Amon Saga

I give a better rating for this movie, and although there are flaws left and right with some animation drops, i like it, Time consuming in this today´s rushed world or not i like it. Not the most Original anime story from 1986 and not the best one , but its enjoyable enough without the digitalized anime, all of it ws handdrwan ofc and have sort of slight ´a la vampire hunter D scent´ with the medevil fantasy background and mystical monsters. >The development and designs for our heroe´s and villians is shoddy compared to todays standarts LIKE I CARE, but could do ... better in interacting and personal story background , some more focus would do good. Potentially it held back a bit what dissapointed me and as a lone and short project i would like to see more. Production wise there was not too much money put in the project, but hey, for me its an acceptable oldskool anime that missed some good chances nevertheless

Amon Saga is a surprisingly rare example of pure fantasy anime in the 80s, a period where cannon bristling mecha and cosmos faring starships will muscle their way into any action/adventure anime; regardless of genre. One of the few other anime I can think of is Arion, released the same year but based more on Greek mythology than swords and sorcery type stuff.

This anime also reminds me alot of Eiyuu Gaiden Mozaicka with the vengeance seeking stoic bishounen warrior banding together an array of colourful personalities to take down an imposing masked villain bent on conquest. I'd call this anime extremely generic fantasy; in ... plot and art direction if it wasn't such an early example of fantasy anime as mentioned above. The art/animation is pretty much equal to the period's TV anime (but not say, Dirty Pair good) and we've seen this stop the villain from obtaining the ultimate power plot countless times.

There is a decent amount of fight scenes and likable enough characters to root for (blue haired bishies are always good to have). A few of my favorites scenes are:
-the giant city on a turtle, I wonder if there are earlier example of this trope
-the duel of the wizards
-the big bad's face reveal
-the pastoral look of the hallucination sequence where they ditch the black linework completely
-last and not least, beating the crap out of a pack of filthy furries

If you like classic anime fantasy with a satisfying side of cel shaded blood splatter and a yamaha powered 80s synth ost, this anime is an interesting historical footnote for you to enjoy. If you prefer your fantasy with rpg mechanics or god forbid, with visual novel aesthetics, stay clear away from this one!

- ANIMATION -
Let not the cover art fool you, Amon Saga is from 1986 so the animation is very basic (yet typical of that time) and might not appeal to most audiences accustomed to modern illustration styles. Having said that, the sequences are fluid but do occassionally seem to stall with frames where animation was done against still background shots. This anime does not show much attention to image detail or definition but this is probably due to budget constraints. It seems evident that Amon Saga did not recieve a digital remastering when issued into its DVD format leaving the images blurry and the colours ... with a 'faded' feel to them; which sadly has hampered the viewing pleasure.

- SOUND -
Regretably the soundtrack is not a memorable one as it lacks a gripping opening score. Dialogue is limited specially from the main character who is a silent reserved figure. English narration is not to modern standards with a varied lipsync.

- STORY & CHARACTER -
The storyline is simple and relatively easy to follow without much prior knowledge of the title. Fantasy and vengence are very much the main themes but it allows for some romantic elements to develope between Amon and the captive Princess Lichia. Amon, the main character, shows little development and does not stray far from the stereotypical quiet, lone warrior who is tormented by violent past memories. It is interesting to note that he is not without flaws, since he is not the best fighter within the cast and relies on his comrades throughout his quest - strangely atypical for the genre.

- VALUE & ENJOYMENT -
I was not impressed by Amon Saga as I felt it was too basic in all respects to leave any mark on the viewer. It might however appeal to fans of Vampire Hunter D or Fist of the North Star as the main characters share the same traits, and more importantly have the same art director. I have tried to be impartial to its flaws by trying to relate to how the anime scene was back at the 80s. Yet even taking that into consideration, when compared to other titles from that time, Amon Saga still falls short.