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Title Info
- seen: 1-2 of 2
- type: OAV
- grade: watchable
- genre: dumb_fun
- made: unknown
- Review created: Recently, but I didn't record the date.
- mod: none
The dumb-fun tag is partly unfair, since this anime has the seeds of a pretty good story within it. However given the short duration and the production focus it is pretty clear what the selling point is. The story follows a bishounen priest as he leaves his order to visit the fabled `land of evil' to answer some questions as to his faith, although his order forbids it. Along the way he is gifted with a slave girl who turns out to be a powerful sorceress, possibly from the evil land, involved in some strange game with others of her kind. Given that both of them are trouble magnets they are forced to act together to overcome a variety of obstacles.
There have certainly been worse story foundations in the history of anime. However even before the running time becomes an issue it is clear that a fair amount of special effects magical mayhem, much of it delivered by pretty girls, was going to be a selling point of the anime. The magic is epic, with the flashiness of computer assistance, but cuts heavily into the time allowed for the story. Dialog, character design and the staging of events are all reduced to the role of supports for this action component. Indeed as a whole the world never seems truly believable, with all the characters feeling very `modern' in their manner, speech and look. There is also a lot of humor, which while quite good fun, does not add to achieving a sense of `reality'. This is a pleasant watch, and with more episodes may have evolved into something deep and cool, but as is best just to relax and enjoy the effects.
Indeed the very bright colors of this production and the flashy digital editing and computer effects may well serve to make this seem more shallow than it really is. The effects are epic and impressive, but they break up the suspension of disbelief and can make it feel like you are watching an effects demo, rather than an anime story. Still, the action is quite good and the magic seems well designed so it is quite entertaining. The various characters are okay, with the lead couple having some promise, but the dialog and time restrict this. The production is a little manic and the voices a bit loud, although this does add to the humor of the show. Some events at the end of episode 2, including during the credits, provide a teaser for more, which is sort of cruel.
Akemi's AnimeWorld has a long and fairly cool review which also comments on the clash between the various components in the anime, which results in an average rating. The Anime Critic thinks it's good fun, with it being mostly the short duration that brings it down in this review. Lord Carnage considers the CGI to be an awful example (fine by me) while Herself, the elf still thinks it is a fun romp. The review still ends up with only an average mark however.
Words by Andrew Shelton, Web by Ticti, Last Compile: Wed Aug 5 12:39:18 WST 2009