There are many great video games on the market that deserve an anime adaptation, but ultimately many will never see a release on alternate platforms, with their storylines and characters left as nothing more than a (hopefully) fond memory for those who chose to play the game. Platinum Games’ Bayonetta has been pretty lucky to date. Since the 2009 PS3/XB360 launch of Bayonetta, the game has recently received a Wii U exclusive sequel and just last November saw a film adaptation titled Bayonetta: Bloody Fate screen in Japan. Australian anime publisher Madman Entertainment quickly snapped up the rights to the film, and held its first English-language screening at the Gold Coast Film Festival in April. Since then… North American anime publisher Funimation Entertainment picked up the rights and commissioned a new English dub, bringing back all bar one of the original English voice cast. With the film now available for purchase, it is time to see if Bayonetta: Bloody Fate is worth your time and money.
Bayonetta: Bloody Fate is not a direct adaptation of the original video game, and while the fundamentals of the storyline remain intact, many of the events that take place are unique to this film. Removing the limitation of needing to juggle a perfect balance of storyline and gameplay worked in the production teams favor, allowing them to focus on developing the characters and events a bit more without all the “filler” content that could have bogged down the 90 minute film.
While Bayonetta remains the central character, removing the unnecessary content also allowed the writers to allocate more time to focus on Luke Redgrave and Cereza, two characters who served as important secondary characters in the video game however never really received enough individual attention. Rodin, the proprietor of The Gates of Hell also makes a few additional appearances throughout; while Enzo, who had a very small role in the first place had his cut even shorter although wasn’t completely omitted.
While the back story and plot are integral components to this film, the producers didn’t forget to acknowledge and take advantage of the key element to Bayonetta that made it such a fun action hack-and-slash to begin with… the fighting! Given the rewrites, many of the boss battles present in the source material didn’t carry over to the film. However there are still quite a few fights against angels and humanoids present throughout the adaptation, with fast-paced action and a couple of Bayonetta’s trademark demon summons making an appearance on numerous occasions..
While there are always some limits that come with reproducing such an action-oriented video game into an anime, the animation studio GONZO of Last Exile and Strike Witches acclaim managed to replicate the same vibe well during such intense scenes, treating viewers eyes to a flashy array of fast-paced movements, weapons and the not-so-occasional sexualised pose (Complemented by the fact her skin-tight clothing is mostly composed of her own hair – which she uses in battles). The visual quality is overall of a standard I would personally expect from an anime that receives a theatrical release.
The music included in Bayonetta: Bloody Fate is a mixture of songs sourced from the original game and those which have been produced specifically for the film. Many of the returning tracks are notable for being intense and often used in battles such as Theme of Bayonetta – Mysterious Destiny, One of a Kind and The Gate of Hell among others. Absent from the list of returning songs is Fly Me To The Moon (∞ Climax Mix), which surprised me given it seemed to be the most recognizable song in the game. The new tracks are of a good quality, especially the new theme song Night, I Stand which comes in a soft instrumental version during the film in addition to a faster-paced lyrical remix during the credits.
Bayonetta’s English voice cast are special in that they are actually the primary dub cast for both English and Japanese releases of the video game. It was a reasonable thought that Funimation might have chosen to recast all the characters for Bayonetta: Bloody Fate given that most of the original voice cast hasn’t / doesn’t regularly work with them. While it may have taken them a considerable while to do so, with the exception of Cereza (Who was purportedly voiced by a child all those years ago), all the original voice cast reprise their original roles. Hellena Taylor is once again fantastic as Bayonetta, with the other side characters including Grey DeLisle as Jeanne, Yuri Lowenthal as Luka and Dave Fennroy as Rodin all putting just as much enthusiasm into the anime as the video games. I am glad that Funimation chose to take the time in tracking down and recruiting the cast, as the VA’s match their respective characters perfectly.
The film was great to watch… but the audio commentary was in my opinion much more interesting to listen to. Recorded on the very last day of dubbing in England, this commentary is between voice director Jonathan Klein and voice actress Hellena Taylor. While there were many small comical moments between the two, the conversations were more intriguing than anything else – providing an insight into voice acting and a few other tidbits on production of the anime/game and performance in general. Even if you don’t listen to bonus commentary usually, this is one you shouldn’t miss. The remainder of the on-disc extra content is lackluster in comparison: storyboards which would have been better timed to the movie itself (Like with Ghibli film releases) and the US trailer.
Personally I really enjoyed this 90-minute feature that streamlined the pre-existing plot, added a few elements of its own and essentially became much more approachable in regards to storyline delivery than having to go through ten to twenty minutes of gameplay for a new snippet of storyline. While I don’t think it is possible to favour one format over the other (You should consider checking out both), this adaptation should offer something for newcomers and veterans to the franchise alike. It certainly helped that the storyline was backed by the strong visuals from GONZO and an expansive music backing. The fascinating audio commentary was also icing on the cake!
Ultimately, Bayonetta: Bloody Fate is a strong example of what a video game to anime adaptation should be.
