 | | ▪ | RELEASED BY: | | ADV FILMS | | | ▪ | ASPECT RATIO: | | 4:3 FULL SCREEN | | | ▪ | AUDIO: | | ENGLISH AND JAPANESE DD 2.0 | | | ▪ | RUNNING TIME: | | 650 MIN | | | ▪ | RATING: | | TV PG | | | ▪ | RELEASE DATE: | | 11/13/2007 | | | ▪ | REVIEW DATE: | | 12/04/2007 | | | ▪ | REVIEWED BY: | | DAVEY C. JONES |
SYNOPSIS:
In the kingdom of Kuruda, exists a warrior sworn to protect the holy nation of Ashlianna from complete annihilation. She is as strong as an ox, as stubborn as an ass, and can drink like a fish. This hot blooded and fiery red head, Elle Ragu, is the 59th Sevalle…better known as “Shadow Skill”. Along with her younger brother Gau Ban and a few unlikely friends, Elle will fight her way through demons of every sort, hulems, and talismans to ensure that her homeland remains safe from her sworn enemy…the kingdom of Solfan. She might even find the time to toss back a few “cold ones”.
The complete 26 episode series in one affordable thin pack box set on 6 discs. REVIEW:
It’s fun, it’s feisty, it’s Shadow Skill. It’s a roller coaster of martial mayhem and a bunch of comedy that turns into heavy drama halfway through. It’s a fantasy series. It’s an action series. It’s a little bit of everything and it all starts with Elle, that rowdy woman with the thirst for hooch and punch-first-ask-questions-later attitude. Me like! She’s one helluva buff babe and if she were live action, she’d give Chyna a run for her money! The series starts off with her going from town to town, problem to problem, solving them, causing them, and solving them again. She fights demons, bandits, you name it, she’ll hit it. She’s got step-bro Gau in tow and they pick up acrobatic cutie Kyou along the way. They even get the tall Folli hanging around and all is well and everything is fun times and lots of action and romping comedy. Slayer fans might want to check this puppy out. You have a loud brassy gal duking it out with all sorts of monsters and baddies. She loves to eat, drink more than I can, and fight. She’s a feisty red head. So Slayer fans already know who has a lot in common with the heroine. And the comedy is on par with the anime series. And it keeps grooving for a while but that all changes come the end of volume 3. Yep, everything was fun times until the whole Solfan plan to destroy the Holy Nation gets underway. Then the whole focus of the anime shifts off of Elle and unto her protégé Gau. Which if you ask me is a crime because she’s fun. Gau has to rise and meet the challenge of becoming a Sevalle. And the show gets really brutal in the second half, people die, nations might fall, it’s all heavy and serious all of a sudden. There are assassins, people back from the dead, maniac fighters with grudges and all of a sudden they’re all wanting to beat up and obliterate Gau on their way to destroying the kingdom. The show builds up to this huge fight between Gau and the head psycho Len. This fight lasts nearly 5 episodes! So it maybe goes on a little too long. But hey, better too much than not enough I always say. Nations in the balance and it all hinges on this one dweeby guy pulling it together in the end. What’s weird about this anime is that it doesn’t really end. You’ve got Elle who doesn’t change, there’s Gau who was on the road to being a Sevalle and still isn’t one by the end of the show (is it because he died? I’m not telling ya! Mwa ha ah!) and there’s cutie Kyou who’s crushing on Gau but never did anything about it. So full circle I guess? Plus there’s the evil dude with the blue third eye or whatever and we never learn what he was all about or why he put all this badness into motion to begin with. So in the end, this is a series you enjoy for the fun of it. Enjoy the camp, enjoy the hokey comedy and slapstick, and have fun with the killer moves. It’s fantasy and it doesn’t try to get all snooty about it, it stays firmly on the side of fromage and melodramatic fun. The animation is really decent. It gets ultra cool during the battles. There’s this one part during the Ceremony of the Four Devas arc when an assassin gets a talisman swimming up the sword in electrifying purple letters, It’s very cool. And they wait until the final episode to show off their best animation of all in the final battle stuff. There’s a lot of movement and detail that I wasn’t expecting in a straightforward action series. I’ve been humbled. EXTRAS:
In a big change from the regular thinpak collections from ADV, this sweet box comes with all of its original extras! That’s right, you get the full meal deal! It has ADV previews, clean opening and closing animation, and has commentaries galore. There’s hilarious commentary on episode 8 with John Swayse (ADR Director) who is in each of the commentaries, is joined on the first one by Luci Christian (Elle), and Monica Rial (voice actress of various voices in the anime). There’s an extra fun goodie that gives fans a sneak peek into what it is to be part of the WALA (I may not have spelled that right, don’t spank me! unless you’re hot) crowd. That’s referring to all those voices you hear in the background. There’s commentary on episode 9 with John Swayse joined this time by Greg Ayres (Gau) and Christine Auten (Folli); J.S. is joined by Tiffany Grant (Lai) and Kira Vincent Davis (Fais) for episode 14; Marty Fleck (Iba Sutra) and Jay Hickman (Kain) on episode 18; and Greg Ayres (Gau) and Blake Shepard (Len) on the final episode 26. Pay close attention when you open the sturdy black art box, inside along with the 6 DVDs is an extra disc. It has the previews of al the recent and upcoming ADV titles. IN SUMMARY:
Shadow Skill is martial mayhem! It’s half comedy, half drama and all fun!
Only registered users can write comments.
Please login or register. Powered by AkoComment Tweaked Special Edition v.1.4.6
AkoComment © Copyright 2004 by Arthur Konze - www.mamboportal.com
All right reserved
|
