Reviewer Nikola Gocić of tasteofcinema.com listed the film as #1 on his list of "30 Lesser Known Japanese Cult Films That Are Worth Your Time", writing, "Ryuhei Kitamura ('
Versus', '
Aragami', '
Azumi)') entailed in this film all of his perverse notions, including extremely graphic violence, hot girls, Yakuza, and anime/hentai aesthetics. He dipped them in the style of his Tarantino/Rodriguez influences and produced a 159 minute curio that borders on both parody and exploitation." Reviewer Niels Matthijs of onderhond.com gave the film a rating of 4 out of 5 stars, calling it "hip and flashy" with "seemingly random Japanese weirdness" and writing, "Visually Kitamura is still strong, certainly when there's not too much CGi around to play with. LoveDeath is colorful and vibrant, showcasing all style and no substance camerawork and throwing in some extravagant costumes to liven up the visuals as well as the characters. For a 150 minute film it's good to see that Kitamura is able to keep the level of visual playfulness consistent throughout the whole film." Matthijs concludes, "It's all fluff, all style, no substance and utterly weird, but that's what makes these films so much fun. It's probably Kitamura's best film since
Versus and a treat for all that love manga turned real." Reviewer BastiTheEnd of animenachrichten.de wrote, "'LoveDeath' is a wild film full of crazy characters and ideas. It does justice to the manga and is a fast-paced road movie lasting 159 minutes. An absolute insider tip." When asked in an interview in
Otaku USA how
LoveDeath fits in with his career path, Kitamura responded, "I think it's the best movie I've ever made. It's so crazy and too extreme. Which is why we're still negotiating for overseas releases. The original is 2 hours and 30 minutes, and we need to make a shorter version for foreign sales, especially in the US. There are some people who only look at the numbers, so my agent asked me to cut it down. I did and it still works. But it took me a while. I didn't make LOVEDEATH for money. If I had it would have been easier to think about the foreign market and the running time before I started shooting. But LOVEDEATH was made from pure desire. I felt like I had to make this movie with my friends in Japan before moving on to the next stage of my career. So I didn't care or worry about anything else. In Japan, they want the DVD release by the end of this year, but I prefer not to release it so it will become legendary. I'm telling my people in Japan, 'In three years, my value is going to go up. So just hide it for now. I'll put it out when I'm in a good mood.' Like I said, that's my strength. Believing in myself." ==References==