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Directed
by Kanji Wakabayashi
If this review were any comparison [in length] to Kai-Doh-Maru it would end here [really it would]. This movie is short in fact its frustratingly short. I guess it’s no surprise seeing as the production studio [Production I.G.] also created Blood: The Last Vampire a similarly and surprisingly short film as well. However what it does not possess in longevity it more than makes up for in visual flair and style. Yes the movie is short and yes you may feel cheated but why should you really? It’s an OVA for kami’s it’s supposed to be short and sweet and above all to the point and ridiculously expensive.
It fills in these requirements quite well using high-end visual techniques and 3D backdrops to great effect and it has a high budget, sorted! In fact this movie is a completely CG animation all the 2D work was done on computers too meaning that the whole movie is rendered with a vivid colour scheme that works splendidly. The opening of the movie is a flashback and so it is rendered in grey with some blue tones and scenes in springtime feature pinks and yellows night scenes use traditional variations of blue and grey and all of them look fantastic.
Season and location are two things that are very important in Kai-Doh-Maru although it is a very [very] short film it does span a long period of time and each passing season is represented by a particular colour scheme, costume design, location etc. This all helps to build atmosphere and develop scenes but against the movie’s favour it also serves as a tool the director cunningly uses in order to fill up those valuable minutes.
Kai-Doh-Maru features some excellent design in terms of characters as well the main character is a tom boy however she still retains feminine qualities and all of the other characters are comparable to characters in Lord of The Rings in terms of design. The dub is handled well and manga do a good job on the re-mastered sound. However for all its merits it still clocks in at less than an hour running time maybe if there were a couple of episodes it’d compensate for the amount of cash your going to spend on it but unfortunately… there isn’t.
Seven out of Ten
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