6.5 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
"A mysterious virus, nicknamed Medusa, is spreading around Japan, turning its victims into stone. Given the impossibility of finding an immediate cure, the government opts for cryopreserving a select group of patients until they come up with a solution. Kasumi, one of the chosen ones, has been asleep for years and her awakening, more than a bed of roses, is a bed of thorns, and happens in the midst of total chaos where monstrous creatures lie in wait all around. Based on Yuji Iwahara's manga by the same name, King of Thorn puts animated images to a sensational cross between Aliens and the series Lost. Enigmatic and highly explosive."
Starring: Eri Sendai, Kana Hanazawa, Toshiyuki Morikawa, Shin'ichirô Miki, Akiko YajimaAnime | 100% |
Foreign | 96% |
Comic book | 19% |
Adventure | 8% |
Horror | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: Dolby TrueHD 5.1
Japanese: Dolby TrueHD 5.1
English
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
DVD copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (C untested)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 5.0 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Did you have trouble (like I did, frankly) figuring out just what exactly was happening in “real life” and what was happening in the Matrix by the time you got to The Matrix Revolutions? It’s probably best not to admit something like this out loud where sneering fans can raise their eyebrows derisively in your direction, but I’d swear that parts of that final Matrix installment (shhh. . .) didn’t make any sense. The Matrix Revolutions might seem like a model of narrative clarity, however, compared to the appropriately thorny story in King of Thorn, an often fascinating anime based on a popular manga by Yuji Iwahara. King of Thorn actually mimics some of the conceits of The Matrix, and while a great deal of the film plays out with at least relative clarity, there are a number of developments along the way that may have even the most alert viewers hitting their pause buttons to ruminate over events for a little (and maybe even a long) while. The basic story takes a group of disparate characters on a Survivor-esque trip through a gargantuan Scottish castle which has been turned into a medical facility after a devastating plague called Medusa has swept over the planet, turning those who contract the disease into stone. A lottery is held and a couple of busloads of infected people are transported to this facility where they’re told they’re going to be put into a cryogenic sleep until a cure can be found. When they awake, they find the castle now overrun with a huge plant life, including an incredibly twisted series of vines, all of which have immense thorns. Also roaming the halls of the castle are all manner of weird beasts, robotic dinosaurs, horrible alien like birds that gnaw faces off, and other things that definitely go bump in the night. The rest of the film plays like one of those old Irwin Allen disaster movies where the few remaining survivors attempt to reach the “outside world” and achieve some sort of salvation. That part of King of Thorn is incredibly well realized and at least mostly clear. But once a few twists are injected into the enterprise, a baseline of comprehensibility becomes markedly unstable.
King of Thorn is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of FUNimation Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. This is an outstanding high definition presentation which offers razor sharp line detail, nicely articulated character design and some cool (if bizarre) looking CGI elements. About the only minor complain some may have with this anime is its intentionally dark ambience which also includes a lack of bright primary colors. Things have an almost black and white look some of the time, with an emphasis on deep emerald greens and pale skin tones. Other than that, though, the animation is top rate and is delivered with excellent sharpness and acuity on this Blu-ray. The CGI elements are very well woven into the general fabric of the film, and if these elements sometimes have a patently artificial look to them, once you understand one of the key plot elements, even that aspect makes perfect sense.
King of Thorn features two Dolby TrueHD 5.1 tracks, one in the original Japanese and the other in English. Both mixes are virtually identical other than the voice work, and even the voice casting has been done with a certain ear toward timbre, if not accent (it's hard to tell if the Japanese track mimics the English language version which offers clear British and Australian accents for various characters, for example). Fidelity on both of these tracks is excellent, and surround activity is frequently quite impressive, especially when various marauding beasts are on the rampage. Both tracks have a fair amount of boisterous LFE as well. Dialogue is cleanly and clearly presented and the nicely evocative underscore also sounds great. Dynamic range is quite wide throughout this film.
Don't get me wrong: I know exactly (or at least mostly exactly) what King of Thorn wants me to understand is what happens to these various characters. I'm just saying that if you think about it very carefully, it starts to show its seams and ultimately falls apart under the cold light of logic. But putting that aside, this is a really interesting and compelling piece that features a fairly unusual storyline and a handful of very distinctive characters. The animation is fantastic and this Blu-ray both looks and sounds excellent. With a decent coterie of supplementary materials rounding out this package, King of Thorn comes Highly recommended.
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