Under the Dog

The year is 2025. Five years have passed since the Tokyo Olympic Games were called off after deadly terrorist attacks. An international school run by the United Nations now stands in the former Olympic site on the edge of Tokyo Bay. Seven teenagers with special abilities, known as "Flowers," are among the students.

Their student identities are only a cover for their real identities as members of an intelligence organization run by the UN. Their objective is to assassinate other teenagers who have the same abilities. The Flowers have no choice but to complete their missions without fail. Their organization has taken their family members hostage to ensure this. For the Flowers, failure would mean death not only for themselves but also for their loved ones.

This is the story of their struggle against cruel fate, and of how it is human nature to find hope, however bleak the outlook.

(Source: Official site)

Kallenberg, Anthea Main

Seto, Asami Japanese

Tougetsu, Hana Main

Ookubo, Rumi Japanese

Estella Supporting

Oozora, Naomi Japanese

Hyuuga, Sayuri Supporting

Takahashi, Haruka Japanese

Nanase, Osamu Supporting

Kijima, Ryuuichi Japanese

Ueyama Supporting

Amada, Masuo Japanese

Tougetsu, Yuuto Supporting

Suwa, Ayaka Japanese

Tougetsu, Keigo Supporting

Kinoshita, Hiroyuki Japanese

Amagata, Junichi Supporting

Tsuchida, Hiroshi Japanese

Nanase, Shunichi Supporting

Uchiyama, Kouki Japanese

Ogasawara, Muneki Producer

Andou, Masahiro Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

Koyanagi, Keigo Script

Seto, Asami Theme Song Performance

Reviews

Jul 17, 2017

Eblouir

Recommended

Uhm, I'm seriously not sure if the people here watched a prequel or if this movie is part of an even bigger franchise---I just watched it by itself and despite some reviews saying that this is bad, I must say that I enjoyed this thoroughly.

The story is kind of vague at first and it started with this seemingly normal family and how they are in the eyes of one of the children, a teenager named Hana Togatsu. She described her family in the most normal way and without any background knowledge, you would think that this would be just another slice of life. Except ... that it's not. Minutes into the film, you will be introduced to the fact that Hana is no normal teenager. She is actually an assassin, with a mission to keep someone alive and to eliminate some sort of monster.

I don't want to spoil more but the thing is, this was great for a 30-minute film. I enjoyed it a lot. The graphics was superb, the story was good, the characters have their mini stories in the background and it would require you to join the pieces together to make sense of what was just presented. I am free to have my own interpretation of the film and that's why I loved it.

For all those people who say that this is just another violent anime about guns and nothing more, hm, you are entitled to your own opinion I guess just like I am but please, give this movie a chance. It doesn't deserve its 6 point something rating on MAL. To those who rated this lower, I dare you to make something as great as this. I bet you can't. :')

So to answer the question if you should watch this film the answer is Yes, you should. Don't let the hard-to-please people prevent you from watching this. <3 Much love!

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Jul 18, 2021

Daxonzion-

Mixed Feelings

Before starting the review, I will not go in with too much details for each category, such as Story, Art, Sound & Characters. Instead, I will explain what this title did best and worst in a simple manner, knowing that this is an OVA with only 1 episode and a 38 minutes of runtime.

Now, let's begin

The 2016 Under the Dog anime was originally a crowdfunding kickstarter project funded by the fans who are willing to see what potential story the show could bring. The kickstarter campaign ended up being a success with more budget going in than the original goal. With that, Under ... the Dog project was made into reality.

After the release of the OVA, the fans's expectation of it being a good anime seems to be destroyed. Being an anime with a nice visual but a confusing storyline, uninteresting characters, and a short runtime, the fans is dissapointed with what they are served here.

But to me, it's somewhat of a different case. Knowing that this was supposed to be an introduction episode of an upcoming story, i'm somewhat satisfied with what i watched. As i mentioned before, the show delivers a nice, smooth and detailed visuals, bringing a joy to my eyes. The overall sound the OVA delivers is nice and immersive. The OVA also did a nice job on foreshadowing what will come later and made me interested to watch more of it. Sadly, that is the thing that the OVA did best. As an introduction, the show lacks some explanation on what, why, and how these things on the screen happening, adding some confusions with it's overall storytelling. The characters are also felt like they needed an even more depth than what the OVA actually shows, even the main character (Hana) is not even explored thoroughly.

But, even with all these confusion the OVA has made, I somehow enjoyed watching it until the end. The nicely animated battle scenes and uncensored blood & gore, followed by an immersive sfx is just a nice spectacle. I think it's a fine watch for those of you wanting a short and mindless action packed anime that could be finished in one sitting while eating some snacks.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Oct 22, 2020

O_T_T

Not Recommended

Possibly the most pointless OVA ever made.

Under the Dog is pathetic through and through. I doubt the entire staff were inept, but it was at least most of them. I'm lost as to how this even got to release without any of the rest raising their hand and saying to the room; "Fellas, this is awful. Please tell me this isn't the finished product."

Supposedly Under the Dog was originally a concept for a 2-cour anime, with this OVA possibly acting as an episode 0. In that regard, it's even worse than a standalone work, as it fails to feel like a primer for a longer ... story. The world and lore isn't set up at all, and the supposed main character doesn't even do anything until the final few scenes. Like the design of the girl on the poster? Cool, you get about five minutes total screentime of her.

----

The OVA does in fact have a story, in that there are people doing actions for a reason. The people are boring, the actions are dumb and the reason is altogether vague, but the absolute minimum components for a story are there. It's presented poorly, as Under the Dog is comprised almost entirely of a single long action sequence. I kept expecting it to wrap up and move along to the next scene, but it never did. The penny only dropped when I spotted that more than half the runtime was over and the story was just where it was fifteen minutes ago.

The characters do not meet that same minimum. Of the few we see, nobody seems to have a presence outside the confines of their surroundings. There's no long-term goal other than to carry out the mission, and the one not affiliated with the Flowers, namely, the male lead, just blunders around the school in tow of the female lead. He could just as easily be a box she has to carry around.

----

From a production standpoint, Under the Dog doesn't shine either, but is at least average. Animation and art are consistently alright, as is the music, which I don't recall being bad but also don't recall at all. The character design is also quite weak with the sole exception of the poster girl, but as stated, she is so transient to the OVA itself she may not even have been present. Audio isn't something I usually mention, but I did think it was quite interesting to have the American military speak English.

Finally, there is the world, or rather, how it is presented in the OVA. It appears to be another case of exposition-in-supplementary-material, as the majority of information is direct from the creator's mouth rather than in the production itself. It almost expects the viewer to study up on the setting in their own time.

----

Under the Dog puts me in mind of the Victorian practice of Post-mortem Photography. It's dead, literally a corpse of a show that was didn't make it, but dressed smart and stood up on a stick just enough to look proper. But of course, poking around reveals it's all a ruse.

If I were to repair this, then the simple instruction would be to add at least an hour's worth of content before this OVA, allowing ample time to properly explain the world and give the characters something to do other than shoot everything.

Four words: Not worth anyone's time.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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	Poll: Under the Dog Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ) DerMond - Aug 1, 2016	204 replies	by -Facktack- »» Sep 20, 2021 2:34 AM
	Several years later...in 2021 Belsel - Aug 10, 2021	2 replies	by Belsel »» Aug 10, 2021 6:49 AM
	Future for this work 800MEric - Aug 6, 2016	13 replies	by Tracer_Senpai »» Oct 24, 2018 10:54 AM
	Do you even OVA? soredemoii - Aug 8, 2016	4 replies	by CodeBlazeFate »» Dec 30, 2016 7:08 PM
	Perhaps a full Tv series for Under the Dog KurumiNightmare - Oct 30, 2016	2 replies	by LaceyKuroki »» Oct 30, 2016 2:58 PM

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