Wolfe reporting.
Apologies for the really long title, but it couldn't be avoided. I've been wanting to review this anime for a while, and, because I'm not yet finished with Fate/Zero, I now have my opportunity.
Firstly, regarding the Japanese title (ファントム レクイエム・フォー・ザ・ファントム), there's not much point in going over it: our translation is practically word-for-word exact. There's ファントム, "fantomu"; レクイエム, "rekuiemu"; フォー, "fō"; ザ, "za"; and ファントム, "fantomu" again. Together, that's "fantomu rekuiemu fō za fantomu", or Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom. It's pretty much full English.
Four new categories get to join the mix! It's not as big of a change as you think, really, and I'm frankly surprised that it took this long for me to start some of these. The new "Combat" section will be one point; the new "Darkness/Bloodiness" section will be one point; the new "Philosophy" section will be without weight; and the new "Believability" section will be unweighted. Consequently, the "Plot" section is now 3 points, as well as the "Characters" section.
Without further ado, let's get the ball rolling!
I give it a 10 / 13! (=76.92%)
Concept: The concept behind P:RftP is fairly simplex. There's an organization called Inferno whose secret weapon/tool is a person with the title "Phantom". This person is the perfect assassin. For instance, the Phantom is able to rig a place with explosives under timer, kill all guards as well as intended target[s], and then leave without leaving any witnesses or trails.
Introduction Sequence: 0 / 1. What the heck was up with this introduction sequence? I found it boring and a very poor representation of the anime itself. I skipped the intro pretty much every single time. It's probably mostly because of the song choice. Anyhow, if even after all that you want to check it out, here's the link for the P:RftP introduction sequence.
Animation Style: 1 / 1. The eye-to-face ratio was actually inconsistent (as shown below), but I never really noticed that during the anime itself. Some of the characters were wandering a bit too close to the chibi side, but it managed to stay on the right side of the line, so I see no reason to mark it down for that. Everything was beautiful... in its monochromatic way, that is. I really enjoyed the backdrops, and the colour schemes were very fitting (working beautifully along with the contents and music).
Examples:
Music: 1 / 1. Oh, this music... this music feels very, very fitting to the anime itself, and there are so many soundtracks for it. Listening to it as OST, I find myself enjoying it a lot. You should really listen to this, so here's the link to P:RftP OST. At least listen to the track I have linked (OST 17).
Plot: 3 / 3. The main character is without any memory of his past, waking to find himself in a fight for his life. When he survives this, he works with Phantom (see my "concept" section). He is forced to kill people, otherwise, he will himself be killed. This anime is dark and moody, sad and depressing. Of course, given the context, this anime is also action-filled and intense, with edge-of-your-seat combat points and plot twists. There are probably some issues with this plot, and if I watched the anime more recently, I would potentially mark it down to a "2" or a "2.5" for one reason or another. However, in retrospection, any elements I disliked in the short-term actually balanced out in the long-term. The plot is thick and intense, occasionally drawn-out, and often very dark. There are sad moments, and these moments definitely got to me, mostly due to the attachments I had built with the characters. When the characters went through hard times, it hurt us viewers as it did them. Without spoiling anything, I'll say that the ending was very much cliché, very much anti-cliché, and you'll be left with tears in your eyes.
Characters: 3 / 3. The characters are all hopelessly familiar and complex/simplex, with extensive backstory and lots of development. As a viewer, though I attach very easily, I attached very deeply to these characters without my noticing, until, after many episodes had passed, I realized that I understood all of the characters entirely (with the possible exception of Scythe Master, the weirdo). If the characters had been poorly done, the anime itself would not be a good anime in the slightest; to achieve what P:RftP has achieved, character development to serious extent was quite necessary. It's hard to call this "pleasant", of course, because of the knowledge that bad things could happen to loved characters the moment anything goes wrong. Pictures: Zwei, Ein, Claudia, Lizzie, Scythe Master, Isaac, Raymond, Mio, Drei, Cal.
Combat: 1 / 1. The combat is pretty cool. "Combat" is probably the section that I'll go upwards of 100% in upon occasion, if deserved (as will definitely happen whenever I do a Fate/Zero review). The combat is good, just not Fate/Zero good. Example (with light SPOILERS): {Link} - Skip to 1:20 and watch all the way through.
Power Balance: 0 / 1. Regardless of how good the anime was, there's not denying that certain characters are clearly far above and beyond everyone else. Phantom, for instance, is practically immortal, and against any number of incoming bullets will survive either unharmed or barely harmed. I will point out that the anime is surprisingly good with injuries, as any major injuries obtained usually are around for several episodes.
Addictability: 0.5 / 1. This anime is so heavy that going through all of it quickly is not recommended. It's like a really dark chocolate. Sure, it tastes amazing, but you can only handle so much in a day. However, like dark chocolate, I always came back to it, even if I had to take a day or week off first, so I'm giving it a 0.5.
Darkness & Bloodiness: 0.5 / 1. Not very bloody, but it's pretty dark. Heavy would be a better word than "dark", though. Not much to say that hasn't already been said (look to "Plot").
Believability: It's fairly believable, if we set aside the fact that Phantom is Rambo and therefore immortal. There's just enough death for it to make it "reality-like" in my judgements. Given the time period, I could actually see a group using the tactics Inferno does.
Philosophy: This category will be tough for me whenever what I'm reviewing wasn't one of the most recent, as is the case with P:RftP. I'd argue that the philosophy here talks about "do the ends justify the means?" and "is fighting to stop death/fighting acceptable?", and there's definitely an underlying message of "those who are involved with dangerous things will, sooner or later, suffer for it". Of course, there's also the "is killing others in order to survive okay?" question present throughout.
Wallpapers:
AMV's:
Breaking the Habit (Linkin Park) - Eh, the shots aren't cut to the song very well. Mediocre.
I Don't Care (Apocalyptica) - There's some effort, cuts are almost to the beat, and focus is on Cal and Drei.
Given and Denied (Poets of the Fall) - This is actually pretty beautiful, though spoiler-laden.
Ah! How I love new categories!
Next Time: Date A Live, or Fate/Zero. It'll almost definitely be one of those two. Almost definitely.
Wolfe out.
Apologies for the really long title, but it couldn't be avoided. I've been wanting to review this anime for a while, and, because I'm not yet finished with Fate/Zero, I now have my opportunity.
Firstly, regarding the Japanese title (ファントム レクイエム・フォー・ザ・ファントム), there's not much point in going over it: our translation is practically word-for-word exact. There's ファントム, "fantomu"; レクイエム, "rekuiemu"; フォー, "fō"; ザ, "za"; and ファントム, "fantomu" again. Together, that's "fantomu rekuiemu fō za fantomu", or Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom. It's pretty much full English.
Four new categories get to join the mix! It's not as big of a change as you think, really, and I'm frankly surprised that it took this long for me to start some of these. The new "Combat" section will be one point; the new "Darkness/Bloodiness" section will be one point; the new "Philosophy" section will be without weight; and the new "Believability" section will be unweighted. Consequently, the "Plot" section is now 3 points, as well as the "Characters" section.
Without further ado, let's get the ball rolling!
I give it a 10 / 13! (=76.92%)
Concept: The concept behind P:RftP is fairly simplex. There's an organization called Inferno whose secret weapon/tool is a person with the title "Phantom". This person is the perfect assassin. For instance, the Phantom is able to rig a place with explosives under timer, kill all guards as well as intended target[s], and then leave without leaving any witnesses or trails.
 |
| An example of Phantom. Source. |
Introduction Sequence: 0 / 1. What the heck was up with this introduction sequence? I found it boring and a very poor representation of the anime itself. I skipped the intro pretty much every single time. It's probably mostly because of the song choice. Anyhow, if even after all that you want to check it out, here's the link for the P:RftP introduction sequence.
Animation Style: 1 / 1. The eye-to-face ratio was actually inconsistent (as shown below), but I never really noticed that during the anime itself. Some of the characters were wandering a bit too close to the chibi side, but it managed to stay on the right side of the line, so I see no reason to mark it down for that. Everything was beautiful... in its monochromatic way, that is. I really enjoyed the backdrops, and the colour schemes were very fitting (working beautifully along with the contents and music).
Examples:
 |
| She had huge eyes, but I admit, it made her adorable. Source. |
 |
| This is a better example of the average animation style. Source. |
Music: 1 / 1. Oh, this music... this music feels very, very fitting to the anime itself, and there are so many soundtracks for it. Listening to it as OST, I find myself enjoying it a lot. You should really listen to this, so here's the link to P:RftP OST. At least listen to the track I have linked (OST 17).
Plot: 3 / 3. The main character is without any memory of his past, waking to find himself in a fight for his life. When he survives this, he works with Phantom (see my "concept" section). He is forced to kill people, otherwise, he will himself be killed. This anime is dark and moody, sad and depressing. Of course, given the context, this anime is also action-filled and intense, with edge-of-your-seat combat points and plot twists. There are probably some issues with this plot, and if I watched the anime more recently, I would potentially mark it down to a "2" or a "2.5" for one reason or another. However, in retrospection, any elements I disliked in the short-term actually balanced out in the long-term. The plot is thick and intense, occasionally drawn-out, and often very dark. There are sad moments, and these moments definitely got to me, mostly due to the attachments I had built with the characters. When the characters went through hard times, it hurt us viewers as it did them. Without spoiling anything, I'll say that the ending was very much cliché, very much anti-cliché, and you'll be left with tears in your eyes.
Characters: 3 / 3. The characters are all hopelessly familiar and complex/simplex, with extensive backstory and lots of development. As a viewer, though I attach very easily, I attached very deeply to these characters without my noticing, until, after many episodes had passed, I realized that I understood all of the characters entirely (with the possible exception of Scythe Master, the weirdo). If the characters had been poorly done, the anime itself would not be a good anime in the slightest; to achieve what P:RftP has achieved, character development to serious extent was quite necessary. It's hard to call this "pleasant", of course, because of the knowledge that bad things could happen to loved characters the moment anything goes wrong. Pictures: Zwei, Ein, Claudia, Lizzie, Scythe Master, Isaac, Raymond, Mio, Drei, Cal.
Combat: 1 / 1. The combat is pretty cool. "Combat" is probably the section that I'll go upwards of 100% in upon occasion, if deserved (as will definitely happen whenever I do a Fate/Zero review). The combat is good, just not Fate/Zero good. Example (with light SPOILERS): {Link} - Skip to 1:20 and watch all the way through.
Power Balance: 0 / 1. Regardless of how good the anime was, there's not denying that certain characters are clearly far above and beyond everyone else. Phantom, for instance, is practically immortal, and against any number of incoming bullets will survive either unharmed or barely harmed. I will point out that the anime is surprisingly good with injuries, as any major injuries obtained usually are around for several episodes.
Addictability: 0.5 / 1. This anime is so heavy that going through all of it quickly is not recommended. It's like a really dark chocolate. Sure, it tastes amazing, but you can only handle so much in a day. However, like dark chocolate, I always came back to it, even if I had to take a day or week off first, so I'm giving it a 0.5.
Darkness & Bloodiness: 0.5 / 1. Not very bloody, but it's pretty dark. Heavy would be a better word than "dark", though. Not much to say that hasn't already been said (look to "Plot").
Believability: It's fairly believable, if we set aside the fact that Phantom is Rambo and therefore immortal. There's just enough death for it to make it "reality-like" in my judgements. Given the time period, I could actually see a group using the tactics Inferno does.
Philosophy: This category will be tough for me whenever what I'm reviewing wasn't one of the most recent, as is the case with P:RftP. I'd argue that the philosophy here talks about "do the ends justify the means?" and "is fighting to stop death/fighting acceptable?", and there's definitely an underlying message of "those who are involved with dangerous things will, sooner or later, suffer for it". Of course, there's also the "is killing others in order to survive okay?" question present throughout.
Wallpapers:
 |
| Ein. Source. |
 |
| Ein and Zwei. Source. |
 |
| Ein again. Source. |
 |
| Recognize her? That's Ein. Everyone loves her. Source. |
AMV's:
Breaking the Habit (Linkin Park) - Eh, the shots aren't cut to the song very well. Mediocre.
I Don't Care (Apocalyptica) - There's some effort, cuts are almost to the beat, and focus is on Cal and Drei.
Given and Denied (Poets of the Fall) - This is actually pretty beautiful, though spoiler-laden.
Ah! How I love new categories!
Next Time: Date A Live, or Fate/Zero. It'll almost definitely be one of those two. Almost definitely.
Wolfe out.
No comments:
Post a Comment