A Fantastical Adventure from the hit Manga series.
So after reading through the manga, getting impatient waiting for the dub, I watched the series on Youtube. And I'm duly impressed. I had high expectations of this series, and so I when I heard about it I was skeptical (as my deep dark fantasy desire was to personally make this show my self) Of course being a fan-boy to Koichi Mashimo and and Yuki Kajiura It boosted my confidence more.
The plot is well adapted. Anime has the double edge sword when it comes to adaptation, either it's a very very loyal adaption nearly 100%, or it's so different that you wonder, did the writers just read the summary on the back of the book? But this is adapted in both differently while playing true to the Manga. The occasional sub-plots provide for some dramatic moments. Such as the plot of Chu'Nyan's (manga spelling) reunitment with her mother (I must admit I was crying during that point) and well other moments that proved to be not useless. Sub plots are tricky, you can milk them too much if you are not careful. Fortunaltley the play these out nicely.
Music:
I'd have to say, at first I read some criticism about Kajiura's music score. But I have to say this is one of her finest yet. She has some very powerful, unique, and interesting melodies. Especially the opening piece. The opening scene is so powerful with visuals, and the music choice. I don't know Yuki to work a lot with bigger instrumental styles, but I do hear a lot. She seems to have a lot more orchestral than she does songs. Not like her usual motif. I'm impressed, very impressed.
I love the opening theme. While this wasn't a Kajiura composition (Also unusual for a Mashimo-Kajiura work) It's an awesome theme. Though I can't say I like the closing theme.
Animation Quality:
Now many might complain about the long limbs. Frnakley I don't care. It's the same way in the manga, as it is in the Anime. As long as the Animation doesn't look like paper cut outs, I don't have any complaints.
Flaws:
One of the biggest flaws is the constant flash back usage of previous episodes. I find my self fast forwarding through the episode as it slowly recaps what happened. And in these flash backs, they have real continuity problems.
And that's all I can think of.
Acting:
Great acting from the Japanese cast. Paticullary Sakura. As for the U.S. cast I feel Monica Rial was the worst. She simply was not for this role, so I'll stick to Yui Makino as Sakura. Other than that the English cast is an all star knock out. Though I would have had some preferences for other characters.
I say see this series. If you are a CCS fan. Manga Fan, see this Anime.
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