DVD Review: Karas Volume 1
Manga Entertainment, Starz Home, Anchor Bay Entertainment Anime
Jun 29, 2009
In 2005, Tatsunoko Productions – the studio that unleashed the classics Speed Racer and Kagaku Ninjatai Gatchaman (AKA Battle of the Planets) – celebrated its 40th year of production by releasing Karas, a lavish anime that they hoped would revolutionize the genre.
While the henshin ("body transformation") series, directed by Keiichi Sato and written by Shin Yoshida, showcases fantastic fight sequences and visuals that push the boundaries of animation, its confusing story and barrage of poorly-explained characters dooms the series.
Manga Entertainment, Starz Home Entertainment, Anchor Bay Entertainment Distribute
Tatsunoko Productions' Karas
In the Shinjuku District of Tokyo, yokai (Japanese folk spirits) live unnoticed among humans. Well, relatively unnoticed: a cop named Sagisaka (Doug Stone in the English dub) suspects that yokai may be responsible for a recent spate of killings, especially since it may vindicate his insane daughter Yoshida, the sole survivor of a mysterious massacre. Naturally, he's paired with a more dubious partner, Kure (Dave Wittenburg).
But the truth is out there and it's worse than Sagisaka believes: a former karas – a spiritual warrior dedicated to defending humans from monstrous attack – named Eko (Matthew Lillard) has decided to destroy Tokyo and he's altering yokai into an unstoppable army of mitsura (cyborg demons that drink human blood). Opposing him are the current karas of Tokyo, a young man named Otoha (Steve Staley), some sort of spiritual guide named Yurine (Piper Perabo) and Nue (Jay Hernandez), a gun-toting yokai who's taken human form.
An incredibly confusing story involving spirits, comatose bodies, Japanese and Celtic mythology, plus black-armoured warriors who can transform into planes, cars and boats, ensues. Imagine James O'Barr's The Crow with cyborgs and samurai, combined with The X-Files and Batman Begins.
First, the good stuff: Karas looks freakin' fantastic. Tatsunoko and Sato managed to fuse 2-D and 3-D animation in a way previously unattained by mixed-media animation. The images are beautifully rendered, with loads of detail, and the occasional side-trips into horror are extremely well-done. Tatsunoko spared no expense with this anime, and every penny (or yen) is on the screen.
The fight sequences are also spectacular as black-armoured warriors and gun-toting humans tangle with demonic cyborgs. If there is a criticism, it's that the constant night battles, plus the constant hand-held camera simulation, means the visuals aren't as clear as they could be. Less atmosphere, and more clarity, would've made the fight sequences kick ass even more.
Here's the downside: this story is almost impossible to understand. Characters pop in and out with little explanation, motivation or back-story. Why are these people doing what they're doing? Why care when there's so little explanation?
You know there's trouble when even the guys who wrote the advertising copy were confused: in the blurb on the back of the DVD, Otoha is called a doctor in an illegal clinic while most other synopses say he's actually a Yakuza. For some reason, the guys who put together the DVD cover decided to credit Mamoru Oshii (Ghost in the Shell) for directing this thing.
A quick Internet search confirmed that other reviewers felt the same way: "the plot is simple yet hard to follow and there's no characterization," said John Sinnott at DVDtalk, while David Nusair at Reelfilm.com chided Karas' "complete lack of distinguishable characters or a story worth following" in his review. Although Volume 2 promises to answer all questions, the first DVD's ambiguity make it a tough sell.
DVD Extras
The extras aren't bad. There are some cast interviews (the original Japanese cast, however) plus a montage of the anime's production. There are also some interesting storyboard-to-final-visual comparisons. Oh yes, and some of the original trailer and TV spots for the series.
The Final Analysis
Great fight sequences and visuals do not a compelling anime make. While Keiichi Sato and Tatsunoko Productions deserve serious props for the state-of-the art visuals on display, a coherent story would have made this anime a winner.
Karas Volume 1 gets a 6/10.
