Shin majin den batoru royaru haisukûru

Okay... if I found the story of "Blood: The Last Vampire" to be slight and straight-forward, I was in for a surprise when later that night I followed it up with "Battle Royale High School". Okay... talk about being at the other end of the spectrum. I think(?) I do understand what was going on, just don't ask me to thoroughly explain it. Honestly I was under the impression I was getting what the title was selling, nothing more than a basic fight tournament of demons and students, but I got a lot more than just that! Forget about any sort of tournament, hell, even the poster artwork is somewhat misleading. Anyway what occurs is hyperbolic. It throws one plot development, or twist after another without really establishing the one before it, while tonally jumping back and forth between dopey humour, an ancient prophecy, serious psychonetic mumbo-jumbo, mysterious vortex merching and ultra-violence. Loved the music score too, typical fluff but fitting to the on-screen action.

The narrative had many distorted, and kitsch elements to soak-up ranging from dramas of a brash, self-centred karate champ student Ricki (who doesn't wear the leopard mask enough), demon masters from another dimension - a mega dark realm lord and a fairy master, demonic fairy minions, slimly monsters, demon slayer and a space time continuum enforcer (I know a mouth-full) trying to install the power of balance that's been disrupted by all of this commotion. I hope I haven't lost you. It can be talky at the beginning, sort of puffed up with characters detailing their schemes. However when all of these delirious ingredients come together it truly kicks into gear. Making sense of it maybe not, but excitement levels no question about it.

Fight after fight after fight with moments of bloody voilence, wicked looking monster designs and it only grows weirder, and fierce when these forces come to blows like the reconstruction of life scene. When it came to the ending, everything is wrapped up, although I wouldn't call it overly convincing. But hey, it was a ride from start to finish.