A heady mixture of sex, violence and violent sex masks an epic story of salvation and destiny. Despite the edgy subject matter, the crisp animation and storytelling more than validates the experience.

A morality play (of sorts), a philosophical debate and an animated soap opera all rolled into one. Overfiend's rendering of large-scale concepts makes for a well-wrought tale.

Although some of the minor and supporting characters remain fairly shallow, the main cast get the full treatment, developing in surprising directions.

It's gripping enough to entice viewers to watch scenes of debauched carnage unlike anything else out there - which, considering just how debauched those scenes get, says quite a bit.

Far more accomplished than your average anime - where the translations are by far the weakest link - most of the dialogue sounds natural.

Perhaps a precipitate of high writing quality, most of the acting is relatively impressive, better than a lot of the anime out there.

Quantitatively speaking, there's more sex than in a porn movie, and the level of bloody, gruesome violence isn't anything to sneeze at either. Don't let your kids watch this unless they've been really bad … or you want them to be.

It's been said that Japanese animators use tentacles in lieu of genitalia as a not-so-subtle ploy to confound censors. The watchdogs of morality are apparently so devoted to the letter of the law that although something may look, act and function as a penis (don't ask), if it's also prehensile and hissing, it passes muster. To that end Maeda charges full tilt at this loophole. Nearly every creature comes standard with the appendage, if not several. In one scene, the Overfiend has literally hundreds, snaking like oversized, demonic eels across the night sky, spitting fire and destruction across the city. There's no way to watch that scene without feeling just a little uncomfortable.

Maeda's blending of sex and violence gives new meaning to "over the top." "Overfiend" features what is almost certainly the first animated at-home penis transplant money shot and killing by ejaculation. Caligula is Fred Rogers lite next to this bad boy.

Love it? Hate it? Buy it.