Wolverine

I always like the comic books based on Marvel, DC, et al. I always find it encouraging to see people (with special powers) pulls themselves out of tough predicaments. (Hardly unscathed, but a little more realistically than the lot of the "deus ex machina" and "played for laughs" type of "mary sue" storyboard-writing I've been trying to avoid.)

Whatever Marvelhouse creates is no exception. With Ironman, and with Wolverine.

Unlike the plot-twisty and episodic "major issue resolved" endings found in "Mobile Suit Gundam Iron," the male lead of "Certain Mutant Logan" gets it rough. He basically had to fight his way through everybody ... (with a little help from here and there) just to make sure a girl he likes doesn't get married to a piece-of-scum crime warlord...

Atleast Omega Red was featured herein. I WAS hoping for Silver Samurai and Lady Deathstrike though (since Logan IS in Japan). I was also hoping for Deadpool. But hey. Deadpool's the "4chan of Marvel."

All an all, if you can get past the ending, Certain Mutant Logan is a more satisfying ride than that other Certain anime will EVER be. (And, usually with some Marvel-based viewing, that says a lot.)

It comes to no surprise to people that Marvel would have their best-seller Wolverine these recent years in another project. Personally, I checked this out not because of recent projects ie Iron Man's failure to attract audiences, but for likable purposes. I've always taken a liking to Wolverine as one of the more likable characters in the Marvel universe. I've seen pretty much all versions of Wolverine Marvel has thrown out: movies, TAS, comics, I was a bit curious how this would fare.

The story, while not impressive at all to me, tries to stay true to its roots. Wolverine and his whole japan outlook ... lifestyle with the people from there. Yes, in this one he's in love Mariko Yashida, a Japanese woman. And so, he pretty much fights an organization that has held her against her will in order to be reunited with her once again. At first, I had trouble accepting this "storyline" because recent versions of Wolverine I had seen. It's pretty romantic sure, but romance in Wolverine will not please audiences of this nature. I want a rebellious attitude Wolverine, one that just doesn't give a damn. For the most part, this anime failed to generate Wolverine's unpredictable nature.

The art remains decent throughout the anime, though common failures to generate more gore/bloodshed from Wolverine's claws disappointed me. I believe Marvel held back in some scenes here, but overall I don't think the art was truly ever considered a failure. It's not bad, but it's not the best thing world either. It's acceptable.

Where Wolverine truly begins to plummet is the sound. There are literally few or no memorable tunes with this show. Marvel could of came up with something but didn't. Ending episode themes fit but are irrelevant because they are in the manner to detail the shows ending climax. Disappointing, but ok.

The characters is where Wolverine really dropped the ball. Yes, Omega Red is present (thank god) and outta that is probably in my opinion the best fights in the show between him and Wolverine. But these are just lame excuses for Marvel to stick characters where they don't belong. Marvel could of done a whole other anime/saga with Omega Red but decided "we gotta get him in there somehow!" While I don't blame them for trying to entertain us, nothing really comes together as they should be. Is Kikyo suppose to be the Silver Samurai? Why does his sword look so childish when it comes out? What purposes do Yukio really serve other than being Wolverine help mate? Where the hell is Sabertooth? I mean if they can throw in Omega Red somehow why not more characters Wolverine is accustomed to seeing?

It's a show that doesn't go without its flaws. Some fights here are worth checking out, but most aren't memorable at all. This version of Wolverine tries to make him into something he really isn't. It's not a complete disaster, the show just isn't seen particularly well by die hard fans.

Wolverine is a well known marvel comic. Of course, coming from only watching the movies and maybe seeing him on cartoon network a few times when I was young, I thought it would be pretty cool. What I was looking for was some action that had some anxiety against it - some good counters to the immortal man, and a solid story. While I guess you could call the story solid it didn't fulfill either of those goals. If there was ever a time I wanted to write a negative review it would be right now, but let us stay as positive as we can…

At ... the start our princess Yukio gets kidnapped. We get a few seconds of the two of them together, and bam they are seperated. For good. We never really see her again for the rest of the show, and when she appears it is only so she can cry and weep at her uselessness. Far below the level of damsel in distress, it leaves us wonder why we should care for this character at all. There is no flashbacks or any background to her either. Yet our heroic Wolverine continues to get caught up in the Yakuza screaming at everyone to give her back.

Thankfully for the feminists we get two female sidekicks that fight alongside Logan. The more prominent one has an interesting backstory to her, and combined with the rest of his allies creates an okay story. The master samurai Shingen is turly badass, and while he can wipe the floor with Logan, he lacks any way to actually beat him. The true villain is an organized crime boss with a lack of balls; pathetic but when logan's motivation isn't transferred to us effectively it gives us a reason to cheer. He literally hides behind his waves of different underlings who are more interesting and praiseworthy than he is.

The plot is okay, but lack any impact or real surprises. After the first two or three episodes we've seen the best part, and the rest of the show is spent chasing down Yukio while the next episode's enemy is shown at the very end to attempt some sort of 'suspense.' Until they reach the stronghold of our villain, this same pattern repeats. As if my hatred had been answered, the ending provided me what I wished to see, but in a way it feels as if they storyline rage quitted and gave up.

The animation is good and done in marvel style. This carries over to the battles, but there isn't anything flashy about them; as I mentioned before there is only three times in the show where the opponent even has a chance against our immortal protagonist. Two of the more prominent characters are swordsmen so there are plenty of fights where he uses his claw like a blade.

It was a noble adaption, but the show was very ineffective at engaging the viewer into the plot. The action was average but they didn't put up much of a fight against wolverine, and the designated heroine was portrayed poorly till the very end. Better luck next time 'bub.'