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| Overall | Art | Animation | Character Design | Music | Series Story | Episode Story | Reviewer | |
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| Watch | Xenoknight | # | ||||||
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On the watch list...
Last updated Monday, October 27 2008. Created Monday, October 27 2008. | ||||||||
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| Unevaluated | Jan-Chan | # | ||||||
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(Three episodes watched and my only comment is this is great) Beginning with a mysterious meeting between a ninja-samurai on the run and a strange woman living alone in an isolated forest hut, the quality of the animation is stunning and the story completely bewildering. Episodes one and two introduce Kurou, the main character of the story and tell of how he gains 'the gift of immortality' and of his hatred for the clan of warriors that his brother has dispatched to hunt him down and kill him. And then he dies ... but he is an immortal... so when he wakes up - hundreds of years have passed. The world that he steps into is a unfamiliar post apocalyptic devastation. A world in which that clan that was hunting him still exists and the woman who might be able to answer his questions has gone missing. Bloody ... very bloody .. but the iridescent dayglow fights scenes are stunning (both for their uniqueness and gore!) Tis an interesting way to mix samurai swordplay with high tech weapons and deamons ... Last updated Thursday, October 30 2008. Created Monday, October 27 2008. | ||||||||
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| Unevaluated | Stretch | # | ||||||
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(Three episodes watched): Bloody, to put it mildly; the hack-and-slash action reminded me of Ninja Scroll. The fact that this is a Madhouse production would explain that, as well as the OP sequence being uncannily similar to that of Death Note. I wasn't all that eager to commit myself to a feudal Japan era series, but I find myself intrigued by the immortality twist--this would explain how both medieval Japanese history and an apocalyptic scene of a modern-day city in ruins might fit into the same show. The notion of a sort of time travel (in the right direction) seems like fun. Confusing is another word that applies to this show. The action scenes were fast moving and hard to follow. Was the hero betrayed? Didn't he get run through? Are the enemy demons or zombies or humans or what? It's hard to tell just what's going on. During episode two I confused Benkei and the murderous guy. I would probably need to rewatch a second time to sort everything out, but I don't have the time to do that. Still, this is an entrancing show which I'm eager for more of. I won't even try to completely understand it. The premise largely comes together during episode three. This is indeed a show with an apocalyptic rather than a Japanese history setting. The confused, blatant violence would make me sick if it weren't so bizarre. At times I thought it was being overdone. And just when I thought I'd seen everything I'm reminded that there are vampires to boot! It's still difficult to say exactly where the story is going, but it has a deliciously naughty flavor to it--pouring on the action and excitement wholesale. Episode four offers some more explanation, though not nearly enough to undo the confusion. I think this show wants to be confusing and I wonder if any complete explanation will ever be offered. The Red Imperial Army being obssessed with "secrets of life" seemed kind of shallow and a disappointing motivation--I expected something more original from such an exotic and classy show. Why was there a timeline visit to the WWII era? Not just as an excuse to hack a man to pieces, I hope. At present I'm torn between two attitudes towards this show; on the one hand the lack of a thorough explanation and excessive violence is frustrating, while on the other the mystery, fancy artwork, and exciting action is intriguing. I put off watching episode four for awhile, but enjoyed it more than I expected when I did. Last updated Sunday, November 09 2008. Created Thursday, October 16 2008. | ||||||||
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