Kaiju No. 8: Mission Recon movie review – sci-fi anime compilation not up to par
2/5 stars
Anime compilation films are far from a new phenomenon. Since the 1970s, feature-length re-edits of animated television series have been a mainstay in Japanese cinemas.
Offering diehard fans the opportunity of a big-screen refresher, while giving franchise newcomers a crash course that is all killer no filler, every self-respecting series from Space Battleship Yamato to Mobile Suit Gundam has swung for a splashy theatrical cash grab.
Recently,
Demon Slayer and
Attack on Titan both scored notable box office hits with compilation films made up of almost entirely of previously-seen footage.
Play
Now comes Kaiju No. 8: Mission Recon, 80 minutes of distilled footage from the first season of the science-fiction coming-of-age series adapted from Naoya Matsumoto's digital manga of 2020.
In addition to seeing the best moments cherry-picked from its 12 episodes, audiences are rewarded with the bonus episode 'Hoshina's Day Off', a frivolous digression of little substance.
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