Dec 24, 2009
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STORY
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Considering in the original manga, our world wasn't even involved; and that the 'ending' of the 2003 animé was dreamt up by those producing it; this film is a surprisingly good way to extend on the series' plot threads.
I particularly liked the way in which they interconnected the events of the plot with the rise of the Nazi Party (integrating entertainingly well with the Nazi's obsession with the Occult, etc.). It clearly wasn't perfect, but they made a great job of what they had; an hour and three quarters well spent, in my opinion.
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ART
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Nothing really stands out; it isn't super-detailed, or artistically magnificent. But it's
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consistently visually pleasing, slightly improving on the similarly-satisfying quality of the series; with some very nice visual effects thrown in here and there. As with most animé of the last half-decade, it's primarily computer-rendered (nice crisp lines, and precise colours); but they haven't done what often happens, namely where they try to integrate 3D-renderings with the 2D environment/characters and fail horribly. Which is always nice.
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SOUND
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The soundtrack is orchestral, and was both well-written, and was of very good sound quality. Most of the seiyuu reprised their roles from the series, and all of them were not only appropriate to their characters, but knew how to speak in a way that conveyed the tone of the scene without once sounding ridiculous or annoying. Japanese women sometimes fail at this, but this was a success.
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CHARACTER
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I won't go into all of the characters from the main series, since it would take too long and get boring; but suffice to say pretty much all of those ones who are in this film get 10/10. The only let-downs in this area (in my opinion) were that the main Antagonist of the film was somewhat insufficiently explained (and their motives felt a touch forced right at the end); and that the appearance of the Homunculi didn't really make that much sense.
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ENJOYMENT
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This was a fun and exciting film; where the action sequences were well represented, and the story-progression scenes were consistent and interesting. A few scenes even combined the two well. In fact, there was nothing which detracted from the actual enjoyment of the film; but of course it simply didn't contain the epic-ness, spectacle, or sharp wit which would qualify this film to be a "masterpiece".
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OVERALL
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This film was very good. I can't really give it a 9, mainly since there was nothing particularly innovative about it, nor did it reach really significant epic-levels; but if you enjoyed the 2003 series, watch this film.
Don't watch it if you haven't, since it assumes a lot of knowledge from the series. Which is good, because if it had any recap scenes, in my opinion it would have detracted from the viewing experience.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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