Digital Devil Monogatari Megami Tensei Review

Hello there! Well, my Connecticon high is starting to wear off at this point, and I’m falling back into my normal schedule of reviews. Today’s review is something that we haven’t come across in quite a while: a film that wasn’t released in the United States. It’s also a quirky movie, and a typical product of it’s time. Let’s not get caught up in more words, and look at Digital Devil Monogatari Megami Tensei.

Story/Setup
Taken from the AniDB webpage:

“Handsome high school student Akemi is a computer genius. One day a new girl, Yumiko, transfers to his class from another school. She quickly falls in love with Akemi but, absorbed in his computers, he pays her no attention at all.

The reason for his absorption is the monster he has created with those same computers. Digital Devil has become his own evil genie, and Akemi summons this devil after school and sets it to work wreaking revenge on his enemies.”

This isn’t necessarily the deepest of stories, nor is it a complex story, but it is a clever & interesting one. It also becomes incredibly cheesy as the movie runs it’s course, and ends on a cliffhanger (The ending scene felt like one or two more movies were going to be made, but since this one never came to the U.S., I can only speculate).

Setting
Digital Devil Monogatari Megami Tensei is split up into two spaces: the school, and the digital/other-world where the devils dwell. The school is nothing special, apart from the computer room, which is really high-tech (About as high-tech as things were in 87). It’s the portions that take place in the other-world that are different. The other-world is very dark, but at times it can be quite surreal, mixing images & themes together to create a strange whole. In fact, it sort of looks like the Shikima Realm from La Blue Girl (The original!), but that might just be me.

Characters
Much like Call Me Tonight, the characters in Digital Devil Monogatari Megami Tensei all fit the standard tropes. Unlike the previously mentioned movie, the amount of likable characters in this OVA is nowhere near as high (At least in Call Me Tonight, you can like pretty much like everybody). On top of that, most of the characters in this film are either forgettable or unlikable, save for the following two.

First up is Yumiko. She’s pretty much the typical Mary Sue.....to a degree: she’s a transfer student, pretty, likable, and falls for the first guy she spots, this case being Akemi. I say she’s a Mary Sue to a degree because she eventually gets Akemi to come to his senses, and she actually does have some inner strength. Yeah this is typical for a lot of Mary Sue characters in Anime, but for some reason it feels different in this movie, but maybe it’s just me.

The next character is Akemi. At the start of the movie, he’s a bit of a jackass. The kick of jackass that you’d want to get ripped apart by a pack of rabid grizzly bears, to be exact. He’s manipulative, deceptive, and has a mean streak to him. Once Yumiko begins to get into more of his life at school, and realizing that he done goofed a big one, he becomes more of a human being. He does manage to become somewhat likable, but at the same time you still kinda wanna smack him in the face.

Animation
You can definitely tell that this is a movie from the 80s. If there is any computer usage at all in the animation, it must be so minuscule, that to actually look for it is a waste of time. Digital Devil Monogatari Megami Tensei is animated completely by hand, and it shows: the backgrounds are all hand-drawn, the characters are hand-drawn, etc. In fact, this movie looks & feels very similar to Call Me Tonight, an OVA that I reviewed during October last year (Click on “***” to read it). About the only difference between the two in terms of animation is that this movies looks & feels a little smoother than the later, and it knows when to use darker scenes a little more effectively (Given the genres in question in this OVA, there’s a lot of them).

Voice Acting
Since this was never released in the United States, there’s no dub.

Episodes & Episode Length
Just like the review this past Tuesday, Digital Devil Monogatari Megami Tensei is a movie. Coming in at 45 minutes & 45 seconds (Weird running time, isn’t it), this film is just what you need on a dark night. Keep the lights low, have some popcorn nearby, and always look behind you when something creeks or moans.

Availability & Pricing
Since this was never released in the country, I don’t know what the availability & pricing is. If you’d like to download this movie, click on the link below:

http://www.garoo9.com/elevator_kart/?p=2423

Extras/Other
Since I downloaded this, I don’t know what the extras are.

General Impression & Rating
Digital Devil Monogatari Megami Tensei is something you need to download people! It’s one of those kind of movies you need to see & believe, and absorb it’s odd 80s cheeseness. I won’t talk about this any further. Just go download this!!

Digital Devil Monogatari Megami Tensei gets a 7 out of 10.

See you all next week, when we’ll be looking at a infamous fan-service OVA. Until then, stay Otaku!




***
OMG! This videos oozes 80s cheese:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeFC-rfQkVk