Urda

Ahhh, Urda, where i should begin?

For me - it is one of those anime, where very good, even outstanding ideas hits poor implementation.

Story - 8 of 10

The story of Urda is simple, yet very good. It is told in proper pace without any unnecessery slowdowns or rushes - it is clear to me that length of the series was chosen wisely.

Art - 4 of 10

It is difficult to say about the art. Most of the time it's decent and sometimes it seems even good, but battle scenes are example of one of the worst CG that i saw. Contradicting to the story - art really ... lacks some budget.

Sound - 6 of 10

Mostly fit to the flow of the story, nothing fancy or distracting, but also nothing that helps to feel the story better.

Character - 7 of 10

Main character is well written, conflict between protagonist and antagonist is shown quite good.

Enjoyment - 9 of 10

I really liked the whole story - it was interesting to watch it and the finale was 'oh, maaaaan....'(could not write it more properly without spoilers, sorry).

Overall - 9 of 10

Despite obvious drawbacks, that i mentioned previously, i think that this title was clearly worth watching.

Firstly I have to say: "Urda" could have been great. Set on the western front of the second world war, a landscape relatively unexplored by anime, "Urda" threw together a bunch of random plot elements like Nazis, UFO and time travel ... and ends up with a surprisingly intriguing sci-fi tale. But alas, the potential went to waste, as the end product felt more like the result of someone experimenting with CG from his home PC than a proper anime. With its short length and undercooked story and characters, watching "Urda" is about as satisfying as getting served a starter when you're hankering for a ... full three-course meal. In fact, the anime could almost be passed off as a multi-part trailer to a longer, greater series.

From "Urda"'s often amateurish production values, I'd estimate its budget to be around the astronomical figure of £5. One of the primary offenders is the cranky animation, which was often so shoddy that I had trouble comprehending what was happening on screen. That said, "Urda" has its moments; at times, the direction felt sharp, and it seems to have a good instinct for handling mood and atmosphere, particularly with its use of music. The action sequences possessed a surreal stylishness, and made me think they took inspiration from movies like "The Matrix" or the cut scenes of some video game. Some of it was pretty cool, but other parts were blown out of all proportions. In one such scene, as two characters dueled on a flying plane - literally "on" it, as in stood on top of it - another plane got destroyed above them, and the battling characters managed to snag a piece of debris each, and promptly started hacking away at each other with the pieces of broken plane. Honestly, I shit you not; I'm not even exaggerating.

Complaints aside, "Urda" deserves some plaudits for being as good as it is given the obvious limitations of its production. The ending is especially brilliant, but if anything made me lament even more that the show was held so far back from its potential. I would love to see it expanded into a longer series by a proper anime studio.

A thirty minute OVA showcasing unbelievably bad CG, and one of the worst storylines ever to be brought to DVD.

Story: 1
The plot's only redeeming factor is that it is present. The show is essentially about a duo of rebels who attempt to stop a group of Nazis from obtaining a time traveling NASA space shuttle with the help of an incompetent astronaut girl from the future. While this may sound like it could make for some mindless fun, the way in which it was presented failed to do so. Furthermore since this is a set of five very short episodes it is covered ... incredibly fast; so much so that if any decent plot points were present you wouldn't have the time to absorb them. Even the shows clincher is incredibly weak and easy to predict.

Animation: 3
The series is almost entirely CG and all the characters in the show are textured using cell shading. This is not to say it looks good however. The processed framerate is extremely sporadic; animation can be smooth one scene, and stuttered in the next. This wouldn't be much of an issue if the show was drawn, but since they chose to use CG they should have kept the framerate higher. Additionally character models move unnaturally, background textures have a low resolution, and facial expressions look incredibly awkward. Some of the particle effects and vehicle models are decent however.

If this all seems a bit critical, keep in mind that this was released in late 2003 and computer animation was very advanced then. In fact less than 6 months after this was released the 2004 iteration of Appleseed hit theaters, also showcasing cell shaded CG, but of an infinitely higher caliber. While Appleseed obviously had a much larger budget to work with, that doesn't change the fact that this looks like it was made in the early 90's.

Visually the show resembles a cumulative project for a computer graphics school, rather than something made by a professional company.

Sound: 4
This is the shows strong point, but only for the fact that you won't hate it. Musical compositions are reminiscent of those you would find in a typical RPG, with both orchestral and piano pieces. There's a wide variety of sound effects but they aren't edited especially well, and you will recognize many of them from other shows. The voice acting is okay considering what they had to work with, but any expressed emotions are usually ruined by the awkward facial animations anyway.

Character: 2
The characters are so cliché it's laughable. From the female protagonist with superhuman combat ability, amnesia and big breasts, to her cycloptic Nazi mentor who can smack rocket propelled grenades out of the air with her bare hands, there isn't much to take seriously. The show does try and use its ridiculous plot to develop the main protagonist (Erna) somewhat, but it's all too predictable and rushed.

Enjoyment: 3
All enjoyment pertaining to this show lies in how terrible it is. It would be best to watch this with a group of friends to get a few laughs. Even the combat scenes are spoiled by awkward character animations and poor music.

Overall: 2
While still beyond redemption this show could have been easily improved by scrapping the CG idea altogether, and slowing down the pacing. Furthermore there are so many things in here that have been done before, it's almost like the show is trying to poke fun at the anime industry in its entirety. If this review seems overly critical you probably haven't seen this show. If you have, you should watch it again with my sympathies.