Story & Characters
In a near-future world, a mysterious disease has started ravaging the public safety and become a dire threat, the
officials call it the Medusa virus, named after the Medusa from Greek Mythology. Capable of entering its victims'
cells and turning them into stone-like corpse six weeks after and typically prone to being incurable. One victim, shy
Kasumi has been infected, and was chosen as one of 160 victims to go to suspended animation until a cure is found, she
only reluctant agrees to go at the insistence of her twin Shizuku, who was not chosen. Arriving to the facility on an
isolated island, the victims bid farewell to their families before putting into hibernation, only to suddenly wake up
after an indeterminate amount of time to a reality out of a nightmare. Thorns growths abound and creepy monsters who
love to have a human-shaped snack. Most of the victims soon devoured by the creatures, leaving only Kasumi and other six
survivors, trapped in a facility filled with man-eaters and infected with Medusa, they must scramble their lives to find
out what happened, giving in to the temptations of uninhibited freedoms... and not in a good way.
If horror writer Stephen King decides to pen a manga/anime series, this is the script he might have come up with.
Something nearly always went wrong when you sleep too long, people die, you wake up only to see the world has turned
upside down, infected with an incurable disease, encounter monsters not from this world and trapped on an isolated
island. Part Dead Zone, part The Mist,
and part Dreamcatcher, King of Thorn sets out to examine what happens when all
the rules just disappear. While it is not as accomplished as King's works, it still packs a punch and manage to
entertain despite a decided shortage of originality.
The movie does show some sparks of creativity, however. The nature of the Medusa virus, as silly as it may sound on
paper, is effectively horrifying in application, and that cloud hanging over the characters helps reinforce the tension
and desperation of the survivors' situation. Shortly after waking up, the monster starts terrorizing the victims,
only seven remain. Together they try to piece together what happened and how they ended up like that in the first place.
The revelation is a genuine shocker. This is where the story really picks up, a little more than halfway through the
movie. It would be fair to say that this is definitely a story that gets better as it goes on. The first half is
relatively mediocre, but by the rest is nearly impossible to put down.
On the down side, the basic premise of the main characters take a little while to get to the good stuff. The personality
types amongst the sleepers represent a cross-section of common archetypes seen in group survivor stories: the shy girl,
the kid, the big guy, the bad boy, the smart one, the self-centered rich/powerful one, and the motherly woman. In fact,
the characters so tightly fit into their roles that most beyond Kasumi do not have names near the end. Fortunately, the
bigger picture exist, and everyone seems to have some kind of secret.
The main selling point of the series so far lies in its effective establishment and maintenance of a high degree of
tension and danger. Whether internal threats like the Medusa virus or external threats like monsters, the thorny vines,
or drowning, the characters always seem at risk, even when in comparative safety, and some of the situations they find
themselves in get truly nerve-wracking. If you're a viewer who needs to be grabbed instantly, you may have some
trouble getting into this, but if you can hang on, it's worth the wait. Shifting the mood from standard survival
horror fare to shocking and horrific in a matter of time, adding to that numerous involved action scenes, concerns about
what bad-boy Marco Owens is really up to, and (possibly unfounded) suggestions made to Kasumi that the survivors have a
traitor in their midst and you have an excitement level that rarely falters.
Rating: 7
Art
Having these silly monsters and technophobia of B-horror wasn't the movie's wisest decision, the artistry
forte is actually these scenes of stark terror. While the character designs are firmly rooted in sci-fi manga, author
Iwahara Yuji has a flair for the gruesome and horrid. A monster devouring a man's head can stick in the mind long.
The castle and the facility are drawn realistically, which helps to emphasize the horrible acts that take place there.
In term of art, creatures and backgrounds still provide a great deal of viewing pleasure. Marco's intricate tattoo
is another artistic detail that is nicely done and although the character designs are not the sharpest, most of them
remain easily distinguished.
Studio Sunrise delivers a distinctive visual effort on the series without actually using any radical stylistic elements.
The visuals impress the most in battle scenes, and when depicting massive explosions, although they tend to be a bit
rougher in more ordinary scenes. The real visual stand-out, though, is the background art. This was clearly very
carefully detailed, to the point that even the original creation of the facility castle, which may have been designed to
mimic certain medieval castles, is simply amazing in both quality and detail, both inside and out, including the thorny
growth and nasty critters that eventually enveloped its ruin. Like the artistry, the animation may not be flawless, but
it is good enough to contribute to numerous exciting scenes and does integrate CG content in extremely well.
Rating: 8
Sound
Restrained, serious acting is the key to a convincing horror tale, and in that respect, the voice acting gets it almost
right. There are moments when the seiyuu deliver their lines too excitedly, as if playing a comedy spoof rather than a
survival horror. But the rest of the time, they bring the right level of earnestness to the performance - especially
when Kasumi and company begin to realize what's going on, and emotions start to run high. The musical score is just
as eclectic as the content. It regularly uses variations horror, serious tunes but can quickly shift to softer themes
for more harrowing scenes, an effect which still usually sounds playful. Ending "Edge of this World" hits just
the right level of drama - sparse instrumental scoring and dissonant sounds that add up to an unsettling feeling. Yet
the music is also capable of expressing loss and heartbreak.
Rating: 8
Presentation
Despite a problem that it starts giving off a video game vibe, King of Thorn is still an exciting, engaging story of the
struggle to maintain some sort of society in a harsh, unfamiliar environment. It has all of the elements of a classic
survival epic – monsters, diseases, an unfriendly wilderness with no perceived escape, and our own ability as humans
to lie. While it can be laid on a bit thick at times, and the lack of complicated ideas may be a drag to some, it's
still an engrossing one with an intact story, good visual presentation and great packaging. If it drags on too long, it
may be in trouble, but at this point, the movie is not only a compulsive watch, but an enjoyable escape into adventure
for a few hours.
____________________________________________________________________________________________
Story: 8
Characters: 6
Art: 8
Animation: 9
Voice: 7
Music: 8
Overall: 8
Good:
+Some great artistic touches, can be a lot of goofy fun, horror scenes are horrifying.
+Good supporting cast.
Bad:
+Main lead has some balance issues.
+Slow start, little originality.
Rating: 7
Final Verdict
7.3333 (above average)
Reviewed by Weskalia, Jul 08, 2012