Feb 11, 2023
*Spoiler free review*
This is not a movie. It's a collection of 4 episodes from a "Season 3.5" put back to back, and released together as a movie. And this narrative arc is far from good enough to support that betrayal of expectations.
I am sure I was mislead by the promotional material showcasing this story as a standalone movie, because an anime movie to me is a mothership for a series. It's there to showcase what the series has best to offer to its audience, be it in animation, character design, story, music, pacing, character alchemy or whatever have you. And this ticks none of those
...
boxes for me.
If you have watched a narrative arc unfold in a show, you know what to expect. This movie follows the classical narrative structure in three acts, but where it fails to me is in its third: I don't feel like I witnessed much progression for any situation that was left pending in Season 3. Only one character has been developed (which they badly needed, so props for that) but that is it. My biggest issue with this arc lies in the fact that the movie created a problem that didn't exist in the first three seasons, only to resolve it and come back to where we left the whole cast at the end of season 3. THAT is the biggest sin this movie has committed: the story didn't progress.
There is one obvious narrative choice that betrays the non-movie nature of this movie: the inter titles.
Just like in the show, every ~10 minutes you get an inter title, with a one-panel comic punchline on it and a brightly coloured background, with the title of the movie layered on top. And said inter title doesn't even interrupt the flow of the storytelling.
Why is that bad? A fully-fledged story has two, maybe three moments where it can take a break, not 9. This story has been built in 10-minute segments, just like the show was, which is why this can't be qualified as a movie.
But why a 5/10 then, why not lower? Because it's not a catastrophe. Everything that works in the show works here as well, for the reasons outlined earlier: it's half a season condensed in 90 minutes. And the cast works brilliantly together, in the same way it shone earlier.
I will advise against watching it in theaters, because it's not a theater worthy experience. But otherwise, it's fine. Hence the 5/10. It's just average.
*Mar. 7th: Minor edits for reader's comprehension*
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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