Art: The art is almost perfect. The colours are vivid, alive and used effectively at the right times. It is almost impossible to miss the little details, like the colours fading with the distance in the landscape. Distinct facial colouring, accurate colouring of materials like cloth and fruit, and ultimately realistic colouring of blood are all refreshing to the eyes. Details of both the characters and the landscape are portrayed immaculately, for the most part. There are certain scenes where the details have not been given as much attention as the main characters. Overall, the art is very clean and crisp.
When it comes to animation, the anime takes the level up to top notch. The movie has its share of action sequences, and they are mastered perfectly and in ways in which most anime do not. You pick the trick. There are shifts in view from third person to first person. There are camera angles focused on the action from afar, and then there are camera angles following the character’s running legs up close and personal. There are camera jolts and hasty zooms. There is distinct movement and then slightly blurred animation. There’s a slower, more strengthening pace and then there’s a faster, more agile pace. And yet, all these styles have been mixed and matched so perfectly that at no time does the viewer get confused, or not awed by the experience. The little details in animation during non-action scenes are not forgotten either. Strangely, the only noticeable flaw would be in the walking. The characters seem stiff and turn abruptly at 45 and 90-degree angles.
Sound: The sound is consistently impressive, just like the animation. There are regularly differing ambient sounds, which help immensely in pouring life into the movie. Materials and textures like wood, boiling water, rain and even snow have their own dedicated sounds. The sound of incoming arrows, ripples in a pond, whips lashing against wood; these are all very diverse and placed perfectly in a 5.1 surround sound atmosphere. The voice-acting is also superb in its emotional delivery.
Character enjoyment: The focus in the movie is the building of a relationship between two characters, namely Katoro and the ‘Nameless Red Devil.’ It is an absolute delight to see the young boy Katoro and the ‘Namless’ one interact with each other. The boy’s character is so well portrayed; one cannot help but like him, despite the fact that he’s a brat. The ‘Nameless One’ is introduced in the very cliché relaxed ‘bad-ass’ manner. But from there on, it’s obvious they put in a lot of thought towards making him a complex character who can be flippant, gentle, despondent, dangerous and lovable at the same time. Unlike many other anime, where the action is separated by useless humour and pointless incidents, ‘Mukoh Hadan’ keeps you constantly glued to the television.
Overall: There’s very little to say about this anime other than the fact that there is something in it for everyone [well, let's just leave it at almost everyone], and you would be hard-pressed to find any major flaws. The attention-grabber is in the first minute and the climax is during the last minute, no stops in between. Simply put, it’s pure entertainment.
