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I would like to preface this review as if you haven't seen the live-action series or read the source material and just stumbled onto it expecting a well-animated action flick with nothing more to it,then you might be in the right place.

From here on out there will be spoilers and comparisons to the live-action.

Now for anyone who has seen the TV series,and the disaster named S2,thankfully we do not rethread that ground here.What we do however are some moments and personalities from S1.

Story & Characters:
The story doesn't just take place in the same universe but with a twist,at times it does,at times it copies its ... source material,in more ways than 1.The Takeshi & Reileen (and yes 30 mins in we get the revelation...except she is nothing like Dichen Lachman or her role),Kovacs has the same personality but with some cringe thrown in for flavour,we also get some recurring characters which worked in a TV format where they could be fleshed out,this just doesn't work in the movie,not due to time,but how that time is spent.It seems like despite it being an anime spin-off the main target are already people familiar with it...and those people won't like it.

So it starts off with with a resleeve (shocking ik) and a girl named Holly (who could have become interesting if she weren't built upon the most mundane and exhausted tropes)...are you with me so far ?Then you have Yakuzas,Ninjas & CTAC...sounds great right ? Yeaaah...CTAC get shoved to the wayside and that's all about them.Yakuzas ? Not really explored as to who is who but hey if the action is good as it is an 1:14hr movie we don't need the biggest depth here,the ninjas are just CTAC with a reskin and a bit more mobility (and they work in the frame that they are put in wow)...Then you meet the villain and oh boi,talk about lazy writting,don't bet on it even being serviceable is all I have to say in that area.So...where is the story going you might ask ? Down the drain,ups I mean the most cliché territory.But I did say this was an action-flick first and foremost,so this isn't really a problem...right ? Well let's explore that shall we ?

Visuals:
Pretty good,well in terms of combat choreography and when characters are standing still...the facial animations range from uncanny to uhhhh ok? I also mentioned Kovacs & Reileen and yes dear reader there are attempts at emotional depth (as deep as a puddle can be),thankfully someone stopped the director into making them longer than 10 seconds to spare us from whatever monster was going to come out the other end :v.Backgrounds are very good... at the start and end so like maybe a minute for the rest of the time it's just a generic lobby/corridor/alleyway from a Unity asset flip game (ye no I am not kidding)...Ok so that doesn't sound too good,how are the fight sequences ? This part ngl was the only saving grace of this whole thing for the majority of them.Now it seems like whoever was holding the director's hand from writting more stupid shit collapsed from exhaustion cuz that finale...man it's something else,have you ever sat there and thought "man I really wish the Yakuza games & Altered Carbon got the multiverse treatment" No ? No one ? Yeah that's what I thought,cuz you get a 10 minute Yakuza style,with all the signature shots,critical hits,hand to hand combat zooms,to even the "stop in the middle of the fight so I can monologue",woo wee that really hit the nail on the head,so yeah this was what we got instead of some sort of depth...or at least yk a badass fight sequence...

Sound:
VA's are good,OST is forgettable...that's all really.

Conclusion:
Just watch Altered Carbon S1 and pretend the rest of the universe doesn't exist,trust me,this movie even on its own,even without taking into account anything else,it itself brings in elements "for the fans" and no we the fans are not pleased.But hey if you are running a fever,are bored out of your mind or just want to "person stares at moving things on screen for 1hr",then be my guest...just don't expect anything.

TV series format into an anime with a video game-style of art & animation.I think you can see why 2D purists and hardcore anime fans either disliked it or never gave it a chance,and I feel sorry for both,as well as the creators who if this were made into a TV Series would have a much higher rating and audience,at the same time I am glad for myself and every bladerunner,cyberpunk & sci-fi fan out there that we got this.

Black Lotus brings story-telling in a different way than the medium is used to,using motion capture,emotional expressions & long pauses to convey the suspense and other ... feelings.I am not gonna pretend that the story is grand but it's execution is what makes it pretty close to the movies.

Artstyle is also very faithful to the universe & well-made with amazing backdrop shots,animation doesn't faulter either,whether it be on characters reactions,dialogue,fighting (especially) but even simpler things like a car touching down for example.

Sound itself is very good,guns have the punch you'd expect them to,there are no 13-year old sounding VA's (another reason for the low score lmao),the whole cyberpunk soundscape is top-notch.As for the soundtrack it's appropriate especially in the later stages,as for the OP & multiple ED's to each their own.

So overall does this anime excel in mature story-telling,faithful cyberpunk & bladerunner atmosphere,amazing animation & fights,sci-fi elements ? Yes.Why is it scored so low ? I will let you be the judge of that.

TL;DR:Give it a chance.

"I enjoy the sickness of my heart
And I tread up a trail that lead along the frozen highway
My head was numb and I was starved
But right from the start, I had this calling"-Madrugada

If you have made it here then I salute you,along the tombstones where we all await.Have you ever stood on the pavement,smoking a cigarette,starring into the night sky,remembering all those things about her ? About the one that made your heart race and dared you to dream an endless dream ? If so then you will heavily resonate trough this journey of a man's lonely and broken soul,only memories remaining until eventually they ... become ash.But what of dreams ? Dare to dream a long forgotten dream ? Even if impossible to happen ?

While centered primarily around one person,this OVA also has a lot of subtle undertones.A minimalistic image with surrealistic music accompany this visceral and somber ride.

"Nihilism" is just reality.

Kingdoms Of Failure.exe has stopped responding.

It's honestly impressive how much this anime fails at everything it attempts to do.The first 2 episodes and the overall premise will fool you.Ngl I am down-bad for violent,unhinged media in general,so despite the sea of negative reviews I decided to give it a go... and yea THE REVIEWS WERE RIGHT.Story is just piss-poor,idea was there,the execution is garbage.Revenge plot gets dropped halfway,you get one of the worst supporting chars I've ever come across,honestly naive characters are a pain in the ass anytime but here it goes beyond that.Everyone is downright retarded,there is no nuance or grey-area,hell there isn't even ... good vs bad.And if you were hoping for the case of bad vs worse well no that doesn't exist here either.It's like someone watched Hellsing,Death Note & Texhnolyze and decided to mix them without fundamentally understanding what makes all of those animes great in their own right,ending up with....well this.So story and characters are trash,what about animation then ? Surely all that gore and violence didn't go to waste...right ? Sorry to say dear reader but they did.There is 0 budget and no aesthetic to all the violence,just a slideshow and characters yelling out their moves like what ????

I could go into further detail but honestly there is no point,avoid at all costs.

"Destiny is predetermined" // "Love is blindness" if either of those sounds true to you then you will like Kurozuka.

On the surface it's an episodic story,but all it takes is 5 minutes to realize it's much more than that,told trough flashbacks,dream sequences,deja vu's and timelapses,which for some reason confuses the average anime viewer hence it's low score.As for the art & animation both are top-notch,it was peak Madhouse at the time after all.

It's hard to write a review without spoilling anything so all there is to be said is to watch and form your own opinion,don't trust the MAL score in this instance.