Black Fox

Rikka Isurugi has spent her life training in the way of the ninja with her grandfather Hyoe while following in the footsteps of her father, the esteemed researcher Allen. His work has culminated in a set of cutting- edge drones equipped with artificial intelligence and incredible technical capabilities; although Allen plans to develop these drones for civilian use, there are others who have more sinister ideas in mind.

On Rikka's 16th birthday, things are forever changed when a paramilitary group raids the Isurugi house in search of the drone technology, killing Allen and Hyoe while Rikka manages to escape with the drones. Months pass, and Rikka is now an ordinary girl working as a private detective while sharing an apartment with another girl, Melissa. But when night falls, she dons her grandfather's fox mask and mercilessly hunts down those responsible for the attack. With the anger she felt that day driving her forward, Rikka will not rest until her family's killers receive the justice that they deserve.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Isurugi, Rikka Main

Nanase, Ayaka Japanese

Mia Supporting

Tomatsu, Haruka Japanese

Harold Supporting

Koyama, Rikiya Japanese

Madara Supporting

The Girl in the Fox Mask Supporting

Melissa Supporting

Taichi, You Japanese

Brad Supporting

Oboro Supporting

Fujiwara, Keiji Japanese

Lauren Supporting

Tobita, Nobuo Japanese

Allen Supporting

Tsuchida, Hiroshi Japanese

Nagatani, Takayuki Producer

Oda, Motohiro Producer

Oomori, Shinji Producer

Kawamura, Hitoshi Producer

Reviews

Jun 8, 2023

YankataY

Recommended

Overall, this film is a mix of Batgirl, Robo-Dog, and X-Men with cute anime girls and incredible animation.
It has a fairly generic anime plot, but despite that, I had a fun experience with this film. The action sequences are fluid, dynamic, and expertly choreographed, immersing the viewers in thrilling and intense battles. The visual design, character animations, and attention to detail contribute to the overall high production value of the film.
The film also delves into deeper themes such as identity, family bonds, and the moral implications of revenge. Rikka's character development is explored as she struggles with the choice between being a scientist ... like her father or a ninja like her grandfather.

Black Fox has many weaknesses, apart from being very generic. Everything unfolds too quickly, and in the end, you don't really care much about the characters. However, the idea itself in the film, in my opinion, could turn into a pretty good anime series if given a chance and if the staff has more ideas on how to develop it.

I support the creation of original anime, so I give it an overall rating of 7/10.
It's a good movie, but easily forgettable. However, I would watch it again regardless. It's nothing too special, but not a complete letdown either.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Jul 9, 2020

O_T_T

Mixed Feelings

When the final shot of the trailer is also the final shot of the movie, something has gone seriously wrong.

Original projects are usually a lot more interesting and creative than established franchises, but there is a caveat that when one falters, it brings far more down than an adaptation would.

Black Fox is a movie that feels like a draft screenplay of itself. The main plot and central characters have been planned out, and in a vacuum are decent, but everything else feels completely rushed. Be it up to me, I'd have asked for the whole movie to be given a serious once-over before release, lest ... it end up as mundane as it actually did.

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The plot is two entwined; the first being a revenge story, and the second a superhero origin. These work together, and I'd argue are pulled off very well. Unfortunately, the movie stuck very close to its own tropes, to the degree that the story becomes consistently predictable. My only real complaint is a revelation during the epilogue that doesn't do anything for the story and was not foreshadowed at all save for a single, potentially missable background detail. This revelation did not add anything to the story, and under examination actually detracts from it.

All promotional material suggested three protagonists, Rikka, Mia and Melissa. Rikka is the main driving force, Mia is a foe turned ally, and Melissa the one who instigates this change. Rikka and Mia are reasonably good characters, with simple and somewhat parallel arcs, but just like the plot, have predictable conclusions, even though the portrayal is decent. Melissa, however, feels incomplete. Allying Mia is the only plot relevance she has, and her own character has no depth other than being an archetypal friend. She does come into play during the epilogue, but as stated it affects the story negatively.

The movie's two villains are another weak point. One is basically pulled out of events after the first act, and the other, the eventual final opponent of the movie, is a stock mad scientist. He doesn't quite have enough flair to be an exceptional one, but has pretty good moments, especially right before the final act. The first, though, never gets an opportunity to do anything other than grimace, leaving me apathetic.

Finally, there are Rikka's robot animals. Frankly, they're little more than macguffins with voices, and I'm still left amiss as to whether they had any more significance that I couldn't decipher. They do very little to actually further the plot, other than the bird flying Rikka away once or twice. For being breakthrough technology, they're not too impressive.

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Every technical aspect is roughly average, including art, sound effects, animation, direction and editing. The most worthwhile thing is the theme song, which is excellent and what originally made me watch the movie. There is somewhat bad CGI integration, but this isn't something I personally have a problem with.

As for style, while the art isn't really unique, there are some designs i liked, such as Mia's original and Rikka's final combat outfits. The overall setting had some ideas behind it, I think with the combination of modern and historic elements, but there wasn't anything that really came of this. The tone was alright, but nothing that felt really significant. Some of the apparati where kinda neat, like Rikka's colour-changing jacket or ninja equipment, but that's icing rather than stylistic in my opinion.

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In order to improve Black Fox, I would firstly cut the epilogue's reveal entirely, as it does taint the story a little. I think that Melissa and the animals should be reintegrated to be a lot more important, and with both put more emphasis on their relationships with Rikka, so that they have emotional significant to the protagonist rather than just being furnishing elements. The villains, particularly the original, could get a bit more depth and motivations, since they also felt sidelined by the script.

Overall, Black Fox was an acceptable premise but wasn't made as exciting as it could have been. With every good detail was a bad, leaving the movie essentially average. However, it does at least have the minimum of my attention, and if a sequel does come out, all of my complaints could feasibly be rectified within it, so I'd most likely still be interested.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Feb 11, 2020

KishinEgg

Not Recommended

I'm dissapointed because it was actually enjoyable.

So for those of you who don't know, this was supposed to be a TV series, most probably a 2 cour one that had production problems and was semi canceled, so this is basically what they salvaged out of that.

The first 22 minutes are fantastic and that's because that was supposed to the first episode. After that it gets noticeably fast paced, uneven character personalities, akward character development and the movie ends without even confronting the main villian.

It's sad because it was still somewhat enjoyable. I liked the characters, the setting, the music, the atmosphere and this really could've ... been a really chill action ninja Anime but unfortunately it got lost in production hell

It's a pity really

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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	Poll: Black Fox Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) Stark700 - Oct 4, 2019	122 replies	by Kougeru »» Jan 28, 10:21 AM
	Sequal / Continuation? ariesclark - Oct 5, 2019	20 replies	by JustMyself »» Feb 22, 2024 4:03 AM
	Black Fox Movie Soundtrack? barricuda - Oct 5, 2019	7 replies	by mclovin_san »» Nov 30, 2021 4:09 PM
	So what's the deal with this Live Action BLACKFOX? FateHero - Nov 30, 2019	0 replies	by FateHero »» Nov 30, 2019 10:09 PM
	Crunchyroll's page lists it with "Simulcast on Fridays 10:00am MDT" Jaces_Sanctum - Oct 4, 2019	0 replies	by Jaces_Sanctum »» Oct 4, 2019 10:59 PM