Post by George Darling on Oct 29, 2008 18:13:12 GMT -8
• Warning: This review contains spoilers from both the video game and the anime •
There seems to be some strange, impenetrable barrier surrounding video games when it comes to other forms of entertainment media. Movies based on video games suck. Video games based on movies suck. Cartoons based on video games suck. Video games based on cartoons suck. While there are exceptions in the US market, they're few and far between. A market which does sometimes manage to avoid the stereotype, however, is Japanese animation. Possibly because it's closer to the source, what with the lion's share of notable video games being developed in Japan, but sometimes an anime based off of a video game can be pretty decent, or even downright good. This doesn't happen every day, but it has happened.
On the opening menu for Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories there was a special trailer promoting the upcoming Disgaea anime. It looked beautiful, and the animation was awesome. From the brief trailer they spotlighted some battle sequences, among other things, and even showed Laharl going toe-to-toe with the Lord of Terror, Baal. It built up a lot of excitement among Disgaea fans, as expected. But what was the payoff? Let's take a look and find out.
Story:
The anime encompasses (loosely) the events which took place in the first Disgaea game, which was also obvious from the trailer. As soon as the first episode starts, however, you can see that things are terribly amiss. While the trailer showed a scene we were all familiar with, Etna attempting to awaken Laharl from his poison-induced hibernation, among other memorable scenarios, the events which take place in the final version of the anime aren't even remotely close... nor is the animation quality, but we'll get to that later.
The first episode opens with a fairly elaborate and snazzy CG scene before the opening credits and theme song play, and it's pretty nice. But then everything goes downhill when the Angel Trainee, Flonne, enters a trash dump and stumbles across Laharl's coffin. Spotting the Overlord's Seal on the coffin Flonne assumes that King Krichevskoy (her target) is inside and she tries to blast it into next Tuesday, mistakingly awakening Prince Laharl from his slumber. Ok, this is clearly not at all what happened in the game, but I can buy it. After all, poetic license needs to be taken when converting a story from one form of media into another. But it just gets worse and worse.
Each episode either crams too much into it, or is completely useless to the overall plot. Within the first episode we, the audience, have already been introduced to Laharl, Flonne, Gordon, Jennifer and Thursday and the event from the game in which Flonne loses her angelic pendant - all crammed into one 24 minute installment! Ok, whoa... hold the phone... Captain Gordon, Jennifer and Thursday appear in the very first episode? Hell, they don't appear in the video game until Episode 9, which is more than half way through the game! And where is Etna, whom is the FIRST character you see in the video game, even before Laharl? She isn't even introduced yet! Heck, Mid-Boss is introduced before Etna! Ok, it just went from 'poetic license' to 'screwing everything up', which is usually what causes most cartoons based on games to fail.
And let's talk about the Defenders of Earth for a minute, because they're one of the corner stones in making this anime pathetic. As anyone who's played the game knows, Captain Gordon and his sidekicks journey to the Netherworld by order of the EDF (Earth Defense Force) to defeat the Overlord because the Overlord was a potential threat to the Earth. In the anime the only explanation given is that Gordon traveled to the Netherworld to, quote; 'Defeat some demons'. Holy crap, how ambiguous is that?! What sort of logic is that to fly to a different world in a space ship just to, oh, I don't know... 'defeat some demons'?! Also, if you played the game, you know that once you defeat Gordon, Laharl forces him and his consorts into becoming his vassals. With their spaceship destroyed, Gordon has no choice but to accept. Having Gordon, Jennifer and Thursday along in the game resulted in some rather comedic dialog and situations, and made for a more diverse traveling party. In the anime, they simply get blasted off into the sky by an attack every... single... episode up until the last few climatic shows.
Wait a minute... what did I just say?
Oh no. Please, no. Are you telling me that the Defenders of Earth are essentially Team Rocket from one of the worst animes, no, cartoons ever to sully my television screen; Pokémon? The mere fact that I would have to compare my beloved Disgaea franchise in any way, shape or form to the pile of steaming dung which is the Pokémon anime alone is enough to make me die a little inside. But, sadly, that's really the approach they took with them. Ugh. It's also worth noting that, in the game, the EDF, Kurtis and the fact that Jennifer built Thursday were all foreshadowed ahead of time, so when they popped up it wasn't just a completely random 'SURPRISE!' which comes as a result of bad writing. In the anime, guess what? It is that poor-writing 'Surprise.' The EDF, Kurtis and the fact that Jennifer built Thursday are never even mentioned until RIGHT BEFORE THE EDF INVADES THE NETHERWORLD. Yet another example of just too much shit being crammed into a single episode. Double ugh.
Looks like Team Defender is blasting off again!
The story is just all over the place. While a lot of situations from the game are reenacted here (such as Jennifer trying to give Laharl a sex ed lesson, and a lot of the content in the last four episodes), most of them come up short in the long run or flat-out mess up the dialog or point trying to be given, and many of which are excruciatingly out of sequence. It's like the chronological order of events from the game were just tossed out the window prior to the production of this anime. The result is that each episode is usually bland and doesn't hold the viewers' attention until the final few episodes, where everything rushes in so fast that it'll make your head spin if you never played the game.
The plot with Etna, her stolen memories, and Maderas is just a joke, and is there and gone in a single installment which did the game's plot absolutely no justice. Also, Etna's feeling toward the deceased King Krichevskoy are never mentioned or dwelt upon, which makes her situation with Maderas even more confusing since those precious memories were a large part behind her motives. The generic Rune Knight character from the game's 6th Episode, 'Laharl's Challenge', is represented in the anime as a character. When defeated by Laharl, he strong arms her into becoming his vassal (finally, someone besides Etna and Flonne). But this is nothing but a damn plot hole! She never even appears in subsequent episodes and only has like a 2 millisecond appearance in the very last episode, shown as merely looking up at the sky! What the heck, guys?!
Laharl is damn near untouchable in the anime, and although he is regarded as being tremendously powerful in the games... being so godly in the anime sure is boring. He shrugs off every incoming attack and annihilates every opponent in one hit, like a guy swatting an irritating fly. What's more annoying is that he just uses Overlord's Wrath over and over throughout the series. I think he uses the Night Sever sword skill ONCE the entire anime. He uses Meteor Impact in the series opening, but he never once uses it during the show! I mean, c'mon! Imagine if you were watching the Street Fighter anime and the only thing Ryu ever did was throw Hadouken fireballs, punching or kicking only once or twice every other episode. And Flonne and Etna? Completely worthless. Hell, they never even do anything. They attack maybe four times, between the two of them, the entire series. Usually all they do is stand around and comment as Laharl fights. Fights? I meant to say as he MASSACRES his opponents.
Goodness gracious, even Superman took more beatings than Laharl - He's just unstoppable!
Pace is kept in the game by cut scenes in which Seraph Lamington of Celestia, the one whom sent Flonne to the Netherworld to assassinate the Overlord, is discussing the situation with a nameless, faceless mystery co-conspirator (*coughVyers/Krichevskoycough*), as well as the actions of one of the primary antagonists, Archangel Vulcanus, whom is furious that the Seraph sent Flonne and not him, as well as some dialog exchanges involving General Carter of the EDF and Kurtis. Pace is also kept in the game by spacing out situations which are dramatic, intense, and comical so that you had an evenly distributed number of events which were either serious or playful without either growing stale.
Almost none of this is touched in the anime. Vulcanus is introduced early on, but then they... just sort of seem to forget about him until the EDF invades. Also his intentions in the first few appearances he makes are ambiguous, at best. General Carter is neither shown, discussed, or even revealed to exist to the audience until the episode in which the EDF attacks. And why does he appear before Gordon, Jennifer and Thursday, anyway? That has no context in the story. It makes no sense!
Seraph Lamington is discussed by Flonne (thank heavens, build-up and foreshadowing! Finally!) at least, so when he makes his appearance it isn't just completely out of the blue like a lot of other characters. As for pacing, there is none. In all honesty, every single episode feels like nothing more than filler up until the final four episodes. There was very little strategic build-up, and most everything worth knowing is revealed in those final four episodes. So why even bother watching the eight episodes before them? There honestly isn't. Just skip to the third DVD, the only one that has any substance at all.
I could go on and on about the inconsistencies in the story, but rest assured that that would make this review so long as to become a novel rather than a simple article. Even if you don't compare it to the game, it still comes off as being overtly shoddy. There are plot holes, there are pace issues, there are inconsistencies, there's way too little build-up and instead information thrown in your face a second before it's needed, and it just plain sucks.
Characters:
The characters, for the most part, are fairly accurate representations from the game. Their personalities are intact and their dialog is usually things you would imagine the character saying. Most of them, anyway. My major complaints are Maderas and Kurtis, who break character in their transition from the game to the anime. Maderas is just... weird. Is he gay? Is he eccentric? Is he bat shit insane? I'm not sure, but he sure doesn't remind me of the cruel, manipulative Maderas from the game. Kurtis, in the game, is a sympathetic villain and is really more of a rival than a hardcore antagonist. In the anime, however, he just acts downright sinister and much more like your typical, back-stabbing villain. He redeems himself in the end in both instances, but his character just wasn't synchronized very well in the anime. And Prinny Kurtis never even appears anywhere in the show... ever. That's just wrong.
Another weird deviation from the game are the EDF Soldiers. In the game EDF Soldiers wear muddy-colored jumpsuits and a glass helmet, looking like a mix between astronauts and divers wearing very old, outdated diving equipment. In the closing credits of the anime, EDF Soldiers matching this description to a T are shown standing beside General Carter on either side. But in the actual show, they look completely different! If they're not in the show then why are they in the closing credits? That's just weird. Come to think of it, the Nekocat class is in the closing credits, also... and is also nowhere in the show. I never even saw on in any of the background shots or anything.
As a tribute to series character designer Takehito Harada his trademark character, Pleinair, has a cameo appearance in the final episode of the anime. Normally, this would net some major brownie points except for one slight, no, huge problem: they mis-colored her. That's right... apparently the color artists had no idea of her relevance, and she has an entirely incorrect palette. This is inexcusable, how do you make a mistake like that in this day and age?
They do get props for working in Pringer X, even if he looks absolutely nothing like he did in Phantom Brave.
Animation:
Woo boy. Here we go. The animation from the trailer contained within Disgaea 2 showcased some rather awesome animation. I'm not sure if a budget cut happened after that, or what, because the animation in the final product is horrible. And I mean it's bad. Every animation shortcut known to the industry is taken, and the drawings themselves are just low-grade and unattractive. Inconsistent sizes and proportions are a big problem, especially from different distances and angles. Motion seemed to be a huge problem for the animators as well because scenes with running, jumping and a particularly painful scene in which Gordon and Kurtis are fighting with fisticuffs are just awful. I haven't seen animation this poor in a long, long time. Animations are also recycled. The scene in the opening credits in which Laharl splits a floating continent in half is actually re-used in a later episode, in which the EDF's mother ship, Gargantuan, is attacking and a stray laser cannon blast leads to the same scene. This is just one example which I chose because it's the saddest.
Etna is in front of Laharl, but she's clearly much smaller than he is. Their characters aren't even to scale with each other? That's just deplorable.
In this scene Laharl's right hand is huge and deformed, while his left is just a small knob at the end of his wrist. Apparently self-deformation is an Overlord technique.
Really, do I even need to say anything here? What the hell is this thing in the background supposed to be? It's just a scribbled oval shape with legs. I've seen little kids who can draw better than this!
The CG effects are pretty good, and are used all over the place. Captain Gordon's ship, special attacks and spells, and other appropriate things are done in computer graphics rather than traditional, hand drawn animation. The fact they look so good is actually sort of bad, mainly because the animation is so cruddy. The result is poorly drawn and animated characters using awesome-looking skills and attacks, and the contrast is not a good thing. It's like having a stick figure but with the head of a painting-quality man slapped on it. They contradict each other, and don't mesh well.
Another downside to the CG is that it's used a few times to represent very large groups of Prinnies. Jumping to and from 2-D to 3-D like that looks horrible, and boy is it lazy of them to do that.
The backgrounds are well drawn from an artistic standpoint. A big problem with me, however, is the damn atmosphere. In the game every area is dark, gloomy and sinister... what you would expect from a world which is essentially a representation of Hell, right? So what's with all the bright, cheery backgrounds in the anime? They don't fit in well, at all. When I think of a Netherworld, I don't think of acres of lush, green grash, purple mountains majesty and a sapphire blue sky with fluffy clouds. The sky should be dark and filled with ominous clouds and the landscapes should be twisted and gothic. The number of scenes which take place against sunny backdrops is just sickening. It's the Netherworld, for crying out loud!
Right
Wrong
Voice Acting:
The voice acting is nothing breathtaking, but nor is it bad. I've only watched the episodes with the English dubbing; but that's also because the English dubs for the video game were so much better than the Japanese track. Sorry, all of you purist otakus out there, but the original Japanese audio is vastly inferior, especially Gordon and Thursday. Several of the US voice actors from the video game lend their talents to the anime, including Laharl's US voice actress, Barbara Goodson. So that was a nice touch.
Music:
I don't particularly care for the music for the opening, but the closing credits is pretty nice. Most of the score music are just Tenpei Sato's original tracks stripped from the game; meaning they're good. The music from the game is used in proper context in the anime, and it's got a nice nostalgic factor to hear this music. Is it enough to subtract from the animes grating flaws? Well, no... but at least it's a plus in a world of negatives.
In Closing:
This anime had the potential to be great. The story was there, the characters were likable and hilarious, and Disgaea itself is one of Nippon Ichi's best sellers. It certainly had the fan base to merit an anime series, but how and where did things go so wrong? Everything seemed to be going so well judging from the original trailer, so why was the final product so atrocious? Not that it being different was bad; they could have completely overhauled it from trailer and still had an amazing series on their hands. The problem here was that they didn't upgrade it or simply change a few things; they downgraded it, and cheapened the entire experience. As a huge fan of Nippon Ichi's SRPGs - Disgaea especially - I was as disappointed as the next fan when the garbage that turned out to be the Disgaea anime was released.
Is this anime worth watching? Well, if you're a Disgaea fan I can't imagine that you wouldn't at least give it a shot. But if you're not a fan of Disgaea, I'd avoid it. Because of the aforementioned problems in the anime's storytelling, you'll be greatly confused, and really there isn't any merit to watching this abomination aside from fanboy/girlism.
Oh, and that battle between Laharl and the Lord of Terror, Baal which was shown in the trailer? It never happened. Figures...
"BEEP, BLEEP. TRANSMISSION END."
Story - 2
Characters - 6
Animation - 2
Voice Acting - 7
Music - 9
Total Rating: 26/50
