Sunday Without God: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		3.5

Sunday Without God: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman November 22, 2014

What do you get if you cross Children of Men with The Walking Dead:? Well, if you’re in the world of anime, it might be something remarkably similar to Sunday Without God, an appealing bit of post-Apocalyptic fantasy that presents a number of fascinating ideas, but which has a tendency to shoot itself in its (undead) foot through weird and disconcerting changes in tone. The anime starts off in resolutely dramatic fashion, with some cool wispy visual effects that surround a red and orange drenched view of a world that God has evidently abandoned, coming to the conclusion that He has “failed” (as the series puts it), and it’s time to move on. That has left humankind (or whatever the species in the series is—it’s never really fully delineated) alone without two biological functions, the ability to procreate and the ability to die. There's quite a bit of exposition as the series opens, with a brief montage offering a somewhat revisionist take on the seven days of creation, with this version ending with God abandoning His creation on Sunday, hence the title of the anime. But that's the mere tip of the spiritual iceberg in Sunday Without God, for the series then moves on to even more rather complex information about what has happened to that creation in the wake of God's departure. Things are not exactly going swimmingly, as might be expected, with the human species left in a kind of physical limbo due to not being able to procreate and without even the "convenience" of being able to die, at least not unless there's a so-called Gravekeeper involved. That's where little Ai comes in. The focus of Sunday Without God is a young girl who rather improbably gets appointed Gravekeeper of her little village after her mother, the previous Gravekeeper, dies as the series opens. Little Ai is spectacularly ill informed about the world in which she lives, and her new "career" causes more than a bit of confusion for the girl.

The eschatology of Sunday Without God is a bit perplexing, but basically it boils down to the fact that even people with debilitating injuries tend not to shuffle of this world’s mortal coil without the aid of a Gravekeeper, who can bury the body and make sure it stays dead. One of the interesting side notes in this rather odd cosmology is that God had decided Heaven was full enough and stopped accepting new “residents.” There’s really not a lot of subsequent information about what happens to current people’s souls after their demise, and instead the emphasis is put upon the Gravekeeper’s ability to help people rest in peace, even if it’s a physical slumber.

The first episode actually begins with a showdown between Ai and a mysterious silver haired stranger, at which point the story segues back in time a few years to detail Ai’s rise to Gravekeeper status. Now back in the “present,” Ai is stunned to find everyone in her village dead, apparently at the hands of this new unknown interloper. When the man states that his name is (rather improbably) Hampnie Hambart, Ai has a bit of a start, as that is the name her mother told her long ago belonged to her missing father. Ai obviously is confounded that her father could have just murdered everyone she grew up with, and decides over the course of the next couple of episodes that Hampnie couldn’t be her father. Of course, it turns out quite differently, and it also turns out that Hampnie isn’t simply a mad serial killer. Certain salient information has been kept from Ai, maybe or maybe not for her own good, and she soon sets of with Hampnie on a quest for information and greater understanding.

The quest element brings Ai (and Hampnie) into contact with a variety of strange supporting characters, including a grown Gravekeeper named Scar, who seems to give Ai a little preview of what life might be like down the line. There are a number of fascinating little elements stuffed into this series, including ruminations on mortality, what being a “half breed” can mean (Ai turns out to be half human, half Gravekeeper), and what exactly constitutes a “family”. And that is all well and good, except that the series takes off on odd little supposedly comic tangents that just suddenly intrude into an otherwise rather somber affair. It’s a rather peculiar stylistic decision and one that frankly may not work to the series’ overall benefit.

Ultimately the series may simply not be able to adequately answer the many questions it raises in the early going, and for that reason it finally tends to tip over into more of a pure fantasy laden outing where Ai moves through a number of interactions with bizarre creatures. Taken as a whole, though, Sunday Without God is rather uniquely provocative. It’s incredibly stylish from a design standpoint (handled by the usually innovative and reliable Madhouse), and the characters are certainly somewhat off the beaten track. This may be a case where a series had such outsized ambitions that it ultimately couldn’t quite realize them all fully. But it’s a noble effort, and one that is oddly compelling, positing a world without a traditional Deity where people have to learn to fend for themselves.

Sunday Without God: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Sunday Without God is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Sentai Filmworks with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. Designed by Madhouse, Sunday WIthout God is often a stunning anime from a purely visual standpoint, and it is a generally very impressive viewing experience in high definition. There are some very cool visual motifs that are exploited, including little wisps of smoke (or are those spirits) that waft through the frame. The series exploits a number of palettes, including a reliance on purple, orange and red for a number of long sequences. Other segments drift toward bright blues and greens. Backgrounds are very detailed, but tend to be intentionally soft looking a lot of the time. Line detail is sharp and precise on characters and other objects within the frame. The only issue here is some evident banding, perhaps more noticeable than usual simply because the palette of this series is so vivid and varied.

Sunday Without God: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Sunday Without God features DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 tracks in the original Japanese as well as an English dub. The mixes are virtually identical save for the voice work. Fidelity is very strong and problem free, and special kudos should be offered to Hiromi Mizutani, who provides a really evocative and varied score. While not a traditional battle anime by any stretch, there are enough action elements here that a surround mix might have upped the sonic ante considerably, but what's here serves the series very well, without any issues of any kind to warrant concern.

Sunday Without God: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Clean Opening Animation (1080p; 1:32)


• Clean Closing Animations (1080p; 1:57 and 1:57)

Sunday Without God: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The first five or so episodes of Sunday Without God are consistently intriguing, even if they don't always stand up to a rigorous logical review. But the series starts to take a number of detours, both figuratively and literally, as it gets into its midway point that tend to stop developing its mythology, leading to a certain sense of lethargy. Despite the occasional slow going, the overall premise of Sunday Without God is fairly provocative, and it's handled intelligently quite a bit of the way. Characters are strong and distinctive, and the design aesthetic is often gorgeous. Technical merits are generally very strong, and despite a lack of supplements, Sunday Without God comes Recommended.