Reviews

I watched the first episode after following progress and being excited about an anime version of my favorite TV show for a very long time. I was not disappointed. Even though it starts off rather different from the show it still feels very similar. The first episode still gives us the basics of the plot, Mary Winchester was killed by the yellow eyed demon when Sam was only 6 months old. But this is seen as a dream by Sam in the Impala on their way to a case (later Sam also sees a dream of Jessica's death). The first episode is an adaptation of the episode Skin (which is episode 6 in the original series). It keeps to the same basics as the original but with some minor changes and condensed (since the tv episodes are 40+ mins and this is only 20).

The animation is really great and fits the show well. Sam and Dean look like Jared and Jensen. This really helps to get into the show very easily but the looks of all other characters is different so I don't know how I and other fans will feel about that in the long run. Because of no budget or reality concerns the appearance of the shapeshifter takes the show's concept and ramps up the freaky scale which is great. And I know that the lack of constraints is going to continue to allow the creatures to really look amazing.

The Japanese voice actors do a great job and I won't mind listening to them but in the long run I will be eagerly awaiting the English release so I can hear Jared Padalecki voice Sam in all 22 episodes. Unfortunately Jensen only signed on for the last two episodes so I'm fearing who will be gotten to replace Jensen as Dean for the first 20 episodes and how much dissonance that will create hearing Sam as Jared but not Jensen as Dean. The ending song is an engrish version of the show's official unofficial theme song, Carry On My Wayward Son. Originally when I heard this version on the trailers I cringed but it's slowly starting to sound ok. The real gems in the ending are the artist sketches especially the first one which depicts a very familiar (very famous) scene for fans of the show.

I think for fans of the show this anime is going to be a great new spin on the story. For those who haven't seen the original I think this is going to be a must see anime and it probably will make you interested in the original.