Being the BEE TRAIN fan I am I decided to buy Avenger in the complete collection form while at an Anime convention. I don't think it was a total waste of money but still it wasn't and won't ever be a personal favorite from them. It has their trademarked styles which I love, but the execution and ultimate conclusion left me dissatisfied. I wouldn't write Avenger entirely off like I would some other animes, if you are bored and looking for a short anime maybe you want to give this a try. If you are looking for a short or moderate length anime with a deep story line, than this isn't for you. Overall Avenger is a series where you might want to turn your brain off and just watch it, which is ironic considering how hard this show tries to be deep and philosophical.
The story is the usual post-technological apocalyptic world that we've seen in countless Mecha animes, so you may be surprised that there aren't any giant robots in the obvious setting. The idea is fairly unique having it on Mars instead of Earth was different from the usual ways of doing things, but not different enough.
The story features again a mopey female character who has been long exploited and has a chip on her shoulder to work out. She also has this adorable little doll, who is actually human, who travels by her side. And of course you have the macho can do mechanic. The characters are fairly typical and predictable; there aren't any surprises there aren't any unique traits they're pretty strait forward and one-stringed.
The writing is pretty dull and uninteresting, the battles are few and far between for something that is suppose to be about gladiators but most of the time it's traveling and fleeing from little Minion Dolls that are out to capture them. Overall there aren't a lot of surprises or unique revelations that we already could have probably guessed by now and the series gets bogged down in a lot of exposition by Volk and Westa.
Music was better than I was expecting though clichéd and poorly used at times I can't say I'm much of a fan of Ali Project, I've had fun with their Noir Opening as well as their one composition for the My-Hime Video Game but at the same time this is the same pair that couldn't pull of .hack//Roots. The pair has made some memorable compositions in this show and their themes are rather typical including the second ending theme which is a half-way rip of a classical piece of music; "In the Halls of the Mountain King. The music was more fitting in this atmosphere than their music for Roots but it wasn't anything breathtaking or groundbreaking and it wasn't entirely new for them.
Mashimo has a much more solid direction handle on this than say Blade of the Immortal but I think it could have been more. I wasn't going in expecting a whole lot, and I didn't come out with any surprises. This is a short and pretty typical straightforward Anime that is very much in BEE TRAIN's style. The color pallet by Makiko Kojima is fairly cosmic and expected for a show of this genre and the cinematography is dark and dreary and depressing.
The ending was probably the worst I've ever seen in any shows where Layla suddenly stops giving a care about Nei despite through the course of the series how close they are. I'm fairly forgiving of endings but this made absolutely no sense to me, and totally changed all that was established at the last minute. Then again there really weren't any rules of the universe set up.
Avenger is mediocre at best. So okay it's just average and not worth putting much effort into. Hardcore sci-fi lovers will be put off with the lack of explanation in a series that's far too ambiguous and fantasy lovers won't get it.
The story is the usual post-technological apocalyptic world that we've seen in countless Mecha animes, so you may be surprised that there aren't any giant robots in the obvious setting. The idea is fairly unique having it on Mars instead of Earth was different from the usual ways of doing things, but not different enough.
The story features again a mopey female character who has been long exploited and has a chip on her shoulder to work out. She also has this adorable little doll, who is actually human, who travels by her side. And of course you have the macho can do mechanic. The characters are fairly typical and predictable; there aren't any surprises there aren't any unique traits they're pretty strait forward and one-stringed.
The writing is pretty dull and uninteresting, the battles are few and far between for something that is suppose to be about gladiators but most of the time it's traveling and fleeing from little Minion Dolls that are out to capture them. Overall there aren't a lot of surprises or unique revelations that we already could have probably guessed by now and the series gets bogged down in a lot of exposition by Volk and Westa.
Music was better than I was expecting though clichéd and poorly used at times I can't say I'm much of a fan of Ali Project, I've had fun with their Noir Opening as well as their one composition for the My-Hime Video Game but at the same time this is the same pair that couldn't pull of .hack//Roots. The pair has made some memorable compositions in this show and their themes are rather typical including the second ending theme which is a half-way rip of a classical piece of music; "In the Halls of the Mountain King. The music was more fitting in this atmosphere than their music for Roots but it wasn't anything breathtaking or groundbreaking and it wasn't entirely new for them.
Mashimo has a much more solid direction handle on this than say Blade of the Immortal but I think it could have been more. I wasn't going in expecting a whole lot, and I didn't come out with any surprises. This is a short and pretty typical straightforward Anime that is very much in BEE TRAIN's style. The color pallet by Makiko Kojima is fairly cosmic and expected for a show of this genre and the cinematography is dark and dreary and depressing.
The ending was probably the worst I've ever seen in any shows where Layla suddenly stops giving a care about Nei despite through the course of the series how close they are. I'm fairly forgiving of endings but this made absolutely no sense to me, and totally changed all that was established at the last minute. Then again there really weren't any rules of the universe set up.
Avenger is mediocre at best. So okay it's just average and not worth putting much effort into. Hardcore sci-fi lovers will be put off with the lack of explanation in a series that's far too ambiguous and fantasy lovers won't get it.
