King of Thorn

I read the original manga to this and was looking forward dearly to experiencing it again in the form of animation but was quickly disappointed by the many inconsistencies and differences in the movie than the manga. Especially how half the story was cut away and edited. The ending is far from the original and just leaves a bad taste in my mouth from it.

I knew nothing about King of Thorn going in, except that it is a horror anime. Its story begins to unfold with a sense of dread that is very palpable and unique. Nothing violent or apocalyptic occurs within the first 30 minutes or so but, without spoiling the story, those 30 minutes are very dreadful in terms of what looms on the horizon for a set of characters that have a mysterious disease. I remember feeling as emotionally frightened when I read the first third of The Stand, at a younger age, but King of Thorn managed a similar emotional tone without a story of massive, apocalyptic outbreak. The world of King of Thorn manages keep a tentative handle on the disease that plagues it and the dread comes from the sacrifice that the main characters decide on to find a cure, placing their well being in the care of a questionable corporation and tossing away their lives as they've know them.

That is the feeling I had in the first act of this movie. By the second act things become a bit more conventional. The second and some of the third act become survival horror in the vein of similar Japanese stories like Resident Evil. This does not take from the compelling nature of the story and its mystery, but did not feel as rare a story experience as the first act.

The third act however, is filled with exposition that is difficult to follow and otherwise loses interest for me. At one point things become more "anime sci-fi" (a concept I simply cannot explain well), which is not a problem; expect that I didn't feel the story up to that point was building toward it. It felt less creditable for me.

The last 20 minutes, things become very muddled and subplots for the remaining survivors and their true motivations get tangled up in a more and more nonsensical plot. Things become more fanciful for the sake of animation visuals and sci-fi explanations for such events, if not ignored, seem to be quickly served out. More interesting, if you can trudge through these problems, is the ultimate twist ending involving the young female protagonist.

And my major complaint with King of Thorn, however, is that many action scenes switch from the otherwise traditional 2D anime style, to a cell shaded CGI animation process. It's 3D computer animation that is processed to look flat and try to mesh with the majority of the rest of the movie's hand drawn style. No doubt this was a cheaper way for the animation team to create complex action scenes and have more control, but the two styles do not mesh well. The cell-shaded CGI is not as glossy in color as the 2D animation and also misses many drawing details, like grime and dirt on the characters faces. Inexperienced anime viewers might not pick up on the switch all the time, but may still feel the action scenes have an odd movement and don't quite sit right.

For an Anime, then "King of Thorn" ("Ibara no O") was actually quite alright.

The storyline was interesting and captivating, well at least it was for three-fourths of the movie, right up to the point where the enormous winged Godzilla-like thorn monster rose from the castle, from then on it just went fast downhill.

"King of Thorn" is about a strange virus, named Medusa, that is fast spreading and causing those infected to become ill and eventually die from petrification. A selected few, 160 people, have been chosen to be put into sleeping chambers until a cure can be found. However, those people are abruptly awakened from their slumber to find the facility overgrown with thorny vines and strange monsters are lurking in the hallways.

I enjoyed the story, right up to the last quarter of the feature, then it just fell to the floor and became ridiculous.

The animation was good and fluid, lots of really nice scenes and lots of action as well. There is a very dynamic feel to the animation in "King of Thorn", which really works out quite well. Lots of adrenaline and a constant good flow throughout the story.

However, some things did puzzle me with the Anime though. For starters, just how long were the group of people asleep in this sleeping facility? And what was up with the monsters, where did they come from? Don't get me wrong, they were really interesting in design and great to look at, impressive and awesome, but just where did they come from? And finally, for a technical and medical facility to hold sleeping recipients, the design of the compound was rather strange. Sure, I can understand the incorporation of the castle, but come on, certain parts were just a bit too much.

One of the stronger sides to "King of Thorn" was the characters. They were really nicely drawn and were full of characteristics and personalities, which was really great, where as it might as well have been the opposite; generic characters that had no personalities. There is something unique and admirable about all of the individual characters.

But again, to put a finger on a crucial point, why were everyone speaking Japanese? Even the Scottish, British and American. It was just a tad too stupid. At least have the common sense to have people speak with the proper native language given their nationality. It was just a minor thing, but still a nuisance factor.

In overall, then "King of Thorn" is actually a fair experience, and worth the time to sit down to watch (aside from the last quarter, in my opinion). The Anime had a great concept idea, good execution from idea to screen, great characters and interesting monsters. So all in all, well worth a watch if you enjoy Anime in general.

December 2012 . Starting mass panic in the world. People in all the cities of the world are dying of unexplained illness , turning into stone statues . The virus affects all humanity scientists call the term " Medusa " or the abbreviation AC I. D. - Acquired hardened cells. UN declares state of emergency .

At the same time a leading corporation in the field of chemistry «Venus Gate» offers its residents a panacea Earth. Their project " cryogenic sleep ," the essence of which is to put a few dozen people in the capsule for long-term sleep - can save humanity . Venue experiment underground laboratory hidden under the old castle . Among the elected girl Kasumi and arrived with her in order to hold it before a long sleep , her sister Sadzuki . They lost their parents during World disease , but because they are given a parting hard. Their personal nobody knows the history of relations largely affect the further course of events . The experiment takes place and after some time the participants wake up to find himself surrounded by monsters.

In the animated anime film " King of Thorn " the authors with amazing fantasy story beat tale " Sleeping Beauty" in the scenery postapocaliptic horror. In the center of the story a few survivors of the experiment. Once alone in the battle with the monstrous creatures , they try to find a way out of the past and find out the reasons of the accident. All laboratory facilities , including an ancient castle itself , orgy spiny tentacles plants , and someone upstairs in the castle tower , watching them , controlling their every move .

The gloomy atmosphere and a dizzying events well keep the viewer in suspense . The film did not reduce the pace , throwing up new heroes of this anime encounters with monsters and unexpected plot twists . Bored while watching you just do not have .

Characters from the authors went out interesting and memorable . Boy Tim, who constantly compares all monsters and all that happens to a computer game . Catherine Tan experiencing maternal feelings for him . Mysterious and picturesque ( not only his character , but also tattooed body ) male Marco Owen .

Do not hesitate , if you should watch the movie "King of Thorn " or not. This is a good intense mystical horror , dynamic fighter and touching drama , imaginatively something in common citations and happening on the screen with many favorite fairy tale. It is unusual , original, witty and not boring.

I do enjoy a good anime film, but man, they certainly do not believe in happily ever after for most of these things. Sure, you may not get a total downer of an ending, but you can bet that lots of stuff are going to be messed up with many many deaths! This one depressed the hell out of me as I kept watching wondering what was going to be the end result.

The story, a strange virus dubbed Medusa has begun as it literally turns those infected into stone. A group of 169 are chosen to go into cryogenic sleep to wait out a cure for the disease. Among those a young girl whose sister also suffers from the Medusa virus, but was not chosen. The young girl wakes up amidst a sea of thorns and soon everyone is woken only to encounter strange creatures who begin attacking. The majority killed by some horrific beast living in an elevator shaft, the remaining people must figure out what has happened to them and the world.

The story is very good, it does become more of a science fiction anime towards the end though, but it managed to work. I liked the characters and hated the fate of so many of them.

So, we get people trapped in an almost gothic style castle as beasts of some type roam the place looking for food. Though as we progress we learn more and more about the cause of this strange predicament and one of the characters figures it out in the end. I almost got what the twist was going to be, but it still managed to surprise me quite a bit as I did not get the total twist.