Under the Dog (2016) User Reviews

A good premise, but the specific elaboration and development did not wow me at all

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 29 October 2017]

"Under the Dog" is a Japanese animated short film from 2016, so still a very new little movie. Due to its origin, it is anime style (with quite a deal of violence and nudity too) of course and approximately 10 minutes of under 40 minutes are end credits, which is a really big percentage of over 25% of the film. This could be explained through all the people financing the creation of this film. The title may be memorable, but I don't really like it and with that I don't mean the decision to pick an English title to make this film more known internationally. There are also some parts in English, even if Japanese is the dominating language. It probably did not work to an extent that the makers had hoped for. But it's also not forgotten. Quality-wise, I would say that the film became weaker and weaker the longer it went. It started okay, but sadly it did not stay that away. That Swedish assassin didn't do too much for me, but maybe it is just me as I always find European (and American) characters out of place in anime. It is a bit of a pity how this turned as there are some pretty interesting ideas and plot twists in here. But honestly, it was just way too much for half an hour and at some point it just didn't feel authentic anymore. The material was enough for 2 movies or a mini-series. But I'd still maybe kinda like the idea of a series or sequel based on the characters in here and I'd perhaps even watch it if they make the (for me) right decisions about who the central characters are etc. Visually, this wasn't a bad film at all. But as a whole, I'd really only recommend it to the very biggest anime fans. It lacks in subtlety, story-telling and many other crucial departments. Don't watch.