Urda

I am speechless. How do more people not know about this dumpster fire? It's easily one of the worst anime I have ever seen, somehow failing on every front. Though, paradoxically, I had so much more fun watching it than many of the anime immediately above it on my list, because it is hilarious. There are moments of totally unaware comedy gold that I will be thinking about for the rest of my life, and that is in and of itself an incredible feat. Beginning with the story, it is ridiculous from the start. An astronaut from 2112 is flung back into the past to ... 1943 Germany, where cartoonish Nazis attempt to track down her spaceship, while a scrappy team of busty anime women do everything in their power to stop them. I'm not exaggerating, it is every bit as campy and off-the-wall as it sounds. This isn't even to mention the bargain bin tropes used dozens of times in 30 minutes, or the time travel 'twists', or the snarky sidekick. However, the shoddy story is nothing compared to the 'art' that Urda puts forward. This anime, released in 2002, makes the bold decision of making a 100 percent CG anime. I don't think I even have to say more than that, but I will, because it's funny. Nothing, not a single thing, looks good in this anime, even for 2002. There are no discernible facial expressions, the characters move in stiff and unnerving ways, the 'fight scenes' only consist of their arms flailing wildly in different directions, the physics are totally nonsensical, the lighting is garbage, and the backgrounds look straight out of a PS1 game. The sound is somehow just as bad, serenading the ears with a clunky electronic synth that only serves to make literally every scene that much funnier. This is compounded by the voice acting being even worse, sounding like they recruited from and recorded on a porn set. This garbage bag is tied off with a neat bow by the characters, who are so ridiculous and paper-thin that you can't help but laugh. Overall, Urda is unadulterated bottom-of-the-barrel trash, and I highly recommend it. Best viewed with a room full of your closest friends, and possibly drunk.

I'm noticing a pattern in my reviews. I seem to watch a lot of things that could be pretty good if they had more time to work with. Urda is no exception.

For some reason it's broken into episodes. No need really, it's shorter and could just be reedited into a one shot. The story is interesting to me; femme fatale uber soldiers, futuristic scifi plot twists (the ending is very Marvel, I gotta say). It's hard to say if it's rushed or just too fast paced for something so short, but either way it feels incomplete. If ... you've ever read a Matt Rielly novel, imagine your copy is missing pages at random.

The animation is video game-ish, cell shaded and detailed, but action sequences are animated too quickly and feel unnaturally puppet-like. It is right there with Galerians: Rion as far as CG era just with a brighter contrast.

Concept: I'm sold. Execution: not impressed. Verdict: Definitely a niche experience.

Urda is a 1-man project (barring voices and sound design), and I can respect that. Whle overall subpar, there are a lot of places that show that the creator does have the sensibilities for direction and scene composition.

- Animation: Mediocre but praiseworthy
The 3D CGI is definitely subpar in terms of its quality, dating it as a product of the early 2000s. Yet, animation-wise the creator's diligence absolutely shown through for me. Given what was available, he absolutely did as much as he could, and did not slack in the least, with many interesting set pieces strewn throughout what is ultimately just a 30 minute ... ONA.

- Direction: Strong
Kind of a extension of the above, but I just wanted to state it clearly. I think it is only hindered by the technology used.

- Story: Mediocre
Story is nothing special at all. By today's standards it's absolutely mediocre. There are interesting ideas and twists, but only so on paper. Execution needed to be better to carry it.

- Voice Acting: Mediocre to poor
On to voice acting, I actually liked the english dub slightly more that the japanese dub. The japanese voice actors seem amateurish, at least that's how I felt about it. Voices for the leads are good (for japanese), but it breaks apart with the background characters. Not that the english dub is amazing, but I personally prefer it, due to a mix of the overt russian accents plus some so-bad-its-funny moments with the character Janet specifically.

- Sound: Poor
Sound desgin is definitely weak throughout, nothing to be expanded here. Music is also basic, but nothing terrible or distracting here.

- Conclusion:
I would rate it a 4 (below average, but not outright terrible) from my own enjoyment, but under a objective lense it's absolutely a 3 within the grander landscape.