The third movie of The Garden of Sinners is set shortly before the first movie and about three years after the second movie. Thus, it manages to work as a bit of a bridge between the two, though many things still remain unclear.

Ultimately, that is what bothers me most about this series in general and this movie specifically. As a standalone movie, it simply doesn't make much sense, though it doesn't fare quite as badly as the first movie. As part of a series, the hour-long format doesn't feel quite right either. A more traditional format would perhaps work better; by this time, at least the characters have become somewhat familiar, though I still don't feel like a know them all that well. And similarly, the universe is in dire need of exposition which none of the movies so far have deigned to give.

Odd format aside, the movie is terribly well made. The animations and backgrounds are visually impressive, the cinematography works fairly well, the atmosphere is solidly gritty, and the soundtrack is lovely.

If I understood the preview of the next chapter, the fourth movie will finally be able to bridge the time between the second and the third one, so I hope that I'll be able to gain some comprehension then... In total, I don't yet see the appeal in this series. The characters aren't introduced enough to become all that likeable, the universe is so badly explained that I have no idea what the stakes are, and the rest is simply not unique enough to warrant the flaws. Yet I can't deny that my interest has been picked; hopefully I won't regret my choice not to have abandoned this series yet.

This, the third film in the series, takes place shortly before the events of the first film. It opens with Fujino Asagami, a school girl, girl being raped by a group of young men. Shortly afterwards she meets Mikiya in an alley. She is complaining of a stomach pain and he takes her to his apartment. The next morning she is gone. The morning news tells of horrific murders in the bar where Fujino was raped. Later Mikiya asks a friend for a loan; in return he is asked to find somebody who has gone missing. It turns out Fujino is hunting him down. Shiki confronts Fujino and sees somebody like herself in many ways. Shiki determines that she must be stopped.

This was another really fine addition to the series. From the start Fujino proves to be a sympathetic antagonist; it is impossible not to think her victims deserved to be punished even if nobody deserves to be broken the way she broke them. These scenes are quite painful to watch and explain how Shiki lost her left arm. Fujino is a well fleshed out character with good explanations as to why she isn't like other people. As expected the animation is great and the backgrounds are fantastic. Overall I really enjoyed this and am sure other fans of the series will too.

These comments are based on watching the series in Japanese with English subtitles.