Gyo 2m1z41

If you read the manga and like me, were looking forward to this adaptation - prepare for a dissapointment, that is, if you bother to watch this...

Basically, someone has taken this story and though...
"How can I make this fairly well known story that bit more popular? I know! I'll make it a lot less mature (i.e. easier to follow) and conform to idealism by throwing in some well known cliche's - newbie's and the more impressionable viewers will eat this all up!"
... and her we have this hour long OVA. I'll expand on the above...
Originally, a young couple are at sea, when they see something ... highly curious; this 'horror' tourments them wherever they go - true harrassment via an unlikely offender. After acting in an arguablely unreasonable and paranoid manner - the girl soon becomes ill, her boyfriend, who is somewhat in the loop when it comes to science and has sceintific connections, works hard to find answers to this mystery whilst avioding constant peril and virtual isolation - it's a true horror story.
In this OVA, we have his girlfriend as the leading character - and isn't she an angel. She's on a hoilday with her friends - she is made aware of this horror, takes it in her stride, goes to 'rescue' her boyfriendwho's in trouble, whilst not knowing hat's going on and not really having a clue; erazing the formality that existed beforehand - along the way, she meets a pretty guy around her age who, like her, as a tragic backstory that has allowed him to be driven.

Basically, we have a role reversal that allows us to follow the 'hot girl' instead of the 'in the know guy' and the disease has been pushed on to lesser characters; the conveinent and 'more deserving'.

Now - I will forget all about he manga and treat this OVA as a stand alone story...
Still, not good!

Story...
We have a pretty female lead, on hoilday with her 'less likable' friends.
An obscure terror shows up and this girl must now leave her friends behind and 'leap into action' (she's no action girl, this is all suppose to be quite realistic) upon coming to the accurate conclusion that her boyfriend is in need of a hero. On her journey, she comes across a guy who is of much help and has somewhat of a similar backstory to hers (rocked by a certian loss).

This story leaves the more observant viewer asking a few questions, such as...
"The body count is massive, yet the main gets attacked often and is never phased - why is this?"
'If paracite monsters are killing and infecting people threwout a mulitude of area's, why are plains still opporating and sending people into the 'eye of the storm'?"
"The train the two mains are on has just crashed out of the blue, all on it look either dead or unconcious - why are the two 'mains' allowed to climb out, unscratched and unshaken before walking down an underground tunnel which I'm sure lacks oxygen, whilst maintaing energy to spare?"
Basically, the plot bends to the will of the famale lead - she's the main character and a decent person, so why shouldn't 'the unlikely' simply open it's door for her whenever she stops by?

This is the immaturity^, now, for the cliche's...

Character...
A typical case of possotive and negitive accossiation.
We have a pretty leading female who's 'sensible' persona arguabely borders on Mary Sue - she's the friendly mediator type; everyones friend who makes friends easily, yet she'll also do all in her power to protect those around her, she'll even speak for the unfortunate who don't have a voice. She always wants the best possible outcome, such as hoping officials will come out with a cure for the many infected, highly dangerous strangers roaming the streets, in favour of killing them. She doesn't get too scared or show a single hint of selfishness or hesitation when it would be perfectly natural to do so either. On a whole, she's ideal.
Her sidekick is a good looking, young (about her age) video photographer who has all the action recorded and is very interested - in a constructive way, in uncovering what is going on - he has a bit in common with the leading female and seems to have a crush on her.
We have the female leads two frineds - a promiscuous, overall stylish 'pretty' girl and a chubby, introvert girl with no particular styling in clothes, hair or facial features and no particular body shape - ofcourse they aren't going to be irable or acheive anthing!

Art...
Fine, nothing spectacular, but nothing wrong scenery wise - the character design is lovely however; everyone looks different and fairly realistic.

Enjoyment...
It was fine as a stand alone series, not too complex; which is what you shoud really get from a plot like this, but the length was sensible and it did have what most would call an end?
I watched this and threwout I had the though lingering in the back of my head - it all reminded me of a tacky Hollywood movie where the pretty girl screems her way threw to the end (only, minus the screaming, this girl bough us little).
So on a whole - no, I didn't enjoy it personally.

Overall...
For me personally, a bit of a watse of time.
The manga was just 20 chapters long and it moved at a steady to fast pace - everything; begining, middle and end could have been covered in this OVA, why they changed it o something else, I can only put down to marketing?
There was no need for this (again, forgetting the original) to incorporate such cliche's as; character sheild, 'petty behaviour justifies death', 'everyone loves a tragic female lead' and 'mix gneder team with clear romantic feelings apparant' - whilst spoonfeeding information in a way that only fits a story 'aimed at all' (such as; data that answers everything, present on the desktop screen of a computer, which happens to be swithched on, in an importiant person's home, that happened to be easy to access).
On a whole, the simplification and writing tools (cliche's being the critical and more accure term at this time) spoilt things. :(

What exactly am I watching?

[Contains mild, creative language used to emphasize certain things, also contains spoilers]

This review doesn't seem to flow, think of it as fragments of criticism.

So basically, I started the movie with mediocre expectations, it had a horribly low rating, but it was animated by Ufotable. So, I may be watching mediocre shit, but at least it'll have pretty visuals.

Anyhow, the introduction piqued my curiosity, a group of fishermen appeared to be dazed and shocked from a discovery, the discovery wasn't revealed till later. Now, what was the discovery? It was landfish.

The landfish essentially have a grotesque smell, followed by a ... what the fuck appearance. Imagine fish, now imagine mechanical spiders. Now imagine a combination of the two. Now give the combination of the two to the storyboard of Guilty Crown. And now you have your fucked up landfish. The landfish play an integral role in this, they basically invade town and do whatever the fuck they want. They don't target humans specifically, they just do what the fuck ever, like eat the shit out cars and subways, just for shits. Later on, it's revealed that it's not limited to just fish, it just originated from them.

The storyline started off as somewhat meh, but possibly promising. It quickly drifted off to something you would write in a drugged frenzy. The storyline is basically composed of the chick accompanied by some dude, looking for her fiance. Along the way, they discover that the landfish was conceived as a biological weapon during WWII (unpredictable, right?). They also discover that the fish is half organic, and half synthetic; but, it's also infectious. In other words, a pointless biological weapon because it fucking infects everyone, your side included. The rest of the storyline is inconceivable shit, so I'll move on to the other sections. It should be noted that it's not shit because it's bizarre, different, and shocking. It's shit because it's shit, it's cliche and it flows about as well as this shitty review. Seriously, it ends by trying to invoke some fucking philosophy. The entire storyline thus far was giant fucking robot monsters shoving their tentacles up your ass to mind control you.

The characters were also a bit "what the fuck" worthy. Essentially, it's just the main heroine, but her two friends should be noted. First first friend is perhaps the paragon of "what the fuck how retarded are you?" A giant landshark comes through the window when she's screwing two guys, needless to say, she was injured. During the attack, she was scared shitless and the two guys ditch her. After the attack, she thanks the two guys for "saving" her on TV, then proceeds to screw them once more. The second friend actually started off as a pretty decent character; she was the third-wheel. However, it appears that any redemption for a decent character was killed during the second half.
The characterization was also minimal. You're just given some history, and you'll have to assume the rest by assuming some common character archetypes. The history would be much more convincing, if the voice acting wasn't so bland.

The voice acting in this was beyond mediocre, it was the apathetic type of emotion, it just didn't fit the characters at all. You could find better voice acting in Hentai than this, just saying. In Hentai, when a giant tentacle monster attacks you, emotions are heard. In Gyo, when tentacles attack you, you're reading off the script. However, ufotable did a decent job here, the visuals were good. The OST was lackluster to say the least, it's mostly silent. It could be argued that it enhanced the ambiance, but when music did play, it usually wasn't anything special.

This series also intends on inserting fan service, regardless of the occasion. It's more of a, to pay attention, otherwise you'll miss some boobs, or some scenes reminiscent of something you would normally find with the keywords tentacles and schoolgirl penetration. Some examples include a certain characters death scene. She's essentially about to die, then her eyes flashes before her eyes. What flashes? Was it precious child-hood memories? A lost love? Regret? No, it was her essentially before being screwed by the entire football team fully nude.

The law enforcement in this anime also seem to fucking blow. Hey, giant fish invading? No problem, let's fly a plane and hope for the best. Guarding a quarantined zone? Beat the shit out of anybody that tries to past, regardless of the reason. Your loved one's stuck on the other side? We should probably convince you not to go by physical encouragement.

Overall, if you're looking for plenty of nudity, and tentacles, go watch hentai. If you're looking for cheap scares, and shit storylines, go for Another or this. Shit, this review blew, but I spent too much time on this to delete it.

TLDR: It's not shit because it attempts to think outside the box, nor because it attempts to be creative & innovative, it's shit because it's shit.

“I wonder if that stench of death will ever vanish.”

It is clear that Gyo was highly anticipated for quite a while since it is the first animated feature from one of the bizarre Ito’s story. For that matter, we may as well say that it will be the only one since Gyo is perhaps the only story that has this cinematic feels to it (and yes, Uzumaki live action was shit). Anyway, Ufotable’s adaptation of the manga completely changes the feeling of the manga to something more action and drama oriented. While it is not a problem by itself, some of those who ... read the manga might actually feel slightly deceived on how it actually turned out to be. However, for the sake of the review, I won’t too much time comparing the two since it would be downright useless; let’s just stick with the OVA, while making some very minor comparisons

For an OVA of merely 70min, the direction isn’t wasting much time for the Story. Precisely, the calm before the shit storm only last for a few minutes, the time we get to identify our main characters. It doesn’t take long to the story before it gets into something quite chaotic. The whole movie feels like a crescendo of what terrible event can happen next until it hits the fan. Then again I have to precise that Junji Ito’s version on paper is much more extravagant than this anime, where, compared to the manga, is more down to earth. And of course, it wouldn’t be a Junji Ito’s work if it didn’t have its typical signature: a romance story behind all that. And even if it was never the strong part of any of his work, Ufotable seems to have placed it as a priority in the anime. In a way, it makes the story much more of drama than an actual horror one. As for the bad thing, Gyo actually have quite a few useless scenes that certainly feels out of place, but there not so much of them. As a whole, the story is direct and doesn’t waste much time.

And for having so little introductions, it is hard to evaluate the characters. Since the plot is mostly driven by some apocalyptic events, the cast obviously won’t leave a spot in your memory, there are for the most completely forgettable. In the essence of a horror story, Gyo is composed of a main heroine, a main hero and some other characters that go to the name of: potential victims. As such, the only back story of the heroine that is given is actually related to the story, but doesn’t add much of it. As for the progression of the characters, the most interesting part is no doubt when the hero and heroine teams up together. However, this is like saying apples are tastier than shit.

The artwork is generally well done. Of course, Gyo suffers from some awkward 2d – 3d relation on the screen that may feel completely off, but didn’t seem to irritate me as much as others said. The character design is more clean and polished than the manga, and thus they look more beautiful than what we would’ve expected to be. Certainly, at some points in the anime, Junji Ito’s drawing style can be seen to make a focus on “when you should be terrified”. It is questionable whether it actually worked, but I thought the intention of having a mix bag of different art style actually felt nice.

As for the matter of sound, Gyo has a soundtrack of typical horror music that really set the mood correctly. On the bad side, I may have to say that Kaori’s performance wasn’t the greatest I ever heard. Her many dramatic break outs never felt ionate, nor could I take her seriously.

In conclusion, Ufotable presents their own version of the story by making it more action oriented and dramatic. Still, while having some obvious and minor issues, Gyo mostly succeed at being a fast paced and intense ride from start to the finish, even though it may look awkward and clumsy for a certain audience.

"I can only believe that which I've seen. Is what I've seen the truth?"

Preface:

Well, what happens when you cross Sharknado with Stink Bomb (from Katsuhiro Otomo, director of Akira) and a zombie fish apocalypse? Gyo, that's what.


Artwork and Animation: 7

Gyo was animated by ufotable (Fate Series), and with that comes their flair for the 3D CGI. While not up to the standard set by Fate before it, for a 2012 anime, the 3D is decent. It's obvious that this movie was on a budget, and it shows through some dodgy animated segments and absolutely average hand drawn animation. While it does a good job ... with the gore and viscera, everything else is mostly meh.


Sound and Voice Acting: 5

Not really much to say here. The cast voices, small as they are, are forgettable, the background music is pretty standard horror fare with high tension string sections and jarring shifts in loudness. The skittering, sucking, and squelching noises are pretty tasty though.


Story?: 2

Taking the Sharknado and Stink Bomb idea further, Gyo basically puts a new spin on the old classic of "menacing, methane filled sea creatures with mechanized legs coming out of the ocean to destroy humanity". *Whispers* "Wait ... waaaat?" I'm being told that this is actually the first time that this has been done. Points for originality?
--Not really. Gyo changes gears waaay too fast. It starts off with this horrible stench, one that permeates everything- a miasma of death. Soon, the characters find that the source of the stench are dead fish possessed by a spider-walker, who are then hell bent on killing any and every living thing.

A little bit of exposition later, and the fish are apparently this way because of a chemical weapon/virus created during world war 2? Soon, the humans are becoming infected too, and this pseudo scientific explanation isn't enough, so we tack on that the machines were probably created so that the fish could spread the crippling smell and infection, since they don't have legs of their own.

The disease is shown to be transmissible, as humans can catch it from merely being scratched. Symptoms manifest nearly immediately in the form of hilarious bloating from production of methane gas inside the body, which then cause the host to burp and fart methane continuously until they reach a breaking point and explode bloody viscera. (Nevermind that anyone nearby or trapped indoors with this much methane would have long since ed out or asphyxiated.)

Next, the story changes yet again; the machines have no screws, so they were obviously not created by humans, but made by aliens. (I can't make this stuff up.) The stench has created a personality of its own, and is seeking to assimilate all life on earth to create a giant, spider legged, methane gas spewing army... that is, until all the hosts rupture.

Yeah, so to throw some less sense in on top of this, certain people are (for reasons unexplained) unaffected by the illness, and also apparently immune to methane asphyxiation.


Characters: 4

Kaori, the protagonist, is a bit of a Mary Sue character. Bland and essentially faceless, she allows for the viewer to project onto her to witness the horrors firsthand. Her motives once the fishpocalypse begins consist solely of finding her fiance, Tadashi. To do what, who knows? (I'm betting on escape, but this isn't even really addressed.)
Her friends are not very interesting- one is the quintessential party girl looking for a good time and finding nothing but pain, and the other is a repressed, angsty girl who exists solely for sweet schadenfreude.

Elsewhere, we have Shirakawa, a freelance journalist whose camera gives us a bit of a 'found footage' feel to the unfolding horror. He comes equipped with things like "goals" and "motive" in the otherwise trudge of a plot. Once the outbreak happens, he takes it upon himself to get the word out to the world what's going on (and maybe make a buck or two at it in the process).


Enjoyment: 7

Well, there's a moment that's supposed to be tragic, and one that's supposed to be reviling, and the rest of it is just gross. I rode somewhere in between mild interest and ing grimaces the whole time. The sheer ridiculousness and lack of a plot put this one in the "So Bad It's Good" category. It's just plain weird.


Overall: 5 (Mediocre)
Recommend?

Gyo is an oddity, for sure. The "wtf" factor is strong with this one, but not in a shocking or reviling way, just meh. Not recommended, unless one has 70 minutes to kill and nothing better to watch. Just go watch Stink Bomb, at least it's funny on purpose.


tl;dr

+ Decent 3D animation
+ Laughable craziness
+/- Either too long or not long enough
+/- Totally ridiculous
- Stupid plot
- Boring characters


"I want sharks with FRICKIN laser beams attached to their heads!" - Dr. Evil

Talk about disappointment.

Even a person who hasn't read the manga can tell that this OVA is as much of a horror as Tim Burton's Nightmare before Christmas is. As many people so fabulously fail to understand what horror is, let me explain - it is what makes you have a ducked up dream the next night, or two, or thirty and what makes you scared to go pee by yourself in the middle of the night. It lefts an impact. This makes you pee laughing.

That being said, this would make an awesome comedy and god I wish I were being playful. Any chasing scene at ... all would find he Benny Hill soundtrack to be perfectly fitting. In place of that, we have generic epic music that really has little to nothing to do with what's on the screen.

Needless to point out, makers of this crap thought they could get away with bringing in the very smexy scenes of a girl being done by two guys, her gorgeous underwear and her legs spread far and wide. Now THOSE were scary, am I right?

Most characters are utterly useless and are there to get eaten.

To finish off, even fancy art and pretty good animation, which made it pretty attractive to the eye, couldn't save this poor, poor piece of rubbish. Good job Mr Ito, Sir, this is how your work will be ed. Dancing sharks chasing prostitutes.

Conclusion: I'd much more enjoy watching Ryuk chasing apples while they are playing unfitting music in a loop on Youtube. (2017edit: old meme is old)

What a fucking mess. What a beautiful fucking mess.

Characters? Terrible. Art? Mediocre, with some hilariously obvious CGI that doesn't look good either. Sound? Unforgivable, that was not a 'GASHUNK'.

Story? Phahahahaha. Load of nonsense bollocks. So humans made evil legs but didn't actually make them and then ghosts or something and who cares Zombie Fish, who then make fat farting zombie people.

What is that, what even is that? Who thinks that shit up?

Kao....Kaori? (Yeah, shows how much of an impression our lovely lead girl had on me that I've forgotten her name already) and Dudeguy(Also another fantastic impression on me) are so hilariously boringly invincible. Who ... cares how many sharks and octopi attack, how many planes and trains crash, these guys sustain all of two small wounds from it all. Kaori not even becoming infected because 'who gives a fuck?' apparently. As for Dude 'Go on without meeeeee' Guy, he's too busy being a tit to think 'HMM, I COULD PROBABLY LIVE IF I CUT MY ARM OFF LIKE THAT ONE GUY ALREADY CONFIRMED WORKS EARLIER' in the most hurp derp decision around.

Include some pointless bullshit like the whore and fat chick, and we have a wonderful mess of a show.


....So why the fuck did I give it 7?

Because it's so damn bad, it's amazing. I spent the entire thing laughing at the hilarious mess that was unfolding before me.


This show ain't a 7, this show is no where near a 7. A 4, perhaps, if it's lucky. But god damn if it's failure isn't HILARIOUS. Perhaps I'm just being weird, but it really was too fantastic a flustercuck for me to have not enjoyed it.

Unforgivable for no GASHUNK however.

This is not really a review, it's a warning.

I read a lot of reviews before i started watching this but none of them mentioned anything to be aware of during watching Gyo, and if there was a little bit of warning about the scenes in this ova, I wouldn't have watched it.

It includes many nude scenes and it even has an intercourse scene bluntly and it's a threesome. It has severe blood scenes and it really violates the human bodies in a horrible way and also for people who hate sea animals especially sharks you shouldn't watch.

The idea is not bad but how they expressed ... it was too disgusting, The genre is horror but not the idea or the actions, maybe because this disgust doesn't have a name of it's own to be a genre.

The animation isn't that great, but the advantage is that the blood and killing scenes are not well portrayed, so the disgust from killing is less in those parts.

The soundtracks weren't very clear, and the sounds weren't enough for the scenes.

This is for people who hates nudity, R-18 stuff and too much blood. If you are, you have to think a million times before you watch this because if i was warned earlier, i wouldn't have watched it and if there is a person out there who doesn't know, then it's a warning.

Gyo is an adaptation of a manga by famed horror mangaka Junji Ito, also known as the "Stephen King of Japan". It's one of his known works to date besides Uzumaki and it's pretty unsettling stuff. Once you finish reading it, you will get fears of looking at the ocean for a while.

So it's no exception that a guy like Ito deserves his own anime. Why not? And thus Ufotable came to the blessing and made a 70-minute OVA of Gyo.

The result? One of the most hilarious comedies ever made.

No, seriously. Whereas the original manga is a work of itself, this anime feels like a ... mixture of most horror films made in the past 2 decades. Basically, you're watching Piranha 3D+Birdemic+Troll 2+Slither+The Happening+Sharktopus+Dawn of the Dead 2004 all in one movie. Hell, the Ending IS TAKEN FROM THE DAWN OF THE DEAD 2004 ENDING!I don't know if that ending was a homage or a rip-off, but it's so blatant that i feel like filing a lawsuit on behalf of Zach Snyder and James Gunn.

Anyways, the story of Gyo is about dead fish and aquatic creatures having metallic spider legs and walking around the surface while infected with a disease that can be contractable to humans. This disease turns humans into fart zombies and will also give them metallic spider legs while having tentacles on their mouths and private parts. It's basically the original plot of the manga.

However, the way it's directed makes it look more like a comedy than a genuine Junji Ito horror story. I mean, only in comedy can a shark with legs attack a woman who's receiving double penetration from two guys. Seriously, this is Birdemic-tier levels of hilarity. I am shocked by the fact that it's directed by the guy who directed Kara no Kyoukai 5.

And not only that, THEY CHANGED THE CHARACTERS. Kaori is now Tadashi, and Tadashi is now Kaori. Why? Apprently because the hot chick needs to win. Basically, they want a Hollywood ending which pisses me off more. I'm pretty sure that this was aimed at a Western audience, because there is no other reason for character change other than that. It just kills the purposes of the story. They also add in two unnecessary female characters, both which are Kaori's friends. Erika, the slut and Aki the fat one. They are pretty much the most worthless stories in anime and are there just to increase the body count.

The animation is quite nice. Great scenery and crisp animation made up for the flaws of this OVA. The characters look like they were drawn by yoshiyuki Sadamoto and it's true because the animator for this OVA is a former student and colleague of Sadamoto, working with him during the production of Evangelion. And the CGI is okay too. Ufotable is using a really good budget for an OVA, and they handled it well.

I'm okay with the music. I mean there is nothing groundbreaking with it. But the sound effects are generic. I mean, no GASHUNK! effect? Come on! We want to hear that GASHUNK! sound! They blew it hard by not making that sound.

Overall, Gyo is a mediocre OVA filled with unintentional hilarity with decent animation to make up for it. It's not scary and it failed so in every level, but it's a blast. You want an MST3K experience with your friends on a Friday night? Go watch Gyo. But you want to get scared? Read the manga.

This OVA would have been so much better if those god damn sharks had some freakin' lazer beams attached to their freakin' heads...

"Tokyo Fish Attack" is an anime by good o' Ufotable and is perhaps one of the worst OVAs from this past decade of anime. Of course, as one may expect with a title such as this, I wasn't expecting too much and was instead hoping for a "so bad its good title" in the same vein as movies such as "Birdemic" or "The Room" but I just found it so... boring. I love schlock. Like a lot. And believe me, I really wanted ... to like this OVA as it sounds like something I'd have an absolute blast watching, but unfortunately no fun was had here today. Instead, Tokyo Fish Attack is indeed one of the worst anime I have ever seen, which is saying a lot considering the number of poor shows I've seen in the past. But alas, let me explain my intense disappointment.

First of all let's discuss the plot for this anime. The narrative revolves around our main female protagonist 'Kaori' who, while vacationing with her friends in her boyfriend's villa, notices a particularly bad smell in their room, which happens to be a fish on legs. After showing no hesitation in slamming a goddam drawer into it, resulting in a giant pool of blood, the following day sees the entire country over-run by fish with legs invading the city and killing the inhabitants. Kaori makes it her mission to go back to Tokyo to find her boyfriend. For what the creators were going for, this simple plot is fine and serves its purpose. My only problem is how boring and unlikable the characters are and how little of a shit I give about anything that is happening.

None of the characters are given any personalities or a hint of intrigue in the slightest and never develop past their cookie-cutter archetypes. Kaori is your generic good girl, who is always morally right and does the right thing all the time. Erika is your typical slutty type character who likes to have sex and party a lot. So much so that even after being attacked by a shark with legs that resulted in her being stabbed in the hands and most of the house being destroyed, she feels the need to to have sex straight after that. Why? God knows. And then we have Aki, the boring nerdy type character who has deeper physiological issues which are barely touched upon and is made fun of by her friends. All of these characters are boring and hard to give a damn about in the slightest.

There was a few others, such as the journalist Kaori meets on her journey, who is just there, just for the sake of being there, Tadashi who adds nothing to the plot other than a forced moment at the end and for the main reason why Kaori goes to Tokoyo and Tadashi's uncle. Tadashi's uncle is the most interesting out the cast but too little time is spent on him to give a rat's ass.

The main reason why I didn't find any enjoyment in the anime was because of how dull the death scenes and gore was. I was hoping to indulge in some fanservice and see some good old fashioned gory death scenes but at the most we see the mangled remains of corpses and the such taking away my personal enjoyment. The CG for the fish and sharks were terrible and kept dragging me out of the scenes and only kept reminding me what a terrible anime this was. There was absolutely nothing fun in this, which is why I can't consider it a "so bad it's good" film.

The anime is also very strange and gross at times too. It heavily relies on gross out, and while I believe they do a great job at conveying this, its not my cup of tea and ended up making me feel sick and bored. The entire thing reeks of trying too hard without an interesting story or characters to back it up. Y'see, if you are stabbed by the legs of these fish, you end up becoming this strange, green monster of gas and the such who become mindless zombies. It is suggested that they still have some kind of consciousness and are still self aware, such as in the final scene with Tadashi and Kaori (whoops, spoilers I guess) but this scene felt so melodramatic and so forced that it lacks any impact.

The only thing I can say that I enjoyed with this short OVA is that the music and animation were pretty good and do add to the overall atmosphere, but other than that, I hated this. It had dry characters, a poor narrative, boring deaths and overall was no fun at all. Instead of Sharknado (a film I enjoy) we got, erm, Shitnado (now THAT was a pun!)

I feel the need to write a review for this interesting little film right here simply because of it's score on this website, which I feel doesn't do it justice whatsoever and therefore I need to be that white knight for anime everyone hates. The reason I wanted to view this came from two reasons. One, I had recently finished Junji Ito's Uzumaki, which I found to be amazing and terrifying, and two, I've had and interest in Ufotable this anime's studio since I've been watching the well known film works the Kara no Kyōkai series. The original novels of which come from none ... other than Kinoko Nasu creator of the extensive and legendary Fate series. Aside from all that I will put out there I have not read Gyo yet, and this seems to be where a lot of the contention of the movie comes from. Going into this movie knowing nothing of the original work but being familiar of the author and studios previous endeavors I can undoubtedly say that this is a fantastic piece of work. As a fan of the horror genre this hits every trope of the general American B movie but takes it so over the top with an interesting aesthetics and otherwise simply praiseworthy visuals(for the most part). It isn't as beautiful as Kinoko Nasu but considering it's trying to bring out the disturbing nature of Junji Ito's drawings it couldn't be even close to that cleanly done. The CGI I think is done very well, and It works with the shadelss character models and the stark backgrounds. The scene where whatserface beat Erika to death with the ashtray was so disturbing, and other parts of the movie genuinely made me think about the terrifying concept of death and the thought of living a disgusting afterlife attached to some alien machine from the depths of the ocean. If you can't see even a lit bit of dark beauty in this terrifying classic than I'm sorry for you.

just go and see Gyo no do it i will give you the loaded gun it is the wost film i have ever seen EVER not just in anime but EVER you know how bad a show is when the walking zombie fish is THE GOOD POINT in the film no really the fucking land walking zombie fish is the best part about the film i could live with the film like that but just keep watching it it gets worse really REALLY FUCKING WORSE it is the only show i had to buy that i set on fire no i did i put in ... my fire place and watched that fucker burn that was the best choice i made in my life now go and watch it you want regret it i promise you :}

OK i will try and tell you how much FUN i had in watching this THING i will call it that for the rest of the review cant with a sound mind call it a show

so the STORY if that is a real word in this THING is about a small Japaneses town called WHO FUCKING CARES and... i cant do this it just to hard OK I'm going to come out and say this no one told me to brace myself for this THING just go read the plot on the main page and see for yourself it tells you nothing about what really goes down here i will save you the trouble

Synopsis
Something in Okinawa reeks, and it isn't long before Kaori and her friends realize that the smell is coming from dead fish, which are walking out of the sea. The fish are fused to metal legs and are infected with a disease able by humans that was invented as a weapon by unknown sources. After what happens to Tadashi, Kaori finds herself in a new world very much like the old one but with the stench of death.


SEE it tells you FUCKING nothing i had no chance to defend myself from this THING so I'm not going to tell you what happens because if i told you what happens you would think i was crazy and i think the person who made this WAS

ART so its not all that bad the ART is very well done in fact it was VERY good coming from what plot it was working with I'm not going into the fact that somebody gave the green light for the budget to make this THING

OVERALL it is the worst film to come out of anime in resent years if not ever a least for me and i heard that the manga was i fact not so bad so take that as you may so i would say go watch it right now and see for yourself and come back a tell of the horrors you have seen that is you don't jump off a building after watching this THING i cant help but keep saying that it keeps me sane and sorry if my spelling is off at times and i don't normally swear as much as i did here but it really is that bad so for now enjoy your lives unless you had the bad luck of coming across this THING in your long travels in the anime world but go see this if you think you have the mind to see it through till the end or you will end up like me or worse HAHAHA all i know is this it is bad and i just tweaked your curiosity :) and as all ways ICETRUCKER OUT

Gyo, being the first work by Ito to be animated, was met with high expectations. UFOTABLE handled the animation, which relieved many fans due to Ufotable's spot as one of the highest tier animation companies currently.

Gyo, in effect, captured the essence of the manga without falling prey to the issues that plagued it. The justaposition of humanity and monsters was done more appropriately than the manga -- by splitting Kaori's character into 3 different girls, the characterization becomes far more complete and powerful. The struggle between Aki and Erika shows the inherent issue of morality in an immoral world.

Furthermore, the choice to change the lead ... from Tadashi to Kaori was also in good taste. Despite the overt sexual overtones present in all of Ito's work, Kaori's characterization lacked a "feminization". What we were left with was a strong female lead, and one that stood up to challenges and outdid her male counterparts. This deliberate change turns the tone from typical to unique, even among the current crop of anime that features 'Strong female leads.' It takes the female isolation from Uzumaki and Tomoe and manages to adapt those feelings into Gyo's position, strengthening the work.

The voice acting, as well as the Animation is strong. While it's not the best I've seen, it stands above most typical standards and along with Fate/Zero manages to be ufotable's "Worst" work -- Which is to say, they are massively above standard.

Gyo is the best adaptation of the manga we would ever hope to get. Thematically it is closer to Uzumaki, placed as not only a female-centered love story but a story of hopelessness. The last line mirrors a hopelessness throughout.

"I've gotten used to it."

Gyo is an adaptation of a manga of the same name by famed horror mangaka Junji Ito. Featuring a rather farfetched concept and grotesque content, Gyo is something that will definitely not suit all tastes. The central concept is akin to cheesy B-rated horror movies. Junji Ito had a big enough challenge making it viable in the manga, and if anything, the task is even more daunting for the animation staff of this project, as they have to bring Ito's bizarre monstrosities to life without making them look awkward or cumbersome. While this OVA does not fully overcome these challenges, it still manages to be ... a tense (and disgusting) thriller.

The original concept is the same as the manga, however, the story itself differs quite a bit. First off, the focus of this OVA is on the female protagonist, Kaori, rather than the male protagonist, Tadashi, as in the manga. The story follows Kaori's quest to reunite with Tadashi (who is pushed firmly into a ing role) in the midst of a crisis. What exactly is this crisis, well... an invasion of walking fish. Yes, feel free to laugh now.

Despite the complete absurdity of the idea of a mass scale invasion of walking fish, Gyo manages to work decently with it, albeit the viewer is required to take it with a grain of salt. There actually is a real sense of danger, with people being devoured by swarms flesh eating fish or great white sharks. Scenes of mass panic juxtaposition with graphic gore and people freaking out, give the OVA a frantic and chaotic atmosphere that should keep you engaged. Or if that does not work, the sheer absurdity of it all will keep you equally as entertained.

Kaori's struggle to reunite with Tadashi also makes for a compelling watch. Her desire to reunite with Tadashi and her worry for him is easy to empathize with; after all, who wouldn't be concerned their loved-ones in the midst of mass crisis, even if it is something as ridiculous as an inland invasion of sea-life. The sub-plot involving Kaori's two friends provides a nasty little denouncement of friendship. From the first few seconds with them it is clear that their friendship is paper thin and held together by Kaori alone; so when she leaves to find Tadashi in the middle of the crisis... things get ugly. Finally, there is the role reversal from the manga between Kaori and Tadashi near the end, which might get a few snickers from those who read the manga, but more importantly adds gravity to the stories conclusion, albeit not gracefully.

This all is not to imply Gyo's story is a well oiled machine, far from it. The reason for this horrific anomaly is not particularly well developed, nor does it make complete sense. There are plenty of unexplained plot conveniences like Kaori's friends suddenly being in Tokyo. The story also goes out of its way to show you the most unpleasant of things in the most unpleasant ways. With a graphic sex scene and even more graphic mutations, people will be justified in saying this is too excessive. Some may even find it comedic in the extremes it goes to.

Although the grotesque and bizarre content of the manga comes off a bit awkward or overly disgusting (though it is just as disgusting in the manga) in the transition to animation, Gyo is still solid on the technical side. Character designs are cleaner, though somewhat less detailed than Ito's original designs. However, they don't differ too much and it is easy to see the resemblance to the original artwork. The invading swarms of fish are rendered in CG; while it certainly is not the best CG integration ever, it still looks plenty better than the attempts of many an anime. The grotesque mutation body horror and gore are definitely what get the most attention here, enough to possibly nauseate some viewers; this is of course the intent, for better or worse. The music is what you might expect in a horror, haunting and tension filled. It fittingly s the grotesque abnormalities you see on the screen.

Ultimately, Gyo might be too gross and weird for a lot of viewers to enjoy. Those who find it repulsive certainly would not be unjustified in doing so. Still, it does exactly what a B-horror should do, make the audience reel back in shock and disgust... well, that or laugh at the absurdity of it.

Story:
I hate everything that Gyo (anime) represents. From the narrative changes to the overly done exploitation of characters, this entire production is such a filthy adaption (I say this LOOSELY) of a pretty good horror story from Junji Ito. It sucks that a bunch of fat cat producers sitting in their studio sat around a table and decided Ito's original narrative wasn't going to work and they needed to dumb it down to BAD horror movie standards. They throw in worthless and uninteresting characters that don't help the narrative and are there solely to die, whilst also bringing down the main characters as they can't ... be helped by good ing characters. There's a REASON they're called ING characters. They ENHANCE the value of your LEADS.

I mean, for the love of all that is holy, they put in the most disgusting amount of sexual content that makes NO sense what-so-ever in this narrative. I don't even want to write this review because of how bad it is. I shouldn't have to convince anyone NOT to see this. Just avoid it like the plague. Read the mango and move on to another of Junji Ito's many works.


Art:
Decent animation.


Sound:
Decent sound.


Character:
I hate everyone. This is horrible.


Enjoyment:
Don't even ask.


((If you liked this review, check out my other reviews by going to my profile and clicking the 'reviews' tab. I review virtually all anime and manga I find!))

Everyone who enjoys reading manga in one point of his life has stumbled with GYO, a work of Ito Junji, aka the same guy who did Uzumaki, so I'll write this review with the assumption that you already have read the manga.

This adaptation by Ufotable is a bag of mixed beans, for one it actually follows the events of the source material, they even added new scenes, which sadly felt so out of place, take for example the airplane scene that you see in every preview of the OVA, the MC almost dies on that plane crash, only to be like "lol nothing happened" ... minutes later and to add salt to the injury they proceed to take the subway, which gets derailed almost killing her again and leaving tons of bodies torn to pieces, and guess what? Yep that girl has balls of steel, she wakes up on a pile of bodies, she is like "oh my" and then proceeds to not give a fuck through all the walk home.

Another big change was that Kaori and Tadashi, had their roles reversed, Tadashi which was the MC in the mango became the damsel in distress, and to be honest Iit didn't bother me, the story kinda flowed the same, it was a very weird decision, but not really a bad one.

But when it comes to bad choices we have the new Kaori slutty friends, whch like I just said are complete bitches and whores, they are just there to fill the gap of some scenes.

The art was iffy, it really looked great at times, and very bad at others, the walking monsters, sometimes were in CGI and others on 2D, making a really weird contrast.

The sound was average, nothing of other world, but still I'm giving it the lowest score I can, because I didn't heard a single "GASHUNK" through all the OVA.

Anyways, at the end it was an enjoyable ride, if you liked the original, I'm sure you'll enjoy this adaptation, mainly because they kinda nailed that unintentional humor that GYO has.

Don't take the rating into consideration because I didn't know what I was in for when I started watching it and I don't feel I could rate this properly. It was basically horror with a gross twist. I was too fascinated to stop watching but I want to let others know beforehand... it is pretty sickening so be sure to prepare yourself.

"Y'know, people tend to ask me what this word means *points at TV screen as soon as a zombie octopus on robo legs tentacle porns the shit out of a woman* THIS is schlock!"
(me to a friend while watching this film)



Coming this summer...!

From ufotable, the masterminds behind such classics as the incredibly boring "Coyote Ragtime Show", the awesome "Garden of Sinners"-films and a huge amount of adaptations of that one visual novel no one knows about (something about a chick called "Sword" or something, I don't recall, nobody watched that one anyway!) comes a very, VERY loose OVA-adaptation (that nobody likes), based on a manga ... (that nobody likes) by that dude who wrote that one manga about people turning into snails (which was also once adapted into a movie that nobody likes).

GYO - FARTING FISH ZOMBIES



Okay, let's get one thing out of the way (besides the obvious sarcasm): this is schlock. You wanna talk schlock? You wanna watch something that's so brain-meltingly bad it's good? Watch GYO - WHAT WHAT IN THE BUTT and be amazed at how much an anime can tell you about a certain stench that's in the air, whilst also being one nasty-ass stinker itself. Caution: there may be some shitty fish-puns in this review!

[PLOT/CHARACTERS - Kaori smells something fishy!]
GYO - THE MIDDLE OF THE FILM is about Kaori and her two OVA-exclusive "friends" (who can't stand neither her nor each other, which begs the question why they're friends in the first damn place) starting off a vacation in some Crystal Lake'ish cabin in Okinawa. One fine day when Friend A (the slutty one) tries to just have a nice gangbang upstairs, out of fucking nowhere an undead zombie shark on robo spider-legs (yup, I just wrote that) comes crashing through the window. After Kaori disposes of the shark by defenestrating the fuck out of it, she switches on the news and discovers that undead fish on robo spider-legs have invaded every major city in Japan. So she does the sensible thing in such a situation - leaving her two friends (who, again, HATE EACH OTHERS' GUTS) by themselves in the Crystal Lake-cabin and going after her husbando somewhere in Tokyo. What follows is an onslaught of really, really stupid shit. And the less said about the plot, the better - you need to experience this firsthand.

The plot is basically a VERY rushed version of the original plot, switching out the main characters (Kaori's husband was the main character in the manga and Kaori was the one who needed to be saved, basically) and adding a few more on top that don't really have any value at all despite getting killed off in hilarious fashion. Kaori herself is - despite her occasional moments of badassery - a weak main character without a lot of personality traits except killing a bunch of fish, crying about how much her husband is screwed, or talking about how badly it stinks (I dare you, take a shot of liquor every time she says "Eew, that stench!" or something along those lines - you'll be dead before the first crappy looking CGI-shark attacks the characters!).

The ing cast doesn't fare better: there's a nosey-ass journalist following Kaori around who's kind of a truther-dude, there's Kaori's husband who has, like, two or three speaking lines and that's it for him, there's a hilariously cheesy evil doctor - and that's it, basically. What really grinded my gears, though - and that counts for the original as well as the shitty German dub - is how the characters treated this whole "Errmerrgerrd, nature strikes back with mustang gas-farting fish!"-situation as if it was a day at the office. I mean, what the hell Kaori, there's a goddamn shark chasing you through Tokyo and your face doesn't even move a muscle? The fuck's wrong wit' you, girl? Emote a little!

[ART - Fishing for compliments]
Y'know, for an obvious attempt at recreating the atmosphere of the surreal original, this anime doesn't look too bad. Sure, some of the animation is kind of choppy and the CGI does sometimes look like a GONZO-anime with way less budget, but I'm inclined to defend all that as the anime's chosen artstyle. And in that Uncanny Valley'ish context, it's definitely one of the OVA's strong suits. The weird-ass fish on robo spider-legs (can't seem to stop typing that) look more unsettling than they look threatening, the naturalistic approach at the human characters makes their, well, OTHER form later on in the film a lot more creepy, and there are some striking and downright beautiful images of carnage and gore peppered throughout the film (two words: plane crash). So, it's not ALL BAD, y'know.

And, yes, there's some unneccessary fanservice sprinkled throughout GYO - FISH OUT OF WATER (LITERALLY) and it's really fucking disturbing - but I kinda dug it. I mean we know it's trash, it knows it's trash (at least I hope so), so you better get some T&A up in this trash while you're at it. Also, I don't have standards when it comes to stuff like that - bring on the titties!

[SOUND - ... pause!]
The soundtrack is really decent. It's funny to hear bombastic orchestra-tracks as background music to the silliest natural disaster this side of NIGHT OF THE LEPUS - but, again, in the context of how surreal this whole ordeal is it works fine!

The seiyuu don't really give a shit as far as I'm concerned. The performances in the original dub are so damn wooden you can build a bridge out of them (glorious exception: the cheesy-ass mad scientist). But what takes the cake - while we're on the subject of shitty dubbing - is the German dub.

As someone who's always been very much a defendant of dubs - going so far as to say I'd rather watch anime dubbed than subbed most of the time (or at very least, both, for comparison's sake) -, this is one example that makes my "job" really fucking hard. You thought the original voice actors didn't give a shit? Well, screw yourself, here's a bunch of Animaze's recurring, bored-out-of-their-minds voice actors coming back to phone it in. You can play "Shitty Dub Bingo" with this anime in such a perfect way it's not even funny:

-> Awkward sentence structure with jarring grammar errors
-> Pronouncing Japanese words and names in such a wrong way that even people who don't know Japanese will facepalm in amazement
-> Long-ass................ pauses inbetween....... sentences so that the words they say match with the.......................................... lip movements.
-> Either delivering lines in such an emotionless way they come off as bored or hamming it the fuck up when it's inappropriate to do so.
-> and a lot more.

I mean, I know it's a trashy schlonz-OVA about fish walking the earth and eating people - but come on! This ain't 2002 anymore, guys! The dub, however, is just the icing on the shit cake that is this movie. I've laughed a lot because of the silly imagery and the dumb-as-a-brick plot, but the shitty dub just added a new level of awful to GYO - I HAVE A FISH WOULD YOU LIKE TO MAKE A WISH.

[OVERALL]
GYO - TOKYO FISH ATTACK (the actual English release title of this turd) is one hell of an incoherent mess: the plot doesn't make a whole lot of sense, the characters are bland, the dubs (at least the ones I've heard) suck, the art is very much hit-or-miss and it's definitely not a movie for the faint of heart (or, you know, for people who like good anime).

But as an unapologetic trashfest, as a celebration of schlock, a fearless display of entertaining awfulness, GYO - NOT A PREQUEL TO BLUE SUB NO. 6 works fine! Sure, it can be a frustrating thought to know that the guy who made UZUMAKI - which still holds up as one of the creepiest things ever written in of J-Horror - penned this complete nonsense and that ufotable - a.k.a. the dudes responsible for freaking FATE/ZERO, one of the most beautifully animated TV-cartoons ever made - shat the bed quite hard if their intention was to make an actual horror movie - but nevermind that, enjoy the trainwreck instead!

[EPILOGUE]
If the GOD EATER should suck, this is the benchmark for how bad it needs to be to become a masterpiece nonetheless. Good luck, ufotable!

Do you like fish? Well prepare to hate them after viewing this animated film about fish with legs.

Gyo is more than a dystopic anime. It incorporated drama and horror to it as well.

If there's one thing to like in this movie, it's how well-made it was. After watching this movie, I don't think I'll eat fish for a while. I guess kudos to the animators for that. It had those realistic-ish animations similar to anime like Winter sonata. This is evident from the background and setting of the anime.

I know a lot of people were disappointed with it because it was totally different from ... the manga. Yeah, sure, it didn't follow the story of the male MC, instead, it showed us the point of view of a female. If you think about it, there wasn't much of a difference when it came to the plot. It still followed the same events and sequences, it was just shortened. So again, not much difference.

The characters, or should I say Kaori, was great. The other characters were pretty flat and some were very predictable. The only character that stood out the most was Kaori. She's a quick-thinker and doesn't panic too much. Also, her body was so tough, that even if she was tossed around lots of times, she would stand up and act as if nothing happened. I was kinda disappointed in that because it broke the realism of her character.

The question remains: did I enjoy it? To be honest, I'm not sure... There were things that were amazing, things that made me jump, and things that got me facepalming. But I guess, in a way, I did enjoy myself. It got me thinking what the future has in store for us. I would recommend it, but only if you're into dystopic stuff.

Gyo was a horror manga written by Ito Junji. He's known for his horror works like Umazaki & Tomie. Gyo was written in the very early 2000s. The anime adaptation was released in 2012, roughly a decade after the manga ended. It was brought to us by Ufotable. We've seen them before with such works as Fate/Zero, Kara no Kyoukai, Gakuen Utopia Manabi Straight & Tales of Zestiria. How do they handle Ito Junji's breed of horror, usually involving fucked up body stuff? Let's have a look and judge.

Story:

We open with a trio of young ladies, Kaori, Erika & Aki enjoying a nice ... graduation trip to Okinawa where nothing bad could possibly happen, right? Unsurprisingly, things don't stay peaceful. The three arrive at the house they're staying in and smell something rancid. Someone opened a McDonalds across the street. Actually, it's the smell of rotting flesh and, surprisingly, it's completely unrelated to fast food. Something darts around their feet. Kaori manages to push a dresser into it, splattering blood everywhere. To their surprise, they find a fish that seems to have borrowed technology from Mojo. Better call Longshot. They're freaked out but not too worried. Then things get worse. The streets are flooded with walking fish and people are dying and it's not just Okinawa. They seem to be spreading all over Japan. Kaori runs back to Tokyo to try and find her boyfriend while her friends stay behind because the house can surely protect them... The one that's been breached twice at that point. Safest option ever.

The biggest narrative issue here is just that a lot of the story is very formulaic. The peaceful setting that gets overrun by something sinister. The emergency back home that forces the protagonist to risk greater danger and the fairly predictable obstacles that she encounters on her way. The beats are familiar which does detract from the impact of the events.

Then we have the premise. On one hand, fish with mechanical legs attacking Japan is, on the surface, pretty damn goofy. It's not nearly as absurd as the idea of a shark tornado but it's still ridiculous. However, Ito manages to take that silly premise and make it kind of intense. The narrative doesn't afford you any real opportunities to laugh at the absurdity of the premise because there's constantly something grotesque, creepy or otherworldly happening. All while managing to be paced pretty well. Ultimately, that's the biggest strength of Gyo. The strength of its execution and pacing because pulling off a premise this silly even somewhat competently in a horror work isn't easy. I also do appreciate that there is effort put into explaining the basics of how this situation happened while leaving some supernatural elements intact. Because there's no way you're explaining this with no supernatural elements.

Characters:

The characters are something of a problem in this. Let's start with Kaori and her friends. The first issue here is that they really don't come across as much of friends. We're supposed to believe that they're the bosomiest of bosom buddies but pretty much the first thing we see is Erika trying to ditch the other two so that she can fool around with random blokes and they just generally act more like people who can basically tolerate one another with some effort than the types of friends you'd actually expect to see take a trip together. We also have the motivations. Let's look at Aki specifically for this one. When Kaori is going back to Tokyo she stays behind with Erika even though evidence suggests that she can't stand Erika at that point. Why doesn't she just go back with Kaori then? And then she gets mad because Kaori left her alone with Erika even though there's no reason given for why she couldn't have just gone back. Kaori herself is just a bland character. And her boyfriend is basically a non-character but her search for him also, unfortunately, drives a lot of the narrative and serves as her primary motivation.

Art:

Ito has a talent for taking something ordinary and innocuous & twisting it into something disturbingly grotesque. Which is something that Gyo manages to portray pretty well. It's not his absolute best, that still goes to superimposing pregnant women and mosquitoes. The deformations in this little OVA are gruesome & disturbing, though. The animation itself flows very well. The action is quickly moving while possessing impact and it manages to convey the chaotic atmosphere while still being easy to follow.

Sound:

Most of the cast in this is perfectly able. Not exactly good, but decent enough. The problem is that our main actress, Kataoka Mirai, gives a performance that seems completely devoid of actual effort. Her delivery reminds me of a student reading off of the script while trying to get a role in a school play. When the student in question was dragged in by their friend and doesn't really want to be there. Could they not be bothered to give this poor woman some direction? Shiina Go's soundtrack is actually quite good. He does a good job of matching his tracks to the atmosphere. Which does help things come across as creepier than they might have otherwise.

Ho-yay:

There isn't any to be found.

Final Thoughts:

Gyo could have been a solid OVA. It has some narrative issues but the execution is quite good. The atmosphere works nicely. The artwork really matches Ito Junji's style. Unfortunately, the bland characters result in the piece lacking any real tension and Kataoka's poor performance also holds the work back. It ends up being a decent enough spectacle and even worth watching just for those elements that do work but it's not great or even particularly good. My final rating is going to stand at a 6/10. Next week I'll continue horror month with a look at Kowabon and then we'll finish this year's horror month with a look at Elfen Lied.

I'm not sure you can see my ratings so, here's those.

Story: 6
Art: 6
Sound: 7
Character: 4
Enjoyment: 2/8 (explanation below)
Overall: 5

Since I'm pretty much desensitized to gore, this movie/ova didn't really hit me like it should have. That being said, THERE IS A LOT OF GORE IN THIS. THIS IS A WARNING: IF YOU DON'T LIKE GORE, DON'T WATCH THIS, YOU WILL REGRET IT. Anyways, here's my review of each of the elements above. I should also note I have NOT read the manga, so this will not reflect that.
...
Story: I thought the story was decent. Mild spoilers in this section. I don't really like the premise, the whole fish on land thing was kind of odd and not thought out in general. It starts with fishermen on a boat, looking at a certain fish with terror in their eyes and on their faces. After the opening credits, it switches to Kaori and her two friends (Aki and Erika) eating in a restaurant near the water. They start talking about what they're going to do when they get back to their cabin, which is even closer to the water. They open up the cabin door and a stench is in the air. They cover their noses and go inside, only to find a fish with spider-like legs inside. Kaori quickly kills it and they think it's over, but the most terrifying thing has yet to come for them.

Art: I think Ufotable did a decent job on the art. The only downside for me is a lot of the animation was CGI. All of the 2d art looked pretty great. If it was all CGI and I was reviewing this, I would have left it at a 3 at best.

Sound: I didn't mind the music. There was nothing that really stood out bad or good for sound in general, except that the sound effects were well done, and that the screams sounded really fake. So they even out, and the music was good enough, so I gave it a 7.

Characters: The characters were the worst part of this. Kaori was totally flat and stereotypical, Erika was just a total slut which really doesn't fit this story at all and Aki was really bland as well. I think the best character was actually someone who is introduced about 20 minutes in, who I will not talk about because spoilers. Characters in this were just meh in general.

Enjoyment: Now, above I put 2/8. Here's my explanation. As a horror movie, 2. It honestly just wasn't scary, which is obviously what it was going for. It's not really that bad, I guess I would bump it up to a 2.5 or 3. If I could put enjoyment down as a different genre though, I would definitely give this an 8 if it was a comedy. Maybe I'm just messed up, but the whole sharks/fish on land was hilarious, along with the CGI just being bad enough for me to be able to make fun of it. Also, some of the later things were very funny, again in my opinion.

Overall: 5. It wasn't a total waste of time, I laughed pretty hard but it totally didn't accomplish what it was aiming for. I was supposed to be here screaming in terror at these fish attacking people on land, when I was just laughing at the idea of fish on land, the character's reactions to the whole ordeal and the CGI. If I had the hour back, I would probably watch it again anyways. So, yeah.