Se pare ca cei de la Marvel au ajuns la un parteneriat cu studioul de animatie japonez MADHouse (Animaxtrix, Batman: Gotham Night, Black Lagoon, Death Note, Dennou Coil, Trigun) si ne vor pune pe tava (prin 2010) animeurile care ii vor avea ca protagonisti pe Wolverine si pe IronMan.

Trailere pentru cei pofticiosi: (Enjoy….)

Kenji es un tímido muchacho de 17 años que se ve implicado en el intento de destrucción de Oz, un mundo virtual en el que casi todo el mundo esta registrado, y cuya caida supondría un caos a nivel global. Con la ayuda de la familia de una de sus compañeras de clase, deberá encontrar una solución para salir del embrollo.

No me extenderé demasiado, solo calificarla como épica, frenética, entrañable,dramática, romántica y técnicamente impecable, con una animación fluida y vistosa. Una película preciosa, muy divertida, con un elenco de personajes magnífico y un desarrollo de los mismos digno de mención.

RECOMENDADÍSIMA.

Quick info: Produced by Madhouse. Directed by Morio Asaka. Based on a manga by CLAMP.

Expectations: I know there’s going to be this robot girl, but other than that the only thing I know is the fact that I’m not the target audience.

Is that a castle? Because it looks like a castle to me.

Impressions: On one hand the main character being voiced by Tomokazu Sugita is distracting because when I hear his voice Gintoki instantly pops up in my head, but on the other hand, his briliant voice acting makes the show much better than it would have been without him. Really, the humour wouldn’t have been even half as funny without him *goes to sacrifice some sheep at her Tomokazu Sugita shrine*.

And humour here is important, because so far, this show looks like nothing more but a magical girlfriend story. Even though in this case the “girlfriend” is actually cute instead of the usual annoying. And even though the main character is neither the prince of Bishounenia nor a testosterone volcano, he does not give off an air of a hopelessly lame protagonist, which is the usual thing with these kinds of stories.

Now that I think about it, this episode was actually quite good, very unexpectedly good, but I’m not really sure whether it’s really worth to watch on, maybe I should just read the manga this anime is based on. I’m not really a fan of CLAMP but now that I think about it, I never read any of their manga from beginning to the end, so maybe its about time I did that.

Rating: 7.8/10

The website for the upcoming Trigun movie adaptation of Yasuhiro Nightow’s manga began streaming the new advertisment above just a few hours ago. The movie’s title has been revealed to be Trigun: Badlands Rumble and is set to be released April 24, 2010. All of the staff and cast from the original 1998 television series have come back to work on the new movie under the production house MadHouse. The news was broken first by the Anime News Network.

It was an eventful weekend as I sat around the house watching football and playing Bayonetta, so let’s do a quick round-up of the various weekend tidbits from around the ‘net! This week’s round-up includes:

- A new trailer for the upcoming Gintama movie
- Two classics of anime, Prince Planet and Metropolis, now available for free
- Dates set for Madhouse’s Marvel anime

Gintama Movie Teaser Online

Over the weekend, the official site for the upcoming Gintama movie, Gintama: Shinyaku Benizakura-hen, posted a 30-second teaser trailer. The movie won’t be available until next year’s Golden Week (April 29-May5), but anticipation is high for the samurai sci-fi parody anime.

(Source: Moon Phase)

Prince Planet and Metropolis Now Streaming Free

Video site Crackle, which also hosts the horribly-dubbed Asian edition of “Samurai X” (AKA Rurouni Kenshin), has added the full-length dub version of Metropolis to its lineup. I’ll probably recommend this one for watching over next weekend, as it’s simply gorgeous. The dual adaptation of Osamu Tezuka’s manga and the classic silent film isn’t something you should miss.

Meanwhile, Hulu and YouTube have started showing episodes of the 1960s classic Prince Planet, which was one of the first anime that ever aired in the United States dubbed. It was also one of the first anime ever, which you can tell by its black-and-white animation. It’s interesting to note that in the ’60s, Prince Planet was considered too violent for American audiences, so if you want to see some history, you should check it out.

(Source: AnimeNation)

Madhouse’s Marvel Adaptations Get Release Dates

Anime News Network dug through Japanese industry site animeanime.biz to find the juicy news hidden within all the corporate moonspeak: famed studio Madhouse has two of its anime adaptations of Marvel characters scheduled for broadcast next year. Marvel Anime: Iron Man is scheduled for Q2 2010, while Marvel Anime: Wolverine will follow closely in Q3. Neither anime will hit US shores officially until 2011.

I saw a preview for both at San Diego Comic-Con last year, and let me tell you: Iron Man made me drool. The animation was top-notch, the designs were fantastic, and the action was insane. Meanwhile, Wolverine just looked like Ninja Scroll with Wolverine instead of a samurai.

Olá novamente! Como eu pretendo passar o resto do fim de semana me matando para fazer alguns trabalhos da faculdade, vou fazer o costumeiro post de domingo… no sábado! Saindo um pouco da avaliação de animes que estão começando ou terminando, a ideia hoje é bem simples, qual é o melhor estúdio de animação? A pergunta é incrivelmente subjetiva, tenho certeza que vocês tem as suas preferências e eu adoraria lê-las nos comentários (é, comentar não faz mal minha gente!, as visitas aumentam, mas os comentários nem tanto), mas vou fazer uma forma um pouco diferente. Pegando todos os animes com notas 8, 9 ou 10 da minha list do MyAnimeList, vou colocar os meus três estúdios favoritos de acordo com a quantidade de animes que eles tiveram nessa lista!

Terceiro lugar:

Fundado em 1998, por ex-membros do estúdio Sunrise, o estúdio Bones começou com a produção do anime Hiwou War Chronicles, que eu desconheço. O grande destaque do estúdio está nas suas animações de movimento excelentes, facilmente vistas no filme de Cowboy Bebop (que contou com a parceria da própria Sunrise) e em Fullmetal Alchemist. Além disso, o estúdio é muito versátil, se pensarmos que Ouran High School Host Club e Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 foram feitos pelo mesmo estúdio, podemos perceber isso facilmente. Um ponto baixo que posso apontar certamente foi o final de Soul Eater que ao se desviar do manga, terminou de forma bastante infeliz.

Os animes que assisti e realmente gostei do estúdio são 5; Nijuu Mensou no Musume, Fullmetal Alchemist, Tokyo Magnitude 8.0, Cowboy Bebop – Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door, Ouran High School Host Club.

Segundo lugar:

O estúdio J.C. Staff começou seus trabalhos em 1986, com sua primeira animação lançada em 1987, OVA’s de Sengoku Kidan Yōtōden, que novamente desconheço (não conheço muitas coisas anteriores à 1995). Trabalhando em Tóquio, o estúdio tem como marca as bonitas animações, lembrando o estilo clássico de animar na mão, o que pode ser percebido em animes recentes como Aoi Hana e Taishou Yakyuu Musume. Apesar disso, seus animes não parecem antiquados e sempre apresentam uma animação fluida e roteiros um pouco mais lentos, mas com qualidade.

Os animes que assisti e realmente gostei do estúdio são 6: Aoi Hana, Taishou Yakyuu Musume., Nodame Cantabile Paris Chapter, Nodame Cantabile, Ghost Hunt, Shigofumi.

Primeiro lugar:

Quando eu pensei nesse post, já tinha na cabeça que esse seria o resultado do primeiro lugar, então fiquei feliz por isso ter sido confirmado pela quantidade de animes que eu assisti e gostei do estúdio. A Madhouse foi fundada em 1972, tendo seu primeiro trabalho feito em 1973 com a série Aim for the Ace! (preciso dizer?). Responsável por várias adaptações de grandes nomes do mercado, como o grupo CLAMP (Sakura CardCaptor, Kobato, X/1999), o mestre do suspense Naoki Urasawa (Monster), Ai Yazawa (Paradise Kiss, Nana), Satoshi Kon (Paprika, Paranoia Agent), o estúdio certamente é um dos mais fortes do Japão, chamando atenção até do mercado ocidental, ficando responsável por vários dos OVA’s de Matrix e as recentes adaptações para anime de heróis da Marvel. Suas animações são sempre bem realizadas, com um alto grau de detalhismo e um traço mais forte.

Os animes que assisti e realmente gostei do estúdio são 13: Beck, Kaiji, Nana, Toki wo Kakeru Shojo, Sakura CardCaptor, Paradise Kiss, CLAMP in Wonderland 2, CLAMP in Wonderland, The Animatrix: Program, The Animatrix: Detective Story, The Animatrix: Beyond, Captain Tsubasa: Road to 2002, Trigun.

Dentre esses eu posso destacar o fantástico Beck, um dos melhores filmes de animação que já vi, Toki wo Kakeru Shojo e o diferente Kaiji. Na verdade todos esses da lista são destacáveis, mas esses três conseguem sintetizar bem as diversas formas do estúdio e suas grandes qualidades.

E vocês, quais são seus estúdios favoritos?

OBS 1: Não foi levado em conta filmes e OVA’s que não contribuíssem para a história original.

OBS 2: Não foram levados em conta os fracassos dos estúdios, buscando-se apenas exaltar suas qualidades.

OBS 3: Empatados com 5 animes estavam os estúdios DEEN e KyoAni, o estúdio Bones foi escolhido de subjetiva entre os três.

Batman: Gotham Knight hat gezeigt, was raus kommt, wenn einige der erfahrensten Anime-Künstler sich eines amerikanischen Superhelden annehmen. Die Sichtweise der meist japanischen Kreativen gibt den Charakteren neue Züge und den Fans Einsicht in die östliche Lebensphilosophie. Marvel hat mit den japanischen Madhouse Studios einen Deal über vier Filme abgeschlossen. Veröffentlicht sollen diese im Jahr 2010 werden und zuerst auf dem japanischen Sender Animax laufen. Aber keine Angst, DVD Veröffentlichungen lassen bestimmt nicht lange auf sich warten. Die ersten beiden Filme (es sollen auch komplette Serien geplant sein) bzw. Charaktere sind ‘Iron Man’ und ‘Wolverine’. Eigentlich logisch, dass diese beiden zuerst ‘japanisiert’ werden, da der eine japanische Wurzeln hat und der andere den japanischen Wunsch nach vollkommener Technik repräsentiert. Die ersten beiden Trailer von Madhouse sehen jedenfalls gut aus. Natürlich ungewohnt, aber man lässt sich ja gerne überraschen. Hier jedenfalls sollte das Konzept aufgehen. ‘Gotham Knight’ war schon gut, Wolverine und Iron Man werden es toppen

Iron Man:

Wolverine:

Übrigens konnte man ja schon in zwei Paperbacks sehen, was passiert, wenn Marvelhelden ‘mangaisiert’ werden. Bei diesem Tripp entstandt das Marvel Mangaverse:

You know there's a board game called Aggravation? Why would I play something called Aggravation? I guess, it's geared toward sadists.

My class must have been canceled. I showed up and no one was there.

That means I got only three hours of sleep just to be further disappointed. I could have slept in like a curled up newborn. That’s how I felt this morning. It was wonderful.

I am worried I missed some big update when I missed class last week. Maybe class was moved and not canceled. That would be a nightmarish situation.

So, the flat seems to be falling apart somewhat. My Brazilian roommate left to another floor quite awhile ago. He was the one who used to collect money for dish soap, toilet paper and other communal goods. No one has taken his place since he left. I would feel awkward taking responsibility, since I am just a temporary tenant. It seems like it may come down to that, though. I’ll give it a  few more days of anarchy.

The toilet is broken and the whole place is starting to smell like piss. I cleaned the bathroom and it still smells this way. I don’t know who to talk to. The Brazilian roommate is everyone’s contact to the landlord and so it is a little aggravating that he just up and left us.

No one is keeping up with chores. There used to be a schedule made every month or so, but it has fallen in disarray.

I think half the problem is the lack of communication in this madhouse. Only half what is said gets across because everyone speaks varying amounts of English.

I also need to make sure I get my security deposit back.

Alright, bitching and moaning over.

I actually haven’t paid much attention to Needless so far since it’s pretty much standard fare by Madhouse as they tend to outsource “low priority” shows (usually manga adaptions) to their Korean affiliates, but recently there were two episodes which caught my interest, to be exact #13 and #15.

I checked out episode 13 mainly because of Seiya Numata’s participation as he’s one of my favorite animators, his very obvious style with much exaggeration, energetic distortions, fancy effect work and somewhat simplified drawings is very appealing and stands out from the otherwise so powerless movement which dominates anime these days. This style is of course not Numata’s very own creation since he’s a follower of late animator Yoshinori Kanada and adapted this special approach from Kanada like many other animators before and after him, who are the so-called “Kanada school”.
This episode is basically a two-man work, Numata directed and storyboarded the episode and did key animation, while Kyuuta Sakai is animation director and the only other key animator on this episode. It’s no secret that they tend to work together as happend in many cases in the past, especially when Sakai did the character designs (Zoids, Ichigo Mashimaro, Higurashi). They did also the fanservice-y ending for Needless, which has consequently the same kind of drawing style and feeling as #13.

The episode itself is nothing less than a great piece of animation crafted with a good sense for interesting and fun styling and is a very enjoyable watch from the very first second thanks to Numata’s directing, particularly the mix of blood, gags, action and fanservice works exceptionally well, not to forget the amusing character interactions. Animation-wise it’s very appealing because of the more expressive animation style and varying thickness of the (out)lines as well as interesting morphing of shapes and lines, and most movements feel very refreshing due to their rather unrestrained nature. The framing and use of perspective is also pretty impressive, but things like bending space and so on isn’t that uncommon among Kanada school animators. Following a video showing an excerpt by way of illustration (seems to be mostly Numata’s work):

Episode 15 isn’t quite on par with that, but still has its share of strong points especially concerning the animation. The key animation credits include Hiroshi Ishiyama, Shin’ichi Kurita and Tamotsu Ogawa among others, latter did probably these nice sketchy parts:

Ayer por fin me encontré con la noticia que esperaba desde hace mucho tiempo.

(Con voz de tipo que se sube a los camiones a vender periódicos) -Lleve el periódico el ‘grafico’ el ‘universal’-

-KOBATO POR FIN PASA A SER ANIME!!!-

Hanato Kobato-

Después de encontrarme con esta noticia y con una cara de OMFG! me puse a buscar en You Tube a ver si ya habían subido el primer capitulo y cuando lo encontré casi me muero de la emoción xD

Kobato-

Me emociono mucho porque me pase deseando esta historia pasara a ser anime desde hace muchísimo tiempo esta nos cuenta la historia de una chica  llamada Hanato Kobato(algo MOE) que me parece ser como una combinación entre Sakura (Sakura Card Captors) y Chii (Chobits)quien busca curar corazones heridos para llenar una pequeña botella para que cuando la llene pueda pedir un deseo, mientras es puesta a prueba por un pequeño perro de color azul llamado Ioryogi con un carácter muy muy excéntrico  bueno y eso es básicamente de lo que trata Kobato una historia muy ‘cuti’ por ser de las chicas de CLAMP (ya saben con cosillas super cute que adornen a las chicas) en donde creo que alcanzaron otro nivel en cuanto a la animación ya que afortunadamente disminuyeron la necesidad de usar extremidades gigantescas, algo que no me agradaba para nada, y pues como ya lo hemos visto antes, ponen a personajes y lugares de otros de sus animes para adornar su historia.

Kobato y Ioryogi

La verdad me encanto este anime, como lo dije ya, Kobato es la unión perfecta entre la inocencia de Chii y las múltiples capacidades de Sakura con un genial sentido del humor, apenas se empezó a transmitir en Japón a partir del 6 de Octubre, y los fansub nos dan solo el primer capitulo por el momento pero bueno hay que esperar cada semana para ver uno nuevo. Gracias a Kira por recordarme que la casa animadora es MADHOUSE la misma que hizo a Death Note!!

Pues les dejo el primer capitulo, para que lo vean en You Tube o también les dejo un fansud para que vayan descargando todos lo capítulos en cuanto salgan.

Por Supremo no Fansub

Kobato- Capitulo 1

Olá a todos! Estou um pouco atrasado, mas hoje continua os posts das primeiras impressões dos animes dessa temporada de Outono. Sem mais enrolações, hoje vou comentar sobre Nyan Koi! e Kobato:

Nyan Koi!

Nyan Koi! era um dos animes que eu mais esperava nessa temporada de outono. Já esperava que ele não fosse a coisa mais espetacular do mundo, mas estava sentindo falta de um comédia realmente amalucada, no melhor estilo Seto no Hanayome. Esse primeiro episódio infelizmente não cumpriu aquilo que eu esperava.

Não que tenha sido um episódio ruim, longe disso, com uma animação muito bem realizada pelo estúdio AIC, Nyan Koi! tem tudo para crescer e se tornar uma ótima comédia, o problema é que eu esperava algo mais non-sense que isso. Afinal, não é isso que se deve esperar de um anime onde o protagonista começa a ouvir e entender o que os gatos falam de um dia pro outro?

Apesar desse começo morno, Nyan Koi! mostrou um bom elenco inicial, tanto por parte humana quanto por parte animal. São personagens divertidos, principalmente Kaede Mizuno, a paixão secreta do protagonista Junpei Kousaka. A garota salvou esse primeiro episódio com seu jeito meigo, mas não retardado como muitas garotas em anime acabam sendo, além disso, transformar ela na “vilã” do episódio foi uma ótima sacada.

Na parte de gráficos, você pode ver que dei um 7,5 para esse primeiro episódio, uma nota mediana, mas que mostra a qualidade que a série pode ter!

Kobato

O primeiro ponto a ser apontado em Kobato é a incrível animação feita pelo estúdio Madhouse. Já devo ter comentado por aqui, mas dos animes que eu assisti, esse estúdio está facilmente no meu top3. E aqui eles chegam a um nível absurdo de tão bonito. As cores, a animação, o traço, os detalhes, o ambiente, tudo é feito com uma qualidade gigantesca! Sem contar a ótima abertura que já lhe deixa empolgado para assistir ao capítulo. Sem contar com o trabalho feito pelos seiyuus (dubladores), muito bem escolhidos, especialmente para a dupla de protagonistas.

Mas infelizmente a qualidade do roteiro não acompanha a animação. Sendo sincero, eu me senti bastante entediado vendo esse episódio. A Kobato é uma ótima personagem, ingênua, feliz, como várias outras heroínas do grupo CLAMP, seu parceiro, Ioryogi, uma espécie de cachorro de pelúcia com vida, também é bem divertido com sua personalidade violenta e sem paciência, mas com jeito de ser um cara legal. Porém, o resto é puro tédio.

Não me entendam mal, eu gosto de animes parados, lentos, Sketchbook ~fullcolor’s~ me empolgam bastante com seu estilo calmo, mas a questão aqui não é lentidão, é simples e puro tédio. Com certeza muitos vão dizer que estou exagerando, já li reviews bem positivas à Kobato, mas para mim foi uma grande decepção.

Nos gráficos vocês podem ver um 6,9 para esse primeiro episódio, a menor nota de um primeiro episódio desde que comecei com os gráficos. A verdade é que só pretendo continuar por se tratar da CLAMP e do ótimo trabalho feito pela Madhouse. Agora é torcer para que esse primeiro episódio tenha sido apenas uma apresentação e que tudo comece de verdade a partir do segundo.

Damn, I wish I could have watched this movie while I was in Japan.
David

If you don’t like Kobato., you’re a total curmudgeon.

My day started early today, as do most of my weekdays – I was outside running on the gravel track at my school at 6 o’clock for ROTC. I ran, feeling tired, and it suddenly began to rain. This rain quickly became a downpour, and I heard a rumble of thunder in the distance. “This sucks.” thought I. But then I remembered I’d downloaded Kobato. the night before, and my mood instantly brightened – I grinned, and thought, “I get to watch Kobato. after PT!”

And then I tripped on my shoelaces and got a face full of gravel.

Anyway, thats ok! Because Kobato. was just as pleasantly delightful as I was anticipating it would be.

I have to admit – I’m usually a pain in the ass about anime adaptations of manga I love. I’ll pick here and there, frowning and getting generally grumpy, even as I realize I’m being obnoxious by doing so. But Madhouse has truly acquitted themselves with aplomb here, as they’ve really retained the spirit of the original story and infused it with a life that one can’t find on a printed page. The animation is crisp, the artwork is beautiful, and the voice acting fits very well with the various characters (I was especially happy with Kobato’s voice actress).

Its hard for me to exactly say why Kobato. is so good with anything approaching specificity – its just one of those shows that makes you smile. Kobato herself is an engaging female lead; the slightly dense female lead usually comes off as annoyingly cliched, a mere bit of moe bait, but Kobato instead comes across as sincere and curious, something helped in part by the fact that she is apparently not of our world. And our mascot character in this effort is the stuff of pure CLAMP, following in the tradition of Kero and Mokona – Ioryogi would eat those Pretty Cure mascot fuzzballs for lunch… and then light them on fire.

As an aside, its interesting to see Madhouse’s work on this, since they did CardCaptor Sakura back in the late 90’s. You can definitely tell that its the same studio, although there have obviously been huge leaps and bounds in animation technology and technique since then. (Madhouse has actually animated quite a few CLAMP manga adaptations, and CLAMP has also done a couple of collaboratory works with Madhouse, such as Mouryou no Hako, but I mention CCS specifically since it has more in common with Kobato. than Tokyo Babylon.)

But, really, Kobato. is just one of those shows you’ll have to check out for yourself if you really want to know why it is so good. After a hard day at work, sit back and enjoy the proceedings. Chances are, you’ll even have a small smile yourself when the episode ends.

AND IF YOU DON’T IT MEANS YOU SUCK AT LIFE

Well finally the final guest for AFA arrives. Its Miku and K-on! Hehe i haven been so much of a fan for Miku but Marcus is XD.K-on is okok for me, as long as Aki-chan comes, nothing matters anymore lol.

Well since this is the 1st time Hatsune Miku and A group of Seiyuu goes oversea, its  a great honour really. Looking forward to it!!!

Pricing are also out. Well lazy to type so i will be copying my Ex-president tueac’s post on SGC XD. Credits goes to his typing:

1. New singer is performing… Hatsune Miku…
2. The days for performances
1st day:
Shoko-tan
Hatsune Miku
Ichiro Mitsuki

2nd day:
Fukuyama
May’n

3. Stage is no longer ‘opened’ for better sound. A 4 meter wall will be erected.

4. First come first serve for normal ticket holders to concerts.

5. Price for normal entrance,

Adult price,
Single day $15
Double day $25

Students,
Single day, $12
2 day, $20

Cosplayer,
Free, but needs certification by organizers

Children below 12,
Free.

6. Price for concert,

One day pass, $108.
Comes with,
1 light stick
Concert pass for 1 day
Starts pre-order 26th Oct 2009…

Two day pass, $188.
comes with,
2 Lights sticks
Concert pass for 2 day.
Starts pre-order 19th Oct 2009…

Can get the tickets from sistic.

7. K-On! Coming to Singapore!!!
Seiyu giving a Q&A, live dubbing…

8. MADHouse Studio and Tatsunoko production coming

9. Exclusive event only items from Cospa and Bushiroad(WS)

I will be buying the 2 day-pass of course. Minusing the $20 entry for two days, u actually get the two days pass for $168 only! Wow thats godly cheap XD. Considering i have the money to buy 1000 of that lol, IF i sell my wives XD. But thats IMPOSSIBLE AND INHUMAN for me to do that haha.

I like how the 4 m wall will be set, this actually sets the dumbass public from those ppl interested/fans ^_^.

And Madhouse and Tatsunoko is comin?! Saikou! Really wanna hear what they do to their series to make it so godlike. Madhouse for Chaos;Head and Needless, Tatsunoko for Macross .

I wonder wad will Cospa bring over and Bushiroad also…Jus save lots of money peeps .

Well well m i excited and pump up to go already, see everyone there .

Devil May Cry, the anime series, mainly revolves around Dante who’s still down on his luck as a “devil hunter” that is out to hunt evil supernatural creatures called devils. I originally only watched this anime series because it was short and I thought it would be another of those lame half-assed attempts at milking an established franchise, so what have I got too lose?  I thought it’ll be another of those lame half-assed attempts at milking an established franchise. I wasn’t wrong, but I wasn’t exactly right either. The story is not actually a story, but a collection of mini tales each an episode long, depicting a day in Dante’s existence.

The series strays away from the games so many people knew and loved. I hate to compare it to Final Fantasy but when Advent Children came out, it did not make any attempt whatsoever to appeal to a broader audience than the fanbase, meaning it can rely on its original game to provide the emotional investment. This is just a smart move all around, which this anime didn’t really provide. I’m familiar with Devil May Cry but stopped playing the series after Part 2. Although the series attempts to mirror the game, it thoroughly fails to grasp the concept of using action to offset the lack of depth.

In other episodes, we see the femme fatales of the Devil May Cry universe, Lady and Trish, make their glorious reappearances much to the delight of fanboys. When I first saw the intro video of the series, I thought to myself that this was a nice touch.  The first episode showcases what is the series greatest strength and greatest weakness: Dante fighting demons. There are a wide variety of the creatures and the series’ animators are endlessly inventive in their depiction of Dante’s battles with them. Action scenes are great, and blood pours by the gallons.

It’s like in this whole series, he has only been fighting small fry, and no real boss-type level. I guess that’s what disappointed me. Like I said in the introduction to this review, the Devil May Cry universe should have offered a wealth of interesting story concepts to keep us involved.  The cool thing about this series is it’s available on Blu-ray disc for cheaper than the actual regular DVD set. Thats a hard argument to ignore.

Devil May Cry is an unusual anime series. Fans of the video game series may well enjoy seeing the adventures of their favorite characters in a form other than the games but casual viewers who haven’t played the games may be confused by the sudden arrivals, actions, and departures of various characters. It might have helped if I played sequels 3 & 4 on my videogame console, but who knows. As with any anime review, it’s imperative that I discuss the animation style. I’ve been a longtime fan of Madhouse Studio who did the awesome Ninja Scroll movie, and their excellent track record continues with this series. If I had to recommend, I’d say thumbs in the middle, as its a relative short series so it’s not a complete waste of your time.