Sagrada Reset: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.0
Overall		3.5

Sagrada Reset: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie Review

An interesting science-fiction anime which blends together the surreal with the ordinary

For audiences who enjoy slice-of-life anime intertwined with fantasy elements, Sagrada Reset is an interesting experiment which blends together vastly different genres for its unique stylistic approach. The series is based on the original manga work by creator Yutaka Kono. Originally broadcast in Japan on Tokyo MX and made by animation studio David Production (Ben-To, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure), the shoujo anime series was produced by Hiroyuki Aoi, Takashi Tachizaki, and Hirotsugu Ogisu.

Kei Asai is gifted with an incredible special ability which involves his pitch-perfect memory: he can remember all of the events which occur in a future timeline even after experiencing a “reset” as done via time travel by his school classmate Misora Haruki. Misora is able to use her mind to alter time by setting special reset points in which time is reversed (aka: time travel). Only Kei remembers what had happened in the future and not even Misora herself has the ability to retain these memories before they are altered.

Utilizing his unique memory gift, Kei must piece together the labyrinth puzzle of time and figure out a way to reconstruct events and save everyone's future. Could the fate of the entire world be at risk with the alterations made by time jumping? Could a tiny sliver of change lead to a strong ripple effect that changes the destiny of all?

Unlike traditional time travel storylines, Sagrada Reset uses a much different approach. Given that the character of Misora doesn't literally jump through time by utilizing some kind of time-travel machine or device it makes the series stand out for its creative approach to telling a time travel story. Misora uses her unique ability to reset time and literally undo events.

As the series unfolds, Sagrada Reset also focuses on other high school students imbued with special abilities. They form a group of “super” students who use their gifts to help the world. Not everyone appreciates their unique abilities: a secretive organization known as the Administration Bureau was formed to study individuals with special abilities and to prevent them from causing harm to society.

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The storyline for Sagrada Reset is reminiscent of X-Men storylines with the core concept of focusing on youth with "special gifts" feeling somewhat derivative to other comic-book tropes. Although the story has fun playing with its creative science fiction concepts, the actual quality of storytelling feels rushed and convoluted. This is a decidedly chaotic and messy anime production which feels poorly written and overly simplistic in approach.

While it is the science fiction concepts utilized which are going to draw audiences in more than the slice-of-life elements, I found myself feeling more engaged by the intimate character moments and relationships explored throughout the series. The story works best as a drama as the sci-fi becomes increasingly problematic in that its convoluted string of “resets” are not intelligently handled. The series would have benefited from a more focused narrative. The screenplay by Katsuhiko Takayama (Future Diary, Tokyo ESP) excels when it comes to focusing on the character relationships and feels underdeveloped with regards to the science-fiction tropes.

The animation in Sagrada Reset is truly outstanding and one of the series greatest strengths. Featuring excellent character designs by Tomoyuki Shitaya (Toradora!, Welcome to the NHK!), the character designs feel simple but are decidedly effective and impressive. The animators who worked on this series have created something special that feels unique in its artistic approach. The background art is often beautiful and its clear that a lot of effort went into developing the details of the locations and their surrounding aesthetics.

The visuals are also beautifully matched with the music score composed by Rayons. This is a calm and serene score which gives the production a laid-back energy. It's not an action-packed music soundtrack but rather a charming and organic score that manages to impress. The music was a highlight of the the series.

Shin'ya Kawatsura (.hack//SIGN, Noir, Madlax, A Certain Magical Index) directs the series with an artistic style that feels highly stylized and creative. Fans of the directors other anime series will appreciate Kawatsura's unique vision and aesthetic approach. Even when the story becomes convoluted, the directing is always top-notch.

By the time the series finale rolls around the concluding chapter ends with more of a whimper than a bang. The last episode feels like an epilogue conclusion and doesn't leave room for future chapters. While Sagrada Reset is not a total knock-out home run, audiences looking for a series which blends together both the ordinary and fantastical will find some rewarding elements to appreciate. This is not the type of series which feels like it will have significant replay value but it's certainly worth watching once. For viewers who stick through to the end, it's ultimately a charming diversion which has fun with its core concepts.

Sagrada Reset: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented on Blu-ray from Sentai Filmworks, Sagrada Reset arrives on the format with a technically impressive 1080p high definition MPEG-4 AVC encoded presentation. Presented in the original television broadcast aspect ratio of 1.78:1 widescreen, the series looks marvelous on Blu-ray. Throughout the presentation the colors are rich, vibrant, and beautiful to behold. The image is consistently impressive with great accuracy and depth. The image has a clean aesthetic which reproduces the animators efforts. The encoding is also first-rate without any noticeable issues.

Sagrada Reset: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The audio is presented in Japanese 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio. This is an impressive lossless sound mix. For a stereo sound mix, the audio is highly engaging and detailed. Dialogue is crisp, clear, and easy to understand. The music score by Rayons sounds superb and engaging. The opening and ending theme music is also terrifically reproduced and has great clarity. Featuring an excellent sound design overseen from creative sound director Toshiki Kameyama, the overall audio quality on this release is top-notch.

Unlike some anime releases, Sentai Filmworks decided to release Sagrada Reset without producing a new English dub to accompany it. The series is a subtitled-only release. The series includes English subtitles. The quality of the subtitles are excellent and are grammatically correct and free from any spelling errors or other technical issues.

Sagrada Reset: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Clean Openings (HD, 3 min. 4 sec.) featuring textless opening credits for the series.

Clean Closings (HD, 4 min. 36 sec.) featuring textless closing credits for the series.

Lastly, the release also includes trailers promoting other Sentai Filmworks releases.

Sagrada Reset: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

A series which is ultimately charming if also decidedly nonessential, Sagrada Reset is a reasonably engaging and entertaining production which blends together two (highly different) genres into one: slice-of-life and science fiction. Although the science fiction elements make the series far more intriguing when analyzing the series strengths on paper, it's the intimate character relationships explored during the story which make the series worth watching. Featuring a superb technical presentation, Sagrada Reset is a unique shoujo anime which is worth a look for those interested.