Basilisk

I have done one or two anime reviews in the past.  Most people are already decided about anime as a whole.  You are either a somewhat weird individual who enjoys anime or someone the derides it.  Of course, there are people who don't care either way.  I used to hate anime in all forms.  When I was eleven or so, I saw Vampire Hunter D on Sci-Fi*.  It wasn't my parents'fault, as this happened when my brother was having open heart surgery, and we were staying with my grandfather.  He didn't care much what we were doing.  While I don't have a problem with younger kids watching more adult material, as long as they can handle it, I probably shouldn't have watched that particular anime at that age.  I thought it was weird and kinda neat.

Fast forward three or four years, and you would have seen me saying negative things about anime, even though I didn't watch it.  I didn't start to like it until Toonami was on after school.  I recall watching Sailor Moon and Dragonball Z on Cartoon Network.  I eventually watched Ninja Scroll while visiting some friends.

A few years later saw me with Mark.  He continued to introduce me to different forms of anime.  I saw both Cowboy Bebop and Record of Lodoss War.**  We watched Ranma 1/2, which is a bit weirder.  From there, we checked out shows like Naruto and Inuyasha.

By this point, Ryan, my brother, had begun showing me different shows he had discovered.  Both Berserk and Neon Genesis Evangelion were shows he suggested to me.  I've been trying to find Evangelion in a store so I can re-watch it with Mark.  He has only seen a couple of episodes.

Lately, I've been in an anime mood.  Sometimes, I just get the urge to watch something from that particular art form.  As I have already stated, I've been looking for the Evangelion box set.  I haven't had any luck and was wandering through Netflix when I saw that Basilisk was on there.  We actually own the entire box set*** and have watched it in its entirety.  Because I'm too lazy to actually dig it out and put it in the DVD player, I decided to start re-watching it on Netflix.

Basilisk falls under the serious magical ninja anime category. The tone is more serious and often dark while still ridiculous and fantastic.  The show uses a political agenda to set up a multitude of ninja battles.  Each character has their own magical**** edge, making each encounter interesting.  Many of techniques used by the ninja are pretty standard to anime ninjas.  Because they are pretty well done, it doesn't come across as annoying.  Rather, it seems like an homage to earlier shows.  It's a happy reminder of other great anime; it makes me want to watch Ninja Scroll again.

Don't mistake my admiration for how some abilities are handled as blanket approval.  Some of the characters have incredibly silly powers.  The entire show is unbelievable, but that's part of the fun.

Part of what grounds the show, making it watchable, is the excellent voice acting.  Much of the dialogue is so well delivered that it makes it easy to buy into what's going on.  Star crossed lovers are a good sell, and  ancient and unyielding hatred is also a traditionally strong motivation for characters.  At the same time, that kind of overwhelming and simplistic drive can make for one dimensional characters.  Basilisk offers interesting battles but no real room for growth for most characters.

The animation is solid and sometimes beautiful.  Of course, that's when you ignore the less attractive characters.  Some of them are downright creepy.  The character design is a testament to the devotion of the artists.  Many anime series tend to make all the characters look similar, while Basilisk is populated by characters that look like individuals.  While there may be some similarities, they are not so overwhelming that you can't tell the characters apart.

I enjoy Basilisk.  There are certain things I don't love, but it's a quality show.  I wouldn't introduce someone to anime with this show, but once someone is accustomed to the style, I would show them this.  It's a pretty basic story, but there are ninjas!

*That's what it was called back then, not Syfy.  I don't care for that name.

**To this day, I still have not seen the end of that series.  We ended up making out instead.  It was time well spent.  It may have something to do with why anime sometimes makes me happy.  Who knows...it's all weird.

***The box is a really cool wooden one.  The front slides open!  When it comes to cool boxes, anime usually wins.

****Maybe magic is the wrong term.  Simply put, everyone has superpowers.