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And now for something completely the same...
Publisher: Madman
Sat, 19 May 2007
by: Australian Ninja
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I sure do seem to be watching a lot of Anime lately. The sheer number of titles being released these days is just phenomenal. Most of them are pretty darn good too. Joining the masses of 'pretty good' Anime movies is Karas.
This film is full of your typical demon super battles, with humans caught up in the middle. Although this genre of Anime has been done to death, Karas is a fresh take on it and entertains from start to finish. The most notable thing about the film is the visually spectacular animation and lovingly rendered backgrounds and characters. The work put into the visual design for the characters and the city they inhabit really paid off.
 | | *sigh* Memories of Tron. |
Basically 'Karas' is a type of warrior who protects our world from demons. Being an action Anime film, there are plenty of demons to behold in this intense action packed gorgeously animated feature.
Karas is a role that has passed to many people - just think of The Phantom; same costume, different person. The abilities of a Karas seem to be limited only by his imagination. He seemingly gets all his abilities from the Karas suit of armour, which has a Samurai like appearance.
If you think of Green Lantern he has only that one power ring, but can create virtually anything with it - or emulate any other super-power - that's what Karas' abilities reminded me of.
In addition to having nearly unlimited powers, a Karas can also transform into a jet-like vehicle to travel at crazy speeds, leading to some incredible cat and mouse sequences with Karas tearing through buildings and flying around the city.
While the story is not overly complex, I watched the film several times to get a better idea of what it was about. It all makes sense when you watch it, but then when it came to writing about it, it just made my brain hurt trying to remember what happened. Yes, it was Anime Amnesia. A rare condition I've learned to live with.
So Karas hunts and kills Demons. Demons that like to feast on human blood. The humans don't survive; they die screaming in an agonising death.
Demons bad. Karas good. Simple enough. Only it's not that simple, some demons are having a change of heart about their vocation [Do they have hearts? I'm not getting close enough to find out]. They have decided not to kill humans. One demon in particular, he stays in human form and actively goes around looking for other demons and kicks their asses. Plus he has cool shades and golden revolvers. When you're a demon who owns sweet golden revolvers and wears stylish sunglasses, your profession as an ass-kicker is pretty much locked in - so don't bother going to the demon guidance counsellor.
 | | ...And then this dude totally flipped out like a ninja and killed the badass other dude and then his head like totally exploded |
The story focuses on the various battles of Karas with evil demons, the sub-story of the good rogue demon who hunts other demons, and the detectives investigating the whole hullabaloo - in this case being a series or rapidly escalating events that leave a trail of blood drained corpses.
Add to the mix Karas' female guide and watcher-type - who motivates him to kill the demons until they are dead, and you have some interesting characters and intriguing story elements. The man in the Karas armour is at times confused about his role, the watcher girl has a black and white 'kill all demons' philosophy. However when a young sprite-like demon girl calls on Karas to stop his demon slaughter rampage, he lets a big ugly demon go for the first time and questions his actions and role as a Karas.
While the story is really enjoyable, I never got into it enough to care about any of the characters. And I watched it three times. So it's good, just not that good. The tension builds up nicely. The special animation effects and pyrotechnics are awesome. The battles are spectacular, but ultimately the film ends in a rather unsatisfactory manner with just another Demon vs. Karas battle - you'd almost expect a "to be continued" afterward but there 'aint one. Just battle, credits,
Bam! Film over, I just knocked it down a notch.
by: Australian Ninja
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More articles by Australian Ninja
Amazing action heavy battles and gorgeous animation all around. An enjoyable high quality film that could do with a sequel to expand the story and character development. | |
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