Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV

A feature-length movie with Final Fantasy (FF) in the title is practically always an event. While it is almost always a marketing ploy to draw attention to the role-playing video game franchise, it is also always a beautiful demonstration of how the quality of "made in Japan" CGI animation has improved. Simply put, if you have a decent budget and experience in making computer games, then the result is almost always at least watchable. The main problem with both of the previous movies, and what I am always kind of afraid of with FF movies, is the main narrative. Either it is basically about nothing, like Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within was, or the plot is so closely tied to the role-playing video game that the uninitiated viewer will find it hard to get into it (Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children). Here we basically have an introduction to the new role-playing video game that is coming out, even though the movie also has quite a bit of room for its own narrative because the main male protagonist is not the main character from the upcoming role-playing video game. Well, it is not all bad; there are battles, there is politics, and it has got some atmosphere. The characters are not bad and are very well dubbed (I have seen the English version). I did wonder for a while during the first battle sequence if I was watching the new Starship Troopers movie, although I liked the final clash and the circumstances leading up to it. Frankly speaking, the new FF movie ends rather well, translated into numbers - 7.7/10. (18.09.2016)

It's very evident in Japanese animation how much they strive to approximate reality, and how they increasingly succeed at it, where in some scenes, the resolution is almost impossible to distinguish at first glance. However, from the first episode onwards, the reality of this series is that the story takes a backseat. It's visually striking and pleasing, but somehow empty. (02.09.2016)