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BEET THE VANDEL BUSTER: THE SACRIFICE (VOL. 1) |
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Monday, 19 February 2007 |
 | | ▪ | RELEASED BY: | | ILLUMITOON ENTERTAINMENT | | | ▪ | ASPECT RATIO: | | 4:3 FULL SCREEN | | | ▪ | AUDIO: | | ENGLISH AND JAPANESE DD 2.0 | | | ▪ | RUNNING TIME: | | 80 MIN | | | ▪ | RATING: | | TV PG | | | ▪ | RELEASE DATE: | | 01/30/2007 | | | ▪ | REVIEW DATE: | | 02/20/2007 | | | ▪ | REVIEWED BY: | | HOLLY ELLINGWOOD |
Demons known as Vandels have taken over the Earth and ushered in an age of terror. Only warriors known as Vandel Busters can defeat them. From the ashes of ruin rises one young boy, Beet, who will grow to become the greatest Vandel Buster ever. He and his fellow Busters will fight with all they have to bring an end this Century of Darkness!
Based on the popular manga by Riku Sanjo, Beet the Vandel Buster the anime is a fantasy action adventure that is done pure shonen style and very much in line with the formula of a video game. As a Buster defeats more and more dangerous opponents, he or she rises in levels just like you would in a game. And as they rise, they meet up with demons and monsters that are of higher and higher “star” levels. The more stars means the more lethal the creature is and the more experience points you get for defeating it. This isn’t just a formulaic video game plot though. In this first volume we are given a good background as to Beet’s origins, which prove to be quite dramatic and explain his unquenchable drive to end the Century of Darkness and defeat every last Vandel. Even if it means he has to do it single-handedly! He’s not necessarily alone though. There are the spirits of the Zenon warriors residing within him and he has friends as well. The girl Poala, who has also become a Buster, might just prove to be a comrade on his journeys and also has the potential as a love interest, it remains to be seen.
The volume offers both English and Japanese languages but the only subtitle stream is closed captioning. That last is fantastic for anime fans that are hard of hearing but it would be great to also have a soft subtitle stream, at least for signs and captions that appear in kanji during the anime. Interestingly it offers the opening theme song in both the original Japanese audio and also the optional English dubbed version of the song.
The animation style is solid shonen action with an appealing use of colors but nothing too flashy. There’s a lot of action done well and a variety of designs for the various Vandel’s Beet must battle. The weapons that the Busters use, of which we only get the first glimpses of in this volume, have some interesting and bold designs to them. A lot of the character designs reminded me of toned down versions of Dragonball characters, particularly for the lead Beet. I think it’s the jagged hair. It seems very much like those from DBZ. Ad just like DBZ, this anime is action packed and makes for an enjoyable fighting adventure.
EXTRAS:
Bonus features include trailers of other Illumitoon titles and kanji opening and closing animation.
IN SUMMARY:
Beet is a fantasy anime that is pure shonen action done video game style. It is the story of a heroic young lad out to become the greatest warrior ever and use fantastical weapons and powers to defeat the Vandel’s and end an age of tyranny over humankind. |
