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REVIEW: Witchblade DVD 5




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Randall Miyashiro



Joined: 12 Jun 2003
Posts: 2451
Location: A block away from Golden Gate Park
PostPosted: Mon Apr 28, 2008 7:53 am Reply with quote
Wow Theron actually liked the 2nd OP song? I think I still agree with Carlo and think it is "terrible." I just finished the sixth DVD last week and will say that it strikes me as a very Gonzo series which reminded me of both Solty Rei and Speed Grapher. The parts with Father and Maria with his experiments remind me of Kagura from Speed Grapher, especially when spoiler[Saiga rescues her from the boat]. I wish that Maria would have been introduced earlier in the series since her character felt a bit rushed into the next stage.

Something about the inter character relationships of these Gonzo stories really resonate with me. It also seems that Gonzo tends to have a more action oriented first few episodes reserving any major character development for later in the series. This annoyed me with Solty Rei, but I was a bit more patient with Witchblade. I also tend to enjoy the parent/child relation which seems to be rare in most anime series yet has surfaced as a central theme in yet another Gonzo series.
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Mr Blister



Joined: 10 Nov 2007
Posts: 17
PostPosted: Mon Apr 28, 2008 9:22 am Reply with quote
Watching this series has really made me want to read the comics, I must say. I've just finished Disc 3, and really enjoyed everything so far.
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Truered



Joined: 11 Apr 2007
Posts: 515
Location: Uni
PostPosted: Mon Apr 28, 2008 1:53 pm Reply with quote
I've been enjoying this series. Off course I'm from the UK, so I'm not quite on DVD 5 yet Laughing Volume 3 comes out in about a month.

I've heard part of the second OP...maybe it gets better, but I didn't really like it Razz
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Redbeard 101
Oscar the Grouch
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Joined: 14 Aug 2006
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 28, 2008 6:45 pm Reply with quote
Randall Miyashiro wrote:
Wow Theron actually liked the 2nd OP song? I think I still agree with Carlo and think it is "terrible."


While I wouldn't go so far as to say its terrible I do think the first OP was much better over all and fit the series better as well as an OP. That being said I cannot wait to watch this volume later tonight myself. I just finished vol 4 last night so I am very interested to see how the situation with Maria changes. I must also agree that the real star of the show is Rihoko. She is what really gives the show the majority of it's depth beyond being nothing more then a simple action series. Without her presence the show would be severely lacking. Over all as a huge fan of the original comics this show has been to this point a very nice addition to the Witchblade universe. Hopefully if this show is successful we might see more comic to anime projects. A Darkness anime would really be awesome if I do say so myself.

The one complaint I have is that several of the neogenes get little time in action. Shiori gets a little bit of action time but not much really. Reina and Nora have almost no action time spoiler[beyond their own fight.] I wish more of the neogenes had gotten more screen time in terms of battles with Masane. They're supposed to be these powerful Witchblade clones but yet spoiler[most get knocked off after only 1 or 2 fights.]
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Goodpenguin



Joined: 02 Jul 2007
Posts: 457
Location: Hunt Valley, MD
PostPosted: Mon Apr 28, 2008 7:26 pm Reply with quote
Psycho 101 wrote:
Quote:
Over all as a huge fan of the original comics this show has been to this point a very nice addition to the Witchblade universe. Hopefully if this show is successful we might see more comic to anime projects. A Darkness anime would really be awesome if I do say so myself.


I wonder how well this show is doing sales-wise as well. It's one of the few titles that popped up in the collections of friends/acquaintances who either hadn't picked up anime in ages, or were primarily comic fans of years past. To a person they all soured on it very quickly with similar complaints, so I'd be interested to know how sales held up over later volumes.
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Big Hed



Joined: 04 May 2006
Posts: 1607
Location: Melbourne, Australia
PostPosted: Mon Apr 28, 2008 11:09 pm Reply with quote
Honestly, I can't see how Theron likes the second OP either Laughing I much preferred the first one. But to each their own, of course.

I do agree with what he said about Maria, though. When I looked at the image of her on the slipcover I didn't even realize that it was her. Anyway, big improvement.

Now I've got to get around to picking up volume 6, with that seriously nice piece of cover art by the man himself.
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Randall Miyashiro



Joined: 12 Jun 2003
Posts: 2451
Location: A block away from Golden Gate Park
PostPosted: Tue Apr 29, 2008 2:02 am Reply with quote
Goodpenguin wrote:
I wonder how well this show is doing sales-wise as well. It's one of the few titles that popped up in the collections of friends/acquaintances who either hadn't picked up anime in ages, or were primarily comic fans of years past. To a person they all soured on it very quickly with similar complaints, so I'd be interested to know how sales held up over later volumes.


This series is selling very well at shops like amazon and Barnes & Noble. Considering how well Highlander, Ex Machina, Ibterstella 5555, and Afro Samurai sold I wouldn't be surprised to see more anime with Western ties and Hollywood names in the near future.
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Dargonxtc



Joined: 13 Apr 2006
Posts: 4463
Location: Nc5xd7+ スターダストの海洋
PostPosted: Sun May 11, 2008 10:06 pm Reply with quote
Well I just finished the 5th volume and I must say I enjoyied this series much more than I ever expected. I think it has a very nice balance between action and "other" content. I think so far it has been very effective in keeping the mood... How do I say this, the need for normalcy and the polar opposite of dark human nature. Please don't take that in anyway as me calling this series deep or the such. I just think that this balance is kept in check and helps keep the series stay good.

I do agree with Psycho 101 in that I think some of the baddies should get more screen time, but probably for a different reason than he. For me it's because the character designs are so well done in my opinion, and I just want to stare at them. On a character and plotline level, I am sort of glad for the pace that has been set. I just want to go ga ga at the gorgeous designs in action.

I don't know why I like Witchblade thus far, I just think it very entertaining, and makes you come back for more. I have never read the comic, though I did know the basic premise of the comic even before the anime came out, I just never actually read one. Oh and I think I caught a few episodes of the TV series back in the day. But maybe because I was very new to this franchise, that was a contibuting factor, because I really had no expectations as far as canon was concerned.

Two things from the review. I didn't really notice a drop in animation quality, perhaps it was some extremely minor things but were they worth mentioning as a -. The obvious answer is yes, but the line has to be drawn somewhere. And the other is I think The Witchblade Forged featurette is clearly the better extra. It did two of the things all good extras are supposed to do. It was highly informative and gave insight in to the series. And it was well made. I really like how the orginal creators went over some of their original ideas, and in a very straight up fashion explained how things were. It was a breath of fresh air. I know the two things they were trying to accomplish with that extra was to explain the origins of the anime, and get people interested in the original source material. And they certainly succeeded on both fronts as far as I am concerned.

Anyway I am starting to ramble, so I am going to stop now. Smile
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