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©CAPCOM / Amuse
Vol. 1
30 minutes
$19.95
English dubbed |
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—by Charles McCarter
There have been so many video game to anime translations that it seems to
have almost become its own industry. And while some of them have been
passable or even good or very good, the fact remains that most have a hard
time rising above mediocrity. Perhaps that is due in part to the difficulty
encountered when trying to collect a dozen or so disparate characters and
place them into some sort of cohesive plot.
NIGHT WARRIORS manages to avoid some of the
pitfalls that many other fighting anime titles fall into. The producers
recognized that people were going to buy this for the art, so a lot of
money (and detail) was put into the characters. For the most part, they
look beautiful and move gracefully. Special attacks are especially well
animated and the fight scenes are fast, furious, and a lot of fun.
The first thing that happens with a huge cast is that some characters
immediately become "starring" and some become "supporting." The main
characters (thus far) are the Vampire Lord Dimitri and the Succubus
Morrigan, who rules the Demon World. Other characters making an appearance
in volume one include Cat Girl Felicia, Zombie Rocker Lord Raptor, the
enigmatic Donovan, and literally hundreds of the Aztec Robots.
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So far, so good. Now we get to the plot. Or rather, the plots, because
NIGHT WARRIORS has several subplots running at the same time. First
and foremost is Dimitri's desire to take over the Demon World. It seems
he was tossed out some time ago and was exiled to Earth. He's spent the last
century or so building up his power and preparing for an assault on the
Demon World. Thus, he comes into conflict with Morrigan, who isn't about to
let anyone take over her domain.
The first subplot features all of the humans, who are tired of living in
fear of the Darkstalkers. When Dimitri moved in, the first thing he did was
block out the sun (don't ask me how), so the humans have had it pretty
bad—meager crops and an oppressive lifestyle. They have been pushed to the
breaking point and want to fight back, but are afraid. This ties into the
second subplot of Felicia's journey through the towns as a traveling
actress/idol. She is almost the victim of the first band of enthusiastic,
rebellious humans.
The second subplot involves the little girl who becomes Donovan's companion.
Donovan, who is half human and half Darkstalker, has vowed to rid the world
of their evil. And this mysterious little girl holds some sort of key.
But plots aside, what people will watch this for is the action—and
there is plenty of it in the first volume. Morrigan fights Dimitri and they both
fight a bunch of Aztec Robots. Felicia and Raptor fight a bunch of hostile
"concert goers," and the list goes on.
The animation is very high quality, and the colors are very vivid. The
music is nothing to write home about, but it gets the job done. Special
effect sounds are loud and flashy, which is just what fans of the video game
want and expect.
Dubbing is about standard for the American industry today, which means that
it is better than it used to be. I actually liked Morrigan's voice in
English; the actress delivers a good balance of cool arrogance, antipathy,
and ennui at the same time. Dimitri is kind of a one-note character, so
it's not surprising that his voice always sounds the same. The others main
characters are decent as well.
This OVA series is off to a good start. If
it can keep up the pace and the interest in the multiple plots, this could
be one of the better game-to-anime translations that have been done. However,
I'm not sure how all these subplots are going to play out. And where are the
other two-thirds of the cast? Its biggest weakness is its length—it's only
four or five volumes and so far there are still a lot of characters that have yet to
be introduced. |
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