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REVIEW: X-Men


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nechronius



Joined: 23 Nov 2005
Posts: 275
Location: So Cal, USA
PostPosted: Tue Jan 24, 2012 12:49 am Reply with quote
Despite my general lack of familiarity with X-Men history, I was still pretty disappointed with the generic, boilerplate feel of the plot. You could fairly easily surmise the storyline after watching the first third or so of the episodes, which sadly doesn't make for a very memorable show.

To be honest though I hadn't known about the prior existence of "Armor" and on the surface it seemed like a cheesy way to inject cultural identity into a generally Western franchise. Knowing that the character does exist however doesn't seem to make me feel any better. Middle/high school girl in power armor as her mutant power? Really? Smacks of stereotyping as comic books have occasionally done over the decades.

Anyway it was decent, but found it rather unmemorable. I wonder if this falls under the category of the type of review most difficult to write about... (intentional ellipses for dramatic effect, but only punctuate my generic opinion)
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ConanSan



Joined: 13 Jun 2007
Posts: 1818
PostPosted: Tue Jan 24, 2012 2:30 am Reply with quote
As has been stated before, needs more CRY FOR THE MOON!
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Mawdryn



Joined: 28 Feb 2006
Posts: 240
Location: St. Louis, MO. U.S.A.
PostPosted: Tue Jan 24, 2012 3:40 am Reply with quote
I'd actually rank this as among the better X-Men animated shows. Naturally, there are differences between the anime and the comics, but they're still within keeping of the comics, IMO--Cyclops has always been moody & uptight and all but fell apart when he lost Jean Grey, and the Emma Frost we see here is more in keeping with how she was during the series Generation X in which she was a nurturing teacher towards her students. I think they drew upon Hallie Berry's Storm from the live-action movies though. Armor, though has been appearing regularly in the Astonishing X-Men series and her psionic body shield power is no more stereotypical or outlandish than Storm's power over the weather, Cyclop's energy blasts, or Wolverine's insane healing ability. If anything, that Armor's body shield usually has a Japanese influence is due to her being, well, Japanese...
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ArsenicSteel



Joined: 12 Jan 2010
Posts: 2370
PostPosted: Tue Jan 24, 2012 4:04 am Reply with quote
Wow. The best thing I heard about X-Men last year was that it was the best of the Marvel anime but that's nowhere near the compliments that are popping up now.
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Panon



Joined: 07 Sep 2004
Posts: 242
PostPosted: Tue Jan 24, 2012 4:23 am Reply with quote
People interested in this at all should just go watch Wolverine and the X-Men instead, it's a vastly superior show.

Even ignoring the badly out of character people like Storm and Emma, this show is just plain dull. It might be the 'best' of the Marvel anime shows but that's far from a compliment, sadly.

nechronius wrote:
Knowing that the character does exist however doesn't seem to make me feel any better. Middle/high school girl in power armor as her mutant power? Really? Smacks of stereotyping as comic books have occasionally done over the decades.


Armor was created by Joss Whedon. Guy loves his super-powered teenage girls.
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dtm42



Joined: 05 Feb 2008
Posts: 14084
Location: currently stalking my waifu
PostPosted: Tue Jan 24, 2012 4:45 am Reply with quote
I don't know, I thought Blade was better than X-Men. Not by a long-shot, no, but enough for me to comfortably say that it is better.

To me Blade was a 'Good' show, with characterisation as its strongest point. The battles weren't that great but not horrible either, and the villain wasn't as one-note as I feared.

X-Men was barely 'Good' and maybe deserved to be 'Decent' instead. Honestly, the plot wasn't too complicated, but because one woman was so inept at spitting it out everything dragged on and on. Cyclops was actually kind of edgy, just check out the part where spoiler[he trains Armor in the danger room.] I thought that scene was actually pretty good.

Iron Man was no better than a 'Decent'. If I was feeling less charitable I reckon I could persuasively argue for it to be dropped to 'So-so'. I'm not angry or annoyed that it wasn't anything like the initial trailer, but I was a bit disappointed at how ineffectual Tony was in battle and how pedestrian the plot was.

Wolverine was the undeniable stinker of the lot. It got a 'Bad' from me and it would have been lower still if not for some cool fights. I could tell from the first episode it was pretty weak, but I guess I watched the rest of the series for completion's sake.
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TitanXL



Joined: 08 Jun 2010
Posts: 4036
PostPosted: Tue Jan 24, 2012 5:54 am Reply with quote
Panon wrote:
Even ignoring the badly out of character people like Storm and Emma, this show is just plain dull.


How can an entirely different continuity have people 'out of character'?
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Vaisaga



Joined: 07 Oct 2011
Posts: 13224
PostPosted: Tue Jan 24, 2012 7:52 am Reply with quote
Personally I absolutely loved the X-men anime. After the disappointment of Iron Man and the blandness of Wolverine, X-men came around and blew them both away. I haven't seen Blade yet so I can't comment on that but X-men will be the only Marvel anime I'll readily buy on DVD.
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Key
Moderator


Joined: 03 Nov 2003
Posts: 18136
Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley)
PostPosted: Tue Jan 24, 2012 9:43 am Reply with quote
TitanXL wrote:
How can an entirely different continuity have people 'out of character'?


When virtually ever other continuity ever made for the franchise has a consistent portrayal of the character a certain way and this one doesn't, I call that "out of character." It would be like making a James Bond movie where Bond is a social incompetent.
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Crisha
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Joined: 21 Apr 2010
Posts: 4290
PostPosted: Tue Jan 24, 2012 9:57 am Reply with quote
Storm is my favorite character, so when I found out about her unfortunate adaptation here I was highly disappointed. I'm not watching this one. I think I'll stick with Wolverine and the X-Men (proceeds to cry over the cancellation).
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Beatdigga



Joined: 26 Oct 2003
Posts: 4352
Location: New York
PostPosted: Tue Jan 24, 2012 12:33 pm Reply with quote
Panon wrote:
People interested in this at all should just go watch Wolverine and the X-Men instead, it's a vastly superior show.



Wolverine and the X-Men utterly sucked. It was a show in 1st gear compared to far, FAR superior counterparts from DC.

This show's problem is that it was part of this quad of abandoned projects Quesada utterly refuses to acknowledge now, which is a shame since there was potential. If you had axed the other three shows and made a 52 episode X-Men anime, you could have had a show that gave Justice League a run for its money. Instead, all we have are endless "What could have been" and a condensed arc of a series that will never be made.
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malvarez1



Joined: 17 Nov 2008
Posts: 1628
PostPosted: Tue Jan 24, 2012 12:51 pm Reply with quote
I really liked this show in the beggining, but towards the end, it got boring. There wasn't even a real climax. To be honest, it had more boring scenes than Wolverine and Iron Man.
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drdr48



Joined: 16 Mar 2009
Posts: 360
PostPosted: Tue Jan 24, 2012 3:29 pm Reply with quote
Beatdigga wrote:
Panon wrote:
People interested in this at all should just go watch Wolverine and the X-Men instead, it's a vastly superior show.



Wolverine and the X-Men utterly sucked.



NO.
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penguintruth



Joined: 08 Dec 2004
Posts: 8458
Location: Penguinopolis
PostPosted: Tue Jan 24, 2012 3:47 pm Reply with quote
Any show where Wolverine can actually use his claws on something besides robots and monsters has a thumbs up from me. I'm tired of the timidness of American X-Men cartoon adaptations.
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Beatdigga



Joined: 26 Oct 2003
Posts: 4352
Location: New York
PostPosted: Tue Jan 24, 2012 3:48 pm Reply with quote
drdr48 wrote:
Beatdigga wrote:
Panon wrote:
People interested in this at all should just go watch Wolverine and the X-Men instead, it's a vastly superior show.



Wolverine and the X-Men utterly sucked.



NO.


YES.

It was light years behind all of DC's comparable offerings, the action was laughably inept, the dialog was childish and not the least bit clever, Wolverine gets the job of leader for no other reason than he's popular, and it had no real ending.
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