Probably one the more corny animes I've seen, aside from The Sonic Movie. This movie could've been much better. It left me feeling empty at the end due to its general hollow content. The story is rather plain. An evil guy, Levih Rah, sells his soul to the demon world in exchange for the powers he has been granted. He plans on resurrecting himself and wreaking havoc on the world. Holding up his side of the deal, Rah must open the underworld and let demons run free in the world. (Certain restrictions always apply. ::sigh::) Rah kidnaps the president of somewhere (I have no idea why) and his daughter, Sayaka decides to try to talk ::rolls eyes:: to Rah and ask him to let her father go. She enlists the help of Kyoya to protect her with his powers of Nenpo, where Kyoya can make his wooden kendo stick turn into a light saber, I guess. They go to Shinjuku, in Tokyo, where the madness has begun that will eventually cover the whole world. Ok the plot isn't very original but that probably isn't the worst part of the movie. Maybe some twists or turns on the plot or better characterization could have saved this movie, but no.

Let's start with the bad things, shall we? First, the voice acting. It wins as being the worst I've heard so far in any anime. Kyoya's voice is awful. He acting just doesn't do anything. It sounds like he is just reading the words without any feelings at all. Kyoya overacts all the time and his acting is just not believable. Rah is pretty bad too. He is just pathetic. On the other hand, Sayaka is believable but her voice is wrong. In fact all the voices are wrong. This brings me to my second point. Every character has a different accent. It's a cool thing to try but a Japanese waitress doesn't have a Texan accent and Sayaka is a Japanese name, (at least, it sounds like one.), and she has an English accent. Another guy has a Spanish accent yet he lives in Tokyo.

Hmmmmm. Next, the general stupidity of Sayaka got on my nerves a lot. Lemme give you some examples. Sayaka - "I think you've hurt me enough, Ouch! Please let me help you, I'm your friend. Ow." Let's get closer to the demon! Here's another example, Sayaka goes into a demon-infested city by herself armed with only a laser ring. Oh yeah, that will cause lots o' damage in case she gets attacked. And another one. Oh let's touch the massive two headed Doberman and give it hugs. Sure... And one last one. A shady looking man tells Sayaka he knows where Levah Rah is, when she is looking for him in Shinjuku. If you were a weak little girl, would you follow the sketchy looking man into the dark alleyway? I think not.

The other characters are pretty lame. Ryoya appears whenever Sayaka is in trouble and is always trying to be tough and avenge his father. Rah is just the same plain evil that you've seen in another movie. Don't even get me started on the music. It is snare drum beats with synthesizer thrown in. It sounds like corny 80's pop music. This music doesn't convey the right feeling when played during a fight scene. Where's the spooky or eerie music? Also, the dialogue is mega cheesy. I remember one line where Ryoya says, "Gee, what a great girl," and other awkward things like that.

And let's not forget the glaring plot holes. Oh and don't forget the paper-thin characters. Mephisto is cool but serves no real purpose in the story and the bad guy. Who is he? Why is Sayaka so STUPID? The last fight is a real letdown too. The end, we wait for this huge fight and we get a one hit kill. Fantastic... However, the end, which is very, very predictable, still left me a happy feeling. (I must be a total sap.)

There are some good things though. The art and animation is fantastic and is right on par with Ninja Scroll. The shading and darkness conveys a demon like atmosphere. The character designs are cool too. Sayaka is cool looking and Mephisto is neat too. Levih Rah and Ryoya are cookie cutter character designs however. The movie isn't a complete letdown. Although, you've seen this before, (stereotype after stereotype), it's pretty and is fun for a mindless watch. Rent this movie if you like horror. It's not worth a buy but at least rent it if you see it at a movie place. It's average but better than some stuff I've seen. The movie would be rated R for some gory violence, animal killing (Yuck. What I hate the most. That poor cat...), lots of swears, which are a bit unnecessary, adult situations, some talk about sex, and a little nudity. Like I said, rent it for a mindless watch.