Ranked #5115

G-9

The first thing I have to comment about is the animation style. For an anime there is very little "animation" to speak of. Instead they used still pictures & camera pan effects to give the appearance of motion throughout much of the film. Though I can't say I prefer this style of animation, I think it fit well with the overall look & feel of the feature.

The art itself was actually quite well done, despite being somewhat rough looking. Most of the feature is B&W with only one scene done in full color, that being the "memory scene" depicting Agarta receiving a memory of a woman holding a small child. Some scenes felt more like I was watching a series of paintings rather than watching an animated feature. It reminded me of Japanese calligraphy (big dark brush strokes) which I think was the original intent. That combined with the futuristic steampunk-ish setting I think gives G-9 a truly unique feel.

The voice acting was nothing special imo. What little dialogue there was seemed more like a narration rather than acting for the most part but I don't feel that it detracted from the story at all. The script was fairly simple to begin with & most of the dialogue was Agarta's internal monologue anyway.

It's hard to rate things like character development with such a short series/episode (~15 minutes) but the story was still fairly well told though there was plenty of room for expanding of course.
By the end you are able to feel Agarta's struggle with her own identity & humanity. She has ultimately sacrificed her own identity in order to save the consciousness of others & in return she is given memories, a precious commodity that we often take for granted. Thinking about that makes one realize how the different memories that we make & retain over the years shape our identities.

Overall I would say that for a single episode this is was a fairly enjoyable (albeit short) feature to watch if for nothing else than to see something a little bit different. read more

The plot follows a woman who awakes in a deserted town with no memories and no clothing. The story continues to show how she regains these memories of which she was and her mission in the town with the help of a voice that speaks directly to her thoughts via her earring. Her name is Agarta, the Devourer of Dragons, and her mission is to destroy the dragons that plague the consciousness of humans in return for her own long past memories.

Now, the animation is done by Toei Animation, who is most known for making anime such as Dragonball & One Piece, two series that one of them, being the former I only watched and the animation is a bit lackluster and it’s not because of the black and white only color scheme. There wasn’t any animation at all and it just feels like they should’ve made this into a manga (either printed or digital) because the production just feels cheap, even for a short. But the art does compliment the dark and eerie surroundings of the environment in the anime. I get that it feels like a painting in motion or like motion webcomics in a way but it’s nothing to be at awe about.

The story of it is average at best but still passable to an extent. I could blab on about the minimal character development of Agarta and the dragons but they only have 17 minutes to cover it and for what it’s worth, it’s actually decent.

FINAL VERDICT: It’s very stiff and flat but it may appeal to other watchers but it’s just not worth watching over and over. It is mostly an artsy fare and I can appreciate that kind of anime but most of the time, it’s a complete bore.
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