Noblesse: Pamyeol-ui Sijak

Okay, it's pretty hard to review one episode, but let's still try.

Was it worth the wait? The answer is surely yes. Except for an interesting story of its own, it also gives background to the manwha (Later on they mention it, but not much. Guess they thought this one is enough). Things that aren't really explained suddenly get clearer. Unforunately, there are some question marks.

We didn't learn much about Rai (Except for how he got to the 820 years sleep), but we surely learned a lot about Muzaka and the reason for why all the story in the manwha actually started.

As I already said, ... one might still ask himself\herself a lot if he\she didn't read the manwha, but it's clearly can be seen as ova on itself and nothing more.

Okay. now let's focus on the ova of its own:
---------------------------------------------------------
The story was set clear but pretty depended on the fact that those who watched it already know the plot of the manwha, a disadvantage in my opinion. Sure, it helped to decrease the time needed for an explanation, but still.

The relationships among the characters were shown very clearly, and even if you see it for the first time, there's no question about it.

It was interesting to watch, though it was a bit excepted (though I think that even those who didn't read the manwha may agree with me). But there were some new facts, that even for those who read, can be still interesting.

I know the review sucks, but I really recommend it. I just don't know to explain myself to well. :(

I've heard this series was good but never read the manwha, and so speaking as someone coming in with literally zero idea of what to expect, it was not well portrayed. I think they set it up for something good, but then it just stopped after one episode. It wasn't enough to make me want to watch more, and it wasn't all that great in terms of animation.

Soundtrack was awesome, definitely will check that out on YouTube later, but everything else was just a bit meh if you don't know about the story at all.

As far as characters go, they seemed like they could be ... very dynamic and make the storyline a lot more interesting... If they had continued the animated series, which obviously didn't occur.

Ok let's review this OVA before the actual series is airing, so we can build the hype first.

Note that I've finished reading the manhwa and actually I'm so hyped for the story and action. And I'm kinda curious what actually happened to Rai before his slumber begun.


Story: 8/10

Noblesse's story is the key why it is one of the most popular manhwa out there aside the flawless art. It brings curiosity every time Rai moves, especially in this OVA which it tells the background story of Raizel. The background story is about Rai when he still lives in his hometown with his friend werewolf friend Muzaka. ... The pace actually flawless and it built the hype for real alongside the start of the plot. Even a werewolf can have a human heart too right?

Art: 6/10

The art kinda looks shaky for such a flawless character design. I have to admit that Rai looks so badass and cool, and Muzaka is also the same badass as Rai. The fight is good and built the hype with some decent effect of blood and gruelness. It's not bad but It's not that great.

Sound: 8/10

The background song behind the fight scene, the war, the vampire nobility sounds perfectly suitable and it built the emotion. Got me chills for a sec when Rai was talking seriously with Frankenstein.

Character: 9/10

For this OVA, I'd say they have 9/10 characters cause it's only a few people. Might rate 10/10 later tho in the real series. I gotta admit that their design are AMAZING. And each of their personality is not so bland and perfectly suited with their backgrounds.

Enjoyment: 9/10

Absoulute hype for the real series. And this OVA truly built it up. No words.


Overall: 7/10

This is a good OVA start to understanding what will gonna happen in the entire series later. Muzaka is such a key character too.
YOU DON'T MISS THIS ONE FOR SURE.

Noblesse: The Beginning of Destruction is the first ever animated adaptation of the manhwa titled Noblesse, that very recently received an anime adaptation by one of the most renowned anime studios called Production I.G, which is why I became inclined to watch the OVA.

First of all, I think that watching this OVA, and then the ONA, is kinda essential prior to watching the TV anime adaptation of Noblesse (which I didn't do), as it gives more backstory to some of the characters and a bit more explanation to how the world works.

Noblesse: The Beginning of Destruction primarily focuses on Muzaka, the lord of the werewolves, ... and Ashleen, a human orphan who is Muzaka's companion and someone whom he holds very dear to him. After a while, the OVA shows us how she became an orphan and why Muzaka is travelling with him, which is presented very decently. While Ashleen lacks a lbut characterization, the OVA does a decent job at building the relationship between her and Muzaka within a very short amount time, which makes their interactions feel genuine.

Later on, the OVA introduces us other significant characters, notably Raizel and Frankenstein. I found both of these characters rather interesting, especially Raizel. The OVA doesn't give us much information about Raizel and who he is, which adds to his appeal in my opinion. I hope his backstory would be explored in the show, though.

The side characters, however, aren't interesting at all. They are your typical, generic villains that you usually see in manga and anime. They aren't as nearly as appealing as the characters I mentioned above and appear really bland. But then again, it's just an OVA, so I didn't expect much from them to be honest.

As for the animation, it's pretty decent in my opinion. It isn't of Production I.G's caliber, but it isn't bad either. For a South Korean studio, I think Studio Animals did a satisfactory job with the animation. The character designs are remarkable and the fight scenes are decently animated. At first, I felt kinda uncomfortable with the voice acting as it was done in Korean; but eventually, I got used to it and learned to appreciate it more. The soundtrack is very decent too. The background music is fairly touching and makes some of the scenes more emotional.

Overall, Noblesse: The Beginning of Destruction is a pretty decent OVA. It serves as a short but good prequel to the TV adaptation and helps giving the plot a little more depth and explanation. So, if you are planning to watch the anime adaptation of Noblesse, I suggest you should give this OVA a watch before starting the series.

Spoilers

It was interesting to see Rai go all out, as we haven't yet seen him do so in the anime. However this was good at best. Ultimately, 1 episode doesn't seem long enough to build much of an emotional connection of any significance. So although it does serve to give some background to later events, it isn't very good to watch and didn't keep me very interested. There weren't enough hints that the girl was actually his daughter and he really did treat her as just the daughter of a good friend that he was looking after. He had seemingly very little hatred for humanity ... prior to her death, which makes his 0-100 change seem less realistic. Overall, even though it is his daughter, his extreme rage and hatred for all humans seems unrealistic and foolish. Especially considering the mother of the daughter was also human, his action of wanting to kill all humans seems hypocritical.

This is probably just a problem with where I watched it, but sometimes the subtitles were also missing.

Overall, somewhat interesting to watch but not very good. I don't know why this has a fairly high score. Just cause it is from a popular webtoon? Seems like there is a lot of bias in the score to me.