Black Fox

In many ways BlackFox reminds me of Princess Principal. Its premise made it seem like a full one-shot story but instead ends up being some superhero origin story down the line. There are fun and interesting bits here and there, but nothing seems to be developed to its full potential, leaving much to be desired even as the end credits roll. By far the worst offender is the cliffhanger ending, which, as of this writing, has no confirmed continuation.

Still, the movie is fine. My personal favourite bit is the last act where it turns into Symphogear (complete with hot blooded punching and villainous fakeouts), ... but as it stands, plotwise, BlackFox is just okay.

I wouldn't mind seeing episodic adventures if this ever gets turned into a TV Series, but my delusions of this being a serious/semi-serious plot-driven adventure type show has been shattered completely.

5/10

When the final shot of the trailer is also the final shot of the movie, something has gone seriously wrong.

Original projects are usually a lot more interesting and creative than established franchises, but there is a caveat that when one falters, it brings far more down than an adaptation would.

Black Fox is a movie that feels like a draft screenplay of itself. The main plot and central characters have been planned out, and in a vacuum are decent, but everything else feels completely rushed. Be it up to me, I'd have asked for the whole movie to be given a serious once-over before release, lest ... it end up as mundane as it actually did.

----

The plot is two entwined; the first being a revenge story, and the second a superhero origin. These work together, and I'd argue are pulled off very well. Unfortunately, the movie stuck very close to its own tropes, to the degree that the story becomes consistently predictable. My only real complaint is a revelation during the epilogue that doesn't do anything for the story and was not foreshadowed at all save for a single, potentially missable background detail. This revelation did not add anything to the story, and under examination actually detracts from it.

All promotional material suggested three protagonists, Rikka, Mia and Melissa. Rikka is the main driving force, Mia is a foe turned ally, and Melissa the one who instigates this change. Rikka and Mia are reasonably good characters, with simple and somewhat parallel arcs, but just like the plot, have predictable conclusions, even though the portrayal is decent. Melissa, however, feels incomplete. Allying Mia is the only plot relevance she has, and her own character has no depth other than being an archetypal friend. She does come into play during the epilogue, but as stated it affects the story negatively.

The movie's two villains are another weak point. One is basically pulled out of events after the first act, and the other, the eventual final opponent of the movie, is a stock mad scientist. He doesn't quite have enough flair to be an exceptional one, but has pretty good moments, especially right before the final act. The first, though, never gets an opportunity to do anything other than grimace, leaving me apathetic.

Finally, there are Rikka's robot animals. Frankly, they're little more than macguffins with voices, and I'm still left amiss as to whether they had any more significance that I couldn't decipher. They do very little to actually further the plot, other than the bird flying Rikka away once or twice. For being breakthrough technology, they're not too impressive.

----

Every technical aspect is roughly average, including art, sound effects, animation, direction and editing. The most worthwhile thing is the theme song, which is excellent and what originally made me watch the movie. There is somewhat bad CGI integration, but this isn't something I personally have a problem with.

As for style, while the art isn't really unique, there are some designs i liked, such as Mia's original and Rikka's final combat outfits. The overall setting had some ideas behind it, I think with the combination of modern and historic elements, but there wasn't anything that really came of this. The tone was alright, but nothing that felt really significant. Some of the apparati where kinda neat, like Rikka's colour-changing jacket or ninja equipment, but that's icing rather than stylistic in my opinion.

----

In order to improve Black Fox, I would firstly cut the epilogue's reveal entirely, as it does taint the story a little. I think that Melissa and the animals should be reintegrated to be a lot more important, and with both put more emphasis on their relationships with Rikka, so that they have emotional significant to the protagonist rather than just being furnishing elements. The villains, particularly the original, could get a bit more depth and motivations, since they also felt sidelined by the script.

Overall, Black Fox was an acceptable premise but wasn't made as exciting as it could have been. With every good detail was a bad, leaving the movie essentially average. However, it does at least have the minimum of my attention, and if a sequel does come out, all of my complaints could feasibly be rectified within it, so I'd most likely still be interested.

The problem with Black Fox is bcause it is an enjoyable well-polished anime that still lacks something.

The story reminds me of some 90's OVA's, but with an updated aesthetic for our times and a softer tone, without all the gratuitous gore. Think about something close to Birdy the Mighty beat.

The technical aspects of Black Fox are amazing, with gorgeous animation, but it somewhat lack its own style. You know, if Trigger were responsible for the movie, they would have made it unique and would receive critical acclaim. It still have a gorgeous animation, but still kinda generic, without its own identity.

The characters ... are kinda undeveloped, BUT IT'S A MOVIE AND IT'S OKAY TO NOT HAVE TIME TO DEVELOP MULTILAYERED CHARACTERS BECAUSE IT'S A MOVIE. The thing about it is that this movie is clearly made to be a setup for a proper series and I'm eager to see more of the girls and how their bond can develop with more screen time.

To be honest, this is a well-intentioned and unpretentious big anime episode. I've seen worse, actually bad stuff, being acclaimed for much less.

This movie wasn't made for us. No, I don't mean this movie wasn't made for me. No, I don't mean this movie wasn't made specifically for you. What I mean is that the people that are likely to watch this movie and find information about it through this site, are not the people likely to enjoy this movie. Black Fox is a superhero origin story, about a girl that has been trained to be a ninja and has access to a lot of technological gadgets, whose appeal as a person is her kind nature. A budget teenage girl Batman if you will. I do think ... that the movie did accomplish to imitate the exact same process other western movies have used, but not actually succeed in what those movies had

Now let me ask, have you ever seen a movie about a superhero origin story, that has had huge success in the western media? Your answer, if yes, is probably: yeah, I watched [insert random Marvel movie]. Well, this movie is a japanese attempt to cash in on that marketing strategy, by making a movie that employs the exact same style and structure. Given what I said, you probably know what to expect already if you were familiar with those, but even then, you might still be like: "Yeah, but it is Japan, this movie is still going to be anime as fuck, right?" Actually, that's what I would have expected too, but the answer is actually no. The only thing that is particularly anime about this, is that they are girls of high school age doing things they should not be physically capable. There's one part in the climax of the final fight that you might assume is anime as fuck, but honestly, that actually is how most final fights in Marvel movies are resolved too, so at best I'd call it overlap. It is genuinely faithful to that formula, and I'm sure it is just an attempt to see if it has any success outside the west, or it could be that someone enjoyed that formula so much they just wanted to test it out.

Now for those of you unfamiliar and not knowing what to expect, superhero origin stories are so frequent that they pretty much have a template they always follow. And Black Fox is no exception to this. They are often very predictable, and the template itself is not actually what sells the movie, it's just a tool to make the movie be sufficiently competent and present the character to both an audience that is familiar with them and one that is unfamiliar with them at the same time. If you go watch a superhero movie, you often already know entirely what it is about, since you are familiar with DC and Marvel. Black Fox however is something entirely unfamiliar to the audience, and the only way it relates to the viewer is whether or not they are aware of such content. It uses the structure and techniques of such movies but do they actually work in its favor?

My answer is that the only way it would work is if you were unfamiliar with that structure. The way Black Fox is structured imitates pretty much every movie of its type I am familiar with, to the point I could predict every single story beat as soon as it was set up. So, if familiar with these types of movies, you will see absolutely nothing new. It has no degree of subtlety and it continuously moves forward, by first presenting a setup (which can be as small as a tease) and next presenting its payoff. The thing is that makes the movie even more predictable since every single story beat presented on screen, is either there to set up something later down the line, be it a twist or to raise the impact a scene will have, 5 minutes later. It feels like every single thing presented is not presented to tell a story but rather to serve the structure used in the prior movies, like a template for success. The structure for such movies doesn’t simply work because the structure itself is a failsafe way to present a superhero origin, but rather they are a template to adapt one superhero origin people already have knowledge of and interest in.

To an audience that is unfamiliar with said structure, they may have some success but their actual reasons they sell in the western media are: brand recognition, (since it is something people are familiar with, the movie will pull its already existing fanbase, as well as their friends that are not familiar with that character) acting, (actors are capable of breathing even further life into the characters, and making them even more appealing based on their performance) solid source material, (in most cases, the template can work because the character has an already defined identity that is appealing to its audience, and they don't have to put much thought into presenting the story since the source material has already done so, and the story will already have plenty of bones and meat, allegedly) and accessibility. (comic books are not the most accessible media to consume, as most of the hero origins were released prior to content being digitized, and as a result they often end up rereleased with some modifications or redone from zero, to familiarize the audience. Movies are more accessible to a wider audience and they are easier to preserve and spread, since their content is digital, not physical. So, if anyone was genuinely interested in the concept of the comics, but they didn't have accessibility to the source material, now they have an easier way to access the content)

Black Fox has no brand recognition or source material, it is an original concept after all, it doesn't rely on acting, since its visual are carried across through animation and voice acting doesn't require the voice actor to project as much personality as a normal actor. They definitely do and can even do it better than the visuals in some cases, don't get me wrong, but they are not entirely relied on for that purpose usually, which is no exception here. But well, it might have plenty of accessibility and novelty to a japanese audience. That's why I said this movie was not made for us. We are likely going to have plenty of familiarity, be it direct or indirect, with pretty much everything Black Fox attempts to achieve as a movie and as a story. But since it is a superhero origin story in its most basic form, it might have success in japan, presenting more westernized story structures and concepts and see if they appeal to their audience, to people that wouldn't otherwise engage with them, in the medium they are familiar with.

As a result, I do think Black Fox is a test, to see if this story structure can be successful to a japanese audience. The movie pretty much put its entire focus on following this standard structure (beware that this might spoil you, there's no concrete plot details, just the average structure of such movies): Present the hero's life prior to starting their journey (in order to show who they are and how they are different from the average person) -> Define their motivations and future goal (Happens through one of the following three: a tragic event that redefines their life, a mission that is given to them because they are the only one who can accomplish it or an accidental event that grants them the ability to do exactly what they always wished for. In some cases, there is a certain degree of overlap and it is going to be a combination of those. If you read the series' synopsis you already know which of these it is. ) -> Have them prepare for their journey (This is either done through them training, or them undertaking their journey while not entirely prepared, with their actions acting as an experience that will prepare them for the future) -> Have them engage the antagonist but not be able to win straight up (This is to create tension and present in what ways the antagonist is a foil to them) -> Give them a moment of respite to reflect on their loss (used to reflect on what differentiates them from the antagonist and some self-reflection for their character arc) -> Reignite the conflict with even bigger stakes -> Have the character complete their character arc and learning from their past mistakes, helping them resolve the conflict -> Conclude with the foil being rejected and the hero identity finally being assumed -> Tease the sequel.

The biggest problem with Black Fox for someone familiar with the structure, is that it feels exactly like this:

Japan: Can I copy your homework?
America: Yes, just change it up a bit so it doesn't look obvious that it was copied.
Japan: Black Fox

Japan managed to copy the homework correctly, on a subject they don't really have a solid grasp of. As a result, its hero, doesn't feel heroic or like a genuinely good person. There's not really any point where the heroine here acts either heroically or outside their own self-interest. It hardly feels like someone conquering their demons to do good in the world, but more like a character wanting to do what is their self-interest, but what's morally good denying them of their desire, and them having to adjust. The main character is supposed to have as her appeal in her kindness, but they are not kind, they are just a brat. She's neither a compassionate or good person and she has operated entirely in their own self-interest the entire time. She hasn't done anything outright good, just things that aren't morally reprehensible, yet the story does praise them for their kindness. She can also appear quite weak-willed at times, since she sometimes does not fully pursue their goal or respects what she says and due to that appears undecisive. Truth be told, the qualities that would make her a hero are absent, but I guess that is somewhat acceptable, since she hasn't really been acknowledged as such. The only reason I take issue with these traits, is because the movie acts as if they are her virtues, but they are at best traits that are currently a work in progress and at worst non-existent.

The movie has every single thing executed correctly, it has the structure, the beats, the concept, the visuals, perhaps even the audience. But it lacks the substance. The appeal that has made the stories that were adapted attract the interest of various people around the world. It may have some passion and enjoyment of everything that has been made with this structure, but it is not its own thing.

As a result, I find it hard to recommend to someone familiar with this type of movie, since there is absolutely nothing new for you to see, and I also have a hard time to recommend it to someone unfamiliar, since there are so many better alternatives that use the very same structure and also present a character that has both charisma and is very admirable. Black Fox doesn't manage to capitalize on any of the qualities using the structure it has appealing, but it is an interesting enough experiment to watch. I'd recommend showing this show to an unsuspecting audience unfamiliar with this style of movie, if it's more accessible to them than a western superhero movie, and to gauge their reaction. Because that's who this movie was made for. And if continuously invested in, the success of the western superhero blockbusters can be replicated in anime form. Even though it might not be an interesting watch, it might the start for the pursuit of an interesting result. So, if you want to watch this movie as an informative way to observe their strategy, I fully support that, because that part of the movie is genuinely interesting, and that's what made me talk at length about it. I wish it had more substance to discuss the actual things it tried, but the only thing I could observe how hard it tries to imitate what it wishes it would've been. And by pursuing every single technical detail about it, it manages to entirely miss the point. That these movies are meant to present the best qualities humanity has to offer and demonstrate them. And that it doesn't.

Going into this movie, I wasn’t sure what to expect. The visuals looked great and it was one of the only anime movies I had seen to get a simultaneous world-wide release, streaming on Crunchyroll for those of us in other countries who couldn’t go see it in theaters. Unfortunately, it seems that the release strategy is the biggest praise I can give this movie.

Story: 3/10
To put it simply, this is a mixture of a revenge story and a set-up for some presumed sequel story. It feels very much like the first film in a superhero series, the one that sets up the hero and ... their backstory and lays down the motivations and character traits. Unfortunately, it does this fairly poorly, leaving nothing but a predictable and shallow narrative. I won’t spoil anything, but trust me when I say that what you expect after the first 10 minutes is exactly what you get.

Art: 6/10
The visuals are quite well done, though they seem to be at a quality I would more often associate with a TV series than a full movie. The art does its job, most of the character animation is good, but doesn’t stand out as anything too special. Some of the visual design is quite interesting, particularly the effects used for the animal drones and the camo outfits, but nothing you can’t find elsewhere. One thing to note is that the 3D used here is very uninspired and stands out like a sore thumb. I am a fan of 3D when it is used well, Houseki no Kuni and Last Exile being excellent examples of how to do 3D properly. This is not one of them. Even in the opening credits we can see really cheap looking character models in the backgrounds, and it is very distracting and unintentionally humorous.

Sound/Music: 7/10
The audio of this film is truly the only thing I fully enjoyed. The music is well done, fits the mood, and makes you feel like what you are watching is actually something to get excited over. The sound design is also good, though seems to be muddled a bit by the constant bombastic score of the music. Not that bombastic music is an issue, especially in what is essentially a superhero movie. Unfortunately, while the music is good, it feels as though it could be slapped into any futuristic action/adventure movie and it would fit just as well.

Character: 5/10
The characters are interesting in their own right, though the quality varies greatly. The protagonist(s) are fairly well designed and like-able, both in design and personality. However, the antagonist(s) are incredibly predictable and uninspired. They feel as though they were ripped straight out of a bargain 1970’s western comic book and then painted with an even more boring coat of paint. They are one of my biggest gripes with the movie as a whole, to the point that not even a good protagonist can help.

Enjoyment: 4/10
Despite my massive gripes with the story, there is still some enjoyment to be had here. You do have to take the entire movie for what it is, however: a cheese-fest superhero origin story. I found myself smiling at certain parts, especially in the first 30 minutes, but that quickly trickled off into a fairly constant stream of face-palms toward the end.

Overall: 5/10
I would only really recommend this movie to fans of western superheroes. It gives off a very strong Marvel superhero group vibe, so if you are a fan of that and can look past the predictable and lazy story, then perhaps you will find some enjoyment here. Unfortunately for me, I hate everything to do with the western superhero “genre”, and this movie did nothing more than remind me of why I do. I’m sure there will be lots of people out there that enjoy this a lot, and if that’s you, then great. As for me, I don’t plan on revisiting this any time soon. Perhaps a sequel (or series) could flesh things out and provide a more interesting plot, but I have my doubts.

Black fox is cliche personified, it relies on cliches and overused narratives so often I was able to call out exactly what the entire movie was going to be about within the first twenty minutes.
now, there are cliche anime movies I like (Sword of the stranger, Redline), so I wouldn't call this an inherent flaw. but the movie seems entirely unaware of its own cliches. Both Redline and Sword of the stranger have ways to separate themselves from others of their kin, be it through art style and wacky animation (Redline), or attempting to overlay an unusual tone on what is otherwise a cliche story ... (Sword of the stranger).
This movie doesn't only fail to do so, it also fails to be the best of its compatriots.

Story: "yo, we heard you like cliches, so we put cliches on your cliche!" -a definitely real quote from Nomura Kazuya
This story is possibly the biggest pile of cliches ive ever seen, a scientist develops advanced technology for the betterment of mankind, but an old friend insists they use it for war. the scientist disagrees.
GUESS WHAT HAPPENS NEXT? HMMMMMM, I WONDER?
This makes it predictable, and mostly unexciting. it has all the tropes youre already sick to death of, and treads absolutely zero new ground. the story is nothing special, and indeed, nothing good.

Art: clearly the budget for this movie was not very large. Though the fight scenes look passable, the rest of it looks awful. CG crowds shamble around in a twisted mockery of life, scenery manages to look so unappealing that i begin to pity said CG crownds, and someone forgot to tell Kazuya that holding on shots of CG people is a REALLY bad idea. I do enjoy the protagonists' design, however.

Sound: its fine, it works. no complaints, its nothing special but its passable.

Character: Clearly whoever wrote the script for this movie forgot that youre supposed to actually develop your characters. as the most we get is a few chess scenes. And there are some characters who die with so little development I think the writers forgot character deaths were supposed to matter to the audience.

im not doing enjoyment, i think its pretty clear how i feel.


so basically, there are MUCH better ways to spend 90 minutes. dont waste it on this movie, its not worth it. I think we all deserve more from our entertainment

This movie gives me Marvel vibes after watching it. I like the animation and the plot is alright. But after the time-skip the plot flatten. So, I don't know how to respond to that at all. I thought is going to be a series at first, however, it seems the people working on it gave second thoughts on it, and turned it into a movie.

They should have worked the story a little more better. I don't mind about the characters, I do like how they animated the fights. But the story kinda went flat afterwards.

As for the characters (6/10) for their personalities. But the doctor ... guy who went insane because the main character father was better than him is the oldest poor plot (1/10)

These are just my thoughts.

Watched what I can only assume is the preview movie to this IP and it was pretty generic with some cool points.

The story is that a ninja girl's father and grandfather (where the heck's her mother?Where's anyone's mother in this?) get killed and she's out for revenge. It's like a if batman was a cute anime girl. Except she's not rich...her father was rich and built her some robot side kicks.

The characters are pretty generic too. However, once the team comes together by the end of the movie, they've all been fleshed out a little. Still very troupey through.

The art and animation ... are really good in this. Probably because it's a teaser movie, so they should be trying to impress us. Character designs are fine. The last fight is particularly very well animated.

Overall, It was a good, quick and painless flick. If the next installment is a episodic show, I don't think I'll watch it. The plot isn't interesting enough to keep me invested for a a weekly basis, and I'm sure it wont be as polished. If it's another movie, then I will watch it. However, I wont change this review or anything. I'm sure another movie will be just as by the numbers.

Black fox, a movie that looked quite promising with a good story, whose synopsis interests me a lot. Well, until I saw the movie and ne has tremendous disappointment. The idea itself of the movie is not bad, the story that tells us inclusive would say that it is decent pulling good, the problem was the way too slow in which they tell us, giving much importance in things that should not. The basis of the movie itself seemed to me to be generic, "the prota that seeks revenge of the person who killed his family", which I do not say is bad, but at ... least they had to give him some originality, apart from the one He seemed Villani's own did not confirm him even 10 minutes on screen, and he sold us a very horrible antagonistic attempt with the Father of mine. I feel that it would not take away the potential it could have had, it would not explain enough things that should have explained it. If it had lasted at least two hours I would have had a different taste and better acceptance. Even so, I think they adapt it better. The anime can be good enough.

Black Fox feels like a recap movie for a full series. The story, the characters, and especially the pacing didn't really help to make that sensation go away. Even though that is a problem, the series that was seemingly being recapped was actually not necessarily bad.

The part that suffered the most from that "recap" feeling were the characters. Some character interaction is missing, especially among the three main caracters. Their relationships develop in just a few scenes, they could have definitely have been given more time seeing how it's a very important part of the film. Furthermore, it felt like some character-driven moments had been ... omitted, and because of that some of the revelations and the surprises that happen later in the movie, feel like they lack buildup, or like they don't have the emotional impact they could have had if they had the proper setup like it could have probably happened in a full series.

There are some points during Black Fox where it feels like they had cut some scenes that would probably be too slow for a movie, but are okay in a full series. For instance, the members of a detective agency are introduced halfway through the film, and their character designs seem like they're memorable enough to show up again later, but aside from one of them briefly showing up later, they never really do.

The story was quite straightforward, and a bit predictable, seeing how it's a typical revenge/superhero plot. The music and the visuals sometimes add to it feeling like a superhero movie. Just a couple of examples are some of the costume designs, and the final credits which feel like the end of a Marvel movie. This movie won't be something that makes you think very hard or tries to do anything too revolutionary, but it's definitely not boring if watched without many expectations. If you have seen a modern western superhero movie, the story will probably be very familiar, though that doesn't mean it can't be entertaining. Even if as mentioned earlier the film feels like a recap movie, the basic structure of the main plot itself doesn't feel too rushed, since they don't hurry to have a conclusive ending, and leave room for a sequel, though if there doesn't turn out to be one, the story didn't have an entirely satisfying ending either.

The action scenes in general were well set up and executed. The animation is good, though it's not something that might blow your mind, especially seeing how you usually expect movies to look better than a TV series. Compared to other films, the animation is average. There are some uses of CGI that stick out here and there, but overall the traditionally animated fight scenes are nice looking and consistent.

It would be nice to see Black fox remade as a series, or maybe just a sequel in the form of one, that would probably fix some of its problems, though the former is not very likely to happen and as of this writing there's no sign of a sequel.

6.5/10

1st time reviewing an anime, i'm not english native so my grammar might not be the best and usually i'm the type to be satisfied with others opinion but not today so this will mostly be my subjective review on the film, also this will contain light spoilers about the movie

So this is Black Fox you can go read the synopsis up ahead i'm not going to waste my time on that…
This movie is a huge disapointement especially on the character/character interaction, story/storytelling, the overall tone of the movie being too light hearted and the theme being simply about "vengeance is meaningless, friendship power ... is the better way".
The art is nice but at times too bright and colorful for the kind of story Black Fox is telling imo, the sound was mostly generic and not memorable, the voice actress did a good job for their given roles, the characters are basic anime tropes and some of them don't even get much screentime and are basically thrown here and there for the comedy, i'm not saying the movie is bad because of that, but that the movie could have had a much better flow if it tried to be more daring and have a more mature approach in everything I mentioned:

-Lilly, the main character, is way too carefree and sentimental based on her background for example:
I wish Lilly felt more enclosed and just faking her good attitude towards other but isn't the carefree and joyful kid she was at the beginning because during the movie it doesn't feel like she's concerned about her family loss all that much but rather it's brought back whenever the story feels like making her emotional, at some point she gets revealed that indeed her family is dead for good, and she loses it, it's good but the thing is you just feel like she's reacting to the news, not as if she was getting the thruth she refused to admit all the time she left her parents behind and that would have made for a much satisfying result.

-Or earlier in the movie when she's playing chess with random girl that saved her and it holds a lot of memories with her dad but it doesn't reflect on her behavior and she's basically still as joyful and it doesn't serve any purpose other than introducing rando girl because she kinda becomes important after that while it could also have been used to make her reminiscize about the time she spend with her dad and give her a moment to show that her family disapearance hurts her more than she realizes/wants to admit.

These are some of my complains among others i have against that movie it does seem like I'm trying to push the way I'd imagine this could have gone but It's a shame the movie just decided to stay on a surface level for the story and characters and didn't push for a more ambitious story

Black Fox has its pros and cons. The movie started off amazing, immediately showing that the protagonist (Rikka) had excellent fighting skills because she is from a ninja clan. The animation of the whole movie was fluid, the art very beautiful and the soundtrack reasonable. But not everything is perfect. It didn't take long for the story to introduce other characters, all of them very ... how can I say? Uninteresting. The voiceovers were not surprising, and a line of cliché speeches began to appear. As if that were not enough, they decided to wrap the technology with the ninjas. You must imagine it didn't ... look very cool. Another thing I found very forced was what happened on Rikka's birthday, right at the beginning of the movie. Should it be sad? Unexpected, perhaps? No... was very predictable. The ending is unfinished, which may be a continuation, in an anime or another movie. But even if there is, I will not see.

Let's get the unavoidable out of the way: this was not the best. The story was way too fast paced and cobbled together. The story was filled to the brim with every hero cliche imaginable. The characters were quite bland and predictable. Many plot points were pulled out of several different asses.

That said, there is a reason for this. Apparently this was supposed to be a full fledged anime series, with the first 22 minutes (the best part) supposedly meant to be the first episode. However, for some reason the whole thing was scrapped, and someone had the bright ... idea to cram all of the work already done to create this Frankenstein of a film. For getting this far, I suppose it deserves some credit.

All in all, the whole thing isn't that bad per se... For young children or those who haven't watched a lot of shounen, this might even come across as a fresh and exciting new concept. However, for many seasoned anime viewers, this left a lot to be desired, which is a shame because the art and sound were actually not bad. I wish I could have seen it in its full glory as a well developed anime instead of this hollow shell.