Laidbackers

We all are aware of the Isekai genre, which has been a big part of anime for a while now, with new shows coming out every season, all about the same guy getting killed and reincarnating or just directly getting transported into another world. Though one genre that’s also a part of it, is the Reverse Isekai, which is basically characters from another world ending up in our world. And this movie definitely belongs in that category.

The story is basically about a group of heroes, who fought the demon queen in another world and when they defeated her, they along with her ended up in ... modern Japan. And now, with the demon queen herself just being a little girl, they make it their mission to collect all the pieces of her power, before they turn spirits into monsters...if only our world didn’t have so many fun things. The story is pretty fun and definitely sounds like something I would enjoy, these heroes who only know war and bloodshed are suddenly learning about Doujin works, video games and stuff. But the big problem, as can probably be seen by that description already, this movie feels more like a TV pilot than anything else, with it starting right in the middle, certain elements getting introduced...but not getting expanded on, characters having arcs that are sorta just there and it having a rather abrupt ending. And I do admit, I would love to see it done as a full series. But as just a pilot for a series, that most likely never will be picked up, it was still fun.

This problem sadly also goes over to the characters. As said before, most of them seem to have interesting arcs, that in a TV series could be fully explored. Be it one of the heroes wanting to give up being a hero to become an idol in our world or the woman who comes from our world and has the girls live with her (who I haven’t even mentioned until now) struggle to become a good artist. These are brought up for like a couple of seconds, before being either immediately forgotten or just have sorta a resolution. The only character, who’s arc I did really get, was the one of the leader and knight of the group, who turned into a dog and has to struggle to accept that the demon she fought for so long is now a nice, little girl. But other than that, there wasn’t much that felt developed.

So, what can I really say? If you’re looking for just a fun and quick watch, then I can recommend this. The characters are still fun, if underdeveloped and there is still some nice action here. Just don’t expect to see a movie and more, like an extended episode of an anime that was never made.

This is going to be short and simple.


Stop being a critic. Enjoy the anime.

This story is actually very good compared to most standalones that dont have a huge budget or super sponsoring or a big company behind them. It is a short movie but the overall animation quality is just as good as any normal big budget animes, especially when the big companies lose funds in the middle of the anime and skimp on the quality. This was well rounded with comedy, cute characters, and good action. It just needs more time.

The main thing is we need a two season main story. The before ... the current world where they can have their action adventure in their time in all its glory, then the current one and finishing to them going back in the second season. it would be plenty of time to get out all the story, inject the humor, and then finish with a bang like they did this movie. We dont sit here watching animes to be a critic. otherwise we wouldnt enjoy them like this, if you want to you will like this. Its worth your time.

Simply looking at the cover of LaidBackers can give you enough of a clue to what kind of movie it is. Lighthearted comedy built around a cast of cute girls that may or may not be fighting against someone. Who're they fighting against? Is Kizuna Ai really singing the theme song? And is that Papika from Flip Flappers?! Tons and tons of questions everyone has to be asking themselves. But the only question left after completing the movie is: "Was it really worth it?"

The story of LaidBackers seems much more coherent on paper that it is in practice. Despite the premise of a group of ... friends fighting against a demon-like creature being interesting enough to pique my interest, there really isn't that much of a story in the movie. It starts with a random fight sequence, follows with 40-minutes of basically nothing, and ends with another fight sequence that this time at least has a position in the story. There are bits and pieces of individual struggles and character psychology scattered throughout, but it is all on such a small scale and basic level that it never seems to go beyond the surface. Ran, a demon lord turned into a loli, says a lot of stuff about wanting to change. But it never feels genuine enough because she always talks in the same monotone throughout the whole movie. There's not even a hunch of emotion in the way she comments on her mistakes, so where is our emotion supposed to come from?

Granted, a lot of these rushed things can be blamed on the length of the movie, which is only about 60 minutes with credits, but still, it seems to me like the creators don't really know how to get their ideas into the watcher's head. Maybe focusing a bit more on Ran rather than some of the other characters would be enough to do that, and I would personally approve of it because there are at least 2 characters that should not even be in this movie, let alone be given any significant time.

Have you seen a moe show before? Good, you've seen these characters before. There's really nothing going on for this group of 5 girls as individuals, besides the idol character who's potential dilemma could be exploited well given more time to work with and Ran, the devil who got turned into a loli. That said, the characters work together well enough so that their encounters are fun and pleasant to watch. How much of that falls onto the back of Harami, who really is just Papika from Flip Flappers pulling out a Wreck it Ralph move, is a question in itself, as her energy and overall positiveness carry a lot of moments that would otherwise be quite dull. There are 2 other characters, Kumi and K, that really add almost nothing of value to the movie, and I'd rather see them cut entirely. But K presents some yaoi manga jokes so hahaha everything's forgotten I guess. Also, the dog character. Jesus, just never speak of her again.

Given its presentation, one probably wouldn't expect that this series also tries to present and work with a deeper message. Well, deeper, it's not like this movie will make you think about something for more than 5 minutes, or in my case, for more than the hour I'm writing this review, but I certainly find it an interesting topic to talk about, despite the end result being as shallow as it is.

The message and concept the movie is built around is that people can change with time and everyone deserves a second chance. Which is not a problem in itself per se, the problem here is how it executes this message. Namely, how "in ya face" it delivers it. We're constantly reminded every 3 minutes that the dog character hates Ran because of the thing she was in the past. The same kind of dialogue comes back so many times over and over as if that was supposed to make the message more powerful or whatever. Meanwhile, we never get to see how Ran really changed her ways from being a cruel demon, it just happened along with her transforming into a loli and that's it. I fail to find the subtlety in all this, and so an interesting, albeit overused, concept ends up being quite simply undeveloped, despite being the only part of the movie that had enough time to work well.

The animation of this movie is not something that would leave me in awe. It is certainly better than your average TV series, but we need to remember that the production process is quite different for movies and our standards should be set higher. Considering this, I came to the conclusion that the visuals of LaidBackers are simply very average at best. The character designs bring nothing new to the table whatsoever. The animation itself is fluid and consistent, even during some of the action shots, but the background work for example to me seems like it was totally half-assed. The movie also presents a bit of CGI in some of the battles, to which I just say meh (just like to every CGI except for one show). The only comment I'd like to make about the sound part is that they should've muted the screaming. It honestly damaged my ears.

But despite all the complaining, I don't want to make it seem I was struggling through the entire movie, because I was not. In fact, if I wasn't watching it at 8 AM at a convention hall with horrible sound quality and people interrupting the experience on a minute basis, I'd say I even enjoyed the experience. That said, there's very little, if anything at all, this movie does on an above average level. The only thing it has going for it is that it picked a funny concept and characters to build the movie around.

That does save LaidBackers from the abyss of anime production, but at the same time, it alone cannot save it from being just another mediocre movie out there that will be forgotten by everyone a week after they've seen it.

You know, there's an argument to be made that being forgettable is worse than being bad. I think there's some truth to that.