Sex, violence, and no remorse.
What They Say:
Yuya Nomoto was horrified to discover that the vehicle he was driving was being used to kidnap a high school girl, but he’s even more shocked when the girl, Hitomi Uzaki, literally tears her kidnappers to pieces instead! Then she forces Yuya to drive her to an arena where she bets the value of his organs on herself to win in a death match against a half-lion hybrid! Even more astonishing: Hitomi wins! That’s because she’s a Therianthrope, a genetically engineered fighter created specifically for the underground death matches known as Killing Bites! And now that Yuya has been pulled into this dark underworld, he has no choice but to continue working for Hitomi. Because who’s going to fight against a girl who’s part honey badger? Get ready to enter the most savage competition ever in Killing Bites!
The Review:
Audio:
The audio presentation for this release brings us the original Japanese language track only in stereo using the DTS-HD MA lossless codec. What we get here is very much an action-driven series where there are plenty of fights to be had across the series as a whole but it’s not the only thing. We get a lot of character moments and some humor along the way as well so it’s got a good balance to things and doesn’t just lean into one area completely. The action moments have some good impact to them overall across the forward soundstage and the incidental sounds come across clean and clearly as well. There is some mild placement at times but beyond that, it’s simple but effective. Dialogue is clean and clear throughout and we didn’t have any problems with dropouts or distortions during playback.
Video:
Originally airing in 2018, the transfer for this TV series is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.78:1 in 1080p using the AVC codec. The twelve episodes are spread across two discs in a nine/three breakdown. Animated by Liden Films, the series has a really great look to it with distinctive character designs and a clean look that helps to bring it all together. The action material is pretty well-handled so that it’s not too over the top or high-quality that the encoding can’t keep up with and that leaves us with a fun-looking show. It works some very vibrant moments at times and overall the encoding for this works really well as it brings all of that detail and color design to life in a great way. It’s richly done with a clean and problem-free encode as there’s no noise to be had or break up throughout.
Packaging:
The packaging design for this release comes in a standard-sized Blu-ray case with both discs against the interior walls with no hinge involved. The front cover uses the familiar key artwork of the four main characters in their animalistic side along with Yuya set off to the side. Placing that against the black and red background that’s done as claw marks through it and a sense of bloodiness definitely makes for an eye-catching piece overall. I like the look of it as it shows its weird side easily but also has an energy to it. The back cover breaks things up with black and red sections while spreading some small sized shots from the show along the bottom. The summary of the premise is clean and easy to read as is the small breakdown of what extras are on the disc. The production credits are straightforward and the technical grid lists how the show was put together for the release in an accurate way. No show related inserts are included nor is there a reversible cover.
Extras:
The only extras included with this release are the clean versions of the opening and closing sequences and a small selection of the original promos made prior to its Japanese debut.
Based on the manga of the same name, Killing Bites is a twelve-episode anime series that aired during the winter 2018 season. Because it was an Amazon exclusive, it’s taken a bit for it to find a home video release but Sentai stepped in for it here, giving us a monolingual release that feels like a throwback in some ways to shows of old. Which I appreciate because variety is the spice of life. The original manga for this comes from Shinya Murata and artist Kazuasa Sumita and it’s been running since 2013 with sixteen volumes to its name so far, but hasn’t been licensed in English. The anime saw its adaptation come from Liden Films with Yasuto Nishikata directing it based on the scripts by Aoi Akashiro.
The premise for this is a little weird and honestly not something that’s gone into in a super deep way. There are human/animal hybrid types that have been around forever in Japan and are part of key moments in history throughout the centuries. They’re far more advanced now thanks to genetic engineering and they’re called Therianthropes. There are underground death matches that exist for these creatures in the present that the corporations run and it’s all just kind of… weird. It reminds me of the base level kinds of things we’d see with the Guyver manga back in the day with the corporations tied to other elements and using them and the creations for nefarious purposes but also just for entertainment cash value. Regardless, it’s a way that the show can operate by having a range of women that have undergone this engineering and have sexy bodies with animal traits that will delight the viewers with many, many, lingering shots on their sexuality.
The show even opens on a bad note as we’re introduced to our leading lady, Hitomi, as she’s been kidnapped by a bunch of guys that are going to do bad things with her. She got picked up along with Yuya, a college kid that they roped into driving the van so they can focus while threatening him as well. Hitomi, however, is a cross with a honey badger and she’s able to end things here quickly and easily when it comes to the bad guys. And with Yuya having been exposed to this, he’s brought in to understand what’s going on and ends up a part of the Killing Bite matches themselves because he’s her collateral as she’s betting his organs in the fights in order to take part. So she has to keep him alive as her collateral while at the same time ensuring she never loses because, well, obviously.
With the original manga originally serialized on the seinen magazine Monthly Hero’s, there aren’t a lot of surprises here for me and I can see why it was probably not a title being looked at by a lot of people. I almost suspect that Amazon wasn’t paying attention considering it starts off with an attempted rape scenario that doesn’t paint our leading male in a good light since it was his friends starting on it. And then the final episode is one that follows through on a rape scenario by all intents and sets up something dar and brutal that I figure is showing off what future manga installments are like in order to draw viewers there. I’m clearly not in favor of rape and there are other ways the storytelling could have worked to deal with a betrayal here, but I do like that we get something as weirdly complex as this in order to set up the future that’s teased at the very end of this release.
But what’s in-between? Fighting. Lots and lots of fighting as Hitomi is on a big run to win as much as she can while a range of others are looking to secure their own futures. And this unfolds alongside a slowly gestating storyline in the background among the four heads of the Zaibatsu Corporation that runs all of this as they’re all jockeying for power and influence that will shape the future that’s teased at the end. This again reminds me of the manga of old in how it operates while keeping the reader/viewer entertained with the fights as the power storyline plays out in the background. Is our lead character truly in charge of her own destiny? Or is she just following orders, and will she break them because of love? This is a dark series and that plays out in the action as well as it’s violent, bloody, and very sexualized with the male gaze being set on default and ramping up as needed.
Honestly, this is a show that I can see a whole lot of viewers just hating for a lot of reasons and I totally get it. It’s not something that I’m here raving about, but I will say that I like just how dark and unconventional that it gets. It’s something where if you told me the base plot without any details, you could map it out easily with how it would run, especially since a large chunk are just fight sequences between weird characters (the bunny!). But the series actually goes quite dark with how violent it gets, it opens and ends on some really bad material that’s will just infuriate people, and it hits an overall endgame approach while teasing the manga that makes you want to curse at the TV yet at the same time almost – almost – want to see a sequel made so we can see that storyline unfold.
In Summary:
Killing Bites will sate the fans that want something that’s inexcusably violent and doesn’t try to back down from that. And is one that enjoys being not just the object of sexual attention with the male gaze but also something that engages in its sexuality in a strong way at times. It’s like it takes the worst tendencies of a bunch of trash shows and mashes it all together into this with a furry-ish element as well. The problem is that it’s leaning into trash shows that I like, such as Ikki-Tousen and Tenji Tenge, and just ramping it up across the board. Combine that with the crazy final episode where it feels more like fanfic than anything else and it was a trainwreck I couldn’t turn away from. And that’s pretty appealing in a sea of sameness that so many shows fall into. It’s no surprise that Sentai didn’t dub this one since I suspect the Amazon numbers were low and it’s such an awkward property. But we get a really solid two-disc set here that lets the series show off its color and design work petty well with a high definition presentation. Fans will be happy and those that stumble into it may be horrified – and there’s appeal to that.
Features:
Japanese DTS-HD MA 2.0 Language, English Subtitles, Clean Opening, Clean Closing, Japanese Promos
Content Grade: B-
Audio Grade: B+
Video Grade: B+
Packaging Grade: B
Menu Grade: B
Extras Grade: B-
Released By: Sentai Filmworks
Release Date: January 26th, 2021
MSRP: $59.98
Running Time: 300 Minutes
Video Encoding: 1080p AVC
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Widescreen
Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Sony PlayStation3 Blu-ray player via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.