K: Missing Kings - The Movie (Blu-ray) (2014)

This review is sponsored by

BUY IT

General		Extras
Category	Anime	Trailer Trailer-x 4 for other anime releases
Rating
Year Of Production	2014
Running Time	73:33 (Case: 75)
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Shingo Suzuki
Studio Distributor	Madman Entertainment	Starring	Daisuke Ono / Matthew Mercer Mikako Komatsu / Stephanie Sheh Yui Horie / Colleen O’Shaughnessey Daisuke Namikawa / Sam Riegal Masakazu Morita / Chris Hackney Jun Fukuyama / Ben Diskin
Case	Standard Blu-ray
RPI	?	Music	Mikio Endo

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English DTS HD Master Audio 5.1 Japanese DTS HD Master Audio 5.1
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	1080p
Original Aspect Ratio	1.78:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	Yes, extra scene after credits

     When I reviewed the anime series K on this site here I said it was a series of two halves. The first half was a mystery, the second half expanded the environment of the waring kings. K: Missing Kings – The Movie, the subject of this review, takes up this second plot strand a year after the events of the anime series. The movie was followed up by a second season of the anime, K: Return of Kings, which will be reviewed shortly.

     Seven Kings are contesting control of modern Japan, with the clan of the Blue King, Reisi Munakata, the most prominent, controlling the security forces. At the conclusion of K the Red King, Mikoto Suoh, has been killed, his clan left in tatters while the newly revealed Silver King, Yashiro (Daisuke Namikawa / Sam Riegal), is missing, presumed dead. As K: Missing Kings starts, Kuroh Yatagami (Daisuke Ono / Matthew Mercer), otherwise called the Black Dog, and Neko (Mikako Komatsu / Stephanie Sheh) have not stopped searching for Yashiro. Unexpectedly the forces of the Green King led by Yukari Mishakuji (Masakazu Morita / Chris Hackney) seize the tower of the absent Gold King; they have also abducted Anna Kushina (Yui Horie / Colleen O’Shaughnessey), a member of the Red clan who has psychic powers, and taken her to the tower. While the Blue clan only place a security blockade around the tower, hot headed Red clan member Yata (Jun Fukuyama / Ben Diskin), Kuroh and Neko attack the Green forces in the tower to get Anna back. There Kuroh faces off against Yukari and the identity of the new Red King is revealed.

     The original movie release of K: Missing Kings ran for 103 minutes; the first 30 minutes were a recap of the events in K. This Blu-ray is the same as the Region A US Blu-ray; with a running time of 73 minutes it omits the 30 minute recap to start with the capture of the Gold King’s tower by the Green clan forces. Thus characters are introduced in this cut at a bewildering rate; if you have watched K recently you can sort it out although if you have not seen K for a while, like me, it takes a bit of time to sort out who is who. If you have not seen K, K: Missing Kings is not a good place to start this franchise although if you just go with the flow for the first 25 minutes the rest of the story line is not overly complicated.

     The animation is a mixed bag. There are some beautiful colours and backgrounds but in other sequences colours are muted and quite dull. Detail is generally fine, although director Shingo Suzuki tends to use some very fluid camera moves, zooming and panning the camera around in a dizzying way that Tony Scott would have approved. There are also the almost obligatory panty and up skirt shots, although they are not overly frequent.

     K: Missing Kings concludes with the reveal of some characters who have been missing, opening the way for K: Return of Kings.

Video

     K: Missing Kings is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, in 1080p, using the MPEG-4 AVC code.

     Lines are generally clean, blacks and shadow fine. As noted, while some colours are bright, others are dull. There is nothing wrong with the anime, but it is not one to show off the benefits of HD presentation. I did not notice any artefacts or marks.

     It is anime so lip synchronisation is very approximate in either audio track.

     The subtitles are in US English in a clear white font. They did not contain any spelling or grammatical errors.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    Audio is a choice of Japanese or English DTS-HD MA 5.1.

     Dialogue is clear and centred. The surrounds and rears are fully utilised, including panning effects, for helicopter engines, rain and thunder, footsteps, flying rocks, destruction and the music. The subwoofer supported the thunder, engines and destruction.

     The original music by Mikio Endo is diverse and does call attention to itself, which can be distracting.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Movie Trailer (1:30)

Trailers (6:43)

    Trailers for Psychic School Wars, Sailor Moon, Miss Hokusai and Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection ‘F’.

     Our release of K: Missing Kings is similar to the Region A US version, although that adds a character booklet and the Japanese credits (our version has only the English language credits). In Region A Japan there are a couple of releases with extras. Although they are listed as having English subtitles for the feature, it is not usual in Japanese released discs for the extras to also have subtitles.

     K: Missing Kings – The Movie takes up the story a year after the events of K. Fans of that series should enjoy it; otherwise it would be best to start with K.

     The video and audio are fine although not the best advertisement for Blu-ray. A trailer is the only relevant extra.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall