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Tattoon Master
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Title Info
- seen: 1-2 of 2
- type: OAV
- grade: watchable
- Other elements of this title:
- This title appears to be an unsuccessful pilot.
- made: unknown
- Review created: Recently, but I didn't record the date.
- mod: none
This title may seem fairly familiar and derivative, but it does have a charm of its own. Sadly, with only two episodes made, the question of whether it would have built up to something cool will remain unanswered. The story begins when a primitive tribe are forced to execute a japanese scholar in order to protect the potent tribal magics. Although in this case the female leader of the tribe is drawn to a photo of the researchers son. A deal is made and some time later Hibio, the male lead, who still distrusts women based on his mothers betrayal of the family, is jumped outside his house. The villain, bristling with power, carves a sign onto his forehead, announces the completion of their marriage, and collapses into his arms. All of a sudden a normal (well, mostly) Japanese youth finds his life getting stranger and stranger.
Similarities have been drawn to tenchi, with a male becoming the focal point for romantic competition and weird happenings. The main difference is that romance elements are limited by the fact that they actually are married at the start of the show, making the focus more on dealing with it. And this is made more entertaining in that both the male and female lead are interesting, complex and competent characters. In addition some of the supporting characters are likewise good, especially the romantic competitor in the first episode (women with archaic weapons...yum). Likewise the dialog and atmosphere is grungier and a bit more mature, with Hibio being quite the rebel. Where else have you heard a character, having just rescued a female from unwanted attention, say something like, "The problem is your skirt is too short so everyone can see your fat legs"? In addition the magic is both cool to watch and in how it is described (feels a bit like Shamanic princess) and lends itself well to the action scenes that are liberally included. On the other hand Mina's tastes in fashion mean that she is, more or less, a continual source of fan services...but I can live with that.
Certainly she is cute enough to get away with it. And unlilke the more `cartoony' tenchi there is a feeling of weight and reality about the animation here. The animation has some suprisingly lifelike scenes, especially in the character design and animation. It also has impressive magic and some nice physical action scenes in both episodes. In addition the production is fairly skilled, with good atmosphere, pacing and some nice stylistic touches. The voices are fairly good, the dialogue is good and it has a rich vein of agreeable humor. The music is energetic, but does the job. However, at the end of the day, the two episode limit cuts down heavily on what this series can acheive.
The only review I could find was from Lord Carnage, and it says little more than `good fun, wish there was more'. A similar message, but a bit less positive, comes from the anime critic in his review where he praises the animation but finds the show a mixed, and unusual, experience.
Words by Andrew Shelton, Web by Ticti, Last Compile: Wed Aug 5 12:39:25 WST 2009