Well that was the goofiest take on Lovecraftian Horror I've ever seen on film! For those of you who aren't aware, BiliBili is a Chinese streaming service that hosts anime, sort of like Crunchyroll in the West. And just like Crunchroll, BiliBili has a cute, Moe-girl mascots named 22. So yeah, this movie is Bilibili character Mascot fanfiction. The story has 22 and three other people volunteer to test a VR game. They discover that the game is not functioning as expected, which leads down an odd path before pulling in a bunch of components from Shadow over Innsmouth (if you have seen one Lovecraft story, you'veseen them all). Video game components still abound though, which results in an interesting balancing act between self-aware comedy and horror.

Visually, the directing is good and the animation is fluid. Characters are drawn in a soft, Moe-style so the whole thing has a 'cute' feel to it which runs contrary to some of the events occurring around them (think Madoka Magica or Higurashi). My one gripe with the visuals is that some monster models and the leads in range shots switch to 3D animation, and when this happens it's very obvious. Thankfully these shots are done at a distance, so the impact is minimal, and none of the mentioned characters talk during these moments, so you don't get the uncanny look that happens when this is tried in other anime.

The horror kept me paying attention, and the humor got me to laugh. This works for and against the film, as even up into the start of the third act the show takes itself very seriously when it's trying to present horror, doing a lot to evoke that misty, gloomy, seaside town atmosphere that Innsmouth is known for. By the end it becomes hard to take seriously, and I found myself grinning more often than worried for the characters. If I had to level criticism against the show, it would be on two areas. First is the aforementioned obvious 3D. The second is that the characters don't really grow or change during the story, making it so that there's never really a particularly impactful moment of the sort that would get me to give this an 8 or higher. As a result, between the humor and visual language, the work can come off as 'cheap' at times, and anyone who came here expecting a serious take on Lovecraft or similar will be disappointed.

Finally, please be aware that the only version of this I can find had tiny subtitles in Chinese, and even tinier subtitles in English. There are no dubs that I know of.

In all, a solid film to watch alone or with friends for a laugh or a few thrills, but probably not for someone looking for a solid horror or serious take on Cthulhu Mythos.