Highlander: The Search for Vengeance

This is about the most american anime I have ever seen in my entire life. It's so disgustingly terrible. There were a couple reasons I watched this title. The first, and biggest reason, was that I saw this as I was browsing amazon. It got some nice reviews so I thought to myself "hey, I should watch and then buy this." Now I've seen two highlander movies and a good portion of the TV series and I can honestly say that this is the worst Highlander creation I've ever seen.

Story: This is what happens when you get a writer who ... is 1. subpar and 2. Not Japanese. The writer for this has written for Highlander before, alot for highlander. I think that he's written ONLY for Higlander. The formula for this anime is VERY simple and yet incredibly complex. Revenge. I've seen revenge done before, and i've seen it done VERY well. Highlander has a very simple revenge plot, it's so simple that it's insulting. There's also the TERRIBLE sideplots....these were also insulting. I'm not giving any spoilers, but really, even if I did, it wouldn't really spoil anything at all. All the "plot developments" were predictable and boring. And i'm usually too busy paying attention to what's going on to think about what's going to happen. But I was constantly thinking about what "twist" they were going to throw at me next. Oh and the script is absolutely terrible. If you can't finish 50% of the lines before the actors say them...then you're not trying hard enough.

Art: For a terrible anime the art is pretty nice. The art is very smooth, very crisp. There are some really beautiful scenes, and then there are a bunch that aren't that hot. The action scenes lacked flow. They all seemed very static and choppy, very few seemed beautiful. Someone compared this to Afro Samurai and mentioned that the fight scenes lacked intensity, which is exactly what it lacks. This anime is meant to be all about action, and yet the effort put into these scenes seems so lacklustre. The art reminded me alot of Basilisk, and I'm not a huge fan of the style, it really doesn't suit the "feel" of this anime.

Sound: All that was available for me was the english dub....which frightened me. BUT I watched it. They got McLeod with a Scottish accent.......half the time. Which is HILARIOUS when he drops it for a bunch of lines. The english voice actors deliver every line terribly, it doesn't help that the entire script is riddled with terribly cheesy lines and ridiculous one-liners. They had some ridiculous rock music for a bunch of it as well....that didn't help.

Character: Oh man. the characters here are absolutely hilarious. You have the protagonist Colin, who's only dream is vengeance. He wants revenge because some guy "Markus" killed his wife. He's silent, angry, and incredibly powerful. you have Markus, who's such a "bad guy." you even watch his girlfriend kill some gigantic barbarian without breaking a sweat. Then he makes out with her. Oh yeah, he's bad. Then there's the whore with an ulterior motive, who tries to sleep with Mcleod....but he refuses because he's faithful to some wife who died hundreds of years ago. You have the annoying little kid with a dying sister who just HAS to join them because he has to save her from a virus that kills people. *sigh* Just watching them hurts, trying to analyze them hurts even more.

Enjoyment: No one should watch this. For an anime, it didn't even feel like an anime. This is probably the perfect example for anyone who hates how some anime become "americanized." This is an American anime...but it's not fun, it's not creative, it's not original. Only a die-hard Highlander fan could stand watching this.

Please. Don't make the mistake that I made. This anime is horrible, worse than an American B-movie. Even in the first 10 minutes it's really easy to see that it's not going to get any better, and it doesn't...it just gets worse.

Im no Highlander fan, Im just a geek... I've never been interested in Highlander as a franchise,...let's just get it on.

The story was pretty fair, there were no breath taking action sequences but even tho, it was enjoyful. It moves from the future to the past and back... simply to bring a little bit of complication in to it. Its all about revenge and hate , and anger, and how you cant win if those feelings are leading your way kinda thing. Im sure you know what I mean since weve seen it before...

The Animation is really great, everyone will enjoy the animations and ... effects that this movie has. There are few really good gory scenes in which are used effects that are just marvellous, so there is something to look at.

The music (rock or metal, sorry that I can't tell) is fitting but after a while you will concentrate on the fights and scenes so much that you wont even know that there was some background music, thats not a bad thing but I just feel like its a waste of efford in that matter. Sound effects are well done, everything sounds as it should, the metal chinging, bullet shots, explosions... all sounds just right.
Higlander is originaly in english, the voice acting was fine, what was really great idea was that the accent of the characters was changing, in the past they were talking with a scottish accent and in the future it was american, nice touch there.

Characters arent anything special, there was just nothing new what would make those characters unique. However it was a fair job nothing to be sad about.
So dont fix whats not broken...

I really enjoyed it from start till the end, I really think that this is gonna be enjoyful for Highlander fans (from what I hear) nothing to be crazy about, but if you want some serious sword action it will take you in but not as well as other titles (Vampire Hunter D: Blood Lust). For those that are searching for a good lone hero adventure, you might have found your Jackpot but for most people its a One Timer at worst.

As a big fan of the Highlander franchise, the first film and the tv series, and not the sucky movie sequels, I had really high hopes for this film. When you consider it was directed by Yoshiaki Kawajiri (who as you know directed such classics as Ninja Scroll and Vampire D bloodlust) and the script was penned by one of the writers of the tv series, then I feel I was warranted in expecting a great film. Not to mention that Imagi and Madhouse did the animation.
Unfortunately for me the Search For Vengeance was a bit hit and miss for me. While it ticks ... all the boxes for what you would expect from a film in the highlander franchise it does little else beyond that.

The film is set in a post-apocalyptic New York City where the protagonist Colin Macleod, Of the Clan Macleod (naturally) arrives and discovers that Marcus Octavius, who he has been chasing throughout time in a quest of vengeance over the death of his wife is the leader of this ruined city. Colin joins up with the local rebels of the town, reluctantly, to take down Marcus who is planning to wipe out the city’s population with a virus so he can build his new utopian society from its ashes.

As you would expect from the talent on hand the film looks really, really good. The animation is top notch with some great character designs. I particularly liked the design of Dahlia who with her red hair and clothes is such a stark contrast to the dull and grey environment of this desolate New York. Colin is also well designed as looks like a badass action hero but not in a generic way. Where the animation really excels is in the action scenes and as you would expect from the director of Ninja Scroll the action is fast paced and enjoyable. The audio is quite solid too with a good soundtrack and all the voicework is top notch. Even in the flashbacks to Scotland the accents and the dialogue sound perfect.

Unfortunately it is with the writing that my main criticisms lay. The writers clearly played it safe here and did not tinker with the Highlander formula at all, and beyond the highlander stuff the plot just has that “done to death” feel about it. Films set in a post apocolyptic world are nothing new and neither are stories of vengeance revolving around a murdered lover. As for highlander specific stuff as I said it ticks all the boxes: We get to see how Colin discovers he is immortal and we see plenty of other flashbacks from different points in history and each time the flashback is triggered by something in the present day. Colin has a love interest in the present day who just happens to resemble his one true love from the past. And this was my problem because all of this had either been done in the original movie and tv show and was just not that interesting to me. Now clearly they wanted to make a movie that fans and newcomers could enjoy and I respect that and that was probably the right way to go but as a fan of the franchise there just was nothing here I had not seen before.

---Dcm18's quick reviews---

Story: 6 (Good but very predictable)
Art: 9 (Exelent quality)
Sound: 7 (Not memorable, but nice)
Character: 5 (Generic characters...)
Enjoyment: 7 (Meh at least not boring)

Overall: 6.8 (Very americanized flavor, kinda ruins the movie)

I'll be honest and say I never thought the Highlander series had its own anime movie and I recently got into the series when I turn 20 since I watch the first movie and bit of the TV series; both cartoon and live action, still planning to watch the rest, even the sequels.
I found the movie in my local 'nerd store', I didn't think it was real until I did some research and I decide to give it a watch, and I really enjoy the movie so much.

-The story is a basic revenge plot, with a war going on as main character enter the town ... and become involved. Its not bad it is written well, thou you can tell where its going and how its going to end, it keeps your interest.

-I'm glad the made a new character for the movie then using Connor or Ducan. Thou Colin is 'one character motivation'; to get revenge of his clan and dead wife, his determination keeps him going no matter how many times he gets killed.

-The supporting cast done a good job as well, I'll admit I do like Dahlia as the main female character then the others in the movies and shows, I don't hate them they have improve themselves to be more the the love interest however Dahlia is more proactive in action department.

-Marcus is a enjoyable villain, and not insane like some of the Highlander villains, *thou I do enjoy the villain in the first movie* and he did said the truth about the world and society, willing to change it to see fit *into his eyes thou* no complex, however he's very calm and collection villain.

-The action is wonderful, the sword fights are fast-pace and get excited to see more, the animation is flowing and great, the landscapes and backgrounds are great and detail to show how a dis-utopia in the future is too.

-The dubbing is very good, and the accents are pretty descent.

I can't say anything about the negatives of the film; its a fun watch and if any fan of the Highlander or an Anime will enjoy it.

Highlander: The Search for Vengeance is another take on the long running Highlander franchise. I have to admit this was my very first exposure to the franchise, and up to this day I still haven't seen any of the films or TV series. I knew absolutely nothing about the story at all until I saw this anime feature, with that said, I really have no idea on what a fan of the series would be looking for; but I do have an idea on what an action oriented anime fan would be looking for, and I don't believe many of them will be too disappointed. ... Now for fans of the director, I recommend setting your standards a bit low here.

The film moves at a good pace and delivers some decent action scenes mainly involving sword play. Since this film was directed by Yoshiaki Kawajiri, those whom are familiar with his work should already know to expect some stylish and blood soaked battles. The man has proven to be a master of his trade. However, when compared to his earlier works such as Wicked City, Ninja Scroll, and Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust. He has clearly missed a few steps. The action scenes are clearly dumbed down and aren't very imaginative but they're still entertaining.

For the most part this is your typical revenge themed movie, fortunately the story and plot isn't too paper thin. The world has been ravaged by man's constant destructive nature, plus there's an airborne virus killing off the remaining population in New York City. The people whom refuse to serve Marcus have retreated underground in vain with hopes of avoiding the sickness. Now with Colin's help, they attempt to invade Marcus' fortress to find a cure.

Unlike some of Kawajiri's works, Ninja Scroll & Wicked City in particular, the lead villain especially has some depth. There's a bit of background on some of the more important characters. The film also adds an interesting form of commentary. This is delivered through the personalities of Colin and Marcus, and it raises the question on who could be the worst of two evils. Could it be the mad demi-god, yet civilized Marcus vying for the perfect utopia? Or the near savage Colin, whom thirsts for revenge and can care less for anyone whom tries to befriend him? In any case, their centuries long feud provides a good amount of action and at times some laughs. The secondary characters serve small purposes, and surprisingly aren't present only for a lengthy body count. The main character, two secondary's, plus lead villain, also resemble characters from Kawajiri's past works. So, there's quite a bit of rehashing going on here.

The production values are rather high. The animation is pretty fluid from sword clashes to burning buildings. The detailed artwork consisting of dilapidated buildings, ruined bridges, and ran down streets, tells the story that the world is hell. My only gripe concerning the visuals is mainly with some of the character designs. Marcus and Colin especially, resemble Gemma from Ninja Scroll a bit too much. They almost appear to be brothers from other mothers. The soundtrack is also fitting and has an epic feel to it. The voice acting is pretty solid packed with some profanity.

I have several other gripes with the film. It almost appears that a new viewer to the franchise must have an idea on what's going on. It is explained what an immortal is and that they can only be killed permanently through beheading; but what isn't explained is what exactly is the "Quickening". From what I gathered, when an immortal is killed, the killer must have absorbed his powers or essence. The event is quite the spectacle consisting of a well animated light show. Another gripe I have is predictability. The characters actions were too easy to call a lot of the time, and another thing, mullets just aren't cool to me especially when they're on women.

Now is Highlander: The Search for Vengeance a great anime film or a masterpiece? Not at all from where I see it, but it is a fun ride. I enjoyed the concept of it enough to give the rest of the franchise a try one day. I recommend this mainly to action fans, fans of the director, and perhaps to fans of the franchise as well.

Highs: Crisp and clean artwork, nice animation, good battles, character background

Lows: Kawajiri's usual formula but watered down, somewhat predictable, one too many mullets

Art: Character designs were decent, though perhaps too similar to Kawajiri's previous works. Marcus looked too much like Gemma. Clothing, backgrounds, weapons etc were all fairly detailed.

Animation: Pretty decent. Fight scenes were fairly well animated, with some slow motion scenes here and there. Could have really done with some single-framed sword fights though, that would have been really awesome.

Choreography: Bit too much sword bashing and sword breaking in this anime. I laughed when Colin's thin katana cut straight through Octavius' thick sword. Sword deflecting bullets was really dumb as well. So overall the choreography isn't that great really. Certainly nothing breathtaking like Sword ... of the Stranger or VHD:Bloodlust.

Conclusion: The movie felt really disjointed. Like it was just a bunch of random unrelated scenes of two guys swing swords at each other. And I wouldn't have minded that if it was done better. Also Marcus not killing Colin when he had like 50 chances to do so was really dumb as well. The whole "I know I have better things to do than chase the same faggot for 2000 years and repeatedly failing to kill him but I'm still doing it anyway" thing was also retarded.

Well well well
Let’s criticize this work a little bit



The World
This genre was very popular in 90s, you know the works about miserable future of the mankind civilisations, people are very few and they are weak and there is an evil force with modern technology trying to kill everyone, oh damn this sort of works bother me.


The Plot
The story has no new idea or anything freak, it’s common and dull, however the events of the story are very boring, there is no comedy in it at all nor a good tragedy, and the fights weren’t good enough, the characters too were primitive, like any child ... can make better than them, by the way the worst thing to me in the plot that the protagonist fallen in love with a hooker!! Yuk what a nasty and disgusting idea!!anyway I have a note for shounen fans, it’s related to this work and other one, the main idea of immortal guy that suffers continuously because of his lost of his lovers regularly for a thousands of years and because of his immortality and his enemy, was represented in Nanatsu no taizai, so we can say that Suzuki Nakaba had ripped off his tragic plot form this work.

The Art
The only thing that I liked about the whole work was the original character design, I love Hisashi Abe’s art style, his drawing is always complex and mature, the animation was good too, the backgrounds were average.


The Music & The Sounds
I didn’t hear any unique effects sounds, and the tracks were too dull and ordinary, because of that the acts are really cold and makes you feel sleepy while you’re watching.

Highlander is a cult classic film from 1986. It's so ingrained into pop culture that even if you've never seen it you know the basic premise and the classic line "there can be only one." It's also a very divisive film where you tend to either hate or love it and critics are largely in the former camp but there's enough of a fanbase that it spawned multiple sequels, several TV versions and an anime film. Which is what we're going to be looking at today. How did our old friends at Madhouse handle the property?

Story:

Colin MacLeod is one of the titular Highlanders. For ... millennia, he's chased Marcus Octavius who crucified his wife, Moya, long ago when their tribe was routed by the Roman Empire. He's chased him through basically ever major conflict the writers could think of and far into the future.

There are multiple problems with this film. First of all, the flashbacks lose their intrigue really quickly and the number of times Marcus almost finishes Colin permanently only to be stopped by Colin accidentally stumbling into holy ground or by some other interference gets pretty silly. The story f the film is also kind of boring in general. Colin wanders around, fights some things and makes his way to Marcus or we see a flashback where he got his ass beat by Marcus. Sometimes we see a spectre of an old man or hear the old man's voice lecturing him about the pointlessness of his long quest.

Another issue with the film is that a part of its ongoing plot is the attempt to steal some vaccines to save some people who are sick with a serious virus. Why is this an issue? Well, to put it simply, vaccines are not useful for people who are already infected. You see, a vaccine works by introducing a weakened version of a virus to your system. This allows the immune system to dissect it, figure out how to fight against it and build up antibodies so that if it encounters the same thing in future it can easily destroy it so that the infected person only experiences light symptoms or has no symptoms whatsoever. But if a body is already infected and fighting against a virus, introducing a weakened version into the mix isn't going to help.

Characters:

Our main characters are Colin, Marcus, Dahlia & Kyala. Colin is a very flat character. Marcus is the typical smug variant of antagonist. Dahlia is the prostitute with a heart of gold. Kyala is the femme fatale character who serves as Marcus' love interest. They're all really uninteresting and lack even the semblance of chemistry in their dynamics.

Art:

The art actually looks pretty decent. On the down side, the character designs have some of the dumbest attire around. I mean, Marcus and Kyala look like they're going clubbing at a bondage club rather than ready for action and Dahlia wears her working clothes for both infiltration and combat. Because fetishy leather is perfect for both those things. That being said the animation flows pretty well and there are some high energy action sequences.

Sound:

Madhouse actually did get some heavy hitters for this. Hayashibara Megumi, Park Romi, Yamadera Kouichi. The only main character I haven't heard in much is Oguri Shun but he still has some impressive credits like being Mario in Rainbow. However, in spite of the casts' talent, they don't really showcase their skills here. It's yet another case where you take a talented actor and give them absolutely nothing to work with and this, somehow, results in a performance that's very much below what they're capable of. Just like when Hayashibara was in Evangelion and her entire job was to not emote under any circumstances. The music, what little there is, is definitely below average. They tried to copy the kind of shit you'd hear in a Hollywood action movie where they couldn't be bothered to get a respected composer.

Ho-yay:

There's none to be found.

Areas of Improvement:

1. You need some degree of character complexity. Yes, the Highlander franchise is known for its action sequences more than its characters but part of the reason the original has a cult following is that they sympathise with Connor and find him quite likeable. They like Ramirez as a mentor figure and they like their dynamic. Going from that to fully relying on the action is never going to work.

2. The flashbacks get far too repetitive. Colin chases Marcus. Marcus defeats Colin. Colin is saved either because of interference or he reaches holy ground. We could have had, literally, one flashback to explain why he hates Marcus and a brief montage showing him pursuing his grudge throughout history. Instead of spending half or more of the film on flashbacks.

3. You can have characters change their outfits to be more appropriate for what they're doing. I know they understand this because, in the flashbacks, we see Marcus and Colin go through a variety of wardrobe changes but they need to apply it to the film's climax.

Final Thoughts:

Highlander: The Search for Vengeance is pretty bad. Bland, underwritten characters, flashbacks that drag, a plot that makes no sense. Even if you just care about action sequences there are a lot of better anime out there. My final rating is a 3/10.

I'll note where there a spoilers in the review

Seeing as its a Yoshiaki Kawajiri movie (director of Wicked City, Ninja Scroll, Vampire D, etc), I came in expecting the usual fantastic art with a mediocre to even hilarious plot attached to it. Can't say I was disappointed in that regard. His films always have that distinct heavy shading style to them, with sharp jawbones that you could cut diamonds with. Which if you are like me and love watching anything with a cool artstyle, that's more than enough reason to give this a watch. The story and characters are probably even worse than Wicked City ... or Cyber City Oeda, so if you didn't like those then certainly don't bother with this.

Now that being said, the art isn't as polished as Ninja Scroll or Vampire D, nor does it have that atmospheric aura that Wicked City or even Cyber City Oedo had. It also has some ugly CGI, that while not totally offensive, is still a big step down from those films.Highlanders's visuals are still top notch, especially faces are what Yoshiaki's works are so uniquely talented at. The second you see even a single screenshot of them, you know who made them. Its very rare to find anything similar to it, maybe Redline comes close, but even then its just not the same (thankfully, its good to be different).

Spoiler Territory:
You know I like the idea of an immortal dude who fights his eternal rival for thousands of years... at least as a shounen battle tv series anyways. This movie is sort-of based on the live action movie (also callled Highlander), which I haven't watched - but I don't think you really have to since the stories are different anyways. The entire of this film's plot is a bit of a mess overall though, the worst aspect of the story was trying to tie into the Scottish highlander thing, where almost nothing about the Scottish highlanders was shown, and originally the MC was fighting Romans in Britain near Stonehenge anyways. One can only assume they made an effort to make this connection because of the film name and the live action version, but its just so rushed and poorly done that it shouldn't even be there. I'll explain in the next paragraph.

So in this Scottish highlander section of the movie - a very small section might I add; you get a Scottish battle scene, a funeral because he died in that battle (Immortality brings him back always, but "death" knocks him out for unknown reasons.), he crawls out of his grave at night and is called a demon (A fair point, "zombie" would also do.), then suddenly his new love interest is there to defend him from his accusers - until they decide he has to leave because he just crawled out of his grave, and the show acts like we should really care that he is splitting up with his new relationship that we've seen on screen for roughly 30 seconds. Its not the worst thing I guess (for this film anyways), except that the entire reason of him fighting for the past MILLENNIA is because he was fighting to have his revenge for his first wife's death. So he spent over 1000 years fighting tooth and nail, dying over and over again, bearing physical pains and horrors over the memory of his first wife, and yet apparently also just takes another woman while continuing that fight anyways? Yes, technically the story tries to justify it by saying that this was is his first wife reincarnated (also happens again in the future), which is not only stupid, but fails anyway since he himself states he didn't believe that to be true. Its just a half-assed story honestly, even Wicked City felt more put together and that was also just basically an excuse for some action and sex scenes.

So yeah, a very long look into just one example of things not really being careful looked at in the story. There is a lot more to nitpick and dissect, but it's just that sort of story, its like porn stories - certainly its exists and could be looked at, but why waste your time when we all know what reason it really exists for? You get to watch a bunch of action scenes spanning different ages for shits and gigs, ignore it and just pay attention to the visuals since they really do stand up well.


Overall: I didn't hate the film, but I'll never recommend it to anyone - unless they watched everything else from Yoshiaki, and if they've done that then they probably don't need me to tell them to watch it.