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Amon Saga is one of those films I want to hate. It has a thin plot, a typically
fairy-tale action movie set of characters and has nothing that makes
it truly spectacular, and despite having more features than it's fellow
"Manga: The Collection"(a budget line of DVDs from Manga Entertainment)
members, it was still similarly priced and so expectations weren't high.
Alone,
after the death of his mother, vowed to get revenge on the people
who killed her by training to be a master swordsman. It's around here
that you'll find you have heard this a million times before, only
this time it has a twist. After sneaking into his enemy's territory,
he soon comes across a beautiful princess, and as a s sort of side
adventure, he goes ahead and saves her. It is as if the film makers
took the simple, overdone plots of beneath the action film and the
fairy tale, and produced something far more enjoyable than what both
genres could ever hope of doing on there own. Alone and the rest of
the cast are hardly unique or special in any way, but thanks to some
great character design and some good script writing, they seem to
somehow become more human and less forgettable than the usual stereotypes.
As the story begins, you are immediately dropped in the action, and
while it may give off a bad impression to most, it helps viewers predict
what's to come. The action scenes are exciting to say the least, and
are definitely on par with the likes of Shadow Skill, everything is
as fast paced and furious as the likes of Street Fighter Alpha, and
because of Amon's superb sword skills, it's the true gem of the film.
Despite the fact that this film was originally produced more than
a decade ago, the animation is still as fluid as it ever was, and
stands high above the usual OAV standards. The character designs,
too, can't be faulted and you can see Yoshitaka Amano's influence
shining through, with the essence of Vampire Hunter D being immediately
noticeable, so fans of that should feel right at home. Backgrounds,
though hardly beautiful, get the image of Alone Saga's world through
nicely, keeping in the tradition of Fist of the North Star's barren
wastelands.
The dub, while not one of the worst I've heard, is often too much
like an American Saturday morning cartoon for my liking, and the emotionless
drones of the enemies can soon become little more than an annoyance.
Thankfully, Man have decided to include the original Japanese audio
track, so purists or those who simply can't stand the bad dubbing
can view this with pleasure.
I'll admit that I have a soft-spot for this one, and it's hardly going
to convince anime nonbelievers, but it does represent one of the best
films of it's genre, animated or otherwise. Not spectacular, but enough
to keep action fans occupied and gets the balance between action and
dialogue just about right to warrant this a good purchase.
7/10. For those of you who want a healthy dose
of action-filled adventure, this is an anime very worthy of your collection,
and at £9.99, it's great value for money!
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Okay, so its hardly as serious as Amon Saga, but its a great send
up of everything fantastical - its zany, unpredictable and features
the only ending theme tune about making an omlette ever (hopefully!).