MFKZ
ムタフカズ -MUTAFUKAZ- (Mutafukaz)
- Action
- Sci-Fi
- Psychological
- Super Power
- Episodes
- 1
- Duration
- 1 hr 33 min
- Aired
- Oct 12, 2018
- Status
- Finished Airing
Synopsis
After a scooter crash sparked by a fleeting vision of a mysterious woman, Angelino—one of countless aimless residents of Dark Meat City—begins suffering brutal migraines that bring on unsettling hallucinations.
With his close friend Vinz at his side, he searches for answers as the episodes grow harder to ignore. Meanwhile, ominous men in black close in, intent on tracking him down before he can learn what’s happening to him.
Otaku Consensus
MFKZ earns its cult-friendly reputation through Shoujirou Nishimi and Guillaume Renard’s high-velocity direction, Studio 4°C/Ankama’s abrasive visual identity, and action staging that critics repeatedly single out for fluid chases and fight choreography. The film’s comic-adaptation energy is also its liability: it tries to compress a lot of mythology into one 94-minute blast, leaving plot inconsistencies and a less cathartic finale as the most common complaints.
Why You Should Watch
Watch MFKZ if you want urban sci-fi that feels less like a clean franchise product and more like a graffiti wall that learned how to fight. It scratches the same itch as Studio 4°C’s wilder work: dense backgrounds, elastic character motion, sudden tonal swerves, and an appetite for street-level chaos. The appeal is not lore perfection; it is the collision of guns, noir paranoia, alien-conspiracy texture, gore, and psychological disorientation inside a single feature-length sprint. Viewers who like their anime polished but not sanitized will get the most out of it, especially if they prefer momentum over exposition and visual attitude over tidy worldbuilding.
Key Characters
- AAngelino(VA: Tsuyoshi Kusanagi)
Angelino functions as the film’s pressure point, giving MFKZ its psychological-superpower angle through a lead who is more rattled survivor than conventional action hero.
- VVinz(VA: Tokio Emoto)
Vinz is the loyalty anchor of the main trio, the kind of sidekick fans remember because his presence keeps the movie grounded amid its escalating visual noise.
- WWilly(VA: Shinnosuke Mitsushima)
Willy rounds out the central group by adding a scrappier, street-comedy texture to a film otherwise dominated by paranoia, weapons, and pursuit.
What Makes It Stand Out
- 1
MFKZ is a French-Japanese animated feature from Studio 4°C and Ankama Animations, pairing the experimental reputation of Studio 4°C with the comic-source connection of Guillaume Renard.
- 2
The film is unusually author-driven for an anime co-production: Guillaume Renard is credited as original creator, scriptwriter, and co-director, while Shoujirou Nishimi also serves as both co-director and character designer.
- 3
Critics and viewers consistently highlight the motion work, especially the fight scenes and car chases, as a major reason the film remains engaging despite complaints about the story’s compression.
- 4
Its genre mix is more specific than the broad Action/Sci-Fi label suggests: AniList’s strongest tags point to guns, aliens, noir, gore, dystopian texture, augmented reality, super powers, and drugs.
- 5
The production credits show a layered visual pipeline, with Shinji Kimura as art director, Miyuki Itou on color design, and Takuma Sakamoto as CG director, helping explain the film’s dense city imagery and hybrid action presentation.
Fun Facts & Trivia
- Fun fact 1
- The title appears in databases as both MFKZ and Mutafukaz, reflecting the abbreviated branding noted in several reviews and articles.
- Fun fact 2
- The film is based on a comic, and its creator Guillaume Renard stayed unusually close to the adaptation by taking script and directing credits in addition to the original creator credit.
- Fun fact 3
- Michio Mihara is credited on storyboard, while Masahiko Kubo is listed as unit director, adding specialist animation-side support beneath the Renard/Nishimi directing team.
- Fun fact 4
- Its reception sits in cult-middle territory rather than mainstream breakout territory: MyAnimeList lists it at 7.08 from 11,260 votes, while AniList records a 68/100 score and 179 favourites.
- Fun fact 5
- One circulated viewer account notes that the film reportedly took eight years to make, a claim that fits the common reaction that its production labor is most visible in the animation and background work.
Studios
- Ankama Animations
- Studio 4°C
