The Film (4.5/5)

    Takashi Miike should be no stranger to cult film fans, or those that read this site. The director hit the world stage with his film Fudoh: The New Generation in 1996, and become a fixture in the world of strange and often macabre cinema with his horror classic Audition in 1999. Since that time he has directed well over 100 films most of which show off his penchant for the bizarre, or at the very least a quite eclectic visual style.  With that many film's not all of them have English friendly releases, and some of them take years to make it over to western audiences, such is the case with As the Gods Will, a 2014 film by Miike which is just now getting a Blu-ray release through anime powerhouse Funimation.

    As the Gods Will stars Fukushi Sota as Shun, a quite bored high school student who wishes his life was more exciting. He, unfortunately, gets his wish when a Daruma doll comes to life in his classroom, and starts killing everyone who even moves until someone can press the button on the back of his head. Following this, Shun and his surviving classmates must survive a series of challenges including avoiding getting eaten by a giant "Lucky Cat" statue amongst other things. It turns out that teenagers around the world are trapped in cubes high above their respective cities and must fight the gods to escape. The people on the outside consider them "god's children".   Shun and his classmates are in the cube above Japan and must fight their way out.

   A lot has been said comparing As the Gods Will to Battle Royale and the Hunger Games. Though I'll just say I think that's an inappropriate comparison. Though there is a character who seems to be working against the others, for the most part it is the gods who are working the kids, not the kids against one another.  The only commonality that can be found is dead teenagers, which would more closely relate to another Miike film of the time, Lessons of Evil (which you should also see if you can it's on Blu through Third Window Films).

    As the Gods Will is a film that I hadn't heard of before Funimation announced it, and so I had zero expectations for it as I popped it in my player. I then proceeded to have my mind blown. It is bizarre, and fun, and completely violent throughout the first 2/3's of the film. After that point things tend to calm down, and it gets more into a steady narrative rhythm where Miike begins to concern himself more with the characters, their stories, and emotions, rather then more scenes of shocking violence. This inevitably works out quite well, and leaves the film ending on a solid strong note.

Audio/Video (4/5)

    Funimation presents As The Gods Will in a solid 1080p AVC encoded widescreen transfer that looks quite excellent. Colors are nicely reproduced, detail is quite solid, and blacks are nice and deep.

   Audio is handled by Dolby TrueHD tracks in English and Japanese. Both tracks are quite serviceable and sound clear and detailed.

Extras (1/5)

   Just the trailers for the film, and other Funimation releases.

Overall

    Takashi Miike's As the Gods Will is a totally wild and fun ride. The Blu-ray looks and sounds fantastic, but is limited in extras. RECOMMENDED.