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.

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

I'm not too crazy about this anime, it is a test of one's patience. A huge chunk of this anime is boring...very boring and everyone lacks a personality. Because of this, over half of the anime was unbearable to watch because it was just so slow and boring and everyone was practically emotionless, they all speak as if they are all on Valium. This anime is a bit vague and pointless yet the biggest thing I dislike about this series is the fact it sets out as a “normal” story and then ends as science fiction.

~art/animation
The art and animation aren't bad, but it's not as ... if it's anything noteworthy enough to be an attraction to watch the series.

~sound
The music for this series is on the mediocre side. The OP was very generic sounding....not bad, not good, not worth listening to more than two or three times. The score throughout the show was average...some better than others. But I will credit this much, I really loved the ED theme.
I watched this show in English, the cast did the best they could and I don't hold this against them because I have seen their other works and I know that it's not really them but how the show was written and how the characters are supposed to be.....boring.

~story
What's the point of this anime? What is the story behind Madlax? Is it really a genius piece remarking on the ideological argument that violence is intrinsic to the human condition or is it just sci-fi rubbish? Frankly, who knows...and who cares? ....I don't for sure! The story and plot is a hot ass mess and all over the place. At first it seemed to be about a civil war, then about a book, then comes some religious cult, then off course the assassin named Madlax. There doesn't seem to be a single central unifying element to this series....”girls-with-guns” is not really central unifying element for telling a story. Just a very superficial reason to create this kind of story/anime.
There are some points in the series that are moderately interesting but those only come during the last 25% of the series as more and more revelations and confrontations occur.

~characters
UGH! Utterly boring and monotone characters! Nothing ruins an anime more for me than boring characters. I don't mind characters that speak slowly or the one character that doesn't speak or behave robotically but when the whole cast is like that then it affects the whole emotional landscape and tone of the show. No one gets angry, no one yells or raises their voice, there's no humor or laughing or panics...etc... Everyone just has that slow and constant way of speaking, boring....monotone. But also a lot the characters are ridiculously supernatural without any real explanations....and like who in their right mind [a soldier no less] uses a tank to shoot at a single girl with a gun? Or a maid?

~verdict
Kind of a pointless anime that was created to cater the fans of the “girls-with-guns” genre.

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.

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.

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?

Although a seasoned otaku, I have only seen two war-related animes. And by war I mean an actual war, not the holy one—the concept not-so-rare and rather overused. The first one was Grave of the Fireflies, the movie that sent me sobbing. The second, First Squad: The Moment of Truth, also made me cry, although for very different reasons. (Hint: read the existing reviews.)

In other words, it's a genre I'm unfamiliar with and experience conflicted feelings about. To say I had any expectations or preferences would be incorrect, so my mind was completely open.

The only thing I was aware of is that it's another creation ... of people that made El Cazador de la Bruja, one of my all-time favourites. The similarities have been spotted at once.

First of all, I could not help but notice drawing style and general placement of the characters being very similar. Madlax and Margaret strongly reminded me of Nadie and Ellis, not just appearance-wise but also the kind of relationship they share. However, I must note, the latter two sure come from the more developed anime era. Who could have thought anime would develop so much in just three years?

Another similarity would be that both series have a similar set of characters—strangers that follow and watch over the growth of the mains, a couple of close friends, and one psycho that has an unhealthy obsession with one of the two antagonists. The pattern is clear.

I have noticed in the previous reviews people tend to complain it takes too long for the characters to meet. Truth be told, that's probably the most stupid thing I have heard in a while. Like, are you people familiar with Game of Thrones? That's where it takes long.

In my opinion, anime was a little slow paced in the first episodes, but this should be expected as we are being introduced to a whole new universe and the characters that will accompany us in exploring it.

What I found incredibly interesting is how it seemed to touch on sensitive political matters of the time and actually indirectly made accusations towards a certain country for being the puppet master of the blood-spilling civil wars. Since anime has not referred to any existing country, I shall not either, but those who were alive and mature enough back in the day the anime was released should also make very obvious connections.

Another aspect I found appealing was the atmosphere of war itself. It was well perceived and pictured. Although I have never been in a war zone, it made me feel as if I know what would it look like.

However, the best of the best things about the series is what got me in El Cazador as well—the soundtracks. Usually I don't even pay so much attention to them, but in Madlax they were absolutely flawless, well-timed and fitting.

The concept of the anime itself was pretty interesting and I quite enjoyed it. Not gonna lie, what particularly pleased me was development and eventual death of the characters. I though it was just a trick to keep us hooked in the beginning, and the fact the running gag has been forgotten midway through had only confirmed that, the final episodes proved me wrong.

Moving on to the cons of the anime I will start with my biggest pet peeve—art style. While in general it was not too bad for its time, Madlax had a peculiar skill of making the main characters look very retarded at certain angles. I'm quite sure it wasn't their intention either.

I was also annoyed how bits of the background stories of other key characters have been revealed briefly but never developed or completed. I've always had a feeling there was a lot more behind Vanessa and Elenore, and it made me growl to have my interest woken up yet never satisfied.

Another issue would be the entire book business which was meant to be main theme of the series. Let's agree it was not and the spotlight has been stolen by warfare, a far better developed concept which, I think, was meant to be the creator of a mood.

Similarly to the lack of development secondary characters received, the one that got close to none was the main villain. When it started off, Enfant and Friday Monday seemed absolutely badass and I was craving to learn more, even such details as where does the name Friday Monday originate from. We have not been given any of this, and the villain proves to be boring, basic and only put there to, well, be.

Generally speaking, Madlax is anime I could write a lot about (as you might have noticed), but I'm trying to keep it brief. Failing hard, as there are just so many things to be said.

Overall, I truly enjoyed the series, although I had a feeling the story had a very poor time management. Had it taken less time for introduction and warm up, as well as getting one-episode-only characters involved, it would have had more time to develop the ones that were sticking around for a while, especially the god damn villain.

Although peeved about the art style, later on I stopped noticing it and simply accepted the fact times were different. In fact, the story gets so captivating it's the last of your worries.

What these series gave me as a better insight on my own preferences through exploring a genre I'm not too familiar with. I found Madlax truly enjoyable and recognized the work of creators El Cazador de la Bruja, the series I'm a big fan of.

In conclusion, it's a very interesting anime though I would not recommend it to everyone. In fact, I would only recommend it to people who have already seen plenty, just so they can truly appreciate this great show.

Madlax is honestly a pretty cool anime. It’s got some really cool gunfights and really has quite a bit of emotion. The anime was slow paced but still able to entertain you even with the slow pacing.

Story - 8

The story in this show was really good and I really liked it. You have this girl named Madlax who’s extremely good with guns and another random girl named Margaret. The show swaps between both of them and you get to see both sides of the story. This show is slow paced. It’s pretty dialogue heavy but the dialogue is actually surprisingly interesting. There’s also some absolutely ... awesome fights and chases which are absolutely great.

Now the main thing keeping this story away from greatness is some of the explaining. I mostly understood the story, I paid attention, though it could be confusing only at some times though. Especially with a bunch of terms to remember. Other than that one thing the story is great and I loved both the dialogue and fight scenes and is a great example of slow pacing done right.

Art - 7

The art and animation was on par with 2004 standards. It’s good and there are genuinely scenes where the show looks absolutely gorgeous. For the most part though the show looks bland but clean. It honestly could use some more vibrant colours especially on the daytime scenes. Anything during night or sunset looked great. The animation was also not that choppy and pretty smooth. Overall the art and animation looked good but not the best being really bland for 50% of the show.

Sound - 7

I really liked the sound in the show too. I especially loved the opening and background music. The voice acting was pretty good too! The opening was nice and sad, suiting the show. The background music was great and I would like to mention the song Nowhere usually in the gunfight scenes as a great piece of background music. I didn’t really care about the ending though it was mediocre compared to those complete bangers.

Character - 8

The characters were great too. Especially the main character Madlax basically just doing awesome stuff in fights the entire show. Margaret was good too and so were the side characters. Even the supporting characters got a bit of development to where I cared about them. The only characters that didn’t get much development were the villains and the opposing characters though getting barely any screen time.

Enjoyment - 8

Madlax was a pretty good show. It’s slow paced but awesome and could balance out both sad parts and complete awesome parts. It’s not the most memorable thing ever but worth a try if you like awesome gun fights, Sure it’s not for everyone being slow paced and dialogue heavy but it still is interesting during the dialogue and really entertaining during the fights. Overall Madlax is pretty good and I like it.

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

As part 2 of the “girls-with-guns” trilogy by Bee Train, Madlax (which seems like the name of a laxative) alternates storylines between the two leads, the title character Madlax, an efficient special ops agent for hire in the country of war-torn Gazth-Sonika and is mainly similar to Mirelle with a dash of Kirika of Noir. Yeah, there are similarities between this & Noir like the other main character Margaret Burton, a clumsy amnesiac (see?) living in Nafrece, a France-styled country and yes, her parents are dead as well and similar to another character on the fore-mentioned show. But Margaret has a few people looking after ... her, such as Vanessa Rene, her former tutor whose parents died in the Gazth-Sonikan war and found out that her employer supplying weapons for both sides of the war and apparently yuri bait for most of the episodes for Madlax since Vanessa hired her for protection, not that I’m complaining but yes, that similarity trope keeps coming back and that also follows to Elenore Baker, Margaret’s devoted maid and sometimes mom-figure and friend.


The main villain or secret criminal network du jour is called Enfant (Les Soldats, anyone?) and led by a man named Friday Monday (Seriously, who comes up with these names?) with agents Carrossea Doon, one of Enfant’s top operatives and right hand man of Monday & Limelda Jorg, the second lieutenant of the Gazth-Sonikan Royal Guard who obviously had a grudge against Madlax for an assassination attempt that she failed to stop and that yuri factor does kick in for her, too.


There is somewhat of a twist to the show and the main characters as most of the first half of the series, they never appeared together until halfway in but I’m not going to spoil anything for you.


FINAL VERDICT: This show is just a carbon copy of its predecessor with a few changes and twists. Some characters are mostly decent and well-acted (the two leads) and some are just there for mostly there to make the difference. The animation is somewhat muted most of the time and the music is okay, conducted by the same composer Yuki Kajiura, who did all the “girls-with-guns” trilogy shows. It’s very too similar but it’s passable.

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!

The second title made in Bee Train's well-known "girls with guns" trilogy, Madlax mixes supernatural mystery with its gun-action when a professional assassin and the daughter of a wealthy family become entangled in a conspiracy by a secret organization called Enfant having their own diabolical plans involving the two. First appearances can be deceiving with this title, as there have been cases of folks dropping it after the first several episodes and dismissing it as a Noir ripoff with the similar characters, premise and dynamic involved in the series. The slow pacing of the series also doesn't help matters in early perceptions of the series ... which hint to more to come while introducing the characters and its premise.

However if you are able to press through Madlax's first half, then you will see that this series establishes its own identity outside of Bee Train's first entry to their "girls with guns" trilogy. Unlike Noir and El Cazador de la Bruja, this series regularly carries an ongoing storyline and doesn't waste time on episodic developments as the other two were known to doing. While early episodes to Madlax may seem irrelevant with what they are trying to tell for story, the episodes actually serve as a necessity to provide a focus into the types of worlds both Madlax and Margaret are part of, while slowly building up on the connection that the two have to one another. Supernatural elements and psychological developments are brought into the mix as the story develops as Madlax and Margaret try making sense of their lost pasts and investigating what Enfant has to do with them. Both elements are key to understanding some of the more mysterious elements of the series that seem irrelevant at first glance yet get revealed in due time such as Enfant's mystical ability to brainwash those coming in contact with them and a war-ravaged world where a young girl and boy are all alone. The mix of psychological drama, gun action and supernatural elements help create an engaging story that will keep you engaged to the show throughout its run if you are able to get through the show's first several episodes and very slow pacing.

Praises aside, Madlax does have some issues that keep me from wanting to rate it higher. Outside of the mentioned slow pacing, Friday Monday's role as the main antagonist of the series was hard for me to take seriously with his delusional tirades about human morality and desire to plunge humanity into the same crazed desire he has for endless violence. Also, I found Limelda's character to be a waste of screen time in this series as she doesn't contribute much to the series beyond serving as the "worthy rival" archetype for Madlax.

Visually, Madlax retains a similar drawing style that was done for Noir while having more vibrant color and polished detail. Gun action scenes were on the plain side for the most part with Madlax being practically unstoppable against most enemy threats and the show's habit of milking shortcuts like reused animation frames, still shots and speed stripes to conserve on budget. The soundtrack was pleasing on the ears for the most part with its use of eerie, yet powerful, tracks to enhance suspenseful and dramatic moments, though it does occasionally get repetitive as episodes progress (notably with the insert songs).

Despite some flaws, I found Madlax to perhaps be the best entry in Bee Train's "girls with guns" trilogy. Featuring a plot that mixes mystery and supernatural elements on top of solid buildup of its psychological elements involving Margaret and Madlax, this is a solid anime to look into if you can overlook the anime's slow pacing.

"I'm confused!"

If you are looking for a good thriller with a solid amount of mystery watch Noir, not this anime. This anime has the potential to be a masterpiece with its ideas, however you will be lost in unnecessary vagueness, unfinished sentences, unrealistic action and mystery build on something that looks supernatural until the second part of the final episode where everything finally makes sense. The feelings I was left after watching this anime is sadness, not for the story, but for anime itself. Once I got the idea, I realized, that if implemented properly this anime had the chance to bring me to tears, ... but unfortunately the way the story developed in the first 25 episodes negates everything.

Story: 3
The story explores a normal rich girl, its maid, and an assassin, that looks like they have nothing related in common, but they are joined by a mystery in their past. Their connection is related to the "human essence" - what a human being can do when they are pressed between their consciousness/morality and their will to survive. It has something to do with the civil war mentioned in the synopsis, but since all this is explored only in the second half of the last episode, there is not much time for the idea to evolve or to feel any tragedy. The rest of the episodes feels like a waste of time.

Art: 6
The art is fair considering the year this anime is produced. The shadows are partly transparent and there is sufficient details. Some backgrounds are actually amazing, but this contrasts with how the characters are drawn.

Sound/Music: 3/8
The sound in this movie is poor. There is a clear studio-room echo that negates the feeling of the open scenes. It is not a problem with the voice acting, which is good. It is a problem with the recording, and it is not due to quality of sound, but the simplicity of the sound recording.
However, the music is the only thing that stands out in this movie. The name "Yuko Kajuira" can ring the bell from the Noir OST. Unlike Noir, I do not consider this OST to be "masterpiece", but it is very very good. I watched the opening most of the times only for the song. And the songs "Nowhere" and "Lost Command" are amazing. The OST is dynamic enough for the action.

Character: 3
The characters and story combined is the weak point of this anime.
First weak trope is the unfinished sentences in the dialogues. If properly implemented and with a sufficient background, this trope can increase the sense of mystery. However, the writers misunderstood that - they used the trope without a background story. I did not feel any tension building in any episode.
Second worst is the invincibility. I can refer to Noir here. The assassin work in Noir is shown from the moment of receiving a job, throughout planning and executing the job. The "Noir" anime understands that if assassin is really good and you are his target, you will first see their face once you have a bullet inside you - planning and surprise. And here we have a Madlax that have just "talent", she just moves and shoot without looking and no bullet hits her, while she kills everyone. So realistic... :(
And finally, the characters that talk so much of the "human essence" has zero sense of justice. It seems the only thing no one dares to kill is exactly "the bad guy". Instead, the characters are willing to shoot their friends, because that is their human essence? That view is not an essence of normal people, that view is not the essence of the sociopaths. It is just unrealistic and hard to grasp.

Enjoyment: 4
I enjoyed watching the backgrounds while listening to the music. I enjoyed a little bit when finally everything made sense. But most of the time I did not enjoy this anime. I just sit there waiting with a hope that all this mystery will be resolved to some smart idea. Yes, there was a climax, but no outro. There was no consequences of the climax, so I all my hopes were in vain.

Overall: 4
This anime is decent enough to lose your time if you have nothing else to do. When it comes to assassins and guns, I prefer animes that stay firmly on the grounds of realism, instead of flying into the skies of the supernatural. Considering, it clearly misses the point of the "human essence" most of the time, it is an anime that if you really think about what message it tries to convey, you will be disappointed. However, if you are looking to just relax and enjoy nice music without any thinking, it could be enjoyable.

I've already reviewed Bee Train's other two girls with guns classics, El Cazador de la Bruja and Noir. Now, it's time to finish the trilogy with a look at Madlax. This was the second one released coming out in 2004. Is it as amazing as the other two? Let's have a look.

Story:

Our tale takes place in two different countries. The first is Gazth-Sonika where a long civil war is taking place and where the mercenary, Madlax, makes her home. The second is the peaceful Nafrece where our second protagonist, Margaret Burton, lives. Little do the two women suspect that the criminal organisation, Enfant, ... is going to bring them together while trying to obtain an old book that's in Margaret's possession.

There are two pretty significant flaws with the writing in this series. The first is that its pacing is really slow. Now, you could make the point that both Noir and El Cazador also take time to build up and are slow burns. However, there are a couple factors that make it a problem here and not necessarily in those. The first is that the series reiterates information a lot. There are so many scenes with mysterious characters making the same handful of comments or with characters just repeating information they already said one or two episodes ago that it gets a bit tiring. The second issue is simply that a lot of sequences in this just feel really dragged out. With Noir, we had a lot of really compelling content propelling the story forward. With El Cazador, we had a really interesting journey. And, in both those cases, we had strong developing relationships between the lead heroines as well. In Madlax, they don't even meet until the very end of episode eighteen.

The second issue is just that the story is written in an overly cryptic way. A lot of sequences with mysterious characters talking vaguely. A lot of repetitive flashbacks that are clearly meant to be hinting at something and the sequences are so over-used and repetitive that you will very likely figure out where they're going before the reveal in spite of them being written in the most convoluted fashion possible.

With that out of the way, Madlax is still a compelling series with a lot of interesting moments to keep it going. And it does improve on one thing when compared to Noir, which is that the mystery it sets up for an ongoing source of tension has a much more satisfying conclusion. The ending to this is pretty strong in general. And the whole thematic conflict among hedonism, idealism and pragmatism is pretty interesting. I generally appreciate media that shows idealism as unrealistic and takes a more pragmatic stance at dealing with conflicts if I'm being honest.

Characters:

Madlax revolves less around the dynamic between the two leads and relies more on their relationships with others. For Madlax, we see a strong dynamic betwixt her and Vanessa. As well as an antagonistic relationship that starts developing into something more between her and Limelda. For Margaret, her main dynamics are with Vanessa and Elenore.

The protagonists in this are all pretty compelling with their own goals and back stories that help flesh them out as characters. The main antagonist, Friday Monday, is kind of boring though. He basically just wants to "free" humans from a sense of morality without any real reason given for why he wants such an asinine thing. The characters who are there to be mysterious, the glowing children and the discerners, are also pretty under-developed. They have roles to play in the narrative but not much personality.

Art:

The artwork is roughly on par with Noir's. While it does suffer somewhat from overly angular faces, the designs are strong and the action sequences are really good. And it does have some cute sequences.

Sound:

The acting is really good. Kobayashi Sanae, Kuwashima Houko, Uchikawa Ai and Yukino Satsuki all deliver excellent performances. The music in this isn't just excellent but it's also used very effectively to build atmosphere and enhance the action sequences.

Ho-yay:

There's a decent amount of les-yay, though not as much as the other two. Madlax gets les-yay with Vanessa and, later on, Limelda. Margaret gets les-yay with Elenore.

Areas of Improvement:

1. Less time spent with "mysterious" characters talking vaguely about plot points. Yes, it's important to foreshadow the major plot points especially with a plot as complicated as Madlax has. But they just overdo it.

2. Friday Monday needs stronger motivation. There should at least be some reason he thinks everyone acting on impulse and desire would be the ideal society.

3. Madlax and Margaret could use stronger interactions. Just to be very clear, I'm not saying that they should be romantically connected. What I'm suggesting is that the fact that they meet very late in the series and barely interact with each other before things start getting intense does weaken the impact of some of the climactic plot points.

Final Thoughts:

Madlax is definitely the weakest series in the trilogy. That isn't to say that it's bad. It still has a lot of factors working in its favour including a lot of the writing strengths that all the Bee Train girls with guns anime share but it's also overly slow and uses the Judas Traveller method to explain some of its plot elements. Which is never a good sign. I'll still give it a very solid 7/10

I found this anime to be enjoyable. The whole time I was wondering what was the connection between the main characters, Madlax and Margret. This is for the most part action filled, with the exceptions of scenes with Margret as she is only a school student. I really recommend this anime, I've seen it twice and i still probably will watch it again!

Overview:
"Madlax" is the second in a trio of similar but unrelated anime created by studio Bee Train (the other two being "Noir" and "El Cazador de la Bruja"). Collectively known as the "Girls with Guns" trilogy, these three anime were moderately successful upon release but these days are almost never talked about, which is quite a shame since they ultimately helped to popularize the very genre they're named after. Out of the three of them, "Madlax" is the first one that I watched, and as far as first impressions go, it's a pretty damn good one, even if it does fall short in a few ... areas.

Story (8/10):
The events of "Madlax" take in place two fictional countries- the civil war-torn jungles of Gazth-Sonika and the peaceful urban country Narfrece. Within these two countries reside two young women with seemingly nothing in common, aside from a shared love of pasta and the fact they both have amnesia. Madlax is a mercenary who succeeds at nearly all of her jobs and wishes to put an end to the civil war in Gazth-Sonika, which by the time the series starts has been going on for over a decade. Margaret, on the other hand, is an aristocratic girl who's attempting to uncover the truth behind her past, the only clue to which she has is a mysterious book with a page torn out of it. Overtime, the stories of these two women collide, and a conspiracy that threatens to swallow the entire world is gradually uncovered.

The story is quite ambitious, to say the least, and for the most part its ambition pays off. The first two episodes feel as though they come from two completely different shows, due to them both showing how different the lives Madlax and Margaret lead are, and the series starts by switching between the two leads with each episode, with their stories gradually colliding with one another, and seemingly unrelated things turning out to have a connection that you couldn't have seen coming. Notably, it isn't until the final third of the series that Madlax and Margaret finally meet, meaning up until then their character arcs run parallel with each other. This gives the plot a great sense of duality, and allows the viewer to look at things from all sides. Speaking of which, out of the seven main characters, three are villains, and we gradually see their stories develop along with those of the heroes. However, anyone expecting a story with grey morality will be in for a disappointment, as the conflict between Madlax and the main villain is about as black and white as they come, though the other two villains both prove to be very sympathetic.

Unfortunately, the story takes a while to really get going. It isn't until episode 9 that the connection between the two stories truly becomes apparent, and the early Margaret episodes can be a bit boring, especially when compared to the Madlax ones. Additionally, while things do speed up in the second half, they also get a lot more convoluted, with the story introducing various supernatural elements that viewers need to interpret with little explanation. As such, while there are some great twists, they can also be very confusing. That said, these issues ultimately aren't enough to negate the story's strengths, and the last few episodes in particular are a great ride, topping off with a great, highly satisfying ending.

Art & Animation (7/10):
"Madlax"'s visuals are easily its biggest weakness. Bee Train isn't exactly known for making beautiful anime and that really shows here. The character models are very rough around the edges and in particular have almost no detail when looked at from afar. There's also pretty much no blood to be found on-screen, which in a story about war is downright jarring and harder to forgive then if it were a shonen fighting series.

Sound & Dialogue (8.5/10):
I've been a fan of Yuki Kajiura for about as long as I've been a fan of anime, and she's one of my favourite composers along with Hiroyuki Sawano. That being said, I would have to say that this is one of her weaker soundtracks. Now, don't get me wrong- it's good (this IS the composer of "Fate/Zero" and "Madoka Magica" we're talking about), but there are a lot of tracks that, while not bad at all, tend to just blend in. The opening theme is good enough but not to the extent that I felt the urge to look it up and the ending theme is only slightly better. It does get really good later on, though, one notable track being "I'm Here", which plays in a lot of the later episodes and fits the mood of them perfectly. The voice acting is solid throughout, though the highlights are probably Nancy Novotny, Luci Christian and Vic Mignogna, who voice Madlax, Margaret and Carrossea, respectively.

Characters (7.5/10):
From the very first episode, it's clear that Madlax is a great protagonist (and she is THE main character overall, being much more involved in the action than Margaret). While mercenaries are almost always anti-heroes to some extent, Madlax is pretty much as heroic as you can get. The worst thing that can be said about her is that she kills a lot of people over the series, which in fairness is to be expected when you're trying to end a war as quickly as possible and only accept the toughest missions. She doesn't go out of her way to kill, either, as she will look for a peaceful solution whenever possible and will sometimes let enemies go despite the consequences it could have. As for her actual personality, she's very gentle and kind-hearted, but also won't hesitate to call out people for their foolish choices. Her kindness is most evident by the fact that she often finds herself sticking her neck out for the very people she criticizes, and is deeply saddened whenever she fails to save someone. She can also be extremely cute, particularly when it comes to her love of pasta. Long story short, Madlax is undeniably the star of the show, and it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that she carries the anime at some points.

Margaret is probably best described as the opposite of Madlax. While Madlax is a very independent person who doesn't rely on anybody, Margaret is hopeless enough that she needs people to help her through a typical morning. Besides being very spacey, it's obvious from her very first episode that there's something seriously wrong with her; she describes news about a terrorist attack as 'boring', claims it's going to rain when there's no signs of it, stares at red shoes for ages despite not wanting them, and takes being on someone's mind as sign she did something to offend them. She's far from stupid, however, as she can be surprisingly perceptive and is a good judge of character, and overtime pretty much every one of her odd mannerisms is given some kind of explanation. While I didn't like her as much as Madlax, she, like her, is very lovable and easy to root for, especially when she shows her badass side in the last few episodes.

Of course, as mentioned above, these two aren't the only main characters. One example is Margaret's maid, Elenore Baker. While her character initially seems to revolve solely around Margaret, due to all of her actions being for her in some way, we soon learn that she has a very good reason for this, and considering how clumsy and helpless Margaret is, you can't blame her for being overprotective. She is shown to be hypercompetent at many different things, to the point that there's something of a meme that she's the teacher of Roberta from "Black Lagoon", the anime of which aired 2 years after this series. Another character of note is Vanessa Rene, a woman who tutored Margaret after she lost her memories and whose parents were killed in the war. As such, she is probably the most involved in both sides of the story. She also detests violence, likely due to her past, but is eventually forced to learn how to fight in order to survive. Neither of these two are quite as developed as Madlax and Margaret, but they're still great characters in their own right and both of them prove to be very important to the story.

As for the rest of the cast, anything noteworthy about them is best left unsaid. In particular, to mention anything meaningful about the three villain protagonists- Friday Monday, Carrossea Doon and Limelda Jorg- would risk giving away huge spoilers. That said, I can say that regardless of what you think of Friday Monday's character, you will absolutely HATE him and want nothing more than for Madlax to put a bullet between his eyes. Sadly, the supporting cast are nowhere near as interesting as the main cast, with very few of them being around for more than an episode or two. One should also keep in mind that there is a sense of danger, with not all of the main cast making it to the end.

Enjoyment (8/10):
From start to finish, "Madlax" is a hugely enjoyable thrill ride. Madlax manages to make any action scene a pleasure to watch even if she almost never loses and while the Margaret episodes do start off a bit boring, they just get more and more interesting. Additionally, the series manages to keep a hopeful tone in spite of being about a war, with all the suffering Madlax has seen just making her more appreciative of life and its everyday joys, and avoids being just another depressing story about how horrible humans can be. As for how it does that, well, you'll have to watch it and see.

Overall:
"Madlax" is a good example of an anime that deserves a lot more attention than it gets, especially considering it helped in creating an entire genre of anime. It's by no means a masterpiece, in no small part thanks to the mediocre visuals, but with a complex, gripping plot, good music, great action scenes and a truly fantastic lead character, this is a show that should easily appeal to anyone who's a fan of the "girls with guns" genre, and is ultimately the best out of its trilogy.

Score:
8+7+8.5+7.5+8=39/50=7.8/10

Honestly for the first half of it you will feel like playing 14D multiverse chess trying to figure out whats going on, what does the symbolism mean, and who are even the characters that appear. Once you start figuring it out you will feel like your brain starts to expand and glow.

But action towards the end kept me really tense, so theres that. Overall I liked it, but in all honesty I wonder if I will remember it by the next month. In the end, its a obscure anime from really long ago, and seeing how little people gave it attention, it only makes ... me sad because the anime is good, really good, but definitely a hard to watch one

Like most animes the ending (last episode) is terrible. The pacing of the show is not amazing, and frankly could have been done in 12 episodes.

Watch it once for the story which is actually quite good and never come back.

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