So I've had a weird fascination with this movie ever since I saw it on Studio Deen's Wikipedia page 4 years ago, but eng subs were exclusive to a Japanese blu ray. It got uploaded last year, but I didn't notice until recently since it was mislabeled as raw.
As for the movie itself... it sadly isn't very good as a movie. It's around 70% proselytizing Buddhism and 30% a story of this section of Rennyo's life. It feels like an anime Buddhist version of a Christian movie like God's Not Dead. You've got a non believer protagonist who is forced to attend Rennyo's lectures, converts to Buddhism and becomes a priest, and you get to constantly see how much cooler and better this sect is. The narrative is nonexistant and it's taken up by extremely long lecture scenes. In the first 30 minutes of the movie, two of them go on for 10 minutes each separated by a 2 minute scene!
However, I can't really hate the movie that much? It wasn't trying to tell a compelling story, showcase good animation, or anything like that. It set out to proselytize Buddhism, and that's what it ended up doing. It succeeds at it's function, I just don't care for the function at all.
At least I've finally seen the movie and I don't need to- oh my Amida Buddha there's a second one.
Also I've uploaded the movie with eng subs onto Youtube. It hasn't hit any copyright yet, but I'm not sure how long it'll last.
Edit: Somehow it stayed up for a full year and then got hit? Oh well |
MagicPollyAug 30, 2023 7:25 PM