Among 90’s anime, this is extremely close to being able to stand aside its peers. It’s very fun, and almost pretty good. Taking from source material by Kikuchi (Vampire Hunter D), his sense of stylish darkness and violence come through well. Unfortunately, the film is handicapped by its truncation, trying to fit too much in its short 83 min runtime.
The animation is stellar, so if you revel in the aesthetics of that period’s anime, this will at least satiate that itch. I thought the character introductions were fine relative to delivering unique stylishness to each. Darkside makes a big impact in entrance. I'd imagine if this movie got more exposure, he would become another icon a la D.
That’s not to say there isn’t a plethora of unanswered questions. Motivations of various characters are skipped or explained away quickly. One notorious example is the makeshift communicator created. The important communication between the terrorist and his comrades is simply told to us.
The mood is palpable, and I think it holds the movie together until the climax. Every ingredient other than strict narrative cohesion functions well. Before the ending, the violence is sparse but effective. That’s the major strength of this work. Compared to other unknown less effective anime of the time, this doesn’t exclusively rely on the memorability of the “wham” “pow” animated moments. Unlike those, this creates a moody world of deep history and reveals flavours of this world in a more natural way.
Ultimately, it’s almost insultingly all undone in the last few minutes. The final showdown and climax is so compressed, it feels like there could have been two full episodes in the last five minutes. There’s not a good explanation for a certain character’s choices, nor is Darkside (the coolest character introduced) given a satisfactory conclusion. It almost feels like the budget was abruptly pulled and they couldn’t finish as they wanted.
Any way, this is an easy recommend for 90’s anime fans. It’s deeply flawed and almost entirely ruined by the cheap ending, but before that, it rides a vibing momentum akin to other beloved 90s anime.
Among 90’s anime, this is extremely close to being able to stand aside its peers. It’s very fun, and almost pretty good. Taking from source material by Kikuchi (Vampire Hunter D), his sense of stylish darkness and violence come through well. Unfortunately, the film is handicapped by its truncation, trying to fit too much in its short 83 min runtime.
The animation is stellar, so if you revel in the aesthetics of that period’s anime, this will at least satiate that itch. I thought the character introductions were fine relative to delivering unique stylishness to each. Darkside makes a big impact in entrance. I'd imagine if this movie got more exposure, he would become another icon a la D.
That’s not to say there isn’t a plethora of unanswered questions. Motivations of various characters are skipped or explained away quickly. One notorious example is the makeshift communicator created. The important communication between the terrorist and his comrades is simply told to us.
The mood is palpable, and I think it holds the movie together until the climax. Every ingredient other than strict narrative cohesion functions well. Before the ending, the violence is sparse but effective. That’s the major strength of this work. Compared to other unknown less effective anime of the time, this doesn’t exclusively rely on the memorability of the “wham” “pow” animated moments. Unlike those, this creates a moody world of deep history and reveals flavours of this world in a more natural way.
Ultimately, it’s almost insultingly all undone in the last few minutes. The final showdown and climax is so compressed, it feels like there could have been two full episodes in the last five minutes. There’s not a good explanation for a certain character’s choices, nor is Darkside (the coolest character introduced) given a satisfactory conclusion. It almost feels like the budget was abruptly pulled and they couldn’t finish as they wanted.
Any way, this is an easy recommend for 90’s anime fans. It’s deeply flawed and almost entirely ruined by the cheap ending, but before that, it rides a vibing momentum akin to other beloved 90s anime.
