Kingdom Hearts χ Back Cover

There's no review for this movie? Why you might ask, well maybe because you as a Kingdom Hearts fan, and I especially, was not expecting this to even be on MAL.

But well lets dive in.

You won't probably like this if you're not a Kingdom Hearts fan. Even if you're just a casual Kingdom Hearts fan, you probably won't find this as interesting until more installments come out for the series. It just doesn't hold a large amount of substance to it.

Story wise, this story takes place before the keyblade war, and leading up to the keyblade war which is important in the ... main Kingdom Hearts universe, and is ever growing more important after kingdom hearts 3. The way it's told through this movie is well. . . it's not boring, but even as a strong kingdom hearts fan, I think the mobile game is doing a better job with the Back Cover story elements.

But this does introduce you to forces, and will help explain basic elements of the mobile game if you don't want to do your research.

Each characters getting their separate arc as it leads up to a reveal at the end.

Art, is like a cutscene from Kingdom Hearts 3, maybe a little less on quality. 3D, and like a video game.
Sound involves the KH soundtrack, with tones fans should be familiar with. Nothing really new.

Now character wise I do think the movie stands out, as it introduces you to key players of the Union Cross universe, the lore, and also the characters as well. Most of the main cast is a bit generic, but their are some key stand outs with Ava, Luxu and the Master of Masters especially.

The story of how they try and devise who the traitor is, is in fact actually quite interesting as you piece together your own thoughts. But again, I think this is only interesting if you have a backing in the Kingdom Hearts universe already.

Overall I enjoyed it though as a mobile game player! It doesn't really give you the major plot heavy details of the mobile game, but it does introduce you to the foretellers, and the Master of Master-- all who will play key roles in the series moving forward.

If you're looking for an anime movie though, this isn't it.

Those who don't play Kingdom Hearts but have a vague knowledge of the games know that the lore for the games is infamously convoluted. This OVA is no different. At the very least, it's not outsider-friendly.

For those who don't know, this OVA was based on some key moments from the mobile game "Kingdom Hearts X Dark Roads". There's a lot of context that's missed in this OVA. This is because a lot of the context that comes from the phone game is stuff that happens from the perspective of the player character. Some of the moments in the OVA were flashbacks in the game ... while other parts in the game were happening "in real time".
The OVA also doesn't reflect the full story of KHxDR. Obviously, it can't because the phone game has hours of content. Because of that though, there's a handful of loose threads that don't have satisfying answers.
It's for these reasons I wouldn't recommend non-fans of Kingdom Hearts giving this a watch. I think the only positives an outsider would be able to appreciate would be the fight choreography and the character designs.

As a Kingdom Hearts fan though, I liked the OVA. And I definitely would recommend watching this to other KH fans. It was really cool to see some of my fav characters from the phone game reanimated with full 3D models and fully voiced.

Essentially a string of cutscenes that are rendered in real time. The direction is shit, characters just keep meeting in the same 1 or 2 locations, with a static camera angle. Vocal performances are sad. No real fights to speak of, characters make incredibly stupid decisions, and the story doesn't actually provide any meaningful context to the kingdom hearts universe. It exists as a tease about stuff that kinda relates to kingdom hearts 3 but doesn't give any more information than was found in KH3. Honestly don't wast your time with it, just read a summary on a wiki if you want to know what ... happened.