YMMV / The Mystical Laws

• Anvilicious: Hoo boy, where to begin?
  • Happy Science is the one true religion, and you should give Ryuho Okawa: the reincarnation of Buddha, Jesus, Thoth, Hermes, Ophealis, La Mu, Rient Arl Croud and El Cantare all your devotion and money.
  • Atheists and other non-religious people all want to purge all religion from society.
  • Japan should go to war with China before they get any ideas, and Article 9 must be repealed to allow this.
• Complete Monster: The demon who possesses Tathagata Killer seeks to "bring tears to God's eyes" by tearing humanity apart. Using Tathagata as its puppet, the demon creates the fascist Godom Empire and uses it to oppress millions of people, having entire families publicly executed if even one member is found to have a religious text. The Godom Empire invades cities and kills countless people, and the demon coerces Tathagata into developing the "Ultimate Destruction Weapon", lying to its allies that it's just for threats when the demon intends to use it to wipe out all life on Earth. In a bout of petty sadism, the demon forces the good-natured Theta to activate the weapon with her own hands, laughing that the end of humanity has come.
• Glurge: Like any other Happy Science film, this one pushes the idea that those who side with the cult's message are wholly good while atheists and non-religious people are malevolent scumbags, whom the Ryuho Okawa stand-in lectures after defeating them. The most noticeable difference here is the added comparison to Nazis and the calls for war against China to prevent them from becoming an empire.
• Just Here for Godzilla: Many of those who watched the movie stayed for Tathagata Killer, whose over-the-top villainy and intimidating behavior makes it more entertaining to watch, but because of the surprising character depth compared to the generic protagonist.
• Narm: The English dub sometimes makes it even harder to take this movie seriously.
  • After the General appoints Shou as his successor and he doubts he could assume such a responsibility, Julia and other Hermes' Wings members reassure him, but the last one stands out for awkwardly delivering his line and sounding as if English isn't his first language.
  • Shou breaks down after one of Theta's guards dies on him while fending off the Godom soldiers in their mission to disable the Ultimate Destructive Weapon and begs a ceasefire before turning himself over to the Godom forces. While this is portrayed as an act of self-sacrifice, this is undermined in the dub by Philip Hersh's failed attempt to imitate Takehito Koyasu's delivery.
    Shou: STOP! Don't shoot! Stop! That's enough! I don't wanna lose... any more friends... who are fighting for Earth!
• Rooting for the Empire: Even if he's a psychopathic dictator, Tathagata Killer is such an over-the-top Atheist strawman and an intimidating villain in spite of it that he crosses over into being cool and enjoyable. Coupled with the surprising amount of depth he receives, this makes him a lot more fun to root for than the generic protagonist of the movie.
• Special Effects Failure: The Final Battle of the movie where the spirits and the demons are animated with CG looks really bad.
• Strawman Has a Point: Tathagata Killer is a Hollywood Atheist who invades the world as leader of the Godom Empire in the name of eradicating all religion. Among his policies enforced upon Japan include killing anyone found to be religious as well as their entire families, censorship of all media and... teaching kids about Japan's warcrimes in World War II such as the Rape of Nanking, which is downplayed in the Japanese education system and often isn't taught. Happy Science and the cult's late leader Ryuho Okawa are infamous for pushing beliefs held by the Japanese far-right, including saying that any accusations of Japan's actions in World War II are mostly, or even all false and/or exaggerated, or the provably false statement that Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution prevents Japan from defending themselves from an invasion.
• Suspiciously Similar Song: The movie's ED, "It's A Miracle World!" sounds extremely similar to "Koufuku no Amanogawa," which is the ED for the fourth movie.
• Tear Jerker:
  • Shou's televised execution by firing squad. What's sad is not the man's death itself, but the Earth's people mourning his death. They put all their hopes in that he, as the Savior, will defeat the Godom Empire, only have said hope crushed upon seeing him humiliated and then executed. It's even more poignant if you watch it from the perspective that these people have been tricked.
  • The ending song, "It's A Miracle World!" by CHORUSPICE is a solemn yet triumphant song about the Savior's reconnecting Earth with the Spirit world after a billion years of solitude. Moreover, the composer is none other than Ryuho Okawa himself, who claimed was inspired by Rient Arle Croud, this song can make you shed tears even if you're not a member of Happy Science, especially during the Creative Closing Credits.
  • Tathagata Killer's backstory after Shou defeated the demon possessing him. His last words state he had no parents, for he was a tool created by genetic manipulation, with a relevant flashback sequence that showcases the suffering he went through: he was born and raised in a laboratory, having been experimented on by scientists to create the perfect soldier, which made him into the messed-up man he is until Shou forgives him and reassures the poor bastard he, like all others, is a child of Buddha.

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