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Arion

       
                 
                 
 

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Title Info

  • type: movie
  • grade: worthy
  • made: 1986
  • Review created: A while ago, i'll revise it eventually.
  • mod: none

Well, the ancient greeks knew how to tell a rocking story, and the anime industry knows how to draw it, so lets get those two forces together. That certainly seems to be the basis for this suprisingly decent story. Of course it's told from an anime slant, with a lot of action to keep everyone interested, but even so it's an interesting experiment and a decent outcome. The story follows the youth Arion who is a titan, the incestuous son of Poseidon and Demeter. Grandfather Hades comes to visit, grumbling about all the noise the titans are making upstairs. Rebuffed by Demeter he invites arion over for a visit. Arion forgets the cardinal rule of `never trust a god of death and the underworld, even if he is your uncle'. Before he knows it Arion is knee deep (literally, there's a high bodycount in this film) in the war of the gods. Of course there are multiple plots, hidden secrets and a whole amphora full of greek legends who need some screen time.

One important thing to note is that these are fairly `earthly' gods, they have magical powers and superior abilities, but they can be killed (and are!) and their powers are not earthshaking, indeed they're fairly flawed. This is at least partly true to greek legend, and no problem for asian cultures, but western types may have a problem with a large number of `gods' hitting the dust over the course of this movie. The conclusion is impressive and goes some way to explaining what has been going on. On the downside it must be said that with the long running time, so many characters and so many plot reversals the whole thing can become confusing, which could lead to fatigue setting in. Likewise it might well help if you know something about the greek gods, to help explain the large number of characters introduced. While there is a romance element, the core of this film is action and adventure, so if that isn't what you are into you might find this movie less impressive. The music is interesting, quite good at times and strongly reminded me of Nausicaa, which impresses me because it actually proved to be the same guy (Jo Hisaishi) in the same period. The animation is older, but excellent quality and with some good character work, magic and impressive mass battle scenes. This is an interesting experiment and a solid piece of anime, worth trying if you find it.

The Anime Movie Guide calls it a "magnificent fable" and a four star rating. Sadly none of my other regular sources has a review for this anime, which may indicate it is a rarer title.

       
                 
                 
       

Words by Andrew Shelton, Web by Ticti, Last Compile: Wed Aug 5 12:39:15 WST 2009