06 AM
Dub = fake crap. Always.
Mar 7, 2016 9:30 AM

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Feb 2016
137
rsc-pl said:
So WIT Studio went into CG too? :|
I expected visuals like Rolling Girls and Owari no Seraph, with beautiful hand drawn backgrounds and effects.
What I got? CG garbage. I couldn't even focus on story :/ BTW, story was just average too. I don't know how to rate it. 5/10 will be fair.


I'm not sure about Rolling Girls but OnS had Studio Pablo for backgrounds, and actual animation work wasn't that impressive either. Seems to me that people are overhyping WIT too much over SnK considering SnK was full of QUALITY too.
Mar 7, 2016 9:39 AM

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5418
dilation said:
rsc-pl said:
So WIT Studio went into CG too? :|
I expected visuals like Rolling Girls and Owari no Seraph, with beautiful hand drawn backgrounds and effects.
What I got? CG garbage. I couldn't even focus on story :/ BTW, story was just average too. I don't know how to rate it. 5/10 will be fair.


I'm not sure about Rolling Girls but OnS had Studio Pablo for backgrounds, and actual animation work wasn't that impressive either. Seems to me that people are overhyping WIT too much over SnK considering SnK was full of QUALITY too.

I think that animation in OnS was pretty impressive too (backgrounds was epic)


and Rolling Girls:


And BTW, SNK was a collab production, I read somewhere that Wit had done only human characters animation.
rsc-plMar 7, 2016 9:47 AM
Dub = fake crap. Always.
Mar 7, 2016 9:36 PM
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564088
Someone care to explain to me wtf I just watched? Everything made sense up until nick and alex killed themselves...
Why the fuck did they kill themselves?
What was The One trying to achieve and how was it different from what Walsingham was trying to achieve?
Did Watson kill himself at the end?
Is Friday technically back to life now?
Mar 12, 2016 2:00 AM

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Jun 2013
731
This was interesting and at times, pretty confusing. Things got interesting when they revealed who Friday is. Before that, everything was pretty damn confusing, although the latter parts also had their confusing moments. This had references to many historical figures, both real life people and fictional characters of popular novels and I'm not sure if knowing who they are was important or not. I personally, only heard about Thomas Edison and Dr. Watson (and I found this out after the TL note lol).

Anyway, Watson and his his colleague/friend, Friday, had this hypothesis that when a person dies, his body becomes 21 grams lighter. That weight belongs to the soul. They want to return that 21 grams back just like what happened to the First – someone revived complete with his soul. For this purpose, Friday gave himself up as a test subject and wanted Watson to do something and get his soul back. Writing everything that happens was something Watson thought may help bring the soul back. (one thing which was weird was that they have all this technology to bring back people to life as zombies and they still used candles? Why didn't Edison's invention gain popularity?). Watson was caught by the British intelligence man, M, and was told to find Alex – a person who supposedly has the notes of Victor (something which has a lot of secrets to revive people etc). Everyone wants those Notes – the Russians, the British, the Indians (isn't India under British control here?) etc – for their own purposes. Alex and Nick escaped the Soviets and hid themselves and the Notes. Burnaby and Watson go to Kabul with Nick to get those Notes, but they were in Japan – either Alex had them sent there or someone took them there and he found out. Either way, he told Watson to go and destroy the Notes. He and Nick killed themselves because the Soviets Russians were after them – if they were caught alive they would have been tortured to tell where the Notes are or they would have been killed. So they killed themselves to keep the location of the Notes a secret and eliminate the Russians from the search.

In Japan, Watson finds the Notes, but instead of destroying it, starts analysing it with Friday to find out how to bring the soul back. That results in failure to an extent as he doesn't find out anything useful. However, Friday gets some soul back – and this is the reason why Hadaly couldn't control Friday through those sound waves which could control all other corpses. We get proof that Friday got some of his soul back later on when he and Watson are on their way to Hadaly's secret hideout – the three signs are: Friday taps Watson with the pen on his nose, Friday has tears in his eyes, and Friday tries to shoot himself.

The reason why the First wants the Notes was a bit confusing – either he wanted to punish the humans for overstepping their boundaries by bringing people to life, or he wanted to bring back his ded waifu, or it had something to do with the Empire of Corpses Watson, Nick or Burnaby mentioned (or maybe that last one was the reason why the Russki's wanted the Notes). I think this was kinda like the First saying "we corpses have feelings too you know".

After the Japan analysis failed, Watson tells Burnaby that he screwed up and wants to make up for it by stopping M who stole the Notes from the First. M wanted the Notes to punish the humans, I think. But whatever the case, his reason was more or less irrelevant since he didn't do anything in the end as the main thing was between the First and Watson.

Hadaly wanted a soul too since she was a robot made by Edison. Her entry though. When they were up in the mountains and were ambushed, suddenly badass woman with a flamethrower shows up. That was pretty damn cool.

The ending felt confusing but that could be the point. A theory I have is that Watson gave some of his soul to Friday (kinda like 10 grams out of the 21 grams he has). Both Friday and Watson live on like normal humans, more or less, as is seen in the four years later thing (when Sherlock Holmes and Watson partner up). One thing is for sure that Watson gave Friday his soul which was evidenced by Watson's hand going pale and Friday's hand regaining its color. And whatever Watson did resulted in the side-effect of him losing his memories.

I'm not sure if there were any themes they wanted to get through because I didn't quite pick any.

The animation was quite good I think. The CG moments didn't feel all that jarring to me.

P.S Hadaly was sekushi.
Mar 13, 2016 5:01 PM
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Jan 2014
1
So this is what happens when the writer wants to be creative and unique but just ends up confusing everyone.

Action scenes were cool though. Hadaly on the stagecoach with flamethrower was cool. Wouldn't mind a bit more zombie killing action myself.
Mar 20, 2016 6:30 PM

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Jun 2013
519
Well that was okay. The animation seems good. But the story requires a lot of attention which I would give if it was interesting enough. To be honest, I still don't know what happened.
Mar 31, 2016 10:50 PM
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Yamada2 said:

Thanks for that :) While most of things you explained I had already understood, it was still nice to have everything written out. I wasn't sure what happened at the end since I thought Watson ended up sacrificing himself, but then the after-credits he was alive and with Holmes...but your explanation makes sense. It's sad that all he wanted to get Friday's soul back (and basically be like before) but even if he did give Friday part of his soul, he ended up forgetting everything. But I guess what Watson doesn't know won't hurt him, and Friday seems happy where he's at. A bittersweet ending is fitting for this type of story.

Overall though, this movie was interesting, but felt a little messy, especially towards the end. And that's most likely because there's a lot to the story and the world that just can't be put into the length of a movie, even if it had 2 hours. All that glowing green souls at the end was cool and all, but I felt like I was watching a different movie at that point; everything before was sci-fi, but then it seemed like magic (the being able to control the corpses part too). It was odd. Wasn't sure what was going on with the crystals either. I feel like these things might've been explained in the novel?

I would've like to see a little more about Watson and Friday's background, because we're given flashbacks that they were friends who researched together, but it wasn't gripping to see Watson so desperately trying to get Friday's soul back. Which goes back to my main complaint, which is the length of the movie given the type of story that was being told. Still, it now has me interested in the source material. The world of Shisha no Teikoku is quite intriguing, I really like the steampunk setting. The whole idea of an empire of corpses has a lot of potential. It's just unfortunate that the movie didn't flesh out at the very least, the main character, and when none of the characters are given much depth or have something interesting about them, the story just falls flat.

The animation and visuals were top notch, as to be expected. I did notice the 3DCGI background characters here and there, but hey, it wasn't as bad as the ones in Bakemono no Ko, because there were a lot of things going on in those scenes, or at least more things to look at, such as the detailed backgrounds.

Shiki said:
Besides that, I still can't get the scene of when Nikolai died out of my head.

For real...that was the most shocking part in the movie, and disturbing, really. Didn't imagine we'd see a live person go through that. I was eating cereal during that part and my appetite went poof. All the "soul" injection scenes made me cringe...
Apr 7, 2016 2:02 PM

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Feb 2015
3575
Yamada2 said:
This was interesting and at times, pretty confusing. Things got interesting when they revealed who Friday is. Before that, everything was pretty damn confusing, although the latter parts also had their confusing moments. This had references to many historical figures, both real life people and fictional characters of popular novels and I'm not sure if knowing who they are was important or not. I personally, only heard about Thomas Edison and Dr. Watson (and I found this out after the TL note lol).

Anyway, Watson and his his colleague/friend, Friday, had this hypothesis that when a person dies, his body becomes 21 grams lighter. That weight belongs to the soul. They want to return that 21 grams back just like what happened to the First – someone revived complete with his soul. For this purpose, Friday gave himself up as a test subject and wanted Watson to do something and get his soul back. Writing everything that happens was something Watson thought may help bring the soul back. (one thing which was weird was that they have all this technology to bring back people to life as zombies and they still used candles? Why didn't Edison's invention gain popularity?). Watson was caught by the British intelligence man, M, and was told to find Alex – a person who supposedly has the notes of Victor (something which has a lot of secrets to revive people etc). Everyone wants those Notes – the Russians, the British, the Indians (isn't India under British control here?) etc – for their own purposes. Alex and Nick escaped the Soviets and hid themselves and the Notes. Burnaby and Watson go to Kabul with Nick to get those Notes, but they were in Japan – either Alex had them sent there or someone took them there and he found out. Either way, he told Watson to go and destroy the Notes. He and Nick killed themselves because the Soviets Russians were after them – if they were caught alive they would have been tortured to tell where the Notes are or they would have been killed. So they killed themselves to keep the location of the Notes a secret and eliminate the Russians from the search.

In Japan, Watson finds the Notes, but instead of destroying it, starts analysing it with Friday to find out how to bring the soul back. That results in failure to an extent as he doesn't find out anything useful. However, Friday gets some soul back – and this is the reason why Hadaly couldn't control Friday through those sound waves which could control all other corpses. We get proof that Friday got some of his soul back later on when he and Watson are on their way to Hadaly's secret hideout – the three signs are: Friday taps Watson with the pen on his nose, Friday has tears in his eyes, and Friday tries to shoot himself.

The reason why the First wants the Notes was a bit confusing – either he wanted to punish the humans for overstepping their boundaries by bringing people to life, or he wanted to bring back his ded waifu, or it had something to do with the Empire of Corpses Watson, Nick or Burnaby mentioned (or maybe that last one was the reason why the Russki's wanted the Notes). I think this was kinda like the First saying "we corpses have feelings too you know".

After the Japan analysis failed, Watson tells Burnaby that he screwed up and wants to make up for it by stopping M who stole the Notes from the First. M wanted the Notes to punish the humans, I think. But whatever the case, his reason was more or less irrelevant since he didn't do anything in the end as the main thing was between the First and Watson.

Hadaly wanted a soul too since she was a robot made by Edison. Her entry though. When they were up in the mountains and were ambushed, suddenly badass woman with a flamethrower shows up. That was pretty damn cool.

The ending felt confusing but that could be the point. A theory I have is that Watson gave some of his soul to Friday (kinda like 10 grams out of the 21 grams he has). Both Friday and Watson live on like normal humans, more or less, as is seen in the four years later thing (when Sherlock Holmes and Watson partner up). One thing is for sure that Watson gave Friday his soul which was evidenced by Watson's hand going pale and Friday's hand regaining its color. And whatever Watson did resulted in the side-effect of him losing his memories.

I'm not sure if there were any themes they wanted to get through because I didn't quite pick any.

The animation was quite good I think. The CG moments didn't feel all that jarring to me.

P.S Hadaly was sekushi.


thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou
----
i was going to say that i wasn't understanding around 60% of the movie, but ^cleared it up for me a lot.

i came to the movie literally by a poster, and i found the art interesting. as to be expected, anime movies are excellent in art, so 10/10 there.

of course nikolai has my favorite name of all time and he dies. of course. and i had no idea that friday/alex was his brother! but i did notice when nikolai was first seen, i thought it was friday because of the alikeness. i was like "Why is he acting normal??? Is this a flashback or something???"

i wonder why he didn't even show a sign that he was looking at his dead brother.

as always i am disappointed to see 3D in anime, but there wasn't the much so meh.

the ED was excellent, and i knew that it was egoist simply from the singer. the thing is while egoist does make good songs the singer is terrible. she sounds like she's whining all the time, so i barely listen to them. but THIS, this is something worth listening to again. it was just so good.

AND THAT ENDING THOUGH!!!!! watson meeting up with sherlock made me gape, and then break out in a clap. i must say with a little guilt that last one minute is better than all the movie. and apparently friday has all of his soul back and is now james. wonderful! i loved it, just because of that twist it's now a 9.

and i noticed it was in the theaters too late...D: there's no reason to look at it again there, unless with a friend or some family, which i doubt will happen.
Apr 9, 2016 2:28 AM
Observer

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Nov 2007
5283
The premise was mostly wasted on the rushed and repetitive execution. The first 20 min was really good. Then it went downhill from there on.

Did not like the tacky references to mix known fictional and historical characters... like seriously? Hadaly is Irene Adler? >_>

Unfortunately it reminds me too much like a poor attempt to mimic Asimov's Robot series with Daneel and such...
bla bla bla
The endless debate between fans and haters. At one point, after spending a lot of time on MAL, you just realize it's totally pointless.
Niko-kun said:
On MAL, everyone who has used the lame rating system becomes a critic and an intellectual by default, haven't you heard?
Apr 11, 2016 12:40 PM
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Jan 2015
2
Yamada2 said:
This was interesting and at times, pretty confusing. Things got interesting when they revealed who Friday is. Before that, everything was pretty damn confusing, although the latter parts also had their confusing moments. This had references to many historical figures, both real life people and fictional characters of popular novels and I'm not sure if knowing who they are was important or not. I personally, only heard about Thomas Edison and Dr. Watson (and I found this out after the TL note lol).

Anyway, Watson and his his colleague/friend, Friday, had this hypothesis that when a person dies, his body becomes 21 grams lighter. That weight belongs to the soul. They want to return that 21 grams back just like what happened to the First – someone revived complete with his soul. For this purpose, Friday gave himself up as a test subject and wanted Watson to do something and get his soul back. Writing everything that happens was something Watson thought may help bring the soul back. (one thing which was weird was that they have all this technology to bring back people to life as zombies and they still used candles? Why didn't Edison's invention gain popularity?). Watson was caught by the British intelligence man, M, and was told to find Alex – a person who supposedly has the notes of Victor (something which has a lot of secrets to revive people etc). Everyone wants those Notes – the Russians, the British, the Indians (isn't India under British control here?) etc – for their own purposes. Alex and Nick escaped the Soviets and hid themselves and the Notes. Burnaby and Watson go to Kabul with Nick to get those Notes, but they were in Japan – either Alex had them sent there or someone took them there and he found out. Either way, he told Watson to go and destroy the Notes. He and Nick killed themselves because the Soviets Russians were after them – if they were caught alive they would have been tortured to tell where the Notes are or they would have been killed. So they killed themselves to keep the location of the Notes a secret and eliminate the Russians from the search.

In Japan, Watson finds the Notes, but instead of destroying it, starts analysing it with Friday to find out how to bring the soul back. That results in failure to an extent as he doesn't find out anything useful. However, Friday gets some soul back – and this is the reason why Hadaly couldn't control Friday through those sound waves which could control all other corpses. We get proof that Friday got some of his soul back later on when he and Watson are on their way to Hadaly's secret hideout – the three signs are: Friday taps Watson with the pen on his nose, Friday has tears in his eyes, and Friday tries to shoot himself.

The reason why the First wants the Notes was a bit confusing – either he wanted to punish the humans for overstepping their boundaries by bringing people to life, or he wanted to bring back his ded waifu, or it had something to do with the Empire of Corpses Watson, Nick or Burnaby mentioned (or maybe that last one was the reason why the Russki's wanted the Notes). I think this was kinda like the First saying "we corpses have feelings too you know".

After the Japan analysis failed, Watson tells Burnaby that he screwed up and wants to make up for it by stopping M who stole the Notes from the First. M wanted the Notes to punish the humans, I think. But whatever the case, his reason was more or less irrelevant since he didn't do anything in the end as the main thing was between the First and Watson.

Hadaly wanted a soul too since she was a robot made by Edison. Her entry though. When they were up in the mountains and were ambushed, suddenly badass woman with a flamethrower shows up. That was pretty damn cool.

The ending felt confusing but that could be the point. A theory I have is that Watson gave some of his soul to Friday (kinda like 10 grams out of the 21 grams he has). Both Friday and Watson live on like normal humans, more or less, as is seen in the four years later thing (when Sherlock Holmes and Watson partner up). One thing is for sure that Watson gave Friday his soul which was evidenced by Watson's hand going pale and Friday's hand regaining its color. And whatever Watson did resulted in the side-effect of him losing his memories.

I'm not sure if there were any themes they wanted to get through because I didn't quite pick any.

The animation was quite good I think. The CG moments didn't feel all that jarring to me.

P.S Hadaly was sekushi.


Thank you very much for sharing your theory, it really made a lot of sense and so it filled some spaces that have been left for me to understand!I can now feel less revolted with some turn of events (´∀`*)
Apr 17, 2016 5:35 PM

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May 2015
6406
The movie was... OK.

The story was a complete mess and didn't you feel like some scenes were missing? Also some characters appear and disappear without explanation! so frustrating!
The only thing clear from the beginning are Watson's motives: he wants to prove Friday's theory and bring his soul back. But after that, the intentions behind everybody else's actions are badly explained. By the end of the movie you (kind of) understand why they wanted the Notes. This are my theories:

1) The First: when he makes all the corpses kill everybody (alive) you think is to prove a point: having undead people around is dangerous! but then you realize is because he need more undead people to recreate his wife's soul so they can live happily ever after.

2) M: he just thought "hey the best way to end the war is to kill everybody so they can't think for themselves! If they are zombies they won't be thinking about killing each other! problem solved! I'M A GENIUS." and that is why he does the same as the First.

Last but not least, Watson recreates (in a smaller scale) The First experiment with the Notes and gives Friday a soul (I think because he couldn't do it like The First, Friday's soul is incomplete - he is like Lilith now) And now Lilith is Irene and she ends up with Watson.
Apr 22, 2016 7:32 PM

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Dec 2012
9690
Movie started out great but I fell asleep at the half part >.<
Apr 29, 2016 3:38 AM

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Jan 2014
124
And this is why it's terrible to adapt an entire book to a 2 hour movie....

I wonder why didn't they milk this into a 2 parter or even to a trilogy, bet we would've gotten a much better exposition. I'm guessing they won't be able to sustain such quality though....

8/10 bias of the art, music and the tons amount of historical references. EGOIST song at the end is bone chilling too.

Only worthy scene to mention is Hadaly's entry and the scene with Nikolai and Karamazov's scene.

...I wonder if the story put M as a relative to Sherlock.... their hair color design is the same though so maybe they did.

Maybe it's time to find and read the book instead.
Don't attribute maliciousness when stupidity is enough to explain what happens
May 4, 2016 9:22 PM
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Apr 2016
1
It was interesting, I have another idea for the ending of this Movie.

I saw on the ending part which Sherlock Holmes was showed. The eyes of the characters was all dead none like the characters drawn at the earlier part...their eyes was differently alive.

which explains that all people was dead but conscious and we can call it the empire of the Corpses except Hadaly cause, she's a Robot..she can't die.

Dead body gained consciousness because of their memories, which Friday mentioned about his theory...about souls.
21 grams of the soul. 'The severity of joy, the severity of sorrow, the severity of experiences' I think all of this equates to 'memories'. If we think about it, Its what defines a person, as given by the adage 'Our experiences defines the people we become'. Which smoothly connects to Friday's theory that 'thought defines the soul'.

In the end , I think Watson wants to destroy the note for the future(the crystal tablet thingy .) and he wanted to end his life to see the real Friday(Old friday)...to be together with him in another world.
He reached for Friday's hand and said, "...with you.... again... ". Friday squeezes Watson's hand which is the real Friday,at last Watson meets the real one.

Maybe,he has long time enough to live his damn life..searching for answers but in the end what Friday said to him was more weightier than the other people's theory.

At first I watched this movie I was crying and confused..damn depressed seeing the damn ending. But I believe Watson's suicidal was a good ending.
Jun 1, 2016 7:51 AM

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May 2010
2887
i wish Watson would have destroyed the notes in Japan when he had the chance so i wouldnt have to watch the rest of this..whatever it is.

Really forced myself to finish this to be honest.

Hadaly is the only reason to finish this movie lol.
Jul 6, 2016 9:22 AM

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May 2014
415
Wind_God_Girl said:
And this is why it's terrible to adapt an entire book to a 2 hour movie....

I wonder why didn't they milk this into a 2 parter or even to a trilogy, bet we would've gotten a much better exposition. I'm guessing they won't be able to sustain such quality though....

8/10 bias of the art, music and the tons amount of historical references. EGOIST song at the end is bone chilling too.

Only worthy scene to mention is Hadaly's entry and the scene with Nikolai and Karamazov's scene.

...I wonder if the story put M as a relative to Sherlock.... their hair color design is the same though so maybe they did.

Maybe it's time to find and read the book instead.


Except that Itoh died before the book was even completed.
Typing on an ipad is like driving carpentry nails with a sledgehammer.
Jul 8, 2016 12:03 AM
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Jul 2015
64
Seriously, wtf did i just watch? The story was very chaotic! The only thing that prevented me from giving this movie a really bad score was the stellar art and animation. Fuck it im still gonna watch the other project itoh movies just for the art and animation.
Jul 11, 2016 5:07 AM

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Aug 2012
16
Lu-Ru said:
The movie was... OK.

The story was a complete mess and didn't you feel like some scenes were missing? Also some characters appear and disappear without explanation! so frustrating!
The only thing clear from the beginning are Watson's motives: he wants to prove Friday's theory and bring his soul back. But after that, the intentions behind everybody else's actions are badly explained. By the end of the movie you (kind of) understand why they wanted the Notes. This are my theories:

1) The First: when he makes all the corpses kill everybody (alive) you think is to prove a point: having undead people around is dangerous! but then you realize is because he need more undead people to recreate his wife's soul so they can live happily ever after.

2) M: he just thought "hey the best way to end the war is to kill everybody so they can't think for themselves! If they are zombies they won't be thinking about killing each other! problem solved! I'M A GENIUS." and that is why he does the same as the First.

Last but not least, Watson recreates (in a smaller scale) The First experiment with the Notes and gives Friday a soul (I think because he couldn't do it like The First, Friday's soul is incomplete - he is like Lilith now) And now Lilith is Irene and she ends up with Watson.


Isn't Irene a love interest of Holmes, not Watson in the actual fiction? Makes the ending even more some kind of fucked up cuckold.
Jul 14, 2016 9:56 PM

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May 2015
6406
tenodera said:
Isn't Irene a love interest of Holmes, not Watson in the actual fiction? Makes the ending even more some kind of fucked up cuckold.


Omg! You are right! Irene is like the only woman who could fooled Holmes I think. Watson was married twice to Mary something and another one I can't remember.
Jul 16, 2016 5:27 PM
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Aug 2010
14
Lu-Ru said:
And now Lilith is Irene and she ends up with Watson.


Are you referring to how in the animeisdead subs she says "I have to meet my new boyfriend" (or something like that)? I think that's a mistranslation, actually...she doesn't make any reference to a boyfriend, so as far as we know she ends up with nobody.
Jul 20, 2016 4:15 PM

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May 2012
25828
Completely impressed I must say! The setting, atmosphere, story development and ending were all just so damn impressive. Loved the industrial/steampunk era addition quite a lot and the whole buildup was just great.

It did feel for me though that this somehow was more of a 6 episode OVA series as some of the cuts of the stories really seemed going that way, but to be honest the whole flow of doing it in a movie wasn't wrong either.

That said I must say that I really enjoyed this movie, and it definitly has been quite a while since I've seen a great movie. Will definitely recommend this for it being such a fantastic story and setting!
Aug 5, 2016 1:07 PM
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Jan 2013
81
Tumbril said:
Are you referring to how in the animeisdead subs she says "I have to meet my new boyfriend" (or something like that)? I think that's a mistranslation, actually...she doesn't make any reference to a boyfriend, so as far as we know she ends up with nobody.


I hate it that I have to rely on someone elses translation of JAP -> RUS -> ENG and how the context can get all buggered up.

What does Hadaly actual say from JAP -> ENG at the end when she is talking to Burnaby?
Aug 5, 2016 2:33 PM
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Aug 2010
14
jfabritz said:
What does Hadaly actual say from JAP -> ENG at the end when she is talking to Burnaby?


I haven't checked with the official Funimation translation, but I believe it's along the lines of, "He's running around London, with a new partner." (I think the original line is "彼なら新しい相棒とロンドン地を駆け回っているは," but don't quote me on that since I'm by no means fluent.)

Not sure where 'boyfriend' came from but my guess is that the word 彼 (kare) meaning he/him, is also sometimes used to refer to one's boyfriend...but in this context it makes much more sense for it to mean he (Watson).
Aug 13, 2016 5:14 PM
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Aug 2016
2
So if you watch the full credits it seems Friday is talking about Watson saying he locked the notes in his head and lost his memories of the journey they had together and Friday became concious and he is having a whole monolouge scene. Plus it shows watson 4 years later and it shows the future of all the characters, yes and Friday as well
Aug 15, 2016 6:11 AM

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Nov 2009
1408
So Friday now has a soul that is a mix of original Friday's, Watson's and something that was born from his writing everything down? To boot, he will eventually become Moriarty? Talk about confusing and lacking a decent explanation.
ったく、嫌な世の中だよ。
Aug 15, 2016 7:38 AM

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Jul 2012
80
This movie was suppose to be cool but his VERY disturbing obsession for his "FRIEND" ruined it all. RUINED!!


Cute girl went full retard when she laments her lack of emotion/soul with a very sad face.


I'm guessing 4 years later in the end the technology already improved so much that all corpses are now upgraded to have "emotions" and behave like a normal person. Bet that emotion data came from the girl anyway.....not so surprising considering the technology existed 4 years ago.
Sep 8, 2016 7:21 PM

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Sep 2010
236
Confusing and edgy, that's fine with me.
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