Anime: Bayonetta: Bloody Fate

Bayonetta: Bloody Fate. A game turned to movie. And not a bad one that is. However, even if one has not played the actual game, watching this as a standalone will not make you wonder. At least about lots of things... In any case, before proceeding to reading this review of one of my favourite worlds, you should be aware that I have also played the game and this is the exact reason I didn't see things that would otherwise seem odd or out of place. In case you see a spoiler, it's most likely because I use an element of the game, in order to make a point or use an example. So, if you haven't played the game, I would advice you not to read the spoiler sections. Let's begin then, shall we?

FIRST THINGS FIRST

Bayonetta is the main character of this movie. Sort of like how Barcelona uses Messi, everything starts and ends with her. Having lost her memory, she is on a journey to find out about her past. UNLIKE the description given at the entry, those angels are not bloodthirsty; they're just doing their job of carrying souls to the other side. How can I tell? Well, they're bloody angles, for crying out loud!! Yes, there was an ulterior motive to their actions and, yes, they were getting more and more active and making their presence rather noticeable during the movie's events. However, no harm against humans (living and breathing ones at least) was ever intended.

Next segment is in spoiler for those that have played the game ONLY



And so, we follow Bayonetta on her journey to the land of rememberance and as this journey goes on, all other elements of the story are unveiled and tied together in an action-packed movie, with lots of naughty lines and "intimate" moments between Bayonetta and Luka, the journalist that holds a grudge against her. Intimate is in " " because it was more Bayoetta bringing Luka's akwardness level over 9k, rather than any sort of romantic connection between the two.

I trust that this is enough to summarize the story, without revealing any significant plot elements. One last thing that needs be said, is the fact that as the movie goes on, everything gets rather twisted. It would be a little subjective of me to say that everything is later bound together nicely, solving all mysteries of the show. I will admit that there are things that are left unaswered.

Game spoiler inbound



Despite all this however, things are coming together nicely. So, having said all that for now, I think it would be a good time to move on to the movie elements.

They're back!

The 2009 cast of the game returns to give this movie the same touch they gave the game. I rather enjoyed the game with the english cast, the jokes were hitting me as hilarious. However, I wanted to hear the japanese voices, because let's face it; anime and dubbed is not what someone would define as "worthy". And besides, I really wanted to see if I would get the same feeling with the japanese voice actors, as I did with the english ones. For some reason, it was not exactly the same, but one would assume that it's only logical not to. After all, not every joke can be cracked the same due to the language barrier.

The music part also returned. Which might not be such a good thing, now that I think about it. Only goes to show that they ran out of creativity or something. Or they just wanted to stick with the same old recipe in some attempt to draw out old memories from those that played the game. Don't misunderstand, I really liked the music and soundtracks in the game. They were nicely placed, fitting to the fighting sequences and overall made a great impression on me. But listening to the same tracks again in the movie kinda disappointed me.

I would prefer it if there was only a pinch of the game's music in the movie and new tracks were created. It would be something that would make me feel like the studio actually worked on something themselves, instead of just "Ctrl+C > Ctrl+V"ed the music. However, it would also be a mistake to judge the sound department solely on such a thing, because the reason for this review is to also be read by people who might have never played the game. Which means that the fact that each background music fits well with each sequence is not to be overseen.

And since we're on the topic of sounds, one must not forget to mention that the voice acting was also superb. There were no mis-matching dialogues and the seiyuu were somewhat capable of pulling off the feelings the director must have asked of them to give to their characters.

Let's put our heads down and grab some paints now!

The animation in the movie was rather good. Not excellent, but not what one would characterize as "bad" either. It always struck me as odd the fact that Bayonetta has 5-meter long legs, even in the game. And trust me, it was not the heels that put her so high. It was always weird that she was looking normal when wearing a nun's outfit, but when she was in her regular "clothes", her legs suddenly became as long as an electricity post. Most other characters were drawn more "casually" and didn't have the irregular proportions that Bayonetta did. That's probably something one should look into, when designing characters.

But on the other hand, the selection of colours was exceptionally pleasant. Given the fact that this is a movie that most of the time is placed in night-time, the colours were rather vivid, thus creating a pleasant contrast that is not tiring to the eye. The same thing applies for when some scenes were transfered to the ethereal realm, where lights and shine were the main background. Colours were bright, but not blinding. Except for a couple of scenes where the brightness just went zonkers...

Despite that, no matter how good the colours and art style seemed, I do have the impression that something better could have been made. Some scenes could have also been directed better. For example: there are moments when Bayonetta summons some beasts. Instead of showing her standing as a gravure idol that talks, the director could have focused on the actions of the beast. That was not something appealing in my opinion as a viewer. I believe this sort of hindered the movie.

Choose your character

In Bloody Fate, there is only a handful of characters that evolve through the movie. Significantly at least. Bayonetta of course would be one of them, being the main character. As she travels to find what is called "The World's Eyes" she keeps encountering angels. As she moves on from fight to fight, she gradually discovers more of her past and, therefore, more of the powers she lost along with it. Cereza, the little girl that follows her around, also has some sort of evolution moments in the movie. Okay, it's just one, but it seems to be important, alright?

Every other character in the movie either remains the same or suddenly shows the full extent of what they can do. The later case would include Jean and Balder. This does seem to be a bit problematic. When you have a show with just a small main cast, I would expect to see all of them have some sort of significant moment, that would have them show their determination to what they wish to do and thus become stronger on will power alone. Like I mentioned at the beginning of the review, this movie uses the Barcelona system. This is sle proof of it. Besides Bayonetta, everyone else pretty much remains the same. Good? Bad? I think the later.

So, what's the point of all this?

Good question. It's not like talking endlessly will lead to something. So what is Bloody Fate worth? I'd say enough. For me it was a short reminder of the first game and an intro for the second installment of it. If you ask me why would anyone be interested in watching this a second time, I'd say because it's a cool movie. It's got its differences from the game storyline, no matter how big or small. It is a catchy movie, with beautiful fighting sequences, that makes one fill with thrill.

If you ask me why one would watch this in the first place, well I'd have to say simply because it would excite you as much as a movie can. It has its fair share of story, that does not get tangled up in unnecessarily bad or twists in directions it may never be able to recover. Like I said, there are some little things that remain unanswered, but one would have to pay a lot of attention or already be aware of part or all of the situation to notice all of them.

If you want to keep a film that's action-packed, with some ecchi details, I'd say that it's worth keeping around in your HDD. Maybe it's not collector's value, but you can always sit down with friends and enjoy a good ass-kicking. Maybe you'll notice things the second time that you didn't see the first time around.

As far as me is concerned, I rather enjoyed the movie. It was definetly something I needed to remeber as I'm going to be playing Bayonetta 2 pretty soon. I liked the action and the different approach. What did felt strange, was the ending that was not to be expected at all. But if you haven't played the game, you won't be as startled as I was. It was still interesting to see this kind of approach.

Final words: recommended to watch. Not a must see, but definetly worth the time.