Ranked #1376

Madlax

Story:: The story is quite slow paced, as it is in all of Bee-Train's "Girls with Guns" anime, but once the plot picks up...it REALLY picks up. I, personally, was sort of confused with the plot and had to re-watch the last few episodes to really understand what was going on. It is quite good though, and keeps you interested with its twists and turns, especially for the last six episodes or so.

Art:: The animation for the most part is smooth and flows quite well, especially during action sequences. There were a few episodes where some things just looked out of place though, like single strands of 3-D hair flowing from 2-D character's faces. Other then these sorts of little things though, the art is quite good.

Sound:: The soundtrack of Madlax is one of the best anime soundtracks I've ever heard. With vocals, chanting, techno-esque beats and more, the tracks are a blast to listen to, used in the correct places, and really enhance the mood. The seiyuu's make the characters sound good and quite believable, but I personally favoured the English dub over the original Japanese cast. You can shoot me for that if you want. The English VA's just made the characters of the show feel more realistic and believable then most dubs do.

Character:: The main characters in this show are quite likable and well developed, and it feels easy to relate to some of them. We see most of the main character's pasts, what drives them on to do what they do, their relationships with other characters, things like that. Another plus is that none of the characters in this show are really annoying, the exception being the main villain, Monday Friday. His way of doing things just really bothered me for some reason. So overall, the characters are pretty good.

Enjoyment:: As I said before, this show starts out slow, so you may find it boring in between plot points. But the action sequences that are in this show, although they're sort of exaggerated, are very entertaining to watch. Overall though, it was a very entertaining series, which I could probably re-watch a few more times before getting bored with it.

Overall:: This show is definitely not for everyone because of it's slow pace, but once you get past that, it really is a good anime with mostly good points, that'll have you wanting more in the end. read more

Madlax’s similarities to Noir kind of turned some people off, and it really IS like Noir. Except I found it better, and quite different in enough aspects to make it worth watching. It’s not JUST a repeat of Noir. Trust me.

Alright, so the plot started out a bit slow, and that was kind of annoying. At 26 episodes, it drags. But if it had been condensed into 13, it wouldn’t have fit. So 26 it is. It is infuriating how it takes forever for the characters to meet up, but our interest is maintained through means of some pretty cool gunfights. When things eventually do start to happen though, Madlax begins to shine. It has a pretty interesting theme and the last few episodes were sad, but it’s good drama. It ended well and had an overall tight plot, despite the unanswered questions. Yes, it is like Noir in the sense that there’s this unsolved mystery and secret organization hanging over the whole thing and pulling the strings, but the mystery’s what kept me interested. It’s different from Noir in that while Noir focused on realism, this went the other way and tried to work on abstract imaginary premises.

Madlax has some great characters. My favourite has to be Madlax herself. I like her character design, I like her voice (Sanae Kobayashi is an underrated voice actor), and I like her personality (hardened by war, but still somehow a gentle person. Go fig. That’s an impressive control of emotions). On top of all that, she likes to fight in cocktail dresses. XD That’s never really explained properly, but it’s not overboard as fanservice, and it is pretty funny to watch. Her gun-wielding skills are far above realism, but then again, the entire show deals with surrealism. Margaret is just a tad annoying, but her voice actor portrays her well, and there’s notable character development there. Vanessa and Eleanor were both characters I couldn’t care less for at the beginning, but they gained my attention as the show progressed. Nakhl (Naharu) is another personal favourite of mine, even though all she does it walk around looking cool. She DOES look cool. The antagonist is hilariously lame. Heck, in short, the cast is great.

Music. It’s Kajiura, enough said. :P Okay, so while this isn’t my favourite Kajiura soundtrack, the OP is great and I love the two insert songs, “nowhere” and “I’m here”. I find it awesome how the titles are exact opposites of each other. Anyway, the sound is amazing, and a great backdrop for the dialogue and action. Watching Madlax shoot people isn’t nearly half as fun if your speakers are busted.

I loved Noir, but I think it was a bit rough around the edges and clumsy with plot development. Madlax has a tighter plot, better animation, a bigger, better-rounded cast, and a stronger conclusion. Worth watching if you like Noir, Kajiura, Bee Train, or gunfights. :) Or really mild yuri implications. I don’t know. It’s a plausible reason. XD
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Before reading this recommendation, I want to notify that I have been quite rough in setting out the points. This is because of if I would set out the points the way I saw Madlax on, they would all be 10. But then again, not everyone have my taste of anime, since I'm a dramaholic and like these kinds of slow animes. Therefore, I set out these points the way I think an average watcher would rate it. But still, ofcourse there will be my own opinions in it.

Story; 7
Yes, the story is a bit confusing from time to times. And it proceed slowly, showing lots of their personal life and repeating memories often. But still, it's a quite interesting story showing from a normal life to a supernatural journey. The two protagonists lives in totally different countries, living completely different lives but are connected to each other in a quite complicated way.

Art; 7
Yes, the art has not anything specific. It looks like any average anime. Can't really tell so much, but you know what I mean if you have watched anime from 2000 or something. Actionsequences looks cool, but there are things in some episodes that shouldnt be where they are.

Sound; 10
This is one of the mainreasons why this is one of my favorite animes. Just as from Noir, Yuki Kajiura is the composer for the soundtrack. And all those who like Yuki Kajiura, yeah you get a picture of it. It's lovely, and it fits really much. Even though they may repeat some songs often, I couldn't care less since I love the soundtrack. Just hearing it makes me feel like a new human.

Characters; 8
The characters are interesting just like in any of Bee Train's animes. All of their animes have at least one of those calm and complicated protagonists, which I tend to like. Madlax is kind of hot, and the rest are quite enjoyable to watch.

Enjoyment; 6
Yes. It's a 6. As I wrote in the beginning, I tend to like these kinds of slow animes who makes you want to think a bit for understanding the plot, their feelings and such stuff. But I know that not everyone like this, in fact this anime is FREAKINGLY slow and I know many who have dropped this because of that. Also, there are really many repeats in memories and such stuff, which could get on your nerves. Neverless, IF you liked Noir I think Madlax could be something for you. But be aware, it's even deeper then Noir.

Overall; 7
Most of the points comes from the soundtrack and the characters. I wouldn't recommend this anime to people who didn't liked Noir or El Cazado or doesn't like drama at all. This anime got so much drama that the humans ego couldn't even be compared to it. But I loved it, and if you like drama here is the anime for you. It got beauty in it too.

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Madlax is in many ways quite similar to Noir, so if you hated Noir and think it is an abomination (i'd tend to disagree but to each their own), you will NOT like Madlax, at all.

Story: 8
Madlax follows the same general story structure of Noir. The first 2/3 of Madlax is sort of a slow daily life type thing that builds up the characters and gets you attached to them. During this time the overall plot is only visible out of the corner of your eye, although it is tied in to everything discreetly to keep the viewer thinking about it.

The last 1/3 of madlax is when the story really picks up and all of the story elements in the first 2/3 that you thought were filler lock in to place causing an "oh wow so that is what it is" moment. While the first 2/3 has a lot of moments when you really have no clue what is going on, the last 1/3 does a pretty good job of explaining things (like Noir), including some interesting and surprising plot twists.

Art: 8
The art is good. Fight scenes were well done and i liked the character design. I suppose it shouldn't be a surprise coming from a Bee Train anime, but Madlax fighting in a dress does look very cool.

Sound: 10
The soundtrack of madlax is one of my favorite anime soundtracks. Not sure what else there is to say about it other than i still listen to a few of the songs from it that i really liked.

Character: 8
Many of the focal characters are interesting and well developed which is something you don't often see. In Madlax, it isn't just the main two characters who have a background and life to them, it is a large number of people (probably around 5-8). Many characters you sort of write off as not being important end up being the exact opposite and playing a huge part in the story throughout Madlax. The "daily life portion" of Madlax also serves to attach the viewer to the focal characters so that when things happen in the story, there is some emotion to them.

Enjoyment: 8
I liked Madlax quite a bit. Up until about half way through i was heavily comparing it to Noir (which i also liked), but shortly after that point Madlax really grew in to its own for me and was a great experience with a good ending.

Overall: 8
If you liked Noir, watch this. If you didn't like Noir, watch this anyway. If you hated Noir, well... don't watch this. While on the surface it has a lot of similarities with Noir, it really is its own show with a deep and interesting story that will keep you hooked until the end as long as you can deal with Bee Train's style of setting up the plot to trap the viewer.

Great fight scenes, interesting story, ending that actually answers your questions and a great score, what is not to like? read more

Anyone can bother to tell me wtf this anime was about...?

Madlax is about a girl named Margaret with constipation problems. So badly is she constipated that she cannot remember who she is or her past. On the other side of the continent is the solution to her problem: a nice tall drink of Madlax. Madlax is another amnesiac who doesn't know how to count by twos or tie her shoes, so she tries to remember by killling lots and lots of people. Eventually, it turns out that Madlax and Margaret are linked in some way, and no, not because they're both kinda gay. The story makes no sense, and the ending makes even less sense.

Bee Train makes some okay looking crap. This is one of their better looking piles of crap. Art and animation looked fine. Sound is okay, mostly because I don't remember it.

Now, we got the amnesiac, the hot amnesiac, the amnesiac who remembers stuff, the amne--you get the point, right? Characters = FAIL. None of them know who the eff they are, it's like watching the three blind mice try to look for a peanut in the dark.

Madlax is not the cure for constipation because it will make you feel stuffed up and unhappy for its duration. Don't watch it lest you have chronic diarrheoa and need to be backed up for a while. read more

this anime was done by the same people as noir. so i had to watch. let me to you it was well worth! the story may be a little hard to follow but once you seen it once. it well flow like water. all the series had in it was used! not one single part was "pushed" aside and forgotten. witch was great to see. the art was great too. the close up on the faces had a lot of detail as well. sound could have been a little better.the charaters was the best part! can not could on to detail.( you know spoilers) I bought the whole series and could not but it down. man, was i tired at work lol. so give it a watch! read more

This is by no means as good as Noir, (which came before it), however, the conversations with SSS that ADV added in the extras make the single packs worth buying. The show itself, you still get the same great action that you did with Noir.

Well this series is a little confusing...its like talking about this girl for a eps then that girl for a eps...you really start to understand the content at the end...witch does sux..anyways the songs is very good