Reviews

No idea why this has such a low score. It is on my top 3 animes of all time. The sex isn't for the sake of sexual arousal but exposure of corruption and lust/power, so I personally don't classify it as an H anime, but it is technically. It is like A Kite in that sense. The director wanted to tell a story, shoot a movie perhaps, but this was their concept project. The ambition level is different (A Kite is a Neo Noir/Action film and this is more of a drama) but you get the core concept.

The characters were complex, the story was extremely well told, and the atmosphere was passing strange. It is a character study and an insight into the relationship between church and state.

From the review scores I can tell that they didn't like it, but my interpretation of that is that they didn't like what they got vs what they expected. I don't expect H films to provide compelling stories and non-preachy, stark looks at corruption, but it's complaining when you get a great film instead of a sexually compelling one. This is The Erotic Temptress ep 4 all over again.