ANI-MOVIES, *Bayonetta: Bloody Fate

As impossible as the idea of Nintendo and Sega working together might have seen after the turn of the century, Sega went to doing only video games while Nintendo remained a games publisher. In 2009, they collaborated on a new action game titled Bayonetta about a gun-toting witch in an alternate universe which took a few notes from Capcom's Devil My Cry, and it was such a hit that a feature-length anime adaptation of it came out in 2013. Bloody Fate was directed by Afro Samurai creator Fuminori Kizaki under Gonzo studio and was translated into English through Crunchyroll which is also one of a few anime movies they have on their streaming service. The movie diverges much from the video game's plot as it passed on taking the story verbatim and begins its own narrative with a two-minute exposition about the world this takes place in which might've worked for Star Wars even though concept is paper thin at this point. This came out a year before the official sequel game, so this was the only piece of Bayonetta media that was released after the original which was its main draw.

This version of Earth had a balance between sages and angels of Heaven with witches and demons from Hell. A sage and a witch got together 500 years ago and gave birth to a child who was taken in by the witches and then banished to a box at the bottom of a lake. Cut to modern day when the child wakes up with amnesia and spends the few years training to be a slayer of both angels and demons while part-timing as a nun under the name Bayonetta. Her methods of dispensing any attackers usually consist of her using four separate guns for each appendage specifically built for monster busting. Bayonetta also has the odd talent using her hair in ways Rapunzel never dreamed of like forming new clothing, creating hand weapons, and opening up portals that she can summon eldritch horrors. The gun-witch befriends a familiar looking girl named Cereza that an evil cult is looking for, so Bayonetta along with her would-be love interest Luka who keeps blaming her for the death of his father years ago. After running a huge gauntlet getting Cereza back to her father, it's revealed that the girl is really young Bayonetta from the past that was set up for no reason. You'd think if the main villain had time travel capabilities that there would be no way to defeat him as he could just go back and time and correct any mistakes he made, but Bayonetta gets help from her fellow ex-witch Jeanne to a galactic clash that seriously tries to keep up with Gurren Lagann's finale. Bayonetta goes into hiding after the battle but plans on returning to the human realm after she and Jeanne kill a few more straggling monsters.

Bayonetta: Bloody Fate uses music from the first video game which is one of the few good things it has, along with over-the-top fight sequences. There are numerous bits where the characters are just sitting around and they barely show them talking to save on animation, so it's easy to see that the movie was operating on a tight budget. Even though the film is Rated R, there isn't that much in the way of undressed ladies aside from the obligatory shower scene, nor is there any huge amounts of gore that you would expect from a demon hunter story. The dub is fair with Hellena Taylor replaying her role as the title character, as well as Grey DeLisle and Yuri Lowenthal giving impressive performances. It's not the best representation of the Bayonetta franchise but is one of the few sources outside of the games to check out.