It's been a while since I've sat down
and written a review for an anime series, so I figured that today
would be as good a day as any to write a review for a series that
really grabbed me from the first episode and carried me on the edge
of my seat to the very end. That anime would be Guin Saga, which was
an absolute delight!
First off let me just say that I love
stories such as this, you know.... palaces, swords, armies, medieval
times with arrows, armor, long journeys and.....well, you get the
idea. It has a feel to it that would appeal to the Lord of the Ring's
fan in you. If you've ever been into the realm of fantasy than you
should be right at home with Guin Saga, a story that puts you right
in the middle of a fantasy world filled with dastardly villains and
heroic saviors who find themselves engaged into a deadly battle to
kill a pair of white haired twins (Rinda & Remus) and to conquer
the land in which they become heir to. It sounds like a typical
medieval story until you get to know the main character Guin, who
wakes up out of a deep sleep with a leopard mask fuzed to his head
and absolutely no idea who he is or what he's doing. He decided to
take the two kids under his arm and protect them from their captors
and they decide to travel to another city to find shelter. Instead
they end up fighting in epic battles along the way and make friends
with a tribe of monkey-like creatures and a few other people along
their journey, and everyone assembles to take on the massive army
hellbent on finding and killing the twins. One of the people Guin
befriends named Ishtivan, was one of my favorite characters in this
entire show. His story was very entertaining and the result of his
battles within this series were really fun, he could have used a
sub-series all his own. The action in this series is really quite
awesome and a lot of the fight scenes are really complex and
interesting, this isn't just another hack and slash anime where
people are just fighting for no reason whatsoever. One fight in this
show has Guin becoming the ruler of a small group of barbarian's,
while another has a guy trying to prove himself to the woman he
loves, Lady Amnelas, so that he could impress her and get a higher
rank within her army. Whenever there is high stakes involved in a
battle it always makes it more interesting, or at least I think so
anyway.
One thing that really made Guin Saga
stand out was the remarkable music, without the strong music many of
the epic scenes would have not had the effect that they did.
Everything from the awesome opening theme to the sweet ending theme
and everything in between was just perfect, I loved how most episodes
would end with a cliffhanger that would have this one amazing track
playing that just pumped you up for the next episode. When the music
in an anime is spot on than you know you're in for a treat. The
animation side of things was fine, I wouldn't say this was one of the
most beautiful anime's I've ever seen but it certainly wasn't bad or
anything like that. It just had your standard run of the mill
animation and it worked for what they were trying to do, you won't be
raving about it when it's all said and done but you won't be shaking
your head either. I'd say it's as good as any major anime production
out there. All in all the overall production on Guin Saga is pretty
darn good and shows no major faults, it's certainly a series that's
story driven and very character based and I highly recommend it to
people who really love fantasy style storytelling. Along with Tears
to Tiara, I'd say that Guin Saga is one of the better fantasy anime's
of the past several years, everything from the music to the storyline
was pure genius and some of the characters will just reach out and
grab you without letting you go. My only complaint is that it's only
a 24 episode series and not a long running anime like a Naruto or One
Piece. At the end of the day if your only major complaint is that the
anime you're reviewing is shorter than you would have liked than I
guess you don't really have much to complain about to begin with, so
I guess it's time for some ratings....
Art/Animation – 8.0
Music and Sound Effects – 9.5
Story and Writing – 9.5
Fun – 9.0
Overall – 9.0
As
always I want to take the time to thank those who took the time to
read my blog, it's much appreciated. Also, you can always check me
out at www.twitter.com/manga4life as well as TZ and CBR, feel free to
say “hi”.
Take care,
Manga4life
©2012 Cozy Cabin Publishing LLC
