Kishin Houkou Demonbane (TV)

Original Review (December 2008, see below for later edit): "Hey, let's buy some guy who can animate a few robot battles with some 3D software. We'll make up some dialogues as fillers and spice them up by throwing in a few old jokes and a crapload of terms from some successful fantasy-universe or something like that to make it look like some intelligent and thoroughly thought through show ... what do you think about this Lovecraft guy?" I guess that's what a planning-session for Demonbane could have been like. The battles themselves didn't look that bad, but then again: The ridiculous mecha design gets boring and the fightsaren't much better in that regard. Most of the time I got the impression they didn't even bother thinking about details, but rather made a new 3D model and threw it at the main characters robot including some flashy sfx. Between the fights the viewer has to face a redicilous amount of Lovecraft-references that (apparently) don't add anything to the show but pure confusion of the viewer. I can't say whether this show may offer something for a person having read all the lovecraft stuff, but my guess would be, that even that is rather unlikely. EDIT (May 2012): It has been almost 4 years since I wrote this review. Looking back at the show as I remember it and at my somewhat updated policy for rating shows on my list I chose to update the scores slightly. Also I ultimately did not end up writing reviews here on this site, but I don't just want to 'delete' this one. I wrote it as my oppinion on the show and by and large it still shows how I think about this show. As such the changes will be the following: (pattern: category: old score --> new score (reason) Story: 2 --> 4 (Having watched many other animes I acknowledge, that the quality of this shows story is not as vastly below something that can make an enjoyable experience as my former score depicted, though I still consider it to be significantly below average for the reasons stated in my original review.) Sound: 3 --> 4 (This change basically is made because I have seen enjoyable animes in the meantime that did almost equally as 'bad' as this one. So maybe it was just because the stuff I watched before this show was somewhat above-average for it's time ... be it in soundtrack or voice acting or sfx.) Enjoyment: 2 --> 3 (2, which for "overall scores" is outside the range I decided to use for stuff that I at least managed to watch till the end, gets updated to 3. I did not enjoy it, but I at least managed to watch the end because I expected it to get better after the first four or five episodes and then the end was already close enough to pull through.) Overall: 3 --> 4 (The overall rating gets boosted to a 4, as such acknowledging the possibility that someone who can process the Lovecraft references and likes the style of this show might overall find it enjoyable to a certain extent, though still hard to believe for me.)

I am torn here My recomendation would be simple - dont watch this anime ! Dont watch it becouse ..... you might actualy like it in the end ...... not knowing how big a crime was commited by its creators. I must say i hate this Anime - I hate it becouse it is one of the worst Adaptations of The Visual Novels i have ever seen making into anime. It is like a disgrace and profanity of one of the best Action Visual Novels ever released. Evrything great about the game was wasted in this sorry excuse of an adaptation, flatening the story, cuttingmayor characters, even the jokes and art from the anime are just a clumsy imitation of its original form. (especialy Master Terion and West look awfull in comparision to VN). Only the music thames are cut directly from it making this series a little bit better, still they arent used that skillfull as in the VN where thay perfecty created a mood. It might sound silly - but even animations in VN were better !! Despite all of this it is still ... quite enjoyable to watch... Suprisingly - but I guess, should I never see a VN before, I would probably enjoy this series without regret, but instead after watching this series I am totally cruished in sorrow, that splendit idea and story was wasted that much. Demonbane had the potencial to become one of the greatest fighting anime ever ... And instead it is a B category show that some ppl bash the story (and they are - in case of the anime at least) for beeing just an excuse to show a bit of Mech fighting. Zan'nen desu ! Dakara Dai kirai If you are reading this review - I humbly ask of you - do not watch it - find the game - it is even released in USA fully franslated and compatibie with Western unicode. Then You will see this original, litle bit silly at first, but ultimately really captivating and masterfully executed work at its best. I can totatly and without hesitation recomned that game to all fans of Acion anime, cute girls, mechs, Cthulhu and to thouse who just like to lough a lot. When I plaied this game first time - I felt like- OMG what I am doing. Is this game for elementary kids or what? But then the story the characters and action showed me, how much wrong I have been. Then, after trying the Visual Novel for yourself, you can see this anime just to see how much they screwed up. If you wont listen to me and just go with thee anime you will probably like it a little anyway. Just know that you are only seen a badly executed copy that is far inferior to its original form. So, the raw numbers for this dreadfull anime in comparition to Visual Novel ( in parentheses) Story: 6 (9) Art: 4 (8) Sound: 7 (8) Characters: 5 (9) Enjoyment: 6 (10) Overal: 6 (9) In last words I must of course say - do not treat this review to serius - if you want to see this aniem as it is it's fine with me, whenever you take on my advise is your choice. If you liked this anime anyway - I am sure you will love the game all the more, and there is even untranslated sequel so I have heard. Whatever you do - have fun ! Sorry for any misspelling or badly constructed sentences. Glad to be of service.

The main attraction for me of Demonbane is certainly conceptual, though the execution was enjoyable, it was the setting that it presented that really appealed to me. It was an excellent and intriguing intermingling of the Cthulhu mythos and giant robot action - the timing of my viewing was also probably quite fortunate in that on Sunday I watched the end of Tenpu Ibun Ayakashi Ayashi (which had some interesting material about wearing gods) and then spent yesterday morning reading all extant material on Hellboy and B.P.R.D. (which is also heavily influenced by the Cthulhu mythos). Really Demonbane appealed to the main reason I consumeentertainment media - to acquire fuel and inspiration for my own imagination. Demonbane served excellently in that regard and spawned a lot of interesting ideas and alternate takes on its core precepts. The only possible negative might be in the delivery and design of the mecha. Some people don’t like the recent trend of intermingled 3d and traditional animation, though its handled quite well in the show. And the mecha designs are certainly unique, and while they may not be instantly appealing they do fit the source material well. The particular fansub I watched was also very well done with notes on all of the mythos stuff mentioned in the episode presented after the ending song, which would be of great use to the more casual viewer.

OK, now I'm a BIG HP Lovecraft fan to the point where my coursework for college was based around him. Now, that aside, this anime is a blatant mockery of Lovecraft and all his work, which angers me greatly, but that's not good enough let's piece together the thought processes of the people behind this tragic piece of wasted pixels. "you know i hear that HP Lovecraft guy is quite popular now, and so is gundam.....i know!!! let's combine the two so we get the audience from both" MORONS!! is all i can say to that. HP Lovecraft wrote most of his work in the late 1800's andearly 1900's and he was very old fashioned so he used many archaic words in his writing, this show doesn't do him any justice what so ever, so let's look at it piece by piece. story: 1 How they thought this would go down well with Lovecraft's fan base is beyond me, because it is shocking how they've butchered his work. In terms of actual story there is one but it mainly comprises of intense mecha battles between the protagonists and the worst depiction of Herbert West i have ever seen. This show throws HP Lovecraft references around like they don't actually matter at all which is sad really, because if they'd actually taken the time to read HP Lovecraft's work they'd find animating it as it is would probably bring in more of an audience than this crap. art: 3 the art is about as unique and special as a butter knife, poorly animated and for a show made during the mid 2000's it is a shame that they didn't put more or any effort into it. sound: 3 the music in the show is exactly the kind of music you'd expect from a mecha anime, so much so that it is uninspiring and lame. big explosion sounds and poor dialogue make for a beyond mediocre attempt at leaving an impression on it's audience. An anime who's music fits the bill will be remembered but this music and sound just make the anime seem even more disjointed than it already is. character: 1 The characters are shameful, particularly Herbert West, who's madness is so over-exaggerated that it just seems cheesy and stupid. They attempt to put a love story in there, occurring between the two main characters but it just seems so boring and obligatory that by the end of it they both irritate you so much that you hope they both die tragic deaths in the end that goes with Lovecraftian custom. enjoyment: 1 The only possible way you could actually enjoy this as an HP Lovecraft fan is amongst friends mocking it. If you aren't an HP Lovecraft fan there is no way you can enjoy this because it uses so much Lovecraftian terminology so flippantly that most who don't do their research beforehand would be left thinking "what the hell is going on?". Besides why would you bother doing research beforehand just to watch this trash? don't bother, go buy some silly string and run around the neighbourhood shouting "phorgsnarfle!!!" while you spray it everywhere, because that's a far better use of your time than watching this. overall: 2 View works, a little advice next time you decide to venture into anime, (although this is the only anime you've made, and I can see why) an anime that insults the work of the person who's fan base is your target audience, is definitely not the way you make money in the anime industry. Just sayin.

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