Anime Movie Review: 'The Garden of Sinners: Overlooking View: Thanatos'

Quick Info

Director: Ei Aoki

Distributor: AniplexUSA

Released: February 8th, 2011

Runtime: 49 minutes

Availability: Streaming on Crunchyroll; buy the Blu-ray on Crunchyroll

Story Summary

Shiki Ryiougi is sent by Touko Aozaki to investigate a strange string of suicides when people throw themselves off the roof of the abandoned Fujō building.  

The Story Is Slow but Worth It

The story’s pacing is very slow.  It is a slow-burn mystery that won’t be resolved until the end of the movie.  It is not an action-heavy story; it mainly focuses on the mystery of the case and the supernatural aspects of the world, and it focuses heavily on the world-building.

The pacing of the story gives you time to introduce the characters and the world-building to get you invested in the plot; that’s something I enjoy about the story in this film.

The Animation Is Beautiful!

The animation for this movie is absolutely stunning.  I love the artistic look of the backgrounds.  The characters have nice designs, and the choreography for the fight scene is amazing.  This movie is not an action-heavy story, since it’s the first film; it’s establishing the main characters and the story's plot.

The art looks very nice, and Ufotable did an amazing job adapting the atmosphere of the story. The eerie setting of the story shows that the existence of supernatural entities isn’t necessarily a good thing.

I enjoy the artwork of this film, and it’s a great film when it comes to the visuals.  Some of the CGI looks dated, but everything else looks absolutely stunning. 

The Voice Acting Is Great!

The voice cast for this anime is fantastic.  They picked a great voice cast for the characters.

Maaya Sakamoto sounds great as Shiki Ryougi.  She has to be serious with just a hint of emotion.  I like her performance, and she did a great job making Shiki a memorable character.

Kenichi Suzumura is interesting as Mikiya Kokutō.  He has to play the most ordinary protagonist in a Type-Moon property, and that’s saying something.  He brings good energy to the role; his acting is exactly how I think an ordinary person would speak, reacting to the extraordinary events taking place in the story. He doesn’t get to speak too much due to the plot, but he gives a great performance in all the scenes he’s in.

Takako Honda is fantastic as Touko Aozaki.  She does tend to be the source of the info dumping in this movie, but the Nasuverse loves info dumps, so she’s a great way to do this because her character isn’t an ordinary person.  Since she knows things that the others don’t, she’s used as a way to convey information to the readers, and she gives a great performance doing that.

Overall, the Japanese cast is great, and since there is no English dub, this is the only dub the USA blu-rays have. 

The Soundtrack Is Great!

Yuki Kajura is an amazing composer, and her soundtrack for this film is phenomenal.  She makes the story so much better with her music.  She gives the story an eerie and otherworldly atmosphere during the entire film, and the music is great.

Unlike most anime, there aren’t opening songs like a television anime.  There is an end-credit song.

I loved the music in this movie; it’s just amazing and fits the background so well. It’s a great soundtrack that’s memorable and just a great addition to the film.

The Slow Pacing Isn’t for Everyone

The Garden of Sinners films aren’t for everyone.  This doesn’t have the wide appeal of Shonen, and this is a seinen title, so it is geared towards an adult male audience and will have adult content in it, especially in the sequel movies.

The slow pacing gives the movie time to develop the characters, but to some people that might seem too slow because they want a big action set piece.  This film doesn’t do that, but if you’re willing to put up with the slow pacing, you’ll be rewarded with a fantastic movie that is worth taking slowly and enjoying its atmospheric setting.

The film series is told in a nonlinear format, so if you’re not used to nonlinear storytelling, this will throw you off. Even though the films are linear individually, the time they take place in is different years.

It is also a slow-burn film that will explain things and show things over time, and since the pacing isn’t particularly fast, this won’t appeal to everyone.  If you don’t like slow pacing, you probably won’t enjoy this movie.

The Film Has Adult Content

When I say this film has adult content, it’s not “Teehee, there’s fanservice!” content; it’s “Wow, this is meant for an adult audience” adult content.  This film deals with the heavy subject of suicide, and it’s not a light or happy film either.  This film starts a series of films that cover very heavy subjects and isn’t for the faint of heart, or stomach in later films.

I think it handles the subject of suicide very well.  I think there are good ways to handle the subject and bad ways to handle it, but this film handles it in ways that are not cliched, and I think it deserves to be commended for handling this subject in a realistic way.

A lot of people still have the idea that all anime is just Shonen anime because that’s what US licensors tend to publish.  There are plenty of Seinen anime and movies, but they don’t always handle adult content very well, which means they don’t always address heavy subjects, and it’s mainly shocking violence, gore, or sexual content, with strong profanity to boot.

This anime movie series does have some of that, but it mainly handles adult subject matter, and that’s what makes it a mature anime movie series.

The Movie Is Great but Not for Everyone

The Garden of Sinners: Overlooking View: Thanatos is a great film that does an amazing job introducing us to the main characters and giving them a mystery to solve.  It isn’t ‘fun’ in a delightful romp way; it’s a serious film that covers serious topics and is a great way to get into the urban fantasy genre.  Fate/Stay Night is more well-known because of its lighter tone and atmosphere.  This is still a great way to get into the Nasuverse if you want to start without worrying about where to start, like the never-ending debate about Fate/Stay Night’s watch order.

This is a great film for adults, and you should treat it like the adult content it is; it’s a mature story for mature people because it handles a lot of adult subject matter.

I enjoy this film a lot, and I recommend watching it at least once.

My Grade: A

I love The Garden of Sinners movies; the first movie, Overlooking View: Thanatos, is an amazing movie.  The story, plot, and characters are what got me to watch the films.  The premise is interesting and the execution, while not perfect, is still very well done.

The animation is top-notch, and the fight scene is a stellar set piece that is an iconic moment in the film.  The story is solid with interesting characters and a good setting for a supernatural mystery.

I do recommend watching the movies on Crunchyroll.  The Blu-ray set is very expensive.  I have not bought the blu-rays simply because they are way out of my budget for what I want to spend on anime, but the movies are worth watching; I am not paying $249.98 for the Blu-ray set; that is just too much for me to spend on a single collection of movies.

I think the movies are worth your time, but only worth your money if you really love them, and I love them, but not that much.

© 2026 ReViewMeMedia

Anime Review: 'Fate/Strange Fake' (2026)

Quick Info

Director: Shun Enokido and Takahito Sakazume
Distributor: Crunchyroll
Episode Count: 13
Runtime: 325 minutes
Availability: Streaming on Crunchyroll

Story Summary

In the city of Snowfield in the United States, a Holy Grail War has begun.  The Masters have gathered, and the Servants are being summoned, but this Holy Grail War is different; there are more Masters and Servants than there should be.  What’s going on, and who will make it out alive?

The Author of “Durarara!!” Is Having So Much Fun!

Ryōgo Narita, the author of Durarara!! Is the author of Fate/Strange Fake.  He had a lot of fun with this plot, and it really shows.  He excels at a story with a large cast, and the adaptation shows off a lot of that cast.

The story is a fun, entertaining ride if you’re already a Fate fan.  It is not meant for newcomers, but longtime fans of various Type-Moon franchises, and I’ll explain that later in the article.

The Masters, both real and fake, are all interesting people to watch as they begin to fight each other for the Holy Grail.

All the characters are unique; they may not be as fleshed out in the anime because the light novels have a lot of extra details that the anime doesn’t adapt, but it’s still an entertaining anime.

The Animation Is Spectacular!

A-1 Pictures animated Fate/Strange Fake, and the animation looks amazing.  It has a unique art style that makes it unique among the various Fate anime adaptations.  What the studio excels at is the fight scenes, and boy, are they a lot of fun!

The fights are spectacular, and while I enjoy them a lot, I know that some fans only watch the Fate franchise for the fight scenes.  I find that to be a very shallow reason to get into the franchise. People still enjoy the fights, while I enjoy everything about the series, the character interactions, the setting, and the fights.

The fights are well-choreographed, and the animation looks amazing for each fight.  The fights are all story-related, and there are plenty of surprises if you’ve watched other Type-Moon media, because all the fights are based on story and character lore since characters are based on historical or mythological figures.

The fights are an adrenaline rush that all fans will enjoy, and they’re a visual spectacle to behold.

Everything in the anime has a great presentation, and if you’re looking for an anime with great visuals, this is definitely a visual treat.

The English Dub Is Great!

The voice acting for the English dub is great.  I love the English cast for most Fate entries, and this one is great, bringing back voice actors David Vincent as Gilgamesh and Marin Miller reprises the role of Enkidu.  

There are plenty of newcomers for new characters, and I like them a lot.  The voice cast choices are excellent.  Some that stood out to me are Khoi Dao as Flatt Escardos, and Anjali Kunapaneni as Ayaka Sajyou.

The Japanese dub is also great with an amazing cast, so no matter what language track you pick, you’ll enjoy the voice acting performances.  It’s a great English dub and Japanese dub overall, so you should watch the anime twice so you can hear both voice tracks.

The Soundtrack Is Great!

The soundtrack for Fate/Strange Fake is excellent.  Hiroyuki Sawano worked on the soundtrack for the anime, and it’s very nice.  The soundtrack is very well done and sounds grand and epic when it needs to, and is good background music.

The opening for the anime is "Provant" by SawanoHiroyuki[nZk]:Jean-Ken Johnny & TAKUMA, and the ending is "Senzaiteki na Ai" (Potential Love) by 13.3g. The music is great, and I enjoyed the opening and ending a lot.

Overall, the music is fantastic.  It fits the anime very well. The soundtrack is great and fun to listen to, but not my favorite.

The Pacing Is Very Fast!

The pacing for Fate/Strange Fake is very fast.  It speeds through events, and what I’ve heard from light novel readers is that the anime skipped several scenes from the light novel and removed them from the adaptation.  

During the later episodes, a lot of content is cut from the anime because they were rushing to adapt some of the later volumes.  While anime fans won’t notice, light novel readers noticed and didn’t like the anime as much as people who haven’t read the source material.

The fast pacing, because of the cut content, makes it a very weird adaptation.  It also makes the story feel uneven because of all the cut content.

This is Not Meant to be Your First Entry

Contrary to what YouTuber Gigguk says, Fate/Strange Fake is NOT a great place to start your Type-Moon journey because it’s a giant love letter to Type-Moon in general, not just Fate. Sure, you can start with it, but you won’t understand what’s going on because there’s an unspoken rule breaking going on that only fans of the franchise, but Fate/Stay Night and Tsukihime will know, but a newcomer wouldn’t.  They also throw in a lot of references that will fly over your head if you have no previous experience with the franchise, and it’s meant for established fans to enjoy, not newcomers to the franchise.

This is the worst place for a newcomer to start because this is written by fans, for fans, like the Fate/Grand Order anime adaptations; those are meant for people who played the gacha game and want to see the “cool scenes” animated.

This entire series is fanservice for longtime fans, and while newcomers can watch it you won’t enjoy it half as much if you’re new because all the fun references will just fly over your head.  It’s not like the anime is going anywhere, so you should read Fate/Stay Night, Tsukihime, and watch Fate/Apocrypha and El-Melloi II’s Case Files to get full enjoyment out of Fate/Strange Fake.

It's Not Perfect, But It's Fun

Fate/Strange Fake is a fun entry to the Fate franchise; it’s not quite the turn-your-brain-off “popcorn” Fate entry like Fate/Apocrypha, but it is a fun and entertaining anime to watch.  It’s absolutely fitting for an American Holy Grail War to be off-the-rails and crazy, and Fate/Strange Fake delivers that.

It’s got stunning animations, a great story, and characters that are memorable, incorporating aspects from both the Fate franchise and Tsukihime.  It isn’t going anywhere, so you have time to get invested in the Fate franchise in order to fully enjoy Fate/Strange Fake.

This anime isn’t a perfect adaptation of the light novels, but it’s still a lot of fun.

My Grade: A

Fate/Strange Fake might not have the best anime adaptation,  but it’s a lot of fun.  I love the story, the plot, the characters, and the animation.  It has excellent production value, and it’s very entertaining.

The story is fun, and I enjoy the twists the story has in it that turn all the Holy Grail War rules on their head.  It’s a lot of fun because I enjoy Ryōgo Narita’s Durarara!! The writing is good, but the cut content makes the pacing feel weird.

I highly recommend Fate Strange Fake for any fan of the Fate franchise, but it is worth being into the Nasuverse before watching Fate/Strange Fake.  You’ll get more out of the references if you are into the Nasuverse and recognize characters and lore from other works compared to if this is your first entry in the Fate franchise.

I enjoy the anime a lot, and I’m looking forward to watching season 2 when it comes out.  I enjoyed everything about this anime.  It’s very pricey if you want to own it, but if you want to watch the anime on Crunchyroll, you should.

© 2026 ReViewMeMedia

Anime Review: Death Note (2006)

Director: Tetsuro Araki Studio: Viz Media Episode Count: 37

Runtime: 900 minutes Availability: ON DVD and Blu-Ray

Steaming on TV, for subs only, Hulu, Crunchyroll, Hoopla, Peacock, Roku, HBOMax, Netflix in English and Japanese,

Check where Death Note is streaming in your country here. 

Story Summary

Death Note is a very popular Japanese anime about a high school genius named Light Yagami discovering a mysterious notebook called the Death Note after it is dropped by a bored Shinigami, or god of death, from the Shinigami Realm into the human world. If a person writes down another person’s name in the notebook, they will die. Light initially thinks it’s a prank, but when he tries it out and it does work, he decides to become the god of a new world and punish evil people. This doesn’t sit well with the Japanese police, and they call upon the world’s best detective, only known as L, to discover and capture the figure the world calls “Kira” or “Killer”.

 

A Detective Story With a Supernatural Twist

Death Note is very popular among anime fans because it’s well-written, it has an intriguing storyline, and the mind games are a lot of fun and very entertaining to watch. It’s a detective story with a supernatural twist, and you don’t see a whole lot of anime or live-action shows like it.

Interesting Concepts of Good and Evil

The concepts of good and evil in the show are also very fascinating to look at. Although some people might not like the fact that Light Yagami is a villain protagonist, he’s still an interesting character to watch, and L is very interesting and quirky too.

 

Characters Are Shallow and Mostly Unlikable

Unfortunately, if you like characters with depth, you’re not going to get that here. While the characters are psychologically complex, they have the emotions of little kids, but they make up for it with their genius intellects.

Light Yagami is a character I found to be very unlikable, and I love anti-heroes. I didn’t like him because he didn’t care about anyone but himself. If he cared about his family and friends, he would have been a character I could root for; his god complex annoyed me.

L is my favorite character. I found him to be quirky and neat; he was the guy I rooted for during the anime, and he’s one of the few characters who had some depth to him.

Misa Amane is known for her crazy fangirl view of light, and that’s all we associate her with. The other characters like Takada and Mikami, Mello and Near are interesting, but Misa is the character we remember the most.

Ryuuk is interesting because he’s just along for the ride, and he just takes it all in.

Audio And Subtitles

Audio:	Subtitles:
Japanese (Hulu, Netflix, TubiTV)	English (Netflix, Crunchyroll, TubiTV, and Hulu)

 

Audio:	Subtitles:
English (Hulu, Crunchyroll, and Netflix) (Reviewed)

The English Dub Is Very Good!

The English dub is also very well done, and Brad Swaile sounds very good as Light Yagami, but he tries a little too hard at the beginning. He soon makes it sound natural, and he’s a very good actor. Alessandro Juliani is perfect as L. He’s a genius, he’s quirky, and he’s likable. It’s fun to just watch him try to sort out the clues and try to find the identity of Kira. Brian Drummond does an excellent job as Ryuk. Shannon Chan-Kent is good as Misa Amane, but her voice might get on people’s nerves a little bit, but she’s good.

The Japanese track is no slouch either, so either way, you'll enjoy the anime. I just prefer the dub to take in the visuals without having to look down at the bottom of the screen to read subtitles.

The Japanese track is also excellent, and I have watched a third of the anime in Japanese, and it’s worth a listen, as well. If you enjoy listening to the Japanese audio, you’ll enjoy Death Note in Japanese.

The Animation Still Looks Great!

The animation is very well done, and Madhouse Studio, which made the same Trigun, brings this story to life with vibrant colors and very nice animation. This anime looks fantastic. They make the lighting so atmospheric and set the mood for the anime perfectly.

This anime is very dialogue-heavy, so it doesn't move around too much, but when they need to do anime action scenes, they do that very well, and it looks terrific.

They also make very good use of the lighting for dramatic effect in the anime.

The Soundtrack

The musical score is also very well done and has a lot of trumpets, violins, and ominous Latin chanting. It’s a very nice score, and the opening and ending themes are pretty good, but if you dislike screaming music, you might not like the second opening and ending song.

The Characters Are Shallow and They Changed the Ending

A major flaw of the series is that the characters only have surface depth, and they’re not particularly deep. The story is overdramatic at times and over the top, which may turn off some viewers.

The one flaw that stands out most in the anime compared to the manga is that they changed the ending of the story. The same event occurs in the manga, but in the anime, it’s meant to make a character more sympathetic, and the character was never meant to be seen as a tragic character, as the anime turned him into.

 

Parental Advisory

This anime is recommended for ages 14 and up because of language, violence, a little nudity, and the subject matter of the story. Some kids have been known for taking “death notes” with them to school, so parents might want to see this before their kids do to decide if they’re mature enough to handle it.

 

I Recommend the Anime Even if I Don't Like It That Much

This anime is recommended for longtime fans who are looking for an anime to watch, and if you’re a newcomer to anime, this is definitely a good title to pick up. It’s well written, the dialogue is entertaining, the mind games will keep you guessing, and it’s well worth watching at least once through in either language. It’s a very fun thrill ride with clever twists and turns, and it’s very entertaining.

I don't particularly like the anime, but not because of poor production values. I hate the main character, so I don't go back to rewatch, but that doesn't mean I think that Death Note (2006) is a bad anime. It's a very well-done anime that I recommend to other people, but I dislike the main character.

 

Quick Summary

 

What Works:	What Doesn't Work:
Great mystery story	Characters lack depth
Nice animation	They changed the ending from the manga, and they didn't need to
Nice soundtrack

Overall Grade: A-

Death Note could be perfect if they hadn't changed the ending. Despite some dislikes I have of the main character, Light Yagami, the anime is so well done, and everything is nearly flawless, until the ending. I can understand why the fans don’t like the anime ending, especially if you have read the manga ending, which is much better than the anime’s ending. I would recommend anime fans watch it and remember, teenagers, the Death Note isn’t real, so don’t take it to school; you’ll cause an unneeded uproar. It’s a brilliant story that suffers from shallow characters and an ending that didn’t need to be changed, but it was. It’s well worth your time and money to watch and buy. It’s also an anime you can introduce to new people wanting to see what anime is.

Just because I don't like the main character on a personal level doesn't prevent me from recommending Death Note to other people, and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good mystery thriller.

Netflix is making a live-action movie, and I'll be reviewing that when it comes out!