Uta no Prince-sama Maji Love Kingdom Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		4.5
Overall		3.0

Uta no Prince-sama Maji Love Kingdom Blu-ray Movie Review

An underwhelming anime concert strictly "for the fans" of Uta no Prince Sama

Fans of the hit anime series can look forward to an evening of song and dance with the Uta no Prince Sama Maji Love Kingdom concert film. Instead of a single concert featuring only one of the music groups from the popular anime series, the concert features three of the most popular bands from the anime taking the stage for an evening in the spotlight: prepare to dance your pants off with music performances by St Rish, Quartet Night, and He Vens in a special concert. Produced by A-1 Pictures (Fairy Tail, Sword Art Online) and distributed by Sentai Filmworks in North America, Uta no Prince Sama Maji Love Kingdom is for the fans.

Having been unfamiliar with the anime series which spawned the anime concert special, I was a bit taken aback by the fact the concert film doesn't have an actual plot. The entire concert is just like something one would find on an actual performance-video for a “real-world” band: there are the performances, the songs, and the groups discussing their “dreams” and “hopes” in-between songs. There is nothing else going on here: fans looking for some music performances for an anime film may find the concert footage enjoyable but newcomers might find themselves scratching at their heads. The filmmaking is also a bit dry in that it isn't a “non-stop” concert experience. (There were a bit too many scenes of the bands talking about the songs on stage for my taste but those who enjoy song-specific commentaries might find it an interesting approach to the concert film.)

The music which is featured in Uta no Prince Sama Maji Love Kingdom is by Elements Garden – a Japanese group that delves into music composition for both anime and video games, including the anime series from which this concert film was inspired. The songs are reasonably catchy for any listeners who enjoy J-pop music. Though the style of music in the concert isn't my forte, I was surprised to find it reasonably engaging. To reiterate: the concert is for the fans.

"Wow! A standing ovation!" "Are you sure? I can't see an audience! Just glowing balls of light." "Just run with it..."

The original character designs by Chinatsu Kurahana (Aquarion Evol, Samurai Flamenco) are decent but the animation is underwhelming here. The anime style is convincing but the art work often looks strangely surrealist and reminds me of a video-game cut scene from the early 2000's. The anime isn't done in a classical style on cells nor is it a totally fluid experience with natural looking movement by the performers. The concert animation looks like a blend between anime and video-game style and is not what I would expect from a “typical” anime production. Take note.

One thing that bothered me about the concert was the lack of genuine audience participation from the crowd. The “audience” here is simply a sequence of seemingly never-ending dots waving across the outskirts of the stage. These waving lights seem to represent an audience waving their concert lights across the venue. However, there are no moments in the entire production to showcase the actual audience faces, movement, or excitement. This seems lazy and haphazard to me and was utterly ridiculous for a full length concert. This easily removed me from the experience and separates it significantly from a traditional concert film more-so than the animation style.

Jouji Furuta and Tomoka Nagaoka (Detective Conan: The Fist of Blue Sapphire) directed the animated concert film and the results are decidedly mixed: too much dialogue in-between songs, too much odd movement by the performers, and too little creativity on display. Despite my dissatisfaction, though, fans who are established viewers might want to give it a spin nonetheless to see for themselves: is it actually as bad as I think it is? Give it a spin and find out...

Concert Participants:

Ittoki Otoya (Terashima Takuma), Kurusu Syo (Shimono Hiro), Mikado Nagi (Yonaga Tsubasa), Aijima Cecil (Toriumi Kousuke), Eiji Otori (Yuma Uchida), Mikaze Ai (Aoi Shouta), Otori Eiichi (Midorikawa Hikaru), Hyuga Yamato (Ryohei Kimura). Jinguji Ren (Suwabe Junichi), Kotobuki Reiji (Morikubo Showtaro), Shinomiya Natsuki (Taniyama Kishow), Camus (Maeno Tomoaki), Kiryuin Van (Takahashi Hidenori), Hijirikawa Masato (Suzumura Kenichi),. Sumeragi Kira (Ono Daisuke), Ichinose Tokiya (Miyano Mamoru), Amakusa Shion (Daiki Yamashita), Kurosaki Ranmaru (Suzuki Tatsuhisa) , and Nanami Haruka (Sawashiro Miyuki). Whew!

Uta no Prince-sama Maji Love Kingdom Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Arriving on Blu-ray from Sentai Filmworks, Uta no Prince Sama Maji Love Kingdom: The Movie has received a 1080p MPEG-4 AVC encoded high definition presentation in the original aspect ratio of 1.78:1 widescreen. The presentation quality on the release is certainly impressive to behold. The animation looks bright and vibrant throughout. This is an extremely colorful image with some impressive "pop" to the visuals that makes it stand out. The image is tight, crisp, and clear. A remarkable presentation that shows no signs of egregious banding or compression artifacts.

Uta no Prince-sama Maji Love Kingdom Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The release includes a multitude of audio options. The options include Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround sound (with English subtitles) and Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 with Spanish subtitles. Subtitles are non-removable from the image and must be selected for the video presentation. A "no call" version is also provided (with similar lossless audio options) for viewers wishing to watch the film without audience participation segments included. However, the DTS-HD Master Audio tracks on the "no call" versions are in 2.0 stereo.

The Karaoke disc also includes the same setup of audio selections and each version is presented with lossless sound quality. The sound quality is generally exceptional: loud, vibrant, and dynamic. The track sometimes even seems a little too loud: the concert soundstage is designed to make viewers feel as though they are truly attending a concert and its as crisp and loud as viewers would expect. (Perhaps a few clicks downward on one's AVR remote would suffice to compensate).

Uta no Prince-sama Maji Love Kingdom Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Disc 1: Concert Presentation

Encore: Welcome to UTA PRI Kingdom!!

All Star (HD, 4:13)

ST RISH (HD, 4:13)

Quartet Night (HD, 4:14)

He Vens (HD, 4:19)

Disc 2: Karaoke Edition

Encore: Welcome to UTA PRI Kingdom!! Karaoke Versions

All Star (HD, 4:13)

ST RISH (HD, 4:13)

Quartet Night (HD, 4:14)

He Vens (HD, 4:19)

Disc 3: Bonus Features

Japanese TV Spots (HD, 3:57)

Japanese Promos (HD, 8:12)

Dancers' Choreography:

Fantastic Prelude (HD, 3:31)

Ultra Blast (HD, 2:59)

The World Is Mine (HD, 3:00)

Fly to the Future (HD, 3:04)

GiraX2 Seven (HD, 3:22)

Ai wo sasageyo – The Secret Shangri-la (HD, 3:26)

Band Comments (HD, 4:23) features the band discussing their respective characters and the voice-work done for the anime. (Presented in Japanese. Subtitled in English.)

Opening Announcements (HD, 9:24)

The release also includes a selection of trailers for other releases available from Sentai Filmworks: Uta no Princesama 1000% (HD, 1:35), Uta no Princesama 2000% (HD, 1:51), Uta no Princesama Revolutions (HD, 1:47), and Uta no Princesama Legend Star (HD, 1:43).

Uta no Prince-sama Maji Love Kingdom Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Uta no Prince Sama Maji Love Kingdom is an animated concert film featuring performances by three bands spotlighted in the popular anime series: St Rish, Quartet Night, and He Vens. This is far from feeling like a "traditional" concert film. Technical specs are excellent and the video/audio quality impress. Nonetheless, Uta no Prince Sama Maji Love Kingdom concert film is strictly for fans only.