So the story? What little there is (or I could understand, at least) was well...simple. There because it was the only way to push to the next fight scene without seeming like it had no substance at all. But pointless story is only there to waste time and make more money. So good on them for not including that! But if you came to this series (or movies depending on how you look at it) expecting an amazing story then you're an idiot. However the devices it used were pretty cool. Setting up what would make an amazing universe if they ever decided to make more episodes (which they probably won't). However I did feel towards the end that they kinda confused themselves with their own story and decided to make stuff up to fill in the gaps. "Isn't that what all storywriters do?!" you ask. No, a storywriter is meant to work on a coherent flow, not just adding things that they deem necessary to make their mess make sense at the end. It just shows a lack of care or effort. I think much like their unregulated use of the time of the show they created, they didn't regulate their own time creating this either.
Art? I actually wasn't a big fan of any of the CGI Sequences in this which is what I presume was the main spectacle and selling point for this (I don't know). It showed it's age and I found it slightly hard to follow. The complexity of the designs they created however was jaw dropping. The drawn animation though I thought was absolutely fantastic. Everything just screamed high budget long time dedication. It felt cartoony and realistic at the same time and the speed and flow made the non CGI fights the best in the whole thing for me. Too many animes come out lately with cut corners in the animation or terrible animation in general. If I wanted to see rushed still images I'd read WSJ. It's nice to see something actually caring for it's animation, it IS anime. Such contrast to it's story...
Sound? As always with me I never really have much to say here. I watched this in Japanese with Subs and as ever the Japanese and their voice acting is pure perfection. The music was subtly in the background but helped set the mood at the right moments. So I suppose perfection here then? (I give nothing a straight 10.)
Characters? I felt considering the length of this (about 3 hours) some characters were in it too much and some not enough. They were trying to cram too much in, but I still think they could have given everything decent amounts of screen time if they just regulated stuff better. About 3/4 of the first movie was wasted on small unimportant Machine Demons that seemed to be there to show off Karas and the CGI they made to animate him but they didn't really need to waste THAT much time on it, the fights weren't particularly epic. Karas was so much stronger than them the fights ended in basically one flamboyant attack. Although that flamboyant stuff was epic in itself. THEN they finally started moving onto the key, powerful characters (right at the END of the first movie annoyingly) and sadly it was pretty much left undisclosed what happened to most of them. If I knew more episodes to come I wouldn't be so harsh about this. But I think they were wasted.
Enjoyment? MASSIVE! Even though this review possibly seemed quite negative I really did love this. I didn't know one on one fights in a city setting could be so grand!
So overall? The CGI is a little weak now what 6 - 7 years have passed since the first 3 episodes were made (or the first movie, depending on how you look at it). But it's still pretty damn cool all the same, just a little hard to follow. The story is pretty much non existent and a lot of the cool characters are wasted. So really I should hate this, but in all honesty I still had so much fun & it being only 6 episodes meant nothing dragged. It was just epic and GAR after more epic and GAR! But I gave it this score simply because the flaws can't just be ignored because it was fun. But on enjoyment and fun alone this would get a 9 in my books.
