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Gridman Universe, a crossover between the already somewhat crossed-over SSSS.Gridman and SSSS.Dynazenon, delights in its insane and over-the-top mecha/kaiju action and out of the box storytelling. The sheer number of characters on screen unfortunately leaves only a few to receive the development and scenes necessary to let them shine, but by the time the insane, universe shattering final battle is underway, you likely aren’t going to mind too much.

The series as a whole is a reboot/reimagining of Gridman the Hyper Agent, a 1993 Tokusatsu series. With both Gridman and Dynazenon, Trigger aimed to reinvent something that was pretty obscure to most mainstream viewers and ... apply more modern anime/otaku sensibilities. In doing so, they managed to catch the eyes of newer anime fans with the over-the-top mech action and cute character designs while still impressing older-school Otaku with deep cuts and reference to the original series and the animation studio itself. Even still, this is a very genre/trope centric type of show and therefore pretty niche. You’ll know immediately when you see a battle scene if you are very much in or very much out. If you’re someone who has watched and enjoyed SSSS.Gridman and SSSS.Dynazenon and are already along for the ride, I can almost guarantee you are going to find this film very enjoyable.

Without getting into too much detail about the plots of the previous series leading to this film, let’s just say they go there. Time traveling, alternate universes, 4th wall breaking, this is an over-the-top anime made by over-the-top anime fans and things can get very meta. Each of the prior series begin with a mysterious atmosphere as you slowly unravel the “truth” of what’s actually going on. This film is no different. The main plot of the film should impress, while often ridiculous (this is pretty much par for the course) it justifies itself in bringing back pretty much every character seen across both series. This is also inevitably a problem with these types of films, there are just too many dang characters!

The protagonist of Gridman, Yuuta, is the protagonist of this film. The role isn’t shared with Yomogi. While the characters of Dynazenon are important, the GRIDMAN of Gridman Universe comes first and foremost. Yuuta and Rikka’s relationship is developed most and Shou is given some good scenes as well. Gauma is the highlight of the Dynazenon side of things and is given a touching side story. It feels bad faulting the film for not highlighting it’s characters more when it is trying to get so much done in it’s runtime...but if you are a big fan of a smaller character, there’s a chance you’ll be wanting a bit more from them. Still, the characters remain as endearing as they did in the television series. Compared to many other anime, something about the characters in Gridman has always come across as quite realistic despite the fantastical story. They express themselves through their action and mannerisms as much as through their dialogue and always seem to hit the vibe of a bunch of Highschoolers hanging out JUST right. They joke around, tease, flirt, and come by it all very naturally. While robots might be front and center when it comes to the action, the very likeable and believable cast are anything but. Speaking of robots...

The mech/kaiju action is a big selling point of SSSS.Gridman/Dynazenon and the film delivers on this front in spades. The CGI used in Gridman for its colourful kaiju and mechs works to its benefit, as the lumbering movements help emulate the tokusatsu style of a man in a suit really well. This is fused with a very sharp, 80s/90s dynamic style of animation and the results are great. The films first two major action set pieces build upon what was already great about the television series and infuses them with a film budget and staging. Then, we reach the climax of the film....

While the climaxes to both Gridman and Dynazenon were insane and amplified everything that had come before, the climax to Gridman Universe is next level. While Gainax/Trigger DNA could often be seen in certain animation cuts and references in the main series, this final battle is akin to what you might expect from a “Trigger” ending (think Kill la Kill, Promare, Gurren Lagann) with some Evangelion 1.0 plus 3.0 for good measure. They know their audience and they know what nods and references they are going to be nodding their head in approval to. The scale becomes insane, the animation is jacked up, and you are being constantly bombarded with escalating transformations, forms and attacks. It’s all great, celebratory fun for fans of the genre. Very exciting stuff.

So, if you’re already initiated this film is crowd-pleaser and I can almost guarantee you’re going to have a good time here. The crossover of two full casts of characters can feel bloated with some being excluded outright. However, once the film gets firing on all cylinders it’s hard not to have a big stupid smile on your face as we blast through the evils of the universe with our Fixer Beam.

While Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero's focus on characters besides Goku and Vegeta as well as it's expansion of the lore is welcome, it lacks the oomf of the prior and more action focused Dragon Ball Super: Broly. Will many hardcore Dragon Ball fans love it anyways? Most likely...

Let's start with one of the biggest changes with this movie, and that's the new animation style. After it's new CG animation style was unveiled, I think a lot of people were tentatively waiting for this new instalment in the film series with baited breath. As trailers and more footage slowly rolled out, I think many peoples ... gripes with the new style softened, and after seeing and entire film in this new style, I think it definitely worked (though I don't know if I'd want this as some new standard moving forward). Generally speaking, the new art style really pops and allows for some fun character animation, especially more varied and interesting character animation while characters are idle. Yajirobi eating some food while Piccolo and Korin talk, Pan spinning and walking around with big exaggerated steps and Gamma 2 striking ridiculous poses are just some of the moments that stood out to me where this new style really allowed the characters to pop and showcase more personality than ever before. Other scenes like Piccolo and Pan speaking to each other underneath a tree felt very immersive with the way lighting and shadows were handled, with spots of light breaching through the trees branches onto Piccolo and tracking accurately. The action itself was a little more hit and miss on this front. Depending the the battle or how it was choreographed, this new style could definitely match the more epic battles like in Broly, but more often than not fell flat. One moment that really stood out as a highlight of this new styles potential was a battle between Goku and Vegeta, where the CG and cel shaded style was blended together in a way that seemed seamless. In other action scene however, I felt like there was an over reliance on effects as well as 3D camerwork. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't, but overall most of the fights felt like they had less impact as well as creativity in the way they were animated and presented.

Unfortunately, speaking of battles, while there were quite a few of them scattered throughout the film...they were generally over pretty quickly and didn't feel very high stakes. There are also new transformations, but with how they're worked into the battles, felt lacking, and as exciting as they were to see, weren't capitalized on. Obviously it's very exciting to see a fan favourite character achieve a new form after so many years, but then when they use a single attack and revert back to their previous form, it's definitely a bit deflating.

The film begins with a fairly long explanation and set up for the new Red Ribbon villains that, while long, I was actually pretty on board. It was an interesting expansion of the lore, and an aspect of the lore important all the way back to Dragon Ball, but one that we rarely see or hear about these days. Speaking of, we actually get a really cool 2D animated segment of Dragon Ball Goku attacking the Red Ribbon Army that looks really nice. On this front, whenever a flashback is shown in the film it's done in 2D art and I thought this was an interesting touch. It conveys a sort of contrast between the new and the old which worked well with the drastically different art styles. I also enjoyed the way that the Red Ribbon Army was portrayed using propaganda to trick people into seeing their views on Capsule Corp and the Z Warriors feats. I liked the set up fine, and the new villain characters worked well enough (while by no means being interesting enough to steal the show). Where I felt the film really dropped the ball was with it's main big baddy hinted at from the start of the film. When mentioned, I got excited at the possibilities, but the execution was pretty crap. Where it could have been done in a very exciting and thematic way given the characters that were involved, the villain is reduced to a giant rampaging monster with a weak design. On top of that, I felt the final big character moment/transformation was really forced and poorly handled. Sure it was cool, but a few different decisions directorially could have had a huge impact on how the scene played out. Overall, the action worked fine enough, but also really didn't blow me away like with Broly, and many scenes were over too quickly.

On a more positive note, I've always found the character work in these films to be fun and that continues here. While this film was advertised as a Gohan and Piccolo joint, it's really Piccolo who steals the show. He's upset at Gohan's lack of training and uses situations throughout the film to try and push him to unlock more power. He's also the main driving force of the film as far as uncovering the villains plans and also preparing their own counter attack. A fan favourite character who was definitely handled well. Gohan on the other hand is, alright...He's there and is given a big moment at the end but generally, he's just there.

All in all, while it might sound like I'm being very critical of the film, at the same time i enjoyed it well enough. The character bits and humour sprinkled throughout somewhat made up for a pretty weak final battle and the new characters and lore introduced were fun. I definitely don't see this film making waves like Broly did, but if you're a Dragon Ball fan you're probably going to be checking this out and enjoying it on some level regardless.

When the credits finished their roll, my first thought was "Prisma is BACK" (at least from a production standpoint). As a point of reference, I gave Oath Made Under the Snow an 8/10, but upon reexamination, I'd honestly have to knock it down to a 7 due to my woes with the animation. This new film I enjoyed more, and for almost the opposite reason as that one.

While Oath had a the production reach its lowest point, which was already slipping in the TV series of 3rei, the story arc of Shirou was great. On the flip side, this is the point in 3rei ... I feel the plot starts to get away with itself BUT they brought back the hype animation we hadn't seen since season 3, something akin to the battle with corrupt Gilgamesh.

On the story front, this film focuses mainly on Beatrice and Julian's motivations, two characters I've never really cared much for. Their reasons and back story's are fine enough, they're serviceable, but when we already finished a season with a giant battle with Julian at an alter with a giant cube and tentacle esque dodging, if feels so strange to take a break and return to the same scene for another climax. This is something that's always bothered me with 3rei and obviously carries over to the film. Also the decline to almost non-existent fanservice in 3rei (besides costumes) continues. While the drought may turn with BD shorts, you'll find nothing here in the theatrical version. Fingers crossed for the BD!

Moving onto the animation, this is where the film shines and begins to reclaim some of the hype that's felt lost from the last two productions. There's lots of embellished fights, fight animation and facial animation used liberally. They unfortunately also use some 3d models at times but switch it up between the 2 styles that it always stays exciting. They also do a good job of using a cg model but gradually turning it into a 2d model as it comes closer to the screen, an effect I really appreciate. There is a bizarre sequence during the Beatrice/Illya fight where a heavy filter is used which might have been to represent Medusa's eyes, but to me it seemed like a very strange way to obscure the CG models during an extended sequence. Overall the battles are still very excited and pack a ton of oomph we haven't seen in a long time. The climax between Julian and Illya uses a lot of CG similar to the Giant Gil monster fought in season 3 but is offset by great cuts of 2d animation from Illya. This battle is also an excellent example of where the soundtrack hits right, with a humming vocal track that gives the perfect heroic Prisma climax we know and love.

Overall, meh story but fun film for me. I was very excited leaving the theatre as my expectations had dropped significantly after their last two efforts. If this leg of the story had maintained the quality of Oath, it would have been a disaster. Fortunately, they rekindled some of that Prisma magic, bringing in the fun, creative and surprising good fight animation I had so enjoyed from their previous works.

Having enjoyed the Babylonia anime, I was left feeling let down by this film sequel. While Babylonia buckled under the weight of it's own ambition at times, it was also this ambition that led to some surprisingly exciting and fun action set pieces and sequences. With this shorter "boss fight" singularity acting as both a film and a sequel to that series, my initial expectations were set rather high. Not only did they have much more time to polish and work on the animation, it's working with a film budget and adapting a hugely climactic battle. With all of that said, it is a competently ... made but pretty by the numbers Grand Order product at the end of the day. None of what the film did reached the highs in animation from the Babylonia Tv series and we're left with about 3 decent sequences which aren't even really that impressive and LOTS of CGI tentacles.

The story is generic, though there is a nice bit of tension in the final act and battle of the film. The character art is passable. The backgrounds are pretty great. What you're really here for are the servants, and since it's adapting the climax of the first singularities there are a ton of cameos. Unfortunately, since there are so many servants showing up, most of their appearances are nothing more than that, an appearance. There were probably about 30-40 servants shown in this film, with about half simply being shown, another 15 or so launching a single attack and probably another 10 that were included in a mediocre action sequence. Still, if you are a big Fate fan, which are the only people I could really see watching something this far down the rabbit hole, you'll grin when your favourite servant appears.

Sorry this review is rather short and also not incredibly detailed, but it's also a film where I don't believe there much to be said. The animation is not of a quality that will bring anyone in for the spectacle, so we are left with the die hards that will probably eat up anything Fate related and enjoy seeing their favourite servant appear for 7 seconds. I really had hopes after seeing some of Babylonia's sequences and seeing much of the same staff working on this film that we might get one of the better Grand Order adaptations, but unfortunately for me at least, Grand Order has still proved to be pretty mediocre in the anime adaptation department.

Well, here we are. After almost 14 years since the beginning of this tetralogy and over 25 since the television series original run, it seems Evangelion has come to a definitive ending...and what a journey it’s been. The television series, which changed the entire landscape of anime, forever leaving its mark on the industry and creating one of the biggest franchises to date. The film End of Evangelion, which has gone down as one of the most jarring, surreal and greatest anime films of all time. And finally, the Rebuild films series, which sought to recreate the iconic series in 4 parts...but to what end? ...

At the announcement of the Rebuild series, Anno had a lot to say (which I recommend you look up). He said how the work was meant to “connect today’s exhausted Japanese animation industry to the future and fight the continuing trend of stagnation in anime”, “to support fans that support animation...a work that would appeal to middle and high school aged men, who quickly grow away from anime was necessary” and also that these new films sought to” create a form of entertainment that anyone can look forward to; one that people who have never seen Evangelion can easily adjust to”. I feel like the new film series as a whole accomplished what Anno set out to do from the beginning, all fairly par-for-the-course stuff, but one line from that interview always struck me ““many times we wondered, “It’s a title that more than 10 years old. Why now? Eva is too old”, we felt. However, over the past 12 years, there has been no anime newer than Eva.”” Some see it as an extremely arrogant thing to say, but considering this was just ten years after Evangelion, a series that shook the industry to its core, it absolutely has merit. The fact that Evangelion has consistently been one of the most discussed and theorized anime over the last 25 years is a testament to its “newness” and ability to engage its audience over such a long period of time, even with huge gaps between releases.

While Anno's quote on Evangelions "newness" can be attributed to many things, like it's (at times) avant-garde style, one of the core strengths of this style is Evangelion’s ability to lay puzzle pieces (as early as the opening shots of this new series) through it's visual storytelling and is one of the most enjoyable aspects of the series for fans. It seems like almost every week, even without any new information being available, someone will create a new chart, diagram, explanation video or side-by-side comparison trying to get their newest and craziest theories out into the world. These range from the simple “Look at the opening shots of the water and white outlined T-pose giants, It’s a time travel/loop from End of Evangelion!” to “The Zoa, represented by Tharmas, Urizen, Luvah and Urthona (as well as Adam and Satan) are clearly represented as the 4 Adams seen in second impact, who’s souls were once a single being. The colours of the 4 Zoa are seen as the skin under 4 specific Evas since their cores were used to make Evas and their 4 souls were reincarnated as Shinji, Asuka, Kaworu and Mari”. While a theory like the latter might seem outlandish, Evangelion executes visual storytelling so well and has such a pedigree of outlandish deep lore set by the television anime and film, that with the proper images and explanation, some very crazy things seem possible. So, I obviously believe Evangelion has been able to maintain this "newness", even throughout the release of the new films. Notoriously, the third film opened a whole new can of worms, with a swath of the fan base turning on the film But over time, many warmed up to it and the speculation reached a fever pitch. Beyond the puzzle it lays with it's directing style, it's also made fresh by its unprecedented and shocking imagery culminating in End of Evangelion. This final film cemented Evangelion as an all time classic, creating a surreal, grotesque, bleak and fascinating ending fans still pick apart and try to understand the meaning of to this day. So, after this huge and longwinded introduction, does Evangelion 3.0+1.0 stick the landing? Does it still feel NEW after all of these years?

I have seen the film three times now, and still feel like I want to see it many times more in order to give my final, absolute rating of the film. I’m going to ask myself a few question here so bear with me. Did I enjoy the film? Absolutely, yes I did. Did I enjoy it as much as End of Evangelion? No, I did not. Did it live up to the almost unprecedented hype I had built up in my head for the last 8 years? No, not really...I’m not sure if that was possible. I may be sounding a bit down. Honestly, I think it might just been the bittersweet feeling of my favourite anime franchise coming to an end, with no more of that crazy fan speculation and wonder to look forward to any longer. But don’t get me wrong, I did say I enjoyed the film didn’t I?! I cried, I grabbed my head with my mouth gaping wide, I smirked like an idiot and I genuinely felt a visceral giddiness and excitement watching and discovering that film in the theatre I probably won’t feel for anything else for the rest of my life. This is certainly due to me being a person who has enjoyed this series and followed its rabid discourse for over 16 years, but I’ll be upfront about those feelings before being more objective. I’m sure there will be people in my exact same position who will absolutely loath this film (there are, I’ve already seen it).

The story picks up immediately where 3.0 concluded, but after a bombastic action set piece (which have become how we start these films since 2.0) the film swerves to a new location where the pace is slowed drastically. The exceedingly long run time of the film (now the third longest animated film of all time) allows for this deliberate pace as well as plenty of time to introduce and reintroduce many characters. This is also the segment where we witness almost all of the character growth and development between our main characters for just about the whole film. It’s a tranquil setting that’s lusciously depicted, punctuated by tender folk music and poignant character moments. The 2D art really is fantastic during this section, probably the most beautiful of the whole film and the music is touching, surprisingly there are 3 English songs used! Upon rewatching, this might have become one of my favourite parts of the film and where I probably dropped the most tears.

From here, we move forward with a “beginning of the end” midway multi-segment-battle which I loved seeing on the big screen. While the sequences are phenomenally staged and choreographed, I do feel like the CGI, framerate and camera work could get out of hand at times (though that chaos was also fun to see unfold). I think it is important to point out that this is certainly the most bombastic and (kind of) only big action set piece of the film. This is comparable to the Asuka vs Mass Produced Evas of End of Evangelion, but I say this EXCLUSIVELY in terms of placement in the film and action. If you were to compare the two (and why the hell wouldn’t I? They are both big midway battle with Unit 02 in a finale film) End of Evangelion blows it out of the water in almost every aspect. While 3.0+1.0 is ambitious in its scope and effects, End of Evangelions fight’s animation, choreography pacing and climax are way better. It’s still an exciting sequence, don’t get me wrong, it’s just so hard not to compare these things in my head. The music is still great throughout, however, as it is the entire film. There is a great moment at the start of this action sequence where a very fun and bombastic song is playing during a very tense scene. The juxtaposition was really cool and made gave the scene a very heroic feel even given the dire situation. The song that led into Asuka and Mari’s action sequence gave me goosebumps of “Oh shit, let’s goooooo!” and the operatic pieces were awesome and ominous as usual.

From here the next leg of the film is probably the part I found the least interesting. We are given big info/lore dumps, some character drama and stakes as well as some new development for a long standing character given the leading villain role. Things pick up when we enter the sort of “instrumentality” of this this film but again, it isn’t anywhere near as bizarre and surreal as End of Evangelion...not that it’s trying to, but it wouldn’t have hurt to be a bit more ambitious in the crazy and unpredictable aspects of the film. I think this is the point of the film where I realized one of the biggest flaws of this film, at least for me personally. It’s the predictability of it all...One of the major things I would always hold Evangelion, especially End of Evangelion, in such high regard for not being. With Japanese not being my native language, I assumed I would have left that theatre in a daze of confusion (that I was absolutely looking forward to!) but found I actually understood the film perfectly well. I think this was by design, however, and leads me to the end of the film.

The last quarter or so of the film does have some pretty perplexing stuff going on, mainly concerning Mari and many of the other core casts “relations”. I don’t want to say how the film ends at all, as I feel I’ve done a pretty dang good job of avoiding spoilers, but I will say that the film concludes quite definitively. The tag line of the film is “Bye bye, all of Evangelion”. The sentiment behind this tagline rings true in more ways than one as the credits being to roll. It really is over. There is some "interesting" CGI use during 2 climactic sequences I feel were used in a meta way. One using Evas to emulate a sort of amateurish tokusatsu scene (reminiscent of some of Anno's early works and passions) as well as a scene I feel is supposed to draw contrast between the new and the old. There are lots of other strange images I'm still mulling over and such as the use of heads, headlessness and mismatching heads and bodies I'm still trying to figure out, which is a good sign of Evangelions classic puzzle-like storytelling through images.

So, were all the loose ends tied up? Did all the crazy theorise people have about all the puzzle pieces and bread crumbs left in the previous films come to fruition? No, I don’t think they did, and like I hinted at earlier in the review...I think this ended up being by design. Even the 14 year time skip between 3.0 and this film was glossed over very quickly in this film, given 2 brief scenes , where I (and I think many others) figured big reveals would take place. Even in those brief glimpses, however, along with many other new puzzle pieces, we are shown small clues which allow for various speculation even after the series has concluded, which is right in tune with what Evangelion has been all about. At the same time, I think that the way the film concludes allows for the alternate take as well. That it really doesn’t matter, that it is now over, and that it is time to move on. So which is it? Even as a mega-fan, I am happy to accept an ending of “it’s over, move on” but at the same time, find it difficult when the film continues to introduce new questions and hints at what may have happened.

So, with the conclusion of the Rebuild series, is there still no anime newer than Eva? That statement may very well hold true, MAY being the key word here. I want Anno and his staff to tell the story they want to tell and I’m sure after meditating on this film longer and seeing it many more times, my opinion might change drastically. For me personally though, “New” is generally a case of unpredictability. “New” is something I could have never seen coming. While this film is a great send off to the story and character I’ve come to love so much over the years, I don’t think Anno’s revolutionary words coming off the end of End of Evangelion ring as true with this new conclusion.

Bye Bye, All of Evangelion.

SHOCKING! Despite early concerns of a crappy CGI adaptation of Q Hayashida’s legendary comic, we’ve been blessed with a fantastic adaptation full of heart and passion from the staff involved. If you can wrap your head around the at-times dizzying pace and make peace with the (quite well done in my opinion) CGI main character models, you’re in for chaotic, bloody and quirky trip through the gloriously dingy Hole and a devilishly fantastical world of Sorcerers. This is a series that oozes with style and original ideas, that feels as if Shin himself is taking a hammer to the temple ... of the current anime landscape. It’s got grit, it’s got heart and it’s got some dang beautiful art. If you’re willing to indulge me in a rather lengthy and extensive review of this fantastic new series by studio Mappa, please read ahead!

Dorohedoro, based on the manga penned by Q Hayashida, for years has constantly been hailed as an example of “a manga that could never be adapted into an anime” in numerous lists/articles and threads online. Her sketchy, densely detailed art style has been compared to manga like Tsutomu Nihei’s Blame! and while less refined than works like Kentaro Miura’s Berserk, falls into a similar category of manga so detailed, some feel it would be impossible to accurately portray frame for frame in animation. Interestingly, both of these properties have received anime adaptations, In Berserks case multiple. Disregarding the Berserk 1997 anime series, both Berserk and Blame’s more recent anime outings were made possible through the use of CGI character models...to varying degrees of success. So why am I going into this long winded break down of two completely different anime in a Dorohedoro review? Well, I think it’s obvious what everyone’s “hot takes” and opinions on this series are inevitably going to bring up the CGI models for the main characters, so I might as well get it out of the way at the top and bring up some cases for you to think about and compare.

There will be people who will go on and on about their disdain for CGI use in anime and that if a show uses it, it’s automatically terrible, makes their eyes bleed and is sending the industry backwards. So, a quick question and answer

Would I have preferred if the main character models were 2D? Yes certainly, of course.

How do the CGI models stack up to other series using them? Definitely above average, and their skill using the CG tools drastically improves as the series progresses. I only might put the CG work below something like an Orange production like Beastars or Houseki no Kuni, but those series benefit from having some entire shots and environments rendered in CG, allowing things to blend more easily. Dorohedoro on the other hand does a great job of blending the CG models with beautiful 2D art and backgrounds on a level I haven’t seen in a Tv anime, and only improves as the series continues.

Last question...Am I happy to get to enjoy an adaptation of the manga that has this level of passion and dedication to the direction, music, sound and art regardless of the sometimes iffy CGI models? ABSOLUTELY! I understand the hate and vitriol aimed at works using CGI, but it’s annoying and disheartening to see so many people completely shut down at the sight of it and make no attempt to judge a work on its other merits or actual use of the CGI. Besides that, I’m just honestly thankful to be able to see a manga I truly love come to life in an actually well executed and competent adaptation and have others be able to learn about and enjoy it.

So, now that THAT’s out of the way (at least for now) let’s get into what makes this series special in its story and characters, and what has been most noticeable as far as the production is concerned.

This story stands out for a lot of reasons and isn’t something I think most anime viewers are used to seeing. This is achieved through a bizarre yet strangely straight forward set-up, set in a very detailed and intriguing world constantly doling out more information. The basic premise is this, ‘A man has had his head turned into a lizard head by a magic user, he wants to find out who did it with the help of his friend.’ Bizarre enough as it stands but how does this man and his friend hope to solve their conundrum? Well, after detaining a potential culprit, he bites down on their head. They then enter a sort of parallel world where they meet another man inside of his head who tells them “you’re not the one”. Once our protagonist asks what the man inside his head says and gets his answer, they precede to mercilessly kill them, usually by slashing them to pieces. This is the opening scene of the show, and perfectly encapsulates what Dorohedoro is all about, both in the types of scenarios and violence to be encountered and also the very carefree attitude at which characters in this series meet these situations.

This is Dorohedoro’s tone, and it’s one of its greatest strength. While many anime series that use this level of violence and gore would simply come off as edgy and shocking for the sake of it, the creativity in the violence the author paints and the lackadaisical attitude most characters take to it pushes Dorohedoro into a sort of campy and fun dark comedy, while also remaining genuinely disturbing. If I could describe Dorohedoro in two words, it would probably be joyfully sinister. The characters constantly joke around and banter with each other, they love talking about eating food (mainly gyoza for Kaiman, our protagonist) and drinking beer, this applies even more so to the “antagonists” of the series. On the flip side they also love slashing people to bits, bashing heads in and murdering others in very graphic and morbid ways, but this also applies to our protagonists! It makes for some very interesting characters that you still root for because it isn’t that they’re “evil people” necessarily. It’s that everyone in this brutal and metal-as-hell world (well two worlds actually) just lives by the status quo which happens to completely revolve around the authors love and celebration of all things horror. These violent yet joyful characters are at the heart of what makes Dorohedoro so enjoyable. All of their designs are distinct and striking with many often wearing creative and freaky masks. Dorohedoro also features a bevy of well realized females, not only in their characterization but also in their more varied than body types than we see to be the norm of most anime.

For a little bit more of an elaboration on the “two worlds” comment and general trajectory of the story, Dorohedoro is mainly concerned with two major groups of characters that resides in said worlds. The world of Hole is a “shit hole” comprised of unfortunate citizens who’ve drawn the short straw in life. It’s a kind of urban/industrial post-apocalyptic setting, filled with an endless number of ruined buildings and factories. Here, people are constantly struggling to get by and also to survive attacks from denizens of the other world...the World of Magic Users. The World of Magic Users is where people who have the ability to produce magical black smoke live. This world is considerably more vibrant and the magic users tend to have it quite a bit better off. This smoke power they use can have any number of interesting effects and properties but many of them transform the target into something. Magic users can also produce doors with their magic that lead to Hole and many of them use these doors to experiment on and torment the citizens of Hole. The first of two groups the bulk of our story revolves around are the previously mentioned Kaiman (who had his head turned into a lizard by a magic user) his best friend Nikaido and a rag tag group of Hole dwellers. They are hunting magic users to find the one who changed Kaiman’s head and quickly find themselves caught up in the business of the second group, the most powerful magic user En and his family of hitmen. From then on, all sorts of chaos and shenanigans ensue. While the story can certainly move at a fast clip at times I also love its ability to slow down and meander at others, building up and showing us various aspects of Hole and The Magic Users World as well as taking time to show us more intimate moments with both the sets of characters. This balance of both forward momentum and relaxed character development and world building is something I think many people find a very endearing aspect of the show.

Compared to the manga, however, while we do have a lot of fun and relaxed moments with characters...some character development and world building is sacrificed in favor of a faster pace, something I have to grin and bear as a viewer but obviously something I DO have to bring up and hold against the adaptation. This first season received a 12 episode run and it seemed obvious heading into the last half/third in and around where they were planning on ending the season. Working on a time constraint and not knowing for sure if you will received a second season unless sales are good certainly leads a director to create what they feel is the most appealing version of a story they can fit into the time they have been granted. As a viewer who has read the manga, I’m left simply thinking to myself as I watch “oh, they made this a bit harder to understand” or “ah they skipped this line of dialogue”. While some of these things might go completely unnoticed by a newcomer, some certainly stood out as odd directorial decisions and some were more egregious cuts we could all agree the show would benefit from having in. An example I can think of for the former was when a certain character is visited in jail. When he explains why he is being sentenced to death he says it was because he was selling Devil Manjuu and is called an idiot. Unfortunately, unlike the manga we are giving no way of understanding why this would be considered a crime and only given a “Devil Manjuu can get you killed” from the “What we learned”. An example of the latter would be during the baseball episode, where Fujita and Ebisu share a moment alone. In this scene Fujita saying how no one cares about his plight of avenging Matsumura, breaking down in tears. We are then shown a somber looking Ebisu looking up at him telling him that she cares. It’s a small scene, but an important one that does a lot for Ebisu’s character (as she’s almost entirely used as comic relief) and also for her and Fujita’s relationship leading up to an arc that begins next episode. Besides cut content, the anime moves at a blistering pace that puts the already fast paced manga to shame. This was something I noticed brought up numerous times in discussions on the series as it aired, and while I can’t necessarily attest to it making the show harder to comprehend, you do have to pay quite a bit of attention to gather all of the information thus far and put it together in your head. Compared to the more relaxed paced manga you can read and flip at your own leisure, with more accompanying notes and explanations to reiterate things already explained in the chapters/volume (the anime does this somewhat with the “what did we learn segments at the end of each episode) It definitely can be difficult to digest at times.

When talking about how it would be near impossible to adapt the extremely detailed art style of Q Hayashida, that might have been true if we were talking about your average anime production and staff. This is where Shinji Kimura comes in as Art Director and we all gasp and say, “Well ... I guess it would be unadaptable WITHOUT someone like him”. There is so much gorgeous background art in this series it could make your head spin, and Kimura san is definitely who we have to thank and who has really put his heart into this project. If you are unaware of who he is, he drew background art for Akira, My Neighbor Totoro, Angel’s Egg, Blood Blockade Battlefront, Tekkonkinkreet and many, many others. He’s one of the best background artist/at directors in the business and has now blessed us by working on Dorohedoro and allowing the shows artistic merits as a whole to totally outweigh the questionable CGI main character models. Whether it’s portraying the ruined cityscapes, dingy alleyways and smog billowing industrial shots or the extremely colourful take on the World of Sorcerers with its crazily detailed gothic architecture, you’re in for wallpaper worthy background shot after wallpaper worthy background shot. Reverence to the creator and many inspirations to the original work can be found hidden throughout various shots and again shows that not only do the staff respect the work, but also that they aree having fun fitting these Easter eggs into the show. Many shots will feature “9”s painted on the walls (a reference to the author, Q Hayashida). A shopping trip reveals Ebisu looking at the original Dorohedoro OST and even reading off track names. Another quick shot during a baseball game features some figures strung up that look suspiciously like a 90s metal band Hayashida references numerous times throughout her series. It’s these sorts of nods that tip this series over-the-top in terms of fan service, creating original shots and scenarios not even seen in the manga that will have any Doroheads head spinning.

You may also be wondering why I keep specifying “main character models” and that’s because there is still also a ton of 2D character art and animation throughout the series. If a character is only appearing in an episode or two they tend to be animated completely in 2D including Asu, Chidamura, Asuka and all of the various 1 off characters. Additionally, flashback scenes which feature characters in different costumes or a slightly different appearance are animated entirely in 2D such as flashbacks of Shin, Noi and En which sometimes take half an episode. Point being, for all the moaning about CG in this series, there is actually a SHOCKING! amount of great 2D material as well, even outside the backgrounds.

In addition Yuichiro Hayashi’s directing does a great job of adapting the original work and many of its more surreal moments that I assumed would be difficult to pull off (such as Kaimans memories or inside his mouth). His shot composition, use of 3D space and even first person perspective shots give the show a very lively feel and show he’s really not half-assing it. A major worry going into this series was if Hayashi would be able to maintain the level of graphic violence and gore the manga is known for and he gets away with a surprising amount. While it’s obviously not on the same level as the comic, he does a commendable job to the point I don’t really see a need for any uncensoring or scene changes come the blu-ray (besides an oddly blacked out brain in episode 2). Between Hayashi’s directing, Kimura’s art and Nomoto’s CGI directing (more on that next paragraph) the series really comes to life and shows what a passionate staff can accomplish, making almost every frame a quality one and every shot competently rendered.

While the choice of CGI models for the main characters is certainly mystifying and a knock against the show I certainly can’t ignore (I mean, I went into pretty great detail off the top of the review) allow me to elaborate a bit further here. Firstly, coming off my extreme praise of the background and 2D art, they certainly clash with them (sometimes more so than others) but they put in a commendable effort to draw over them and try to blend them into the environment. Kaiman in particular is a bit problematic for me, as the sameness in colour of his lizard face definitely makes him look less rugged and gritty than the manga and a little too smooth. I also felt the flap of his mouth when talking really stood out due to the CG (not that I exactly know how they could do it better). On the flip side other shots look surprisingly well good and really stand out as examples of CGI models that have then been coloured over and almost tricked me into thinking I was watching 2D animation. A particular scene of Noi removing her outfit/mask really stood out as some great CG work. They obviously use these CGI models during many of the action scene which can be a bit of a mixed bag. Kaiman’s and Nikaido’s detaining of Ebisu and Kaiman’s short encounter with Shin, for example, seem especially fluid and the camera work is quite good. On the other hand, while passable, scenes like Nikaido’s fight with Noi seem more janky and the use of slow-mo used to convey a “dynamic feeling” not easily conveyed compared to 2D animation sometimes works against it. It’s a mixed bag, but one where I genuinely feel the staff improved their technique with using the models as the series progressed. Just compare that Noi and Nikaido fight with Kaiman and Nikaido's fight in episode 12, it's like night and day! Another less action focused example is a close of shot of Shin’s face in episode 11, leaning in to give an intimidating look to Haze. The way the CGI modeler uses shadow in this shot combined with his vivid and changing facial expression showed a level of skill with the CG tools to create a level of menace not seen earlier in the series. While I don’t want this to come off as some kind of Stockholm syndrome, I actually really started to feel as though the models worked quite well and became accustomed to them fusing with the “style” of the series. While the CGI models are definitely one of the weaker aspects of the series, I can’t help but emphasize one last time how commendable a job the staff working on integrating them into the environments and aesthetic of the show did and how the fact that said environments and aesthetic are so stunning, it sort of “cover-ups” some of the weaker artistic aspects.

While we’re still fairly early in the story and the characters haven’t necessarily had to perform a large breadth of acting quite yet, they’ve all done a commendable job thus far. Wataru Takagi as lovable dopy/whiny Kaiman has been great (I especially loved his girly voice as Pie-man) and relative newcomer Reina Konda has done well realizing the lovable Nikaido. Episode 12 was likely their greatest challenge from an emotional standpoint and they did a great job pulling off their tender scenes together. Some other stand outs are the boisterous Noi, performed by Yu Kobayashi and the always hilarious and ridiculous Ebisu performed by Miyu Tomita. From reading the manga I think Kaiman and Ebisu were two characters that people were going to be watching if they got right and I believe they’ve nailed both. Besides them, En is his stern and powerful self, Shin is wild and intimidating. One character who I imagined a bit different in my head is Chota. While his voice is growing on me I always imagined him coming off a bit more aggressive and yelling more. It will take further story progression and events to see how well these actors perform more serious and emotionally charged scenes, but only time will tell. For now they’ve all been performing their characters to great effect.

Finally I’ll briefly touch on the music which is....what do you know.... also great! The manga of Dorohedoro actually had a companion OST commissioned by Hayashida, featuring various artists from six different countries. It’s very dark, industrial and grungy, and the perfect fit for Dorohedoro. The TV animes soundtrack doesn’t use these tracks, but almost all of the songs on that OST seem to be emulated in some shape or form in th TV anime OST. Standouts include the Drum and Bass tracks similar in style to VOODOOMs track from the manga OST and a song extremely reminiscent of Candie Hank’s Zombie Slushie that plays during an action sequence when Chidamura is introduced. Others like the horrifying track that plays when entering Kaiman’s mouth and confronting the man inside with terrifying screeches and squeals was a particular stand out along with the awesome call out to the song Transformations (Im sorry my ability to critique music isn’t great so I’ll save you me trying to make up words to describe them). The lighter tracks that play during the more comedic moments with En and the family perfectly encapsulate the goofy carefree vibe of the room and seemed like the most original to the Tv anime, not reminding me of anything off of the manga OST but still working as great additions. On top of the OST, the opening and multiple ending tracks are all great, and the accompanying animation for the OP of Nikaido cooking gyoza as opposed to your usual anime opening of character shots and story scenes is very refreshing. It shows the staff knows how to convey the unique vibe of the series as well as how important gyoza are to our main duo! They even manage to squeeze in a little anime original Jonson backstory which is a cute and welcome touch. The fact we received a new ending song and animation almost every 2 episodes was an unexpected and welcome treat. While some were weaker than others (such as Seconds Fly) the variety and fact we had a nice surprise to look forward to every 2 weeks was great.

All in all, Dorohedoro is about as enjoyable an adaptation anyone could have asked for. When the anime project was initially reveal, I think almost all fans tightened up with a fear of what was to come. When the early PVs were showcased revealing the CGI models for the main characters, many were disappointed, but at the same time, most expected as much. For those being attentive to the PVs however, they likely noticed the beautiful art and 2D animation and were then holding their breath in hope that the project didn’t drop the ball. I think with the shows release, all but the most cynical fans and 2D-animation-only purists were pleasantly surprised with the product we ended up receiving. Hayashida’s world is so unique in its rich lore, character and setting and the staff involved have given the tender loving care to take this “unadaptable manga series” and given a *GASP* commendable and well realized adaptation complete with actually well realized and ever improving CGI. Now, if you’re a fan, let’s try to support this series the best we can and get more seasons!! So......

What did we learn this time??


1. Don’t always base a book by it’s cover! When done right, you can actually become accustomed to even liberal uses of CGI.

2. Shinji Kimura is a godly artist.

3. Dorohedoro has single handedly reinvigorated my passion for anime and of buying tons of merch.


What will we from season 2? That is still a mystery

That is...

DOROHEDORO

After being majorly let down by Digimon Tri, the Adventure series seems to have been given one last chance (maybe? And a new remake/spinoff in April?) to go out with a bang. Though it seems like the Adventure series has and will be milked like a Dairymon (there is surprisingly no cow Digimon to make this joke work) for the time being, this film does actually live up to its title and thankfully concludes with a level finality while also calling back to many of the things that made us fall in love with the franchise all those years ago.

... The film strikes a nice balance between telling a new story to wrap things up while also referencing many classic moments in the series and fanservice without going overboard. The opening scene is a great example of this while also showcasing the best animation of the film. This opening scene was very exciting but unfortunately raises expectations on the visual front a bit higher than the rest of the film is able to manage. After the scene concludes, we're quickly shown some generic cgi crowd and pedestrian shots and reminded to keep our expectations in check. Overall the films visuals are an upgrade from Tri, though in all honesty that isn't really saying much. The character art and animation is solid and the designs are definitely an upgrade from what has recently been put out. Unfortunately the main villian Digimon is animated fully in CG and some of the later action, showcased after an extended period of plot and talking suffers from heavy CG use not present earlier in the film.

On the character front, it's great seeing all our favourites grown up and (mostly) achieving their future aspirations. This is also a major theme of the film, and coupled with a plot that directly draws on and even uses the classic child character designs, really brings the story full circle and amps up the nostalgia factor. Additionally, seeing these characters we grew up with drinking alcohol and having their porn stashes found by their digimon (yep) really drives home how many years have passed since seeing these characters for the first time. This nostalgia is likely what most fans are looking for in a film like this, and on this level I feel the film succeeds, and to a much greater degree than Tri.

The plot at times felt reminiscent of the first Digimon film to me, with some of the staging of scenes being direct callbacks to the film. The themes of the film focus on loss and acceptance and the power to move on mirrored in both the films antagonist and Taichi and Matt. The film manages to be quite serious at times, with some fairly serious real world stakes both small and grand scale. It's able to evoke a few really emotional moments and like I hinted at the beginning of the review as well, the film does actually has the guts to live up to its title and for that I commend it.

Overall Digimon:Last Evolution is a nice send-off to the series that should certainly satisfy fans in a way Tri didn't even come close or TRY to (sorry). At this point, I feel like that's the best Digimon fans could have asked for.

Carnival Phantasm is back with this hilarious bait-and-switch Prisma Illy OVA. Expectations are completely flipped on their head as we're given a classic Carnival Phantasm episode chock full of in jokes and references to events and characters throughout the Prisma series.

Minor spoilers ahead :
Based on previous OVAs materials , this OVA plays with the audiences expectations and works effectively to deprive the audience of sexual fanservice in a hilarious way. Assassin install Shinji Matoi is the central character throughout, with Kuro and Illya only appearing in the final 10 minutes or so. It deals with his trials and tribulations, constantly being the butt end of ... jokes. The most fanservice in the film is of Luvias butler washing Shinjis back in the shower and a gross gender swapped Julian shower scene. The writers definitely thought of how to troll viewers fan service expectations and it played out perfectly.

The OVA, however, is rife with series fanservice character moments like Carnival Phantasm. Every character that has ever appeared in the Prisma series makes at least a cameo, with Shinji and Kirei receiving significant spotlight. Like Carnival Phantasm, the jokes hit hard and the character writing is great. Obviously, a working knowledge of the Prisma verse is nessecary to get all the references, but this OVA is obviously meant for the already initiated.

The final after credits scene even teases the continuation of the main line series. Which is definitely exciting.

While Gurren Lagann used drills and Kill la Kill used thread, Imaishi and Nakashima`s new “Burning passion” storyline takes the symbolism to the next logical step, using fire itself (and shapes) to drive the story forward. It`s both boldly new in appearance with it‘s bright colours and liberal use of CG yet immediately recognizable as an Imaishi work. While many haven’t been blown away by the studios output as of late, I think it’s important to realize how little this resembles your standard Trigger release.


This film is their first in the almost 8 years the studio has been ... running and a similar affair to Darling in the Franxx in that it is a collaborative work. How it isn’t similar, though, is that it isn’t shit and their collaborative studio, Sanzigen, are a CGI studio who work in the field of revolutionizing CGI use in anime. While some of collaborations mainly focus on background armies and mechanical parts, their standout title Bubuki Baranki from 2016 received praise across the internet for being the best looking use of CGI in anime to date and many claiming it to be the future of CGI anime. It’s clear with Promare they are wanting to take their highly praised CGI/cel shading anime aesthetic and combine it with the stylings of Imaishi and Nakashima to create the most traditional looking anime CGI project to date, and here I believe they succeed.



On the quality of the CG and integration, I personally found it fantastic. There were a small number of times the frame rate seemed only slightly off, but in the grand scheme I'm only making this criticism to be fair. For my personal enjoyment of the film it had very, very little impact. After seeing the film and following the discussion online, I want people to understand that enjoying or praising this film doesn't mean the individual is a fan of or sympathizer of CG integration in anime, but can appreciate a well animated, piece using it. For example, even though they are stylized vehicles, I love the cuts in episode 6 of Panty and Stocking with Chuck and Fastener fighting in their cars. It’s easy to dismiss CGI outright without actually analyzing what works and doesn’t in a scene, and with Promare, I’d say it almost always works. Also, even thought there is a lot of CG integration, there is a ton of purely 2D cuts as well. The conclusion to the fight between Galo and Lio among many others is entirely 2D and there are some seriously awesome cuts that people are going to see in .webms for a long time to come.

Concerning the story itself, it is a Nakashima Kazuki story through and through hitting all the right Imaishi notes. It begins setting up a very familiar chaos vs order story line but quickly begins to focus mainly on discrimination and instead of breaking apart order with progress and chaos, the idea of unity and rebirth. It's a very familiar story, but with just the right variation to the tale to make it feel fresh and relevant. It definitely moves very quickly, as it's covering a story that could easily have been expanded and made into a longer series, but as is, it works. I was all in, but can also immediately see where a lot of the backlash for this film is going to stem concerning the themes and criticisms of society present. This film is apparently going to be getting a more global release, and I implore you if interested to catch this film on the big screen. The visual story telling at play was fantastic and the film had my blood pumping from beginning to end.

Touching briefly on the music, I enjoyed Sawano's soundtrack but a few tracks were a bit repetitive. He has a recognizable sound.. And the soundtrack of was most remenisent of Kill la Kill, albeit a weaker Kill la Kill. All things considered however, Kill la Kill is one of my favourite soundtracks of all time, so this is barely a criticism. The music wasn't a highlight of the film for me but still very enjoyable.

Heaven's Feel: Lost Butterfly does a great deal to improve upon Presage Flower and feels like a breathe of fresh air for the Fate/Stay Night franchise. While Presage Flower had to retread some of the ground Unlimited Blade Works and Fate laid, this new film does a lot to show you what is new this time around and the much more intense and dark direction the series takes.

One thing I loved about Lost Butterfly is the development of characters that have not yet been given their due in the new Ufotable series. Sakura was clearly ... established as being the main girl of Heaven's Feel, and even outliers to the series likely know of her significance, but this film truly fleshes out and cements Sakura as the most tragic and complex of the main female characters in F/SN. Much of the main thrust of this film is fleshing out her and Shirou's relationship, as well as her (and Shirou) figuring out and dealing with her dark role in this trilogy. On top of lots of great Sakura scenes and development, Illya is finally given some love with some scenes where she's portrayed as more human than ever before in Ufotables recent adaptations. Both of these characters were highlights in this film and it was great for them to finally have some time to shine.

In Presage Flower, Lancer chasing Assassin and their subsequent battle in the swamp was easily my favourite animated sequence of 2017. I'm happy to say that the major battle in this film between Saber Alter and Berserker blows it out of the water. I watched this extended sequence with my hand over my mouth and truly thought to myself "This might be one of the greatest anime fights of all time". Even though 2019 has just begun, the music, the choreography, the effects, and yes, even the explosions....it all came together to create what I'm almost certain will be the most impressive sequence of the year. I can't wait for more fans to see it.

In addition, while I briefly mentioned it at the beginning, it can't be overstated how much darker this film is in comparison to the last and even anything to come out of Fate/Stay Night thus far. A particular scene that takes place in an alleyway involving Sakura was a real "shits hitting the fan" moment for the series. The film heavily deals in Sakura's trauma , showcased through many different scenes and even has what is likely the closest Ufotable will come to adapting any of the sex scenes found in the original visual novel (though it is really quite tame).

Overall I had a fantastic time with this film. As much as I loved Presage Flower I think this film stands above it. With where they concluded the film, they've allowed for an extreme amount of exciting moments for the final film Spring Song which is releasing in spring 2020. My expectations were met and exceeded yet again and my anticipation for the final film is extremely high.