Rate the Last Anime You Watched Out of 10
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Dai
Combat Butler
Chainsaw Man: Reze Arc
This movie confused me. Not with its story, which is pretty simple. Not with its imagery, since anyone who has been watching anime for a while probably won't blink at the sight of a guy made of chainsaws riding a shark. No, what confused me is the level of care and artistry that has been lavished upon what feels like a fairly typical battle anime plotline merged with the excesses of a blood-and-boobs exploitation OVA from the 90s. Rather like the first season of One Punch Man, I was left wondering, "Why was this the story that made these animators bring their A-game?"
To be fair, there's nothing wrong with what's here. The first 40 minutes offer a solid build-up and look like they could present an interesting new angle for the series. I'm not sure the eventual twist can even be called that though, since it's so heavily telegraphed that you would need to have your eyes closed not to see it coming. What follows the twist is almost an hour of some the best animated action scenes I've ever seen. They're so impressive, in fact, that they almost distract from the fact that there is almost zero real plot going on behind them. The narrative arc of that hour of action is just that the villain wants to kill the protagonist for some reason that's never explained. Presumably this will be explained in a later arc (or maybe it was explained in season 1 and I forgot?), but within the confines of this movie specifically the stakes end up feeling like little more than a monster-of-the-week fight. Now, this is a shonen battle anime, so I shouldn't be too harsh on its emphasis on anime battling, but the production team raises the critical bar for themselves by trying to pass the movie off as something more prestige. There's some pathos in the denouement that elevates it, but not to the level that the lavish direction and Kensuke Ushio's patented sad piano are aiming for.
So what we're left with is a 6/10 story that's enhanced by 9/10 direction and music, and 10/10 animation. For me, it ends up at a 7/10.
This movie confused me. Not with its story, which is pretty simple. Not with its imagery, since anyone who has been watching anime for a while probably won't blink at the sight of a guy made of chainsaws riding a shark. No, what confused me is the level of care and artistry that has been lavished upon what feels like a fairly typical battle anime plotline merged with the excesses of a blood-and-boobs exploitation OVA from the 90s. Rather like the first season of One Punch Man, I was left wondering, "Why was this the story that made these animators bring their A-game?"
To be fair, there's nothing wrong with what's here. The first 40 minutes offer a solid build-up and look like they could present an interesting new angle for the series. I'm not sure the eventual twist can even be called that though, since it's so heavily telegraphed that you would need to have your eyes closed not to see it coming. What follows the twist is almost an hour of some the best animated action scenes I've ever seen. They're so impressive, in fact, that they almost distract from the fact that there is almost zero real plot going on behind them. The narrative arc of that hour of action is just that the villain wants to kill the protagonist for some reason that's never explained. Presumably this will be explained in a later arc (or maybe it was explained in season 1 and I forgot?), but within the confines of this movie specifically the stakes end up feeling like little more than a monster-of-the-week fight. Now, this is a shonen battle anime, so I shouldn't be too harsh on its emphasis on anime battling, but the production team raises the critical bar for themselves by trying to pass the movie off as something more prestige. There's some pathos in the denouement that elevates it, but not to the level that the lavish direction and Kensuke Ushio's patented sad piano are aiming for.
So what we're left with is a 6/10 story that's enhanced by 9/10 direction and music, and 10/10 animation. For me, it ends up at a 7/10.