Review of MFKZ (2018) by Cinema With C — 01 Dec 2018

MFKZ is an anime you'd pick up in a video store, look at, and shrug. In what would be an interesting French-Japanese collaboration otherwise, MFKZ marries an adaptation of the French co-director and writer Guillaume "Run" Renard's own comic with the production that includes the work of Studio 4[degrees]C, Who in turn have made some brilliant anime in the past.

Here, however, is a bit half baked. MFKZ feels like hyper-juvenile filmmaking. Where fun dialogue is replaced with pointless expletives in a pseudo-hyper-violent world that still feels tame in the world of anime. Renard's script feels very adolescent and as such, probably works well for that audience.

Who would have thought that in a world where street gangsters who quote Shakespeare and luchador wrestlers protect the earth from Nazis you'd find yourself underwhelmed? And yet, here we are.

Style is very much over substance here which does not a good anime make, contrary to popular belief. It does take the edge of sitting through the film's runtime, though. The soundtrack has its highlights, and it certainly tries to be unconventional in its storytelling to mixed results. MFKZ can' be faulted for trying across the board, but it just doesn't stick.

Potentially offensive - let's not talk about the main character's design - and definitely more your younger brother's shtick, MFKZ is only in cinemas a couple days, so really, you're more likely to see it in a video store.

And you shall pick it up, and shrug.