Ranked #2125

Phantom - The Animation

ADAPTATION: Phantom: The Animation is an OVA series that is supposed to be an adaptation of the Visual Novel called "Phantom of Inferno". However, only chapter 1 of the VN is adapted and more then half of scenes from there were removed and the rest have been changed completely.

STORY: Those who have played the Visual Novel or watched "Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom" anime series will see that the base of the story is the same, but that "Phantom: The Animation" changed almost every scene. In addition, some plot developments are useless (Zwei being offered his memories back didnt't serve the plot at all), we know nothing about the organisation whom Ein and Zwei serve, not even its reason for existence or why they are opssesed with killing various mafia bosses and a guy called Scyhte Master is here literally a evil genius with his own base with badass monitors and his own personal army.
Also, Ein and Zwei are for some reason LITERALY superhuman. While they are supposed to be superior to other people, "Phantom: The Animation" crosses the border by leting them ALWAYS fight against armies of enemies and usually kill their opponents with clean headshots while running around.

ART: Art is ugly, characters often look different from scene to scene and camera angles that are used screw up the character designs more often then not.

SOUND: Soundtrack, OP song and ED song are nice to listen to and are probably teh only good thing in this anime

CHARACTERS: Both the Visual Novel and the TV series depend on characters, their developments and their life in their cruel world of crime and killing. "Phantom: The Animation" also tries to make good use of characters, but it fails. Their relationship develops suddenly, them becoming enemies is not dramatic at all and they seem like real souless characters about whom is hard to care.

ENJOJMENT: If you are not picky and like to watch gunfights, you may enjoj this anime. If you are interested in good plot or characters, then don't bother watching this as you will waste 90 minutes of your life.

OVERALL: Bad plot, lack of character development and badly executed story are just some of things that make this anime a bad one. If you like the premise, I suggest picking up either the Visual Novel called "Phantom of Inferno" (which has been translated) or watch the TV series "Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom" which is a much better execution of the same thing. read more

I figured I would watch this before checking out the newer series.

Starting with story: this really is the weak point of this OVA/OAV. It's kind of your standard abducted amnesiac assassin story.
...yeah.
Also, because it was limited to a few 30 minute episodes, the build up to what should have been a pretty awesome dramatic ending was not very effective. What gives Phantom more than a 4/10 in story is the interaction between the two main characters. There IS something unique here, even if I did end up laughing a little when stuff happened at the end that was supposed to be sad.

Art gets a 9 because the artists said "hey, doing an awesome job drawing weapons in a violent, action based show would probably be a good idea!"
Much love for well-drawn weapons. Personal bias, I admit it.

Sound: Re-used machine gun sound effect makes me upset. Otherwise, not bad. Not great either.

Other stuff: eh, it was good. Perfect headshots on the run every time until anime plot rules take over and force "hero wounds" kind of made it just another show.

Decent, but not amazing character depth added to a few good action scenes makes Phantom worth watching. Really, it's just suffering from a harsh time limit which ruins it's potential. read more