Reviews

This movie is a summery of the first season of the anime. It works great for specific purposes. If you haven't watched the first season, don't watch it. It doesn't serve as a substitute for watching the anime and it doesn't work as a standalone product. If you just watched the first season, honestly I'd recommend skipping it and going straight into the OVA (slapstick noel) or the second season. What this movie does do well is serve as, well, a recap for season 1. If it's been a while since you watched the first season and you want a quick refresher before getting back into the show, this is absolutely the movie for you. The little prologues and epilogues serve as a nice little frame to the recap and add a little extra fun character interaction, but I think other reviews have put a bit too much stock in them. It's not like the movie is split into 3 parts with the prologue and epilogue being the first and third part and the recap in the middle, because the new content is quite short and inconsequential. This movie is 90% recap, >10% new stuff. The new content is clearly where the budget went, the animation is quite well done. None of it is critical to the story, if you enjoy the comedy of the CGI fight scenes from the show you'll enjoy the prologue, and the little epilogue is pretty fun and lighthearted, but again, very short and inconsequential. There is a ~30 second after credits scene that sets up season 2, but you really aren't going to miss anything by not seeing it. I enjoyed this movie as a nice refresher before jumping back into the series, as it had been a couple months since I watched the first season and I wanted to start watching the second. Overall, I liked it, but I definitely would have found it tedious to watch had I seen it right after the first season, and had I never seen the first season, there isn't enough context to the recap scenes to understand whats going on. I wish they'd included a little bit of the other side stories, as I don't feel entirely refreshed on where the characters all stand with each other at the end of season 1, but overall it got me excited to jump back into the series.