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Panzer Dragoon

       
                 
                 
 

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Title Info

  • seen: 1 of 1
  • type: OAV
  • grade: flawed
  • Other elements of this title:
    • This title has been commercially released in Australia.
    • This title appears to be an unsuccessful pilot.
  • made: unknown
  • Review created: Recently, but I didn't record the date.
  • mod: none

I've only seen one episode, so what can I know? well, I know that my stomach was churning and that if this is the `future' of anime then i'm going to have to find a new hobby. Of course I had fair warning when I got it back from the video store. The words `from the hit video game' do not give much reason for hope. Anyway the story seems to involve a fantasy world along with technology that has survived from ancient times. This world also appears to have dragons, and in this episode two dragons draw two people into their fight.

Before we even get to the production (where I really want to focus the heat) it is obvious that the story is going to do us no favors. The writing is feeble and shallow, the characterisation and dialog uninspired at best and everything is subservient to the action. The design, normally one of the strong points when drawing from a game is awful and unbelievable. The story requires a great generosity in order to accept the improbability presented to you. In essence this is so obviously heartless and artless `product'.

But that pales beneath the atrocious production. This series uses computer assisted animation and full computer graphic backgrounds and they look truly awful. It is all insanely bright and looks totally artificial. The action sequences clearly want us to be impressed by the effects, but when it comes down to it this is really bad computer graphics. Everything appears to have been done on the basis that `flash' allows them to cut endless corners. In the end the production is just so awe inspiringly average on all counts that you wonder why they bothered. And then, as if to add insult to injury, it is sold with one twenty minute episode per tape. If more gets released, I will watch more, but be very certain before you put money down for this turkey.

Thanks to Akemi's AnimeWorld I know there is no danger of it getting better, because it was only a one shot OAV. The review itself is brutal, and since Akemi's rarely shows the fangs that means this is really bad, "this is bad anime at it's worst", what more do you need to know?

       
                 
                 
       

Words by Andrew Shelton, Web by Ticti, Last Compile: Wed Aug 5 12:39:23 WST 2009