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.
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