Gau is a reluctant warrior, always wanting to know why people fight. His adoptive sister Ella does it for the "thrill" and the honor, but somehow that's not enough for Gau. As he and his sister journey back to his hometown to visit his parents' graves, his fighting skill, beliefs, and spirit are tested. And Gau must continue his attempts to learn the elusive Shadow Skill.
If you think this sounds very STREET FIGHTER-esque, you're not alone. Except that Gau is more whiny than any of the SF characters. But then again, if all that happened to one is continuously getting the tar beaten out of you, I suppose that would give one reason to be unhappy. The first video pretty much goes from fight to fight. Gau must fight Ella to develop his skills, then he must fight an enemy when they are ambushed on the road. Then still later he must fight Ella again, even after being severely wounded.
And Ella apparently didn't read any Dr. Spock or Miss Manners, because when she fights Gau, the blood really flows. A lot of red paint was used in the making of this video. What a loving family this is.
Although the plot for Part I is, to put it mildly, thin, the action sequences are beautifully animated and very well choreographed. Fans of the action/fighting genre will no doubt enjoy the well-executed fight scenes. The rest of the show, however, is something of a mixed bag. The dubbed voices sound awkward—sometimes they even seem to spontaneously develop British accents for brief periods which then disappear. And the dialog is less than sparkling; but then again, SHADOW SKILL makes no pretense at being "smart" anime.
And the plot has holes in it too. The "Shadow Skill" is a secret way of fighting that Gau must learn; but no one is really clear on what it is until Gau is nursed back to health by Scarface, the legendary warrior. He explains the origins of the Shadow Skill. And after that scene, he, and Ella, and Gau just go on about it like it was no big deal and everyone knew all about its origins.
For all its problems, though, the first volume looks brilliant compared to the second. Volume Two plays like a release of three separate 1/2 hour OVAs that are strung together, complete with opening narration. This time, however, the focus is on the earlier days and how Ella and Gau met their traveling companions Quo and Fowari, who had minuscule and unimportant roles in the first volume.
The most noticeable difference in the two volumes is the lack of fighting sequences in the second volume. Instead of the fast-paced intense battles of Volume One, the fights seem to be a slower, more casual affair, or they are large melees with very little close-ups of combat. And there is less fighting and more exposition.
The character designs have also changed. Volume One has very sleek, sharp designs done by Yamashita Toshinari. Volume Two has designs by Matsuo Shin and they look very different. Matsuo uses a lot of thick, heavy lines, giving his characters a gaunt appearance, and Gau especially does not look as powerful. And finally, Matsuo has succumbed to the sideburns fad that continues to plague recent anime, as Ella's sideburns look like handlebars from a Harley Davidson.
Volume Two feels like an attempt to go back and retrofit a story onto the first SHADOW SKILL, but the characters behave too inconsistently for it to be successful. And again, the voice acting is about average for dubs these days, which doesn't mean very much.
SHADOW SKILL is another in a seemingly endless line of fighting anime that is being released in the United States. Volume One has some very good combat scenes, high-quality animation, and good character designs. Volume Two, unfortunately, does not. Give SHADOW SKILL a try if fighting anime is your favorite genre. Otherwise, move on to something else.

SHADOW SKILL Copyright © 1995 Okada Megumu/"Shadow Skill" Production Committee, Manga Entertainment, Inc. Licensed to Manga Entertainment, Inc. English Version Copyright © 1997 Manga Entertainment, Inc. Volume 1 45 minutes 440 045 727-3 English Dubbed $19.95