The tyranist's thoughts
This is the first Anime that's been reviewed on the HFC and I regret that I saw the dubbed version so it's going to get a Skull for Bad Dialogue. I really ought to track down the Japanese version. They're always better.
The movie opens with a colossal battle that ends in the death of one man and earthquakes that ravage the heart of Tokyo (the Shinjuku area to be precise) and unleash demons on the world. Well, mostly. Apparently it is going to take ten years for the whole hell on earth thing to finally really happen and by then the son of the man who died trying to prevent it will be old enough to also try to prevent it. Do you see where this is going?
The English dialogue was really bad in spots, but that is to be expected. The gore was pretty over-the top at times, but I found it difficult to give something animated an Excessive Gore Skull.
The story is neat, but not very deep. There is very little character development sticking mostly with demon-ass kicking. Some of those demons are great and it shows the potential that animation has and that we sometimes lack in live-action stuff. Like most fantasy Anime, though, it uses the strange Japanese dream logic at times and I found myself wondering about some things more than they likely intended me to.
If you are new to Anime, but love horror then this one is definitely worth checking out. If on the other hand, you love Anime already, you probably already have an opinion and nothing I say will change it.