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Posted by: Cybermario @ 12:30 pm Tweet

Another Marvel Comics franchise crosses the sea and is presented in the format of anime, this time we speak of none other than Ironman. Yes, it is up to billionaire genius Tony Stark to fight villains in the land of the rising sun.
In this release of two DVD’s with a total of 12 episodes with action MAD House and Marvel brings to the fans.

The anime takes place right after the movie, in which Tony Stark decides to start his new project in Japan, an Arc Reactor. Promising to bring revolutionary technology that will provide free energy without pollution to all the world and Japan is the right place to start.
Being an outsider and having a black history as a weapons dealer this wont be an easy feat for Tony Stark and the Japanese will not have an open mind toward their plans at the beginning. This will not be the only challenge he will face in this his new journey.


Also he is introducing the world to the new armor “Iron Man Dio” which will be used by a new Stark Industries pilot, as Tony announces he is retiring as Iron Man and will not use his armor anymore.
But every utopian dream has an end, a terrorist group known as Zodiac steals the new armor and threatens to destroy the power plant, Tony is forced to use his armor again and fight this evil menace.





Animation 6.5/10
The Ironman armors CG animations are top notch and have great design quality, although the armor design may appear simple sometimes the artists wanted to give the armor an anime air to it which works like a charm.
Enemy mecha design is not bad but could have been better, they were inspired by enemies from the american comics but is hard to find a resemblance (there is none) unless you are a die hard fan to catch the reference.
Character design and standard animation is a mix of feelings for me, while some characters and animation sequences look nice, others are just bland.
Tony Stark looks much younger than the movies, he got a sweet face lift or OMG time paradox!

Tony stop, only Donald Trump can use such hair style & get away with it!

Sound 7/10
Opening with catchy rhythm but nothing that will get stuck in your head after a while, there are no lyrics and i get the feeling they tried to keep the intro in a western style like in U.S animations.
Other than that voice acting is very good, in the English track we have Adrian Pasnar (Heroes, Castle, Profit) lending his voice to Tony Stark. The Japanese audio is also quite good and my personal favorite with Keiji Fujiwara as Tony Stark, he also worked in the live action movie so he already had the mindset of how the main character should sound like





Extras
This 2-disc set contains all 12 episodes plus bonus features that was a delight to watch, these include: Re-Imagining Iron Man, 21st Century Hero: The Technology of Iron Man, Special Cross Talk with the different directors of other Marvel Anime shows that is so worth to watch and an interview with the actor Keiji Fujiwara.


Features
Audio; Japanese, English 5.1 Dolby Digital. Subtitles; English, English SDH


What they did right
The anime is full of fast paced action and good fights, the armor looks stunning and really fits so well in the anime genre.
The anime gives us a brief glimpse into the past of the protagonist, and the origin of the armor, which links to anime and movies in the same universe, events in this series could take place shortly after the first movie. This is good because if you did not see the movies this gives you a starting point to the origins of Iron Man.

Get her boy, save us all from Nanami!

What they did wrong
Let me start with Nanami, I’m honest.. I hate her. What could have been a good addition to the anime ended in a pale and poorly executed version of Louise Lane from Superman (yes I know, they are DC) and appears to be a shy fangirl that’s after Tony Stark all the time.
Nanami is constantly overwhelmed by Tony, and seems like Tony is always throwing bones to her, she really never unveils a mystery due to her ability at all and fails in the category of a poor support character at the most.
This journalist girl doesn’t have much charisma nor a personality to shine on her own. Other characters like her boss which is also a Jonah James wannabe or the photographer that’s always with her serve as a poorly executed comic relief characters in the end.


Final Thoughts
Iron Man Anime is not the best out there but is not bad either. There are details that can be improved or that could be done in different ways, this includes poorly developed characters that should not be in the anime at all (im looking at you Nanami …) that make some scenes boring, a poor contrast with the quality of fights.
By no means this makes it a bad anime but takes away the gold from the show, also classic and known enemies from the comics are msised and could have been a huge asset to the anime. Check it out and you may find it enjoyable, especially if you’re a fan of Iron Man comics.


We give the anime 6.8 rice balls out of 10


**A review copy was provided by the publisher for this review




~Mario

Tags: Anime, Iron Man, madhouse, Marvel Comics, review, sony pictures —

Comments (1)

Posted by: Cybermario @ 1:04 pm Tweet

Another of the Marvel Comics anime arrived and it was a pleasure to watch, specially being a huge fan of the X-Men universe. As you can expect the anime seems to follow a continuity with the X-Men movies, so Magneto is locked in jail and he is not the main villain in this story arc. Directed by Fuminori Kizaki (Afro Samurai) we get a nice dvd set with a total of 12 episodes of mutant action!

Taking place right after the tragic events leading to the death of Jean Grey, the X-Men are in shambles, the team reunites again and visits Japan to investigate strange disappearances of young mutants in that region, along with a strange energy that’s blocking Cerebro capabilities to track mutants in that region of the country.
As the X-Men start the search for the young mutants, they discover the U-Men are related to the mystery, and the horrors involved in the abductions. There we will met a young girl Hisako Ichiki, she possess the ability to produce a psionic energy armor around her body, along with her they find a captive Emma Frost who is not very welcome to the group due to their ties with the Inner Circle (see The Dark Phoenix Saga)
Both, Emma and Hisako decide to join the X-Men in search of the truth, and the truth behind all the mysteries will be truly shocking and may lead to the end of the planet earth as a new omega level mutant goes wild.





Animation: 7.5/10
By the most part Mad House did a great job with the animation and delivers quality most of the time. Character design is not entirely bad, but to be honest i wish the uniform design was more like the comics, they lacked a lot of the respective “X” style that even the movies portrayed.
The art style from Fuminori Kizaki is very distinctive specially with the villains, and for sure will be of the liking of Afro Samurai fans.





Sound: 7/10
The intro has a good beat but then again no lyrics (same as Ironman) which in my opinion takes away points from the anime, I can understand the need to keep it attractive to an american audience into anime who may not be a fan of J-music overall.
Other than that sound effects and voice acting are top notch, whatever is your cup of tea sub or dub both audio tracks are good, we have Scott Porter (The Good Wife, Friday Night Lights, Caprica) lending his voice to Cyclops in the english version.


Extras:
This 2-disc set contains all 12 episodes plus nice bonus features including a special talk session with the director’s of the X-Men and Blade Marvel Anime, The Marvel Anime Universe, Re-Examining The X-Men and X-Men, A Team of Outsiders.


Features:
Audio; Japanese, English 5.1 Dolby Digital. Subtitles; English, English SDH





What they did right
Starting the first episode of the anime by tying it with the end of the Dark Phoenix saga with the X-Men live action movies was a wise decision by the director Fuminori Kizaki (Afro Samurai)giving us old fans of the comic and newcomers to the X-Men universe a good starting point for the series.
Wolverine is a badass, Storm looks very sexy and Cyclops is the emo he’s always been, just like in the movies, and that it’s all good! *winks*


What they did wrong
May not be exactly wrong perse, can understand they had to adapt the story and change certain characters from the Marvel universe to be appealing for a japanese audience that may not be familiar with the comics, still i’m not sure this was completely necessary.
So probably giving us a new villain that’s new to the Marvel universe could have been much better without messing with the continuity of the comics, something purist and followers of the comics may not like. Then again like in most cases this could be seen as a parallel universe.


Final Thoughts
X-Men anime is very dynamic and it’s sure to bring action to the fan of the comics, so if you love Marvel comics, liked the movies but are new to the anime, this show is a good option to approach the genre. No, Beast will not fly and sign the “nyan cat” song… thanks for reading!


We give the anime 8 riceballs out of ten!


**A review copy was provided by the publisher for this review




~Mario

Tags: Anime, Cyclops, MAD House, Marvel Comics, Storm, Wolverine, X-Men —