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Title Info
- seen: 1-6 of 6
- type: OAV
- grade: worthy
- genre: magic_war
- made: 1992
- Review created: Recently, but I didn't record the date.
- mod: none
This anime is about as subtle as it sounds, but on the other hand it is not as bad as you might fear. The story is set in a post apocalyptic world that has reverted to a fantasy environment, complete with the re-emergence of magic. A bunch of tough sorcerors have decided to prove how evil they are by re-awakening the god of destruction that caused the apocalypse in the first place. The last bastions of civilized man seem to have no hope, save for the fact that the `biggest, baddest' sorceror, the legendary dark schneider, is contained within the innocent body of a young boy. Of course he's a pretty mad, bad dude himself, but desperate times call for desperate actions.
The first thing to remember is that this is strongly shounen. Lots of tough guys, unrealistic combats, male braggadacio and minimally dressed women. It is also reasonably violent and at times rather cruel. The hero is tough, cool and playfully evil, and is clearly meant to be an example of male wish fulfillment. The saving grace is that the tough sorceror shares the mind of the young boy, including his love for a young girl, which gives both an element of control and a minor romance thread. Admittedly this is done in the shounen `you touched my woman, I kill you' manner. Still, despite this it is well done shounen stuff, the story is interesting, the world quite richly brought out, and the characters more complex than might be expected. This is especially true for his dark elf daughter/lover who is his opponent in an impressively handled fight that builds up to the satisfying and impressive conclusion. Although the question of how much castle is left standing after the fight is open to question. So if you want some good fantasy action, this is a pretty solid watch. It also has lots of heavy metal references, but that doesn't interest me at all.
The production is likewise solid. Dark schneider is well voiced, being sort of mysterious, evil, and boyish at times. The female voices and character are richer than their appearance may indicate. The plot design is solid, writing is good and dialogue does have its moments. There's also some humor, along with the required good lines, which works very well. The action animation is decent and the various magics make the combats interesting, although some of Dark Schneider's escapes defy logic. The pace and scale of the magic develops nicely to reach an impressive climax as the series ends. Of course given that the plot is not permanently resolved, at least one enemy survives and Dark schneider is still an enigma there is lots of room for a sequel.
Words by Andrew Shelton, Web by Ticti, Last Compile: Wed Aug 5 12:39:15 WST 2009