Audience reviews
20 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
ST63LTH
Notes to Self:
TL;DR: The plot is very interesting, the only problem is the way they executed it. Characters were too naive and the ending 30min felt rushed, main characters died with no shock factor. Would have been better in a 13 episode series but works well in a film format. Interesting reference "Miracles don't happen without wishes" ties into the plot...
Notes while watching:
Spoilers****
plot seems interesting, the film begins with a lot
of promise an outbreak
leading to a seemingly worldwide apocalypse. Little too many unnecessary flashbacks.
characters are so naive, e.g Kasumi is screaming her head
off to the developer yet he says nothing and dies.
They could have both lived if he told her to shut up
considering the creatures sense based on sound, surely
moving away fro…
Read at the sourcethedarkbillymays
I must admit, at the start of this movie I was very excited. The plot held mystery and intrigue in spades and I very much wanted to see where the story led. It only took about 30 minutes for all of my hopes to slowly dissipate as... everything went wrong, slowly but surely. Amid a story with so much potential, the film kept adding twists and turns and plot in the most befuddling ways possible, turning it into a jumbled mess near the end that was comparable to watching a train wreck in slow motion.
The animation was, to be fair, certainly good enough. Nothing jawdropping, nothing eye-wateringly bad (except for certain CG parts near the end). What was unacceptable to me, though, was the absolutely awful cast of characters. In the English dub, the small child character was grating to the po…
Read at the sourceSigilmancy
So perhaps I am the only one, but I found this quite good. I'll touch on a few points as to why;
First, I have not read the manga so I have no point of reference in that regard. So from that standpoint this is a really good standalone movie that is done very well in a lot of ways, and I think it is unfair to compare the two as written material versus any kind of visual adaptation are often very different for a variety of reasons not the least of which is that many things that can come across great in a novel (or manga, as the case may be) do not do so well when translated into a visual format like a movie so many times changes do have to be made.
Second, I actually liked that there was a mix of the traditional anime style and the CGI monsters. Other animes have pulled this off in spectac…
Read at the sourceHecateFR32
I read the manga and did not like it that much because i found it too convoluted and it didn't make any sense. The character development suffered because of this and i was unable to feel the same emotional attachment that i do in the movie. The movie, whilst deviating from the manga, served to slightly make up for it and was much more simplified. The art style for action scenes kind of took away from the overall experience but this may be because i myself am not a huge fan of CG. Overall, i found myself being more immersed and invested in the movie than the manga because i found that it was more of a cohesive plot than the manga and it was much more simplified. I would watch it again once in a blue moon to enjoy the nostalgia i suppose but not avidly as this is only a 7 for me. The ending…
Read at the sourceDesolatePsyche
First things first. My "reviews" system is explained on a blog entry. Which can be found through my profile.
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✦Story
So, there is a disease that poses threat to mankind, select few gets sent to 100 years "cryo" sleep with hope that when they wake, cure will be found. That's the premise, and that's where it will all go bad.
It's a psychological action/thriller survival horror with a spice of philosophy and adventure Anime. Hard to say much about it without spoiling, so I will only tell few general reactions and thoughts I had.
I found the story my cup of tea. Meaning that it was "edgy" enough for me and feeling of "thought provocation" was great. I found a start a bit boring yet intriguing, then after everyone went for a sleep, I thought "eh, now rest of the movie will be their ad…
Read at the sourceGrayRealm
This anime turned out to be surprisingly good.
It is two hour long movie about the world where a strange diseases arrives in human worlds, and slowly turns people into stone. Somebody tries to invent a countermeasure for it, but things do not really go as expected.
I have not read the manga, but from anime perspective alone it is a very solid horror/action movie, that becomes more dream-like and surreal as it goes on. Music is great, and shines in situations where the anime doesn't try to make characters talk. I would say it resembled me Gyo, in its atmosphere.
Detailed breakdown below.
Story: 6/10
The story has weak points when the anime stops action and lets character interact with each other. Character interaction is a bit awkward and is not that believable. IT also spends plenty of…
Read at the sourceKuromizue
When i started to watch Ibara no Ou i didn't really have any expectations expect the fact that i probably going to like it. In the beginning everything was there a killer virus that turns everyone into stone and people who are put to cold sleep to wait a cure and suddenly when they wake up everything has gone haywire. The story started really great at the beginning but at some point in the halfway it didn't really go the way i was expecting and that somewhat turned me off. The story about how everything happened was for me somehow really rushed off. Still i watched it to the end and it was very good entertainment for the whole time of 1,5h even thou it could've done better. It really started good and to the end it just kinda dropped little.
Read at the sourcekarlyn__kei
Story: 9
Honestly, I really loved this movie. It had me immersed from the first minute to the last, and while I can understand why some people dislike it over its "lack of logic," I don't agree. For the first half, or even first 3/4 of the film, it seems rather realistic, almost as if it could be an alternate reality to our own. Undeniably, it takes an unanticipated twist at that point--and one that I felt personally bumped my overall enjoyment of the film from an 8 to a 10--there was no doubt in my mind that the change of pace was, for my taste, a positive. With that said, I'm going to keep this review spoiler free, so that's about as far as my review of the story itself goes--I decided on a 9 for this section, just because the very beginning starts off a bit too slow for me, despite it b…
Read at the sourceBabyPandas
So my opinions is based on the anime only: Overall, I felt robbed of 2 hours. If you do not mind having some sort of twisted development that leads kinda away from what seems like an obvious plot, then you can watch it. I HATE HOLES in logic, even if its ANIME FANTASY LOGIC, I enjoy tightly constructed story lines.
The art was decent, good enough action scenes, but the main character, honestly I sometimes question why almost half the anime world is made of main characters like this one. (weak, self righteous, adds nothing immediately to crew but somehow manages to survive past more capable characters) I also was more interested in HOW humanity would have cured the disease or WHO plotted it to be a bio terrorism weapon, not like oh let me show one character who seems to be in charge of thi…
Read at the sourceggultra2764
Have some mixed thoughts on this one. King of Thorn depicts a survival/ horror like story where several people put under cryogenic sleep due to being infected by a virus awaken to discover the institution they are at is covered in spiked thorns and swarming with violent monsters. On the plotting end, the series is effective for the most part in slowly building up its mystery surrounding what exactly is going on when Kasumi and the others awaken at the institution. Hints are scattered throughout the movie concerning what happened with some characters having hidden motives for their actions, some good and others are not so much. Some characters are fleshed out in exploring their pasts with their past traumas having a role to play in later events of the series, especially in the case of Kasum…
Read at the sourceMyLadyLorna
This is an absolute abomination of the author's original work. Wow . . . I mean, just, wow. Don't get me wrong, my rating has nothing to do with the animation, or even the plot, since it is a good plot, but it's just NOT "King of Thorn." They should have either done A) justice to the original manga or B) made a totally different movie with different characters. Don't ravage such a fantastic story as "King of Thorn," just don't DO it!
It felt like, mmmm, like I started in the author's world, and then halfway through mad scriptwriters took over and threw in every stupid plot twist they could possibly imagine, all while stealing ideas from Studio Ghibli. The manga series has a discernible thread that actually makes sense. Fear plays a huge role in the way Medusa works, and Alice is a crucial…
Read at the sourcemrsLEE
I’ve always been fascinated with survival type of stories and the same reason why I’ve been in love with “Resident Evil franchise”. Not only it always comes with the too much thrill of staying alive while fighting monsters or staying sane amidst the confusion but it always has that mysterious and twisted plot that will reveal at the end of the story.
The story was about a set of people who were bewildered by what they saw around them after waking up in a supposed long sleep. They didn’t had enough time to think because they had to stay alive from the mysterious monsters that lurked around the facility they were kept. Not only they had to survive but they also had to figure out what happened to the world while they were asleep and just how long they’ve been sleeping.
This movie exceeded…
Read at the sourceNeonKazma
The survival horror genre is a mess these days. A lot of game and film companies try to have unique ideas for a survivor horror tale and most of them are hit and miss. The original manga King Of Thorn was a surprise hit and while it didn't perfect the genre, it did leave an impression to manga readers with it's compelling characters, crazy storyline and moments of true tension. Now the animators at Sunrise (Cowboy Bebop, Code Geass, Freedom and Steamboy) release their film adaptation to King Of Thorn. Now before I go on, I never read the manga (I'm not really a huge fan of mangas) but I will try my best with details that were changed in the movie.
The premise and ideas of King Of Thorn are incredibly unique but the problem is that the movie took a lot liberties with the material of the ma…
Read at the sourceartist-retired
Everyone loves a good fairy tail, and most fairy tails often have darker origins than what anyone would suspect. This movie goes dark with a fairy tail back drop that tackles some interesting ideas but doesn't have the proper time to explore them thoroughly enough.
*WARNING, this review is from the perspective of someone who has not read the original manga.*
STORY: Mass disease is a damn frightening thought, no doubts about that. But one that turns you to stone? Oh shit! Talk about being "stoned to death."
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Ahem, anyways King of Thorns is a 110 minute movie made by Sunrise based on a manga series of the same name. And I'll go ahead and be honest and say that I really enjoyed myself with this movie, or rat…
Read at the sourceJackCox
I come into King of Thorn not having read the manga and had primarily been intrigued because of the animation studio behind the production.
King of Thorn is one of the rare movies that manages to pace itself very well, neither boring the audience or giving them too much of adrenaline rush. It's a film that unravels it's mysteries bit by bit without giving it all away.
Story: This is an unabashed survival horror title, it's got the genre's tropes down to a fine art, a facility over-run with thorns and weird creatures that attack survivors. But what's really great about the story of this movie is that they keep unraveling mysteries as time goes on, the revealing of these mysteries are done perfectly and they mix these well with the action sequences so that your not sitting around listening…
Read at the sourceLawli-Pop
For some reason King of Thorn feels like a broken rollercoaster; At first you think it's gonna be the best thing ever, it takes you higher and higher - only to stop at the top and leave you disappointed. King of Thorn doesn't have the required and exciting downfall of a rollercoaster to be called a masterpiece.
STORY:
The most disappointing and yet most impressive thing about this movie is the story. It actually IS very, very good, but only in the beginning. Or, let's say, throughout the first half of the movie. Then it gets unnecessarily complicated - I still don't get everything. It would've been perfectly fine if they would've left out some of those many, too many twists. But there are also many enjoyable moments that caught me off guard. You know these moments when you think, okay, it…
Read at the sourcesbomb
When i first saw this i was frozen in awe. Then i realized that out of all the movies/television shows that i have seen this has got to be one of the greatest i have ever seen!
While there's some strong overlap here, the difference is that King of Thorn strikes me as a lot smarter. Or maybe it isn't really, and that's just my perception. Maybe I'm just overly impressed with the references to classical mythology and the psychological import of fairy tales ("Sleeping Beauty" plays a key part in the plot and imagery). More likely, I can't help noticing that while Pandorum starts sharp and gets more conventional on its way to its twist ending, King of Thorn gets decidedly brainier as it progresses to its impressive twist-upon-twist ending. (much like that of the movie inception)
Better stil…
Read at the source3rr0R
Encore!!
But next time in a form of 13×24 minutes long series, rather than a 90 minutes long movie.
To make it clear, how I was able to watch this movie ahead of you. Anilogue filmfestival is being held in Budapest and Vienna, and one of the premier movies was King of Thorn, and I managed to get my hands on a ticket ^^
Now back to the review.
As I mentioned first of, this was a really-really eventful movie squeezed in a very short 90 minutes.
Story: In 2015 a new virus called meduesa raises it's head and spreads worldwide, leaving noone alive who's caught by this epidemic.
However a pharmaceutical company, offers 160 choosen one to be put in deep sleep, to ensure their survival, until a cure is found. But something goes wrong, very wrong.
That's where the new story of The sleeping beut…
Read at the sourcehiruma55
When watching the trailer for this anime film I had big expectations about what I was going to see. Here you have a sci-fi/thriller with killer virus threatening society, survivors trying to stay alive and mysterious monsters inhabiting the area of the last set of people. It sounds good doesn't it? Science fiction happens to be one of my favourite genres of films and on paper his anime adaptation has the potential to be great, however this is one of those films that have a good idea but the way it is executed leaves a lot to be desired.
The first part of the film feels good, the characters are unique and feel likeable and the way everything unfolds again feel just right. But as the film progresses and the true nature of the story comes out one feels starts to think differently about the f…
Read at the sourceTouka
Every now and then a manga well deserving of praise is adapted into a fairly mediocre anime; unfortunately King of Thorn is one of those adaptations.
The source material is six volumes long; a fine length to adapt into a film, and for the most part the pacing is handled with care. King of Thorn sees a colourful cast of cryogenically frozen characters awaken to a future ravaged by monsters. The introduction is well executed; it grabs your attention and gets you wondering. As the film progresses, it becomes rather typical of the survival horror genre, but the film exhibits a certain freshness as it isn't a genre often tackled in anime. Despite certain predictable elements, it's an enjoyable venture away from the norm. The film can't keep up the momentum, however, and the plot drops in quali…
Read at the source