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Take several of possibly the worst named
characters in anime history, put them in an overdone world of modern
technologies mixed with a farming lifestyle, and you'll have a pretty
good idea of what Land Lock is.
Landlock follows the adventure of one young Luta, a blue eyed, but
otherwise normal teenager living in a tiny village. His father, a
rural-priest figure, has the power to control the wind, and because
of this many of the lands rulers are out to gain this ability in order
to achieve domination over the world. Although this may sound exciting
to some, there is very little action, and despite being done-to-death,
they even managed to slip in some of those terrible Star Wars-style
"YOUR NOT MY REAL FATHER!" moments as well, and with it's
overdone technological vs. agricultural aspect making it a truly forgettable
experience. To add to the unremarkable, the dub is truly one of the
most lackluster I've ever heard, even surpassing the likes of Firetripper
in it's badness. On top of this, the plot seems all but a mess until
the end, where one minor character explains it all to us in the matter
of 30 seconds.
The animation, though hardly stunning in any way, is above average
for a TV series but a little sub-par compared to OAVs of the time.
The little action scenes that are actually in there usually consist
of repetitive explosions followed by static images. It makes you wonder
why they even gave this a 15 certificate at all, there is little to
no swearing, and the violence is so tame that it's no worse than the
usual daytime Sci-fi stuff you see on the BBC. Thankfully though,
the colours are vibrant and the visuals are crisp and clear, giving
it a much more slick look than other titles on the "Manga: The
Collection" range. The futuristic vehicles and the like are your
standard stuff The character designs are typical Shirow, from the
distinctive eyes to the sublime attention to detail. A shame, though,
that these are simply based off Shirow images, and so lose much of
their charm in the process. The backgrounds, while not outstanding,
do their job better than most, and thanks to some intricately detailed
scenery, this stands slightly above the usual OAV standards, and is
far superior to the sort of backgrounds you would find in a TV series.
I'm not sure if it's the unoriginal dialogue or inexcusable bad dub
that put me off, but one things for sure, this anime is eye candy
and nothing more. It';s certainly not what I've come to expect an
anime produced just a few years ago. Spend your £9.99 on a DVD
like Amon Saga, it may not have a good dub but at least you have the
sub as a handy extra.
4/10. Nice to look at, but with a dub this bad and a pretty
unremarkable plot, you should give it a miss.
NOTE: Of course, if you liked it on VHS or have seen it else where
and you want both parts on one handy disc, then it IS recommended.
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Take
a look at Manga's release of the Ghost in the Shell movie. Featuring
cyborgs, guns and top notch animation, this is pure Shirow and fans
of his work will lap it up.