Majestic Prince: Genetic Awakening Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		1.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		2.0

Majestic Prince: Genetic Awakening Blu-ray Movie Review

A loud-and-dumb action-anime feature-film.

Majestic Prince: Genetic Awakening is an action anime feature. The feature-film is produced by Takashi Yoshizawa (One Week Friends, Wake Up, Girls!) and follows the television anime series. Dedicated fans of the series might want to take a look at the film – but it's not a great entry point for newcomers.

Enhanced and evolved human beings with battle armor have arisen to save the world from the threats of tomorrow. A new genetic awakening and an era of evolution begins. Known as the Evolved Children, the fighters take down alien baddies and face off against the ruthless alien race known as Wulgaru.

As a even more menacing threat awaits the Evolved Children with the development of the Diorna, new perils are at the forefront. Team Rabbits is a group of evolved children who are up to the major task. Though Izuru Hitachi (Hiroki Aiba), the leader of the team, is now down for the count, a new hero arises. Can Toshikazu Asagi (Shintaro Asanuma) save the day?

One of the worst things about the production is the sub-par animation in the film. The weak animation is under the animation direction of Hisashi Hirai (Dragon Slayer, The Brave Fighter of Sun Fighbird) and art direction of Scott MacDonald (BanG Dream!, Dog Days). The art work fails on every level.

A snooze-fest.

Nothing excels and the production falters throughout. The character designs by Hisashi Hirai (Mobile Suit Gundam Seed, Dragon Slayer) are average-at-best and fail to make much of an impression. The CG direction by Takayuki Miyakoda (Trigun: Badlands Rumble, Ghost in the Shell: Arise) is far too generic. Bleh.

The storyboards by Goichi Iwagata (Tenchi Muyo! Ryo Ohki, Katanagatari) and Keitaro Motonaga (Ah My Buddha, Date A Live) didn't manage to imbue the production with the kind of energy it needed to succeed. The filmmaking is boring and underwhelming. The pace is all over the map. A miss-fire.

The cinematography by Mami Goto (Asura Cryin', Trinity Seven: Heavens Library & Crimson Lord) is decent-enough and is one of the decent elements of the production. The series is vibrant, colorful, and vividly animated. The results aren't showstopping but it still makes a decent impression.

The music score by Toshiyuki Watanabe (Space Travelers, Space Brothers) is another decent element. Though not a classic anime score, the music has energy and fits the action well enough. A reasonably good effort by Watanabe.

The screenplay by Yoshitaka Shishido (Supernatural: The Anime Series, Chi's Sweet Adventure) is where Majestic Prince: Genetic Awakening fails the most. The storytelling is average. None of the characters were compelling. The filmmaking simply fails to excite. Keitaro Motonaga (School Days, Ah My Buddha) attempted to give the production a decent action-packed back-drop but the direction never has the sizzle necessary to entertain much. Unless one is a die-hard fan of the anime series, Majestic Prince: Genetic Awakening should be easy to skip.

Majestic Prince: Genetic Awakening Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Arriving on Blu-ray from Sentai, Majestic Prince: Genetic Awakening is presented in 1080p MPEG-4 AVC encoded high definition in the theatrical aspect ratio of 1.78:1 widescreen. The presentation is reasonably good. Colors are impressive and manage to work well for the material. The encoding on the release is decent enough and never struggles to present the feature-film. There are no significant issues to report in regards to compression woes. There were no serious issues with banding and similar anomalies.

Majestic Prince: Genetic Awakening Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The release includes a selection of lossless audio options: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (with English subtitles). The lossless audio on the release is reasonably impressive. Dialogue is clear and easy to understand. The surround audio is similarly impressive and well done. Though not one of the best surround mixes for an anime, it's a decent experience, and one with enough action scenes well implementing the rear speakers for the film.

Majestic Prince: Genetic Awakening Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The release includes Majestic Prince: Episode 25 – Wings to the Future (HD, 24:42) in addition to the main feature-film. The episode is presented in DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo in either English or Japanese (with English subtitles).

Majestic Prince: Japanese Promos (HD, 3:19)

The release also includes a selection of trailers promoting other releases available from Sentai Filmworks: Ascension of a Bookworm (HD, 1:33), Blade of the Immortal (HD, 1:31), Killing Bites (HD, 1:33), and Black Bullet (HD, 1:32).

Majestic Prince: Genetic Awakening Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Majestic Prince: Genetic Awakening is a lackluster and boring anime film. The filmmaking is far too average and mundane. There is no sense of creativity or wonder to the filmmaking. This is a dull and uninspired effort from all involved. Unless one is an established fan of the anime series, Majestic Prince: Genetic Awakening is an easy pass. SKIP IT.