Monster Strike the Movie: Lucifer - Zetsubou no Yoake

Ok, so just got finished watching it. Solid 8/10 from me. REALLY freaking good!

Been a while since the last season of Monster Strike, and I genuinely forgot how good this animation style is. Some of, if not the best CG I've seen in anime tbh. Also forgot how amazing these characters were.

Was honestly not expecting the story to get this dark, Jesus Christ. Genuinely enjoyable stuff though, and ended on a good note. Like, probably the most perfect the ending coulda been imo. Applause for that. Also a good couple of plot twists I wasn't expecting here. Was not expecting Caesar of all people to ... play hero, and definitely wasn't expecting Pandora to make friend with... well, you'll see. That was kinda cute tho I gotta say.

Overall, definitely worth the wait imo <3

Hopefully this isn't the end of the Monster Strike anime series, would really love to see more... preferrably in Ren's timeline though, since his last season ended on a cliffhanger lol (kinda). Also the fact this movie is basically the perfect conclusion to Lucifer's side of the overall story.

Also, if you're reading this and wondering: "should I watch this?", yes, absolutely do so. Start from the very beginning of the series though, it'll have a bigger impact. Monster Strike is honestly one of the most underrated animes out there for sure if you ask me.

A great conclusion to the story following Lucifer in this universe. I do believe it is a guilty pleasure as there are some faults, but I definitely recommend it to anyone who's been a fan of the Lucifer in the past series.

This movie depicts everyone's characters quite well. I won't get into much as it would spoil the movie, but none of the characters felt out of character and the story was able to revolve around their individual personalities and beliefs quite well. Arthur's characterization, especially, was a highlight, even more so in the second half of the film.

Animation-wise, the CGI was done masterfully. It's ... definitely a style that might not suit everyone, but the way the characters move kind of slowly adds to the unnatural feeling that makes them even more otherworldly and mystical. The fight scenes in particular were all animated beautifully; it was all shown quite clearly. They were also a variety in the fights, meaning that most of the scenes would combine hand-to-hand fights, projectiles, and magic to make it much more interesting to watch.

Now, there are quite a few problems, namely the plot. The plot is a cliche as well as a wide stretch, and had an unnatural flow throughout. Events seemed to happen just out of nowhere with little to no true development. The movie also revolved around the theme of trusting in your friends, but such a theme was shoved right into the viewers face with no amount of subtlety at all. Definitely one of the weaker points of the whole movie.

Where to start, the movie had good art, animation and was visually great with a decent soundtrack. However, thats where the positives end. The story had a strong believe in your friends type message, but the way the movie was ended felt sour considering the power of a certain magical item. The title and series lists Lucifer as the main in this movie but she gets very little screen time, instead we see oragon screaming at everyone and, unsurprisingly everyone ignoring oragon. There are some major plot holes but by the end it feels like they were just swept under the rug and the overall ... felt a bit lazy. The pacing was alright, the action scenes were good, but in between it felt very slow. Other titles in the Monster strike may have been better but this one I feel was a bit of a miss.