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What did you think of this episode?
5Loved it!
45.2%
80
4Liked it!
28.2%
50
3It was OK
13.6%
24
2Disliked it
6.8%
12
1Hated it
6.2%
11
Average 4.0
177 votes
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Oct 11, 2009 4:52 AM
#1

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Mar 2009
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THIS IS AN ANIME ONLY DISCUSSION POST. DO NOT DISCUSS THE MANGA BEYOND THIS EPISODE.
----------------------------------------
Truly amazing beautiful and very surreal. Giving this a 10 out of 10.

May 18, 2010 2:38 PM
#2

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Apr 2008
1820
This was a hard one to score, since it was made so long ago. For its time, the animation was impressive and some of the stills used were quite beautiful. I was confused as to why some of the frames were still, though. Maybe because of budget problems, or maybe because of the movie's artistic aesthetic. I'm not sure, which is why I was easy on scoring this. There were also a few things that didn't fit the story, mainly the scene directly after all the villagers were eating, drinking, and being merry and the music. The movie was being a bit pretentious in showing off how psychedelic its art style is rather than telling the story. The music, while sounding good and fitting for the art style, doesn't fit the location of the story. The story itself was straightforward, interesting, and not too difficult to follow. Overall, I gave it a 6/10.
Dec 27, 2010 12:41 PM
#3

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Jul 2008
420
So sad, but amazing. *_*
Feb 4, 2011 5:49 AM
#4

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Apr 2008
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PockyBebop said:
The movie was being a bit pretentious in showing off how psychedelic its art style is rather than telling the story.
That's the main problem I had with it. The art work was stunning throughout but I feel as though they relied on the art to distract the viewer from where the plot was weakened.
May 17, 2011 5:40 AM
#5

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Feb 2010
3199
Gorgeous. I didn't find it pretentious... the artwork, story, psychedelic quality was all necessary and created a fantastic piece.

I LIKED how the plot wasn't cut and dry, and created a overall dreamlike quality. Mind Game is another anime that achieves this.

9/10.
Nov 21, 2011 8:40 AM
#6

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May 2009
611
Slowdive said:
PockyBebop said:
The movie was being a bit pretentious in showing off how psychedelic its art style is rather than telling the story.
That's the main problem I had with it. The art work was stunning throughout but I feel as though they relied on the art to distract the viewer from where the plot was weakened.


It Is From A Non-Fiction About Satanism And Witch Its About History She Is Different From Other Persons And They Explainin That Magnificently
Allusions Are Really Good Executed
Visually The Cromatism Is GOOD Western And Klimt TOO
And CORRECT They say Mind Game Got A Lot From That ARTWORK
Truly Beautiful

Sep 18, 2013 9:35 PM
#7

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May 2010
1453
I'd say it was only pretentious in the middle. Ironically, the part that seemed to have the best budget. Why on earth did they feel the need to portray the bubonic plague in such a ridiculously abstract and distracting manner?

Overall it was beautiful. That's something I can agree with entirely. Especially a lot of those stills which I am thankful that they didn't feel the need to animate.
“Money can't buy dere”
Jan 1, 2014 5:43 PM
#8
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Jul 2012
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This is the first time I truly regret that I can't choose "-∞".
May 24, 2014 6:00 PM
#9

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Apr 2012
845
This has a good rewatch value for me simply for the soundtrack - acid rock and psychedelic ballads yesss

I give it a free pass on the budget animation because they used what they had really effectively, and I can get fully immersed throughout (that aliens/hockey trip part I'm still not quite sure about though).

Seabury said:
Why on earth did they feel the need to portray the bubonic plague in such a ridiculously abstract and distracting manner?

I love the plague sequence, it seemed right in fitting with the rest of the film.
Jan 20, 2015 4:16 AM

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Apr 2013
11992
The artwork of coarse was 10/10 but what fitted just as perfectly was the music I thought.
Mar 27, 2015 2:35 AM

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Mar 2013
1879
I'm not sure if this is artistic or a le weird stoner film.
6/10
added the fourth most popular anime onto this site
Sep 20, 2016 4:36 PM

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Nov 2008
5447
Why the hell is this categorized under hentai?

Sep 29, 2016 9:40 PM

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Sep 2015
1728
Ezekiel said:
Why the hell is this categorized under hentai?

Yeah, my thought too. For instance, Berserk manga also had some similar themes about sex and depiction of women. If the sexual content was the main concern, Berserk even portrayed it at more explicitly extreme way without getting tagged under hentai as comparison.
UpperCatSep 29, 2016 10:11 PM

Tobacco Causes Severe Health Problems, Smoke Moderately While Respecting Others.
Nov 13, 2016 4:42 AM
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564055
I wasn't sure what happened in this one, but that's probably my fault for not paying attention. Even if I did know what was going on, I still probably would've left this viewing having felt nothing besides boredom. And this is probably a dumb question, but does anyone know what those historical details at the end had to do with the anime?
Mar 4, 2017 11:32 PM

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Apr 2015
6731
This is on American basic cable right now.

There is hentai on American basic cable right now.
"No, son, you may not have your body pillow at the dinner table!"
Sep 19, 2017 8:09 PM

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Apr 2012
845
The UK release of this finally came out not long ago and it's really, really plush. Not quite sure what the extra 8 minutes they recovered are from memory, they're added in quite seamlessly so it's hard to tell.

Blackouting said:
(that aliens/hockey trip part I'm still not quite sure about though)


note to self: she got sight beyond sight, impossible knowledge of the esoteric and future once initated by Satan's cock duh
still looks kinda funny but great to zone out to all the same
Oct 5, 2017 9:16 PM

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Oct 2013
5174
Really dope
Agathist said:
And this is probably a dumb question, but does anyone know what those historical details at the end had to do with the anime?
this is a feminist film
Feb 14, 2018 9:57 PM

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Feb 2016
460
"This is an odd one, and I fell asleep for a bit towards the middle. Basically, an experimental animation about a woman who finds liberation through sex and inspires a revolution among the people by showing them to indulge in and accept their sexual desires. The problem is that doing so is combined with her accepting a devil penis, so indulging in sexuality is also connected to evil symbolism. Eventually, the patriarchy comes and ends the party and some pictures of women revolutions are shown to let us know that it's meant as an empowering film. If it's supposed to be empowering, why have her be raped by the source of her power? Weird choice. (OK, so it waited for her to say yes, but if that were a person any decent person would have stepped in and said "Nah, tho.")

The art was mostly still, and it was sometimes gorgeous. Animation and color changes were usually used symbolically to show how liberated and free the characters were. Characters exposed to sex got specially colorized, the already powerful ruling class was always colorized. That sort of thing. It's certainly unique, but it doesn't stand as a big sign that less animation is a special statement or anything. "

Pretty much sums up what I think of this film.

Can't give it a 8, bored the fk out of me in some stretched out scenes and utterly useless psychedelic gratuitious segments, no offense intended, just being honest. Six or Seven? Well that depends, can I rewatch this? No. Six it is.
Cloud_IllusionFeb 14, 2018 10:06 PM
Nothing can happen until you swing the bat.
Apr 1, 2018 1:18 AM

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Sep 2013
3373
Wow, definitely representative of its time. The psychedelic sequences were reminiscent of The Wall or maybe Yellow Submarine.

8/10

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Oct 21, 2018 11:48 PM

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Aug 2015
984
I think I started enjoying this movie about midway through; the early use of still scenes was making me worried there wouldn't be any animation at all in the film.

The bizarre scenes of peasants turning partially into animals and bestiality actually seems kind of appropriate, since it seems like the kind of thing medieval peasants would imagine happening at a black sabbath.

Overall, I think this was great. I think it did a pretty good job conveying the themes it wanted to, though making the devil to much of a character perhaps muddies them a little bit.
Jan 1, 2019 9:08 PM

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Apr 2016
6654
One of the best movies I have seen lately. The art style was mesmerizing. You do not really see its age either. Stunning movie if you were to ask me.
The dearer you hold a memory the more painful it becomes.


Apr 26, 2019 5:17 PM

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Jul 2013
1848
Wow, this movie is 45 years old!

The scene where everyone's face transforms into Jeanne's was quite powerful, even though the general plot was basic. I choose to ignore the feminist undertones. They are useless and don't do any good to this movie (at least in my eyes).

It is essential that I listen to the soundtrack now. I really dig this type of music
Jun 11, 2019 6:30 AM

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Jun 2019
96
Now, that was an experience..... I liked the imagery and all, but it felt a little bit "trying too hard" for me... Overall, not a bad movie, but certain sences were a little bit too attention hunting, than interesting...

hypebeast-zoroJun 11, 2019 6:33 AM
Jul 5, 2019 4:44 AM

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May 2016
12390
Thanks to some scenes, I can pretty consider this movie as a Drugless LSD+Seizure Simulator. I get that it looked as painful as it did because the events depicted with the eye-rape scenes would be an assault to the senses to experience firsthand but it didn't really help that I was watching in a dark room with easily-irritated eyes. It wasn't my cup of tea but it was okay overall.

She offered herself to the Devil for her husband to live happily and they both did for a short time before she found out that there's no refunds even when things start to backfire on her. At the very least, her last moments had her witness her husband finally standing up for her despite not doing a very good job doing so. It looks like her death had her soul split into pieces and instilled into all the women who watched and apparently gave them the spirit to fight the good fight.









Sep 6, 2019 4:00 AM
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Jul 2018
564055
This was really painful to watch, other than the trippy scenes this hentai at least could offer you can just watch many better trippy experience out there or smoke some crack if you live in a neighborhood without bullshit anti-drug regulations than having to watch this hentai that feels like forever long.
Sep 25, 2019 10:17 PM
Phantom Thief

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Jan 2012
1791
it has beatiful art and a good story (imo)
but im not a fan of psychedlic stuff, so it was kinda a turn off. and it was pretty slow

also do people get off on this video (hentai wise)
Feb 21, 2020 2:27 PM

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Dec 2018
500
this is a hentai? never knew that
Apr 2, 2020 5:01 PM

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Aug 2017
3043
Absolutely fascinating movie, from visual and musical presentation, to the themes. Taking into account the literary inspiration for this movie, it has a pretty feminist message, and depicts witchcraft as a very tragic representation of repulsion and rejection women felt. Certainly the best out of Animerama films, 10/10 for me. I wish there were more movies like this.

Interesting details from IMDB:
"According to the DVD pamphlet, there has been at least five versions of Belladonna of Sadness. The first was a draft version hastily filled with temporary placeholder shots in order to meet a deadline. It has never been shown in public. The second version included [live-action footage] by Daido Moriyama...showing sex and nudity. Apparently Moriyama took...footage of men and women engaging in the sex act in parks and red-light districts. [This] footage [was] meant to be shown during two interval breaks (in the first half after Jeanne's contract with the devil and in the second half after the coming of spring). Although these had been shown in some early theatre viewings, they were ultimately omitted in the later versions in order to maintain the film's unity of artistic style. The second version also ended with the devil laughing in the crowd after Jeanne's execution. This ending was poorly received at the Berlin Film Festival, and was omitted altogether in some later versions. The third version was one edited for theatre screenings. This version omitted Moriyama's live-action footage[] and ended with the devil's laughter. The fourth version was one edited for the revival of this film in 1979. Because the creators were concerned about female college students among their audiences, they omitted the aggressively sexual scenes. At the same time, they also added the scene towards the end where the "face of Jeanne" is reincarnated in a crowd of female by-standers who saw her execution, and the final scene where the Old Regime is toppled by revolutionaries during the French Revolution. The fifth version is the LD disc video version. They restored the sexual scenes omitted in the fourth version.
Oct 3, 2020 8:07 PM

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325
Ezekiel said:
Why the hell is this categorized under hentai?


To this very day, I ask myself the same question, lol.
Oct 15, 2020 3:31 PM
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503
This movie is absolutely stunning in the visual. Poor Jeanne tho.

Hot take: this movie make Berserk look like kid pool(* in term of gruesomeness*).
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Dec 8, 2020 12:51 PM

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I had some issue with the time frame though. Ok, so the basic source material is based on a book. Yeah. Didn't read it so cannot comment on that.
There is witchcraft, feudalism, conflicts with the Catholic Church, and Black Death, so I would put the story to the Middle Ages. The setting is in France, due to the names, the biggest pandemic in France was in mid 14th century according to Wiki.
Last Black Death appeared in France in 1720, perhaps that inspired the author, since the book is from 1862.
The last scenes with the reference to the French Revolution though. That's 1789. And why bring in that, when there are already historical elements mentioned that spin through centuries? Too long.
But it's fantasy, so shouldn't matter. Guess that is some conclusion, that Jeanne's strong feminist spirit lives on long.


And. Why forgive asshole husband, Jeanne? You should have just lived happily ever after with Satan. Or even better, no man needed. Could just become the most badass woman and rule the kingdom as a queen!
Dec 28, 2020 3:42 PM
The Shrike

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Nov 2009
11609
Finally got around to seeing this one. Visually stunning film and absolutely representative of its time in the way it's presented.
Terribly sad too.

snowman_builder said:
...
And. Why forgive asshole husband, Jeanne? You should have just lived happily ever after with Satan. Or even better, no man needed. Could just become the most badass woman and rule the kingdom as a queen!


I kept on asking myself the same question. Why not give up on that loser and live her life as a strong independent (well demonic possesion aside) woman? Then again, we wouldn't have had a story that way.
"Perhaps there is a universal, absolute truth. Perhaps it justifies every question. But that's beyond the reach of these small hands." Mamoru Oshii

There is a cult of ignorance (...) nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that “my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.” Isaac Asimov

Feb 10, 2021 11:12 PM

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541
I'm sure most of you will disagree with me but in I'm just gonna say it... this shit is trash! How this managed to score a 7 here on MAL actually baffles me.
The art style is horrible! This movie might be old but Mushi Proction already made movies with better looking art style like Cleopatra and Senya Ichiya Monogatari before they made this so there is no excuse for why it looks so bad. The expressive colors on white background might look good at first glance but having an entire movie around that concept just gave me eye soreness halfway throughout watching this. The plot is questionable at best. It's not "smart" or "unique" it's just a weird "demon rapes woman" story on crack. There are a lot of crazy and disturbing scenes trown in there mostly just for shock value like for example the woman being ripped in half or rabbits jumping out of a man's asshole, like wtf!?

The woman being raped was an emotional scene, the facial expressions and the music really did portray how broken and hurt she was at that moment. That was a powerful scene no doubt about that, but I can't just pretend like the rest of the movie wasn't shit because it was. Most things didn't made any sense, the constant disturbing moments keept happening for literally no reason, the movie just keeps trowing these "artistic" metaphors at you out of nowhere every 5 min.

I mean... the movie is not boring, but it's not good either. The H content is somewhat debatable. Most of it is just nudity but there is also a little bit of explicit stuff in there, like for example a very short clip of an old woman pissing on the ground. Trust me though, none of the explicit clips are actually enjoyable to watch (unless you lower your standards REALLY LOW). Even so, this movie still shouldn't be put into "hentai" rating.
Currently on a every hentai ever marathon, from oldest to newest.
Mar 23, 2021 1:19 PM
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May 2019
260
Beautiful. The art is great, the soundtrack fits, the story is historically accurate and the drama is painful.

By the beginning, I was shocked by the explicit rape scene. It made me sad to remember that kind of thing happened at Middle Ages (it is called Jus Primae Noctis). The movie developed the conjugal relationship consistently all the time. To Jean, money, drinking and power were more important than Jeanne (and yes I believe he loved her), that made everything for him (this is the exactly view of sexist marriages I have).

I feel sorry for Jeanne. Her will to be powerful and to do evil things are the will to have the rights we women have these days. And that is more historically accurate to portray it as devil's work and her to be a witch. I can see, also, why this movie was made at the 1980's, they felt it was never so important to talk about feminism (even without actually saying the word "feminist").

The end of the movie was inspiring, framed with the March on Versailles.
Mar 23, 2021 1:26 PM
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HentaiList10 said:
The H content is somewhat debatable. Most of it is just nudity but there is also a little bit of explicit stuff in there, like for example a very short clip of an old woman pissing on the ground. Trust me though, none of the explicit clips are actually enjoyable to watch (unless you lower your standards REALLY LOW). Even so, this movie still shouldn't be put into "hentai" rating.


Yeah... I don't think it should be classified as Hentai. This is more a Devilman Crybaby's cousin. It is a movie with philosophical and sociological issues in psychedelic animation.
May 17, 2021 9:46 PM

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Apr 2010
386
This film is perfect for those on the lookout for a way of getting an epileptic fit.
Jun 20, 2021 12:32 PM
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May 2021
34
why is this on the MyAnimeList website but not the app? and why isn't it ranked?
Jan 12, 2022 4:19 AM

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Mar 2020
1110
that ending was stupid as hell lol tf you going back for
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Mar 6, 2022 7:02 PM

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949
tat1an1me said:
why isn't it ranked?

Iirc, adult content doesn't get ranked, which this is due to the classification as hentai.

So, about the actual movie now:
Honestly, I can't say whether I enjoyed it or not...
Idk, for a movie supposedly about female (sexual) liberation, it very much seemed more interested in arousing people who like women (by constantly showing them in very progressed stages of undress or as sexual outlets) than the actual women in the movie itsself, who were 90% of the time raped or drugged to force them into it 🤷‍♀️
Not to drag anyone, but it felt very much like..."ah yes, not a single woman actually worked on or was asked about this, neither for the original story nor this adaption".

Visually it was beautiful, especially for its age, though I wish they hadn't included the seizure-inducing fast flickering during the Satan sex scene and the Plague scene, because even as someone who isn't SUPER sensitive to that stuff, that was kinda dangerous.

The end pissed me off, Jean was a garbage person from start to finish and Jeanne going back to him, after everything he had done, made her whole character progression revert back to square one.

The main thing I took away from this was that sex with Satan is apparently one hell of a drug trip and equivalent to an orgasmic version of the "history of the entire world, I guess" youtube video, lol. I guess that's worth keeping in mind, should a little penis ghost ever show up one day~

6/10, the end ruined it. Go rule the world, Jeanne, don't get killed for a useless piece of shit >:)
Mar 23, 2022 3:11 AM

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Aug 2012
3305
This is a rather tough one to both talk about and rate. When I decided this month I wanted to focus on more obscure anime so to speak, this certainly fits the bill for what I was looking for. Not just because of it's status as a cult film but because my motivation for watching the obscure is because I wanted to break out and experience stories that don't follow typical conventions of mainstream shonen anime. And there is nothing about Belladonna of Sadness that remotely resembles something mainstream anime.

I think I'll start with the most immediate distinction, the visual aesthetic of the movie. It's such a striking visual aesthetic, this European flavoured water-coloured artwork gives it such a unique look. There's not a true consistency when it comes to quality, some of the shots look beautifully painted while others are quite crudely drawn and look quite ugly though those tended to be transitional pieces so they knew what scenes were important to draw more delicately than others. This is my favourite shot of the entire movie, fantastic composition with excellent quality art-work. It's also one of the only pieces of art that doesn't have a touch of sexuality to it.

All I really knew about this movie going into it was that it was an experimental anime from the 1970's with limited animation but great artwork. I did not do any further research so I was quite taken back by how much sexual imagery dominates this film. My thoughts on this are quite mixed. I think the initial rape scene at the beginning of the film was the most effective if it ever gotten. It was incredibly visceral and unique way to portray the traumatic experience, I was thoroughly uncomfortable. I didn't expect much more but then the little devil gave himself a handjob as a gag to get Jeanne to laugh and I knew I was in for something else.

I do sort of applaud how many different ways the movie was able to insert sexual imagery, it's littered all throughout the movie that ranges from the horrific to the comical as suddenly a penis is represented through a giraffes neck. I wouldn't say I particularly enjoyed watching any of those scenes, and I do wish that Jeanne wasn't naked for the vast majority of the film, but if they're going to go in this direction, I do appreciate how inventive they got with their smut. But what is the purpose, it's clearly not just smut.

And that's where we have to talk about what this movie is ultimately about, and that was something I don't entirely feel qualified to talk about. Ever since the line about men loving war and the women being left to suffer it clicked to me that this was probably a feminist film, or at least an insight into how terrible the lived experience of lower class woman use to be, and the ending note of the French Revolution being lead by women makes it explicit that the intention is empowerment. Though St0rmblades' post where apparently that addition to the film was added in the fifth version is interesting, perhaps it originally was just a commentary? Regardless, that ending is in the version I saw, so it's definitely a more feminist look. At the very least, when the nicest man in the film was the Devil, it's clear that the heroes will be the women.

Anyway there's a lot of debate on how well it handles feminism, I'm not really going to dive into it but I do think there's merit to what SleepySera wrote above, and I think class struggles also played a role and that's still valuable whether or not the feminist stuff is done well. But I do want to point out one decision I thought was pretty interesting. Phallic imagery permeates the entire film however it's not until Jeanne actually consents to sex (with the devil) that the films introduces vagina imagery. I'm not quite sure how to interpret that, maybe it's just a way to showcase her own power in the sequence but I feel like it's worth bringing up.

Beyond that, there's not much to discuss on a story or character front. Neither are particularly engaging. The music story bits that either tell the story or inform emotions were fine, to be honest I think I only liked one song and that was the first one, but it matches the visual aesthetic so perfectly that I don't take much issue with it. And oh, I loved how the depicted the plague. The black and white structures of civilization being melted away was super cool, and maybe the highlight of the movie for me. Though the flashing lights with the black blobs that surrounding those scenes were a mistake.

Finally there's my enjoyment, and I didn't really enjoy the experience of watching the film? I ebbed and flowed and my internal rating for the film kept raising and lowering depending on the artistic sequences. I loved how the depicted the plague. The black and white structures of civilization being melted away was super cool, and maybe the highlight of the movie for me. Though the flashing lights with the black blobs that surrounding those scenes were definitely a mistake. The scene where Michel is cured and is jaunting into the village with the screen getting bigger, that moment was a lot of fun too. However I found that despite the abstract nature of the visuals, this movie could get surprisingly dull when it lingers on one idea for too long. For example, the orgy in Jeanne's hair. I quickly got bored and spent a good amount of time wanting them to move on, and they even did that bit twice. Pretty much every sex scene I wanted them to move past way before they did, in some cases that's intentional like the opening rape, but the euphoric gain all world information from the Devil scene probably was not. There were too many points where I was hoping for the movie to move along or end, it felt like a two hour film and those moments largely outweighed the amount of moments where I really enjoyed the experiment.

I'm going to give it a 5/10. It was a tough call, could've gotten anything from a 4 to a 6. Definitely a different, interesting experience but not one I ever want to revisit.
Apr 2, 2022 8:05 PM

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Feb 2021
2347
This is undoubtably the most artsy movie I've ever seen yet. I really did enjoy a good portion of it and the story itself, but when it started to drag out longer than I would've liked with the sex and all it became pretty nauseating to watch. Not sure if I'd ever rewatch it for now
Jun 10, 2022 7:20 PM

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Oct 2015
6916
I have to say this was a ride for sure.

First of all, the art was beyond this world in my view. The story was okay, only problem was the overexcessive explicit content, although I still get why they had to. What I loved most about the movie had to be the message behind it, which was feminism. It totally made me weep in some instances, like when she was attacked by that assassin and everyone ripped at her. Depicting the nature women had to and still endure in this world, being ostracized for trying to be themselves, or seen for just being homemakers or sex symbols. The gratuitous scenes depict the cruelty they face constantly with the world ripping apart their liberty, power and integrity. It's a shame because this is still happening in this modern world, even in 1st world countries, women are still not economically free, not in powerful positions, lesser salaries or sexualized for entertainment like here in the anime/manga world.

I loved the art, music, and characters such as Jeane of course and the devil. My only wish was for the noble Lord to die at the end, ah what a pity. I liked how Jean redeemed himself at the end, after i loathed himself for so long. I understood that depiction also, but I may take the whole day explaining.

8/10 underrated and not for for the faint hearted
lihle808Jun 10, 2022 7:28 PM
How I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb --- Dr Strangelove

Sep 12, 2022 4:47 PM
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Sep 2022
10
well the movie itself was very.. idk how to describe it, i'll just say confusing at the least. its art and colors however were very pretty imo, just not the weird parts. i think if there was more explanation to the story then it would be a great movie.
Oct 22, 2022 12:32 PM

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5802
shockingly bad considering how high it's praises are sung here, in this thread and in the reviews.

As with a lot of avant garde art I feel it tries to hide behind nuance and pretentiously presents itself as highbrow, and disliking it just means you didn't "get it" and that's your fault for being uninformed and unintelligent.

The animation is reminiscent of monty python for me which although I enjoy there in it's short comedic bursts, in this context for me personally isn't particularly aesthetically pleasing for this format of media. I found it pretty vulgar in it's portrayals of sexual violence, victim blaming and the constant sexualisation & rampant sexism. This is perhaps most uncomfortable as it is still very much a major issue in Japan, I don't think the anime itself is overly critical of such behaviours, but at least it holds up a mirror for this society and culture to see this gross aspect of itself.

I don't have any gripes with the music, but perhaps that's my own soft spot for Japanese music of this era (and in general) shining through. I do however believe it was well placed and complimented the visuals.

General enjoyment was low throughout. I'm a feminist but I don't feel it is particualrly impactful in what it tries to present. I would never want to rewatch this, and would not recommend it to anyone either, I feel like that says pretty clearly how I found it.

My final verdict on this was a bland 3/10, not the most terrible thing, it's more just a surprising result in contrast to how amazing I heard it was to what it actually ended up being. I would say definitely not worth the watch and avoid wasting your time.

Just my own honest opinion after watching anyway, don't eat me alive if you happen to disagree and think this is some kind of revolutionary masterpiece. I feel like I wrote so much I might as well submit some of this as a review, maybe this Anime could do with having more a negative one up there too. Maybe I will at some point if icba.
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Oct 30, 2022 8:29 PM
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JVskunkape said:
shockingly bad considering how high it's praises are sung here, in this thread and in the reviews.

As with a lot of avant garde art I feel it tries to hide behind nuance and pretentiously presents itself as highbrow, and disliking it just means you didn't "get it" and that's your fault for being uninformed and unintelligent.

The animation is reminiscent of monty python for me which although I enjoy there in it's short comedic bursts, in this context for me personally isn't particularly aesthetically pleasing for this format of media. I found it pretty vulgar in it's portrayals of sexual violence, victim blaming and the constant sexualisation & rampant sexism. This is perhaps most uncomfortable as it is still very much a major issue in Japan, I don't think the anime itself is overly critical of such behaviours, but at least it holds up a mirror for this society and culture to see this gross aspect of itself.

I don't have any gripes with the music, but perhaps that's my own soft spot for Japanese music of this era (and in general) shining through. I do however believe it was well placed and complimented the visuals.

General enjoyment was low throughout. I'm a feminist but I don't feel it is particualrly impactful in what it tries to present. I would never want to rewatch this, and would not recommend it to anyone either, I feel like that says pretty clearly how I found it.

My final verdict on this was a bland 3/10, not the most terrible thing, it's more just a surprising result in contrast to how amazing I heard it was to what it actually ended up being. I would say definitely not worth the watch and avoid wasting your time.

Just my own honest opinion after watching anyway, don't eat me alive if you happen to disagree and think this is some kind of revolutionary masterpiece. I feel like I wrote so much I might as well submit some of this as a review, maybe this Anime could do with having more a negative one up there too. Maybe I will at some point if icba.


Holy shit stop watching bad youtubers and grow up lmfao, talk about missing the point

First off saying that anything avant-garde is pretentious is the dumbest shallowest interpretation you can have, just accept the fact that some works won’t have the same structure than others

Then there’s this weird rant about sexism in Japan when it’s based on a French book. Imagine talking about victim blaming and sexism when discussing a fiction set in the Middle Ages. The ending especially is textbook feminism. You should have known before watching it that it would be an explicit movie

Just stick to shonen if stepping out of your confort zone makes you write nonsense like this. This movie was a landmark in anime and has inspired some of the most notable and influential directors
Oct 30, 2022 9:21 PM

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Nov 2012
5802
Tarextherex said:
JVskunkape said:

Just my own honest opinion after watching anyway, don't eat me alive if you happen to disagree and think this is some kind of revolutionary masterpiece.


Holy shit stop watching bad youtubers and grow up lmfao, talk about missing the point

First off saying that anything avant-garde is pretentious is the dumbest shallowest interpretation you can have, just accept the fact that some works won’t have the same structure than others

Then there’s this weird rant about sexism in Japan when it’s based on a French book. Imagine talking about victim blaming and sexism when discussing a fiction set in the Middle Ages. The ending especially is textbook feminism. You should have known before watching it that it would be an explicit movie

Just stick to shonen if stepping out of your confort zone makes you write nonsense like this. This movie was a landmark in anime and has inspired some of the most notable and influential directors


lol so you ignored the bold bit I left in then? I don't watch any anime youtubers and am hardly on YT in general so idunno what that comment is supposed to mean.
I didn't say all avant-garde is either, just that lot of art labelled avant-garde shields criticism in this way.
It's a Japanese production, I'm not aware of what's in the novel however, so you might have a point there at least. If it's pretty 1:1 I guess it says more about society as a whole than just Japan. Either way I can still find it vulgar and off putting in it's depiction whilst still upholding feminist ideals.
That's great that it inspired people, maybe it had more artistic merit in the 70's. But in the modern era when you essentially have the entirety of anime at your fingertips, if anyone asked me about this anime I'd feel pretty confident telling them their time is better spent elsewhere.

As I stated in my first post I would never want to rewatch this again and certainly wouldn't recommend it or wanna watch anything similar. Your whole wording from the get go is pretty caked in salt, "stick to shonen", "grow up lmfao" I do like Shonen sure but I've always been open to watch whatever, who are you to tell me or anyone what to watch? You're aware shonen is the most popular category of anime right? W/e I've typed enough already and cba getting into it over this, irdc tbh. One of us has been immature here, you know how sometimes when people accuse they're really telling on themselves.. well maybe it's you who watches too many youtubers? w/e that's supposed to mean, I mean you clearly have some idea about what that supposedly does to someone. I just watched something and shared my honest opinion, what this site's for. Sorry I didn't sing it's praises like everyone else lmao, grow some thicker skin maybe if you're gonna care about what others think of an anime.
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Nov 21, 2022 10:01 AM

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Apr 2019
1474
The artwork was carrying this movie. The art was extremely pretty. The writing though was absolutely trash. Large part of the movie was constant sex scenes. I didn't cared about any of the characters. For the majority of it I was waiting for it to get over. Some of the symbolisms were laughably stupid. Won't watch this shit ever again.

Overall rating:-4/10.
Jan 24, 2023 6:43 AM

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Feb 2017
801
The only pretentious thing about this movie is its audiences. It's not hard to just enjoy its visuals and banger of a music; without thinking that it's smart or trying to be one..
Feb 5, 2023 2:31 AM

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Sep 2018
5282
Top marks for artistic visuals, all those different uses of style, seriously impressive. Haven't seen much oil painting in anime. Soundtrack was a banger as well. 

Hard to care about the story though, not that immersive, too abstract (and at times gaudy) personally and an unbelievable amount of stills. 6/10. 
Feb 24, 2023 9:46 PM

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Feb 2016
12205
This movie is ugly as sin, which I suppose is appropriate for a movie dealing with sinful subject matter. I couldn't bring myself to watch more than a few minutes.
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