Review Statistics

Times Read

624

Comments

3

Reviews

Tv

Plot Synopsis

No plot synopsis or other information available for Silent Mobius

Story & Characters

Silent Mobius, the TV anime version, brings the popular manga by Kia Asamiya to the small screen. Set in the mid-21st century, Silent Mobius could simply be summed up as "Dungeons and Dragons" meets the police force. The TV series adapts pretty faithfully the original manga into 26 episodes. The first few episodes set the scene about Kasumi Liqueur's arrival to Tokyo and establishes the role of the Attacked Mystification Police (AMP) Department. A few side-stories about each character follow that, and then we get into the real action with the battles against the Lucifer Hawks.

Lucifer Hawks are a mysterious otherworldly entity that gained the ability to cross to Earth after the "Silent Crisis" events at the end of the 20th Century. They attacked humans indiscriminately and, as a consequence, the AMP was established to combat and destroy Lucifer Hawks where ever possible. The AMP team is entirely made up of women for quite a profound reason, each of whom have distinct super-human abilities. We have Katsumi Liqueur, a very powerful sorceress; Kiddy Phenil, an armour-coated cyborg; Yuki Saiko, a young woman with strong psychic abilities; Nami Yamigumo, a priestess; and Lebia Maverick, a computer wizard (or Visionaire) who can enter any electronic system. The team is overseen by Mana Isozaki, a stern supervisor who is able to draw upon magic based on Indian Bhuddism; and Rally Cheyenne, with a past and abilities shrouded in mystery. Further on into the story, the team is joined by Lum Cheng, another sorceress with the ability to control the elements of earth, fire, wind and water. Supporting cast includes Robert (Roy) DeVice, who becomes a close friend to Katsumi; and Ralph Bomerz, who becomes a close friend to Kiddy. A number of additional supporting characters appear for various small parts (Toru Washio, Avalanche Wong, Rosa Cheyenne, amongst others). Although the cast is diverse, the main characters provide opportunities for development throughout the series. The audience can often appreciate the challenges the characters face personally and collectively, and is able to get behind and support the AMP as they try to save the city.

The adaptation of the manga to anime is delivered competently with the benefit that it establishes the roles of the characters without the viewer relying on prior knowledge. That said, if one goes into the anime with the prior knowledge of the manga (as I had), it becomes evident that the anime diverges from the manga in several respects. This approach is expected and, arguably, reasonable since some of the content in the manga may not be appropriate for a wider audience and some of the more extreme content is toned-down or omitted entirely. Unfortunately, the anime storyline, while enjoyable, appears to be incomplete. The story finishes at Episode 26 with the AMP flying off into the distance apparently to go and enter the final battle with the Lucifer Hawks. Whether this was deliberate or just as a consequence of the episode's timing leaves the viewer hanging, which is a fundamental flaw in my view to wind up a series. The lack of a resolution inevitably asks the question whether a second series is going to be released, or how are the loose ends going to be tied up. So far, no intention of concluding the series has been tabled to my understanding.

In summary: a generally faithful adaptation of the original manga with core characters that have opportunities to develop as the series unfolds. Being an adaptation, certain hints are drawn from other sources such as Mobius Klien for an episode or two but still manages to stick to the canon of the series. A good testament produced to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the original successful manga.

Rating

8 (good)

Art

The artwork is very "Blade Runner-esque". Set in the not-too-distant future, the buildings and settings are quite sterile in their physical appearance. This also means that their appearance is also fairly homogenous and repetitive, and unremarkable as a consequence. That said, the settings are, at least, generally consistent with the original designs by Asamiya in the manga. With a lot of the attention focusing on the main cast and the action, this is not necessarily a bad thing.

Character designs are also faithful with the manga, or at least the latter part of it. As one would expect with a manga running over 10 years, individual designs would evolve progressively. There weren't any issues with consistency in character design, but they weren't outstanding in their detail (and I have a couple of the original production cels so I know what I'm talking about). I'll step out on a limb here and suggest that a large amount of the visual budget was probably spent on stock computer-generated graphics for vehicles, monsters, magical spell effects, and building transformations. The use of CGI was well-inserted and appropriate, but was really obvious when some transitions were not smooth nor seamless. The stock footage of Katsumi firing up a magical array came out many times with few variations based on the situation.

There were no technical issues with the Region 1 release and the choice of the colour palette was appropriate. I couldn't find any problems with bleeding, tearing or colour artefacts on this release. In summary, an adequate run with the artwork again being faithful to the original manga. The use of CGI repeatedly wasn't a major distraction but it was obvious when it was used - no seamless integration here.

Rating

6 (average)

Sound

Primary listening for the series was, as is expected for me, in the original Japanese language. Both English and Japanese audio tracks were delivered in Dolby Digital 2.0. The odd spot-check with the English dialogue was made for a cursory comparison. In short, there was nothing outstanding with either audio track. Both versions were delivered competently and the choice of cast members was generally consistent with the respective characters (e.g. Nami was quiet and soft-spoken; Yuki was "bubbly"; Kiddy was brash and outspoken; and Lum Cheng was a brat.).

Music was also suitable for the context of the anime. The opening theme "Kindan no Pansee" started the show off with a good pace to set the scene; while the ending themes "Silently" and "Till the End of Time" had English lyrics and a slow ballad-like pace. Background music was fairly stock-standard with the usual dark tension and dramatic music for suspense and combat scenes; a relaxed casual theme when the pace was slower and introspective. Again, an adequate job on the soundtrack, but nothing outstanding or overly memorable.

Rating

6 (average)

Presentation

The Region 1 release from Bandai Entertainment comprised three two-DVD sets. With nine episodes per set (eight in the third), there was enough to keep one interested while awaiting the following release, which came out pretty regularly. Each release had a mini 16-page extract from the English-translated manga, which was an interesting approach for an "extra" and I'd expect may have been quite effective in getting viewers interested in trying out the manga version too. A mini poster with liner notes about various characters was also supplied; and the final extra was a "karaoke" version of the opening and ending songs provided on the second disc in Volume 3.

There was little else in the way of extras to this series, apart for a couple of trailers for unrelated shows from Bandai. Bearing in mind the strong legacy upon which this series is based, the lack of extras was somewhat disappointing given the various opportunities for interviews, galleries, or other goodies celebrating the 10th anniversary of this series. Maybe I'm being picky about the extras (or lack thereof) but the series could quite easily have become a collectors' piece if the right mix of additional goodies was provided.

Bottom line: the series was enjoyable and was, in my view, a good adaptation of the original manga. With the introductory episodes in Volume 1, Disc 1, as well as the various side-stories for each main character an understanding or appreciation of the manga is not necessary to get into the story. However it wasn't an outstanding series in its own right and those who may be already familiar with the manga probably won't get anything further out of it. Recommended for anyone who likes a combination of science-fiction meeting swords and sorcery.

Rating

7 (above average)

Final Verdict

7.00 (above average)

Reviewed by davidh01, 17wk 2d ago