Guin Saga is a 26 episode anime based off of the longest running fantasy novel series in the world, also named "Guin Saga". The plot is "supposed" to be about a man with a leopard mask permanently affixed to his head who has amnesia, and is incredibly strong (strong enough to punch people into the dirt like he's planting them).
Basically, these two twins who are the heirs to the kingdom of Parros find their kingdom is under a sneak attack by the Mongaul army, a neighboring kingdom, and then the two twins are placed into an ancient machine (also called the ancient machine lulz) and
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are somehow supposed to be teleported to their aunt in another kingdom. However, instead...they wind up in some woods just where there happens to be some Mongaul knights, and Guin sleeping by the river for some reason. The twins are almost kidnapped by the Mongaul soldiers and they are slapped around a bit, until enters Guin. He scares the shit out of them but they attack him anyway, and Guin proceeds to literally punch a man into the dirt with one hand, one punch. This is pretty cool, and is setting itself up as a Berserk-ish sort of anime. Then he finishes the man off and makes sure the head is buried too. Then he punches another man in just the right way to carve a large chunk out of the tree with the helmet AND light the area on fire. He knocks most of the others away or they run, and then he starts screaming and falls over. The twins come to help Guin and bring him water (from the helmet that started a fire...why was it not hot to the touch? Yeah Remus, the pussy prince, just grabs it like its nothing. I guess he's tougher than he looks if he can touch a helmet that moved fast enough to light something on fire. Its not like he waited, he just grabbed it instantly).
The next epic feat that Guin undertakes, is saving the children from the ghouls of the night, and then is captured. After being captured, some plot happens and Guin kills what is known as a "gray ape". By doing so, he does something apparently nobody else can as its a giant vicious gorilla that so far, only Guin can take down. So as you can see, they're really setting this guy up to be a badass for the rest of the show yeah? Well after they deal with this freaky vampire wanna be count, and pick up a couple new comrades named Istavan, the crimson Mercenary, and Suni a monkey girl, they move on to find this monkey tribe where Suni is from. As it turns out...Mongaul is invading the entire area to find some creepy magic an idiot wizard discovered the hard way but venturing alone into the place and touching a mushroom rock. (Yeah cause thats what any sane man does, travel alone into a desert-ish place with no provisions and just your "magic", where monkey men and large, very strong Aztec-ish warriors live, and touch a mushroom rock. Sounds like a GREAT idea!)
Guin leads the Sems, the monkey people who Suni is a member of, as well as the Lagon, a group of very big guys who are very strong warriors, and even rival Guin in strength. Along the way, Guin also gets their "god" apparently, Akura, in his hand. (It looks kind of like...a cylinder. Why does it disappear into his hand and show up at random times?) With this and both tribes combined, Guin proceeds to use very skilled gorilla warfare tactics to defeat the Mongaul army and thoroughly piss off the leader of this attack, Princess Amnelis of Mongaul. Now don't get me wrong, any sarcasm I've presented is mostly just comical. But here is where I am being serious.
THATS IT! Yeah, thats pretty much all Guin does. Now I'll count how many episodes I just summarized...oh...maybe...nine? Ten? Eleven at the most. Thats the only real problem with this anime tv series, is that its only 26 episodes and it shows MORE about the second in line for the throne of Parros, Aldo Naris, than Guin! After Guin beats the Mongauli forces at Nospherus, you barely see him do much. He gives some meaningful lectures to the kids, everyone once in awhile knocks some idiot down but its barely anything more than a normal fight. He doesn't push his authority, he doesn't do anything spectacular until the very end of the series where he kills some demon. But that fight, after everything else just feels so...bland? It didn't inspire me or excite me. I was happy I got to see Guin one last time defeat something impossible but come on! Does the majority of this tv series need to focus so heavily on Naris? Now don't get me wrong, the times it doesn't focus on Guin is pretty cool too. The story there is very close to something like Fire Emblem or Final Fantasy Tactics in the sense that its got a lot of medieval-fantasy political intrigue, strategy, war, and espionage. Its quite interesting, and will keep you wanting more. But overall, I wanted them to go back to Guin punching people into the dirt. This is really the problem when you try and condense the longest running novel series in the world, into a 26 episode anime. It just doesn't work very well. And of course, it ends on a cliffhanger. From what I can tell, this anime probably covers the first five or so books? I dunno but I think if they were gonna call it Guin Saga, Guin needed more screen time even at the cost of less shit about Aldo Naris. I could live with that!
There's also this transition about halfway through, where one of the twins, Prince Remus and the immediate heir to the throne, is thinking about how much of a wimp he is. Then, the ghost of the moron who decided to touch the mushroom rock, comes to him and makes him have an out of body experience and shows him some weird shit. Remus concludes if Rinda, his twin sister, is the light, than he will be the darkness. It seems Karu Moru (the dumbass who touched the rock), sort of half-possesses Remus because this point forward the voice actor sounds like he has a pair and Remus begins to start doing cool stuff like fight pirates and try and be a worthy leader. But...it sounds like he got older? He acts very different and sounds older. They question this a bit, but here's one thing they do NOT ask... "Hey, Remus...when did your balls drop?" Like...really. Nobody happens to notice all of a sudden out of nowhere, Remus is acting more badass and has a deeper voice. Does that not bring up a red flag? Rather, they think about him being different but just let it be. Rinda, whose SUPPOSED to be a seer, doesn't even figure out wtf is going on until the last episode. Thats nice right? Now we won't know unless we buy the books! This part, imo, is very rushed and I am almost positive the book is way better at explaining this. I mean...they don't even let us know how much time has passed since the start of the show. There is never a "One year later" sort of thing...so we have no way of knowing. We could assume, but to hell with that. It just looks like he instantly got older and stopped being a baby and his balls dropped because some weirdo shows him his face with purple gas around it. How does THAT change someone?
Overall, I will say it was an enjoyable experience. I think anyone whose read some of the books, or enjoys similar stories will find Guin Saga highly entertaining and enjoyable. It wasn't bad and it wasn't perfect but it was good. If only the huge stretch from the middle of the series to the end wasn't so focused on everyone else, it might have been more spectacular. Oh, and before anyone tries any comparisons to Berserk (like calling it a ripoff), Kentaro Miura, the creator of Berserk, has stated he was greatly inspired to write Berserk BECAUSE of Guin Saga. The novel series started in the 1970s, so many stereotypes and precedents were actually set by this series. Its interesting to know this, and kind of notice some stereotypes and how they were presented and done in the first place, before they were stereotypes. They were done in a great way as far as I can see in this, so everyone please make sure to give it a chance and remember, this thing started a lot of these stereotypes, so if you want something INCREDIBLY original, you may not find it here but it WAS original in its time.
Oct 8, 2011
Guin Saga is a 26 episode anime based off of the longest running fantasy novel series in the world, also named "Guin Saga". The plot is "supposed" to be about a man with a leopard mask permanently affixed to his head who has amnesia, and is incredibly strong (strong enough to punch people into the dirt like he's planting them).
Basically, these two twins who are the heirs to the kingdom of Parros find their kingdom is under a sneak attack by the Mongaul army, a neighboring kingdom, and then the two twins are placed into an ancient machine (also called the ancient machine lulz) and ... 
Apr 23, 2011
Gankutsuou
(Anime)
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Its hard for me to write this review, because how much I love and hate it at the same time. I'll try and do my best, and hope others can learn from it.
Story: 6 The story gets a 6. Gankutsuou is good and has an exceptional story, but certain things happen that also kill the story. And yet, I have a tough time holding it against it. I hate giving it a 6, because much of the story is fantastic and does the original Count of Monte Cristo justice. But then we come to the issues with it. *SPOILERS* *SPOILERS* *SPOILERS* There are giant robots in this. Yes, there ... |
