X-Men (2011) User Reviews (21)

More Impressive Than I Thought

[champjohnson29 · 7/10 · 3 July 2013]

Anime is not for everyone. The Japanese have a totally different way of approaching entertainment than America does. Whether it's music, fashion, movies, music and even cartoons. I'm not a big Anime fan. I think it's all long winded and they stretch stories out that into 60 episodes that could have been told in 25. I have a few anime cartoons that I love but for the most part I'm not a huge fan but when I heard about Marvel making X-Men into an anime series I was a little anxious to see it. I love everything about the X-Universe so I wanted to support.

Now, I actually like the series. I enjoy it because the same story continues throughout the entire season, unlike in America where it's a different story every episode. The way the storyline is set up helps you connect more with the characters and the plot. There are some inhibitions but no one is ever 100% with every single film or TV show they watch so that's to be expected. Overall, I thought it was done very well. There were a lot of elements to the series that give past X-Men fans something to smile but Madhouse Studios definitely revamped it to appeal to their faithful anime followers. You have mutated monsters, more technology, mutation can get to a level to where it gets deadly without proper control, etc. There are a lot of elements that are refreshing to watch and the action is definitely fun to.

Sometimes I think that adults that watch cartoons seem to forget that these shows are made for kids. The dialogue is going to cheesy and sometimes stupid but it has to be for kids to understand. Some of these reviews are just weird to me. I wonder what people were expecting to get from this. The series pretty much stayed true to it's identity, it's an anime cartoon whose foundation started from the X-Men world. I just took it for what it was and it made me enjoy it more. I even bought the DVD. I definitely would recommend this for people to watch. It's not everyone but if you watch without the expectation that it's going to be like the other X-Men animated series that are American made, you'll enjoy it more.

The best Marvel anime

[Rectangular_businessman · 7/10 · 26 January 2021]

Of all the 4 Marvel anime series, this was the most interesting one.

Not great, and it definately could have been better, but I enjoyed it much more than the other 3 Marvel anime series, which were mostly style over substance.

It was okay. Not perfect, but watchable. The animation and the designs were good and the characterization was much better than in all the other Marvel japanese animations. (And don't get me started on that terrible Disk Wars series.)

Unless you are an X-Men purist, this is a rather acceptable series.

Defiantly better then that horrible Wolverine anime

[WeAreLive · 8/10 · 21 February 2018]

This show was just great. However the personality change of Emma Frost was bad.

Too be honest I had no idea who Mastermind or even Armour/Hisako (who i think was cute) was until I watched this anime.

The best part is Milo isn't Wolverine and we have the proper voice actor back for the role heck it was even nice hearing Fred Tatashiore as Beast again.

The best part is with an exception of Jean Gray there are not many hero or supporting character deaths like there was in Wolverine, Iron Man and Blade.

Overall 8/10 Sign Off

X-Men's going anime? Well, I'm a little surprised

[KadeemG61 · 6/10 · 8 January 2012]

Back in the late 1990s, every Saturday morning, I watched one of my all-time favorite cartoons, and read a lot of Wizard comic magazines. The X-Men theme song came and so I turned on the television and watched "X-Men: The Animated Series." I mean, they done it all from comics, 3 TV shows, 3 movies, a Wolverine spin-off, and a prequel called "X-Men First Class." But I've never heard of an "X-Men" anime before? Are they serious? Do we really want to see the heroes speak Japanese? Well, I think G4 did a little okay with Marvel Anime, but I'm not sure it will last long. The anime version of "X-Men" as disappointing as it sounds, I haven't gotten watched the episodes. I've seen the rebirth of Thundercats and Star Wars Clone Wars, but I don't think comic book shows should be as great as Witchblade or any comic that has "anime" on it. It should've have been written off as of consideration. I thought Marvel scrapped the anime thing for good, but let's sure hope the last Marvel anime series, Blade comes out on top or a frustrating departure to the film series starring Wesley Snipes.

Bottom Line: I think when Marvel Anime's done, I wish there will be no more anime on U.S. market. "X-Men" is good, but a decent photo finish. Probably, G4 should bring back shows from the dead instead of new shows instead.

Great for young people

[jochemunlimited · 7/10 · 3 May 2022]

When I was a kid a watched a lot of episodes of the cartoon. Also the reruns, but I think I never watched the whole series. So as an adult I also watched the movies, which I liked mostly I think (long time ago). I did not see any comic/anime/cartoon or whatever else.

So suddenly I see there is an anime on Netflix. So I started watching it. First I was thinking: this is nice. But the more I am watching it the more it starts bothering me. I want to skip the action scenes, they all look a like and it feels like a filler. The story has a few plots, but it is not original and it is predictable. Everything happens just on the right moment.

I did not like beast who has the role to explain everything to the viewer. Suddenly he knows everything and he is connecting the dots. It is actually childish I think. So maybe I am the wrong target group as an adult. I think as a child between 10 and 15 this would be nice.

There are big muscles, big breasts, thight suits, (almost) no blood, technology/sci-fi things, it can be a bit scary sometimes, but overall everything is descend. And if you do not focus on the quality it actually looks pretty nice once you are in it. Sometimes they look funny but overall the action is great on screen. You can feel it, but then again the action itself can be boring.

So let's give it a 7 if the target group is young, it is a 4 or 5 for adults.

More mature cartoon adaptation then most

[wyndon-80903 · 10/10 · 20 December 2020]

I really enjoyed this visually stunning X-men series. Everything looked great. I thought the story had a more mature theme then most animations of the X-Men and I thought most of the characters' personalities were spot on as I've been a comic collector of X-men for 30+ years. Storm tho I felt was a little underutilized and the exception as her personality wasn't as regal as should be but not too far off. Also Emma wasn't as "frosty" as she could be but leaned more towards her "teacher" personality. Wolverine was done the best. Arrogant and kind of an ass with his witty remarks but always with a big heart underneath his rough words and seeing his berserker persona was a real treat. Cyclops struggles were true to his personality. Beast and Xavier were as true as well. Armor was a pleasant addition. Mastermind with the addition of newly thought out enemies to back him was very good to witness. Battles were visually stunning and enjoyable and showed some different things and that's saying a lot, especially showing one way to stop wolverine I've never seen before that was interesting and I have almost every comic with him in it. Great ideas. Well thought out story leads to an epic ending. The biggest reason I write this review instead of giving my rating and moving on? I thought the average rating fair tho I gave higher and was stunned a whooping 9 out of 11 people giving reviews for this was below the overall average. Take that into account. Please don't let the few loud haters keep you from giving this great 12 episode story a try.

7/10!

[AnnaPagrati · 7/10 · 29 March 2022]

While I love these original comic book stories, straight from the source, even animation wise, these Marvel Anime segments aren't my favorite to watch, great X-Men story though!

More people should give this a shot!

[tonynarvaez · 10/10 · 25 April 2019]

I just started watching and I sincerely wish there were more seasons. The animation style and voice acting is so good! Don't judge by the negative reviews.

Hardly Groundbreaking but Solid

[hodgesdanny · 7/10 · 7 August 2022]

Surprisingly solid, especially after the severely underwhelming Wolverine anime. It's hardly breaking new ground and there's nothing especially new or original here, but it's solidly realized and feels true to the characters. It takes bits from the Dark Phoenix saga and The Brood, as well as others. Worth watching for what it is.

No X-Men series has yet to match the quality of the 90's animated version.

[clint_ford · 4/10 · 19 September 2013]

After being mesmerised by the captivating "Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust" and being a huge fan of the 90's animated series, I was very excited about this production. The series started out promising - the idea of The U-Men harvesting mutant organs felt like the creators were taking on a decidedly adult tone, but unfortunately my interest started to wane very quickly. This project would have served better as a feature length rather than trying to stretch it to a 12-episode run. For the most part the voice acting worked well (English adaptation) however as usual my favourite X-Man, Storm, was a bastardised version of herself. Gone was the regal African goddess in favour of a two-dimensional stereotypically "white" female. Exposition was rampant throughout as characters repeatedly explained their motivations over and over again that it really stifled the story and action. The action was true to the anime style. Frenetic, dark (physically not metaphorically) and difficult to follow as the X-Men fought overly grotesque monsters that had appendages coming out from every direction. All of which were overshadowed of course by Emma Frost and Storm's gargantuan breasts - a mutant power in their own right.

They all look weird, but Xmen nontheless

[abneramakara · 9/10 · 22 May 2022]

Animation-aside, the story is amazing. If you grew up watching the 1990's version, then yes, this series might be quite irksome to your expectations. Color palette is just as weird but again let me circle back to what really matters, the story!

I had to chuckle aloud

[Mysterygeneration · 6/10 · 15 January 2024]

I had to chuckle aloud. When the anime first started, it was like seeing a modernized, non-English version of X-men: The Animated Series, and it brought back memories of my youth. Long-running comics have a continuity problem because concepts like the Phoenix cannot be satisfactorily explained in five minutes. As a result, they alter narratives, characters, and other elements to suit their purposes and make some sense. It made sense for the X-men to travel to Japan in order to save a young mutant from Japan! And by the time the anime ended, we practically had the lineup for the Amazing X-men.

Again, quite reminiscent of the classic X-men TAS. Although it's more Western, the style is also more adult than typical anime. Especially the T and A. Reminded me quite a bit of Jim Lee's work.

How dramatic! Fit the plot rather nicely.

Whoa, I like how Wolverine and Cyclops (or, to be more scientific, Cyclopsu) would joke around. Characters were remarkably similar to those in comic books; for example, Beast the intellect, Cyclops being emo, Jean pleading to be killed, etc. Although Storm could have been better, I enjoyed how anime Storm differed from comic book Storm. She appeared quite cool. And even though I'm not usually a fan of Wolverine, I thought he was really fantastic.

This anime is really fun, and it connects to the Wolverine anime rather nicely. Marvel had a big involvement in making it, which is great, but I wish they would have invested the same kind of care in their own films.

Frustrating

[rlovesloxy · 2/10 · 3 January 2013]

I just finished watching all 12 episodes of the anime, and wow I don't even KNOW where to begin.

While the anime actually starts out well (mainly the scene with Jean), it just goes downhill from there.

While initially, we get to see the way everyone's dealing with Jean's death, as the show progresses it just turns into the Hisako show. I mean, I get it, Hisako is new and she's trying to figure herself out but shouldn't that be a side-plot? Or is her story even MORE important than the original X-men's problems? Throughout the show, we see everyone working at Hisako's problems or Cyclops's problems. Cyclops's issues seem real because his girlfriend just died and he's struggling with his place in life. But what about Hisako? What reason does she have to be a snivelling b***h throughout each and EVERY episode? It felt like the anime was adapted from a fan fiction, where without doubt, Hisako would be a Mary-Sue character.

Emma Frost, if her name is any clue, is supposed to be cold, conniving and incredibly sexy. However, in this anime she's shown to be this mother figure, constantly babying and hugging Hisako. WTF?! She doesn't seem to be ruthless at all. In fact, she has the same personality as Storm! Both take turns teaching Hisako "lessons" about feelings and all that stuff thats just SO relevant, right!? Another thing that bothered me was the female roles in the anime. Storm, in the comics and the movies, is STRONG! She can change the weather, throw bolts of lightning, conjure tornadoes and hails. Where is all of that seen in the anime!? In fact, there was this one scene before the team meets Doctor Sazaki, the team is walking out in the freezing weather, trying to get to the lab and Hisako nearly faints. Why couldn't storm just have changed the weather, and made it more bearable!? What use is she if she can only throw a bolt or two of lightning and then get tired?! Is she only there to talk about feelings then? Its the same with Emma Frost. Both are watered down, weak and just waiting to be killed. Also, since when does storm wear such revealing clothes?! Shes turned into this big boobed nice woman, which is a common stereotype in anime.

Moving on, the anime was just PAINFULLY slow, mainly the two episodes before "Revelations". I had already figured out most of the important stuff, but I had to watch the team sit around, talk or fight irrelevant battles while trying to figure it out. For example, when Jun is revealed to be Mastermind, the team rushes to the scene and Emma tells everyone that Jun is not really Jun and he is responsible for this without telling them that its Mastermind! Had she done so, Wolverine wouldn't have gone all apesh*t, attacked the team and wasted more time!! Then, afterwards, everyone is standing outside the door, wondering what the source of all power is on the other side. They ask doctor Sazaki and she just stands around, wasting time by crying, clenching her jaw and looking shady in general. Its not until Wolverine realizes that this woman is a complete idiot and he moves to open the door does she tell them what is on the other side.

On the other side of the coin, the animation was brilliant. The characters were well drawn and easy on the eyes. Other than that, I liked the cameo appearance of other well-known mutants in the end. That is the only reason I give this show two stars.

All in all, the series was a complete flop. Wrecked character personalities, weak plot and painstakingly slow action made this poor entertainment.

They could have done way better

[mergatroid-1 · 5/10 · 17 November 2012]

I really love the X-Men universe. The movies were "OK", and the last one was actually pretty bad IMO.

The comics and animated series were all very well done.

I'm also a big fan of anime, and so I thought the two together would really be something special.

Unfortunately it didn't turn out that way. "Average" is about the best I can say for this series. The animation is fine, and the art is actually pretty good. The story, not so much. The dialogue is pretty bad, and it suffers from a problem many of the not so good anime do. Too much philosophical blathering, even during what should be action sequences. I actually got bored a few times.

I mean, who stops in the middle of a fight to consider philosophy and have a chat about it? Another problem I thought sucked is how they treat Storm in this version. For some reason she gets all tired out after a fight, and can't use her powers until she's rested. Lame.

I paid for this series, but you can see it on Crackle.com if you can hack the commercials (or if you use an ad blocker).

Personally, I would recommend skipping it. Next time they want to experiment with anime, I would suggest getting better writers.

Really unsatisfying in all the ways

[siderite · 5/10 · 29 September 2012]

I am a big fan of Japanese anime and I also like the X-men universe, so I thought I would like this a lot. But after watching X-men there is no good thing about it I can think of.

The animation is obsolete, something I would have expected from animes in the 80's maybe. I was so confused, in fact, that in order to complete this review I went back a few times to make really sure I saw the 2012 version and not some knock off.

The story makes no sense, with insane and cardboard bad guys, ridiculous female characters and really boring and bad dialogue. The difference between the powers and behaviour of female heroes compared to male ones was immense and totally uncalled for. All of the Japanisation of X-men had the problem that they made all characters behave like Japanese people, actually, but this was the worst. Imagine that Storm got tired after each attack and the other two: Armor and Emma Frost, could do only defensive things and maybe give a punch or a kick sometimes. Even Jean, the character that dies in the start of the series, can only do one thing: die to protect her friends. Useless in almost any battle, they are there to be protected and talk about feelings.

What I think bothered me most, though, is the lameness of it all. After anime of terrible beauty and horror and others brilliant ones about friendship and camaraderie, after twisted tales of amazing character complexity, the Japanese think they could reintroduce X-Men to their country using this crap: empty dialogue, cardboard characters, stupid plot, stunted violence.

Conclusion: You want something Japanese with super powers, just watch Akira! This series is a stain on the anime community.

More Soap Opera than Superhero Story

[turin0016 · 4/10 · 10 August 2012]

This animated installment of X-Men is just not easy to enjoy. It's unrelentingly bleak, right up to the final act. Even the art seems made for dark, dour thoughts with sharp angles everywhere and dull color (or lack thereof) palettes. The characters are variously flat, uneven, or crippled by angst. Actually, "crippled by angst" could be a title for the show's run, but more on that later. Its pace is unnecessarily slow, and a good chunk of the action sequences feel like they were shoehorned into the episodes near the end of production in an effort to give each episode something other than talking and often aimless soliloquizing.

Despite all these general flaws, the show does have some positives. The animation quality is generally rather good, and the art is well done (although I personally don't care much for the style, I can recognize that it's generally good work). Some of the English voice acting - namely Steve Blum as Wolverine - is quite good. The action sequences can be varied and interesting, but they have flaws too (did we really need to see an animation studio trying to mimic that scourge of modern-day cinema, shaky-cam, for a few scenes?). The story itself is decent enough, though it develops at a glacial speed until hitting a point where it becomes wildly transparent (which point is well before "revelations" are made). The interplay between Wolverine and Cyclops is handled pretty well, and it's refreshing to see an X-Men tale told on-screen that isn't utterly fixated on either Rogue or Jean Grey.

Back to the gripes, first and foremost is how the series rather quickly turns into "Mutant Japanese Schoolgirl and her X-Men Escorts." In fact, most of the 12 episode run consists of Cyclops angsting or Hisako upstaging the X-Men - both in the same episode if it can be managed. Granted that comics tales are loaded with this sort of thing so it's to be expected to a degree, but still it pulls the show away from X-Men's greatest strength - rather blunt social commentary interwoven with badass superheroes doing badass things. Instead we get a collection of super-chaperones dragging the uninteresting yet clumsily vital-to-the-story Hisako along, and the X-Men wind up spending much of their time clenching their fists and trying not to cry as their sorrow or indignation boil - though they do eventually fight at some point, usually after the writer seems to have momentarily run out of dialogue clichés. Not even Wolverine completely escapes this over-sensitivity, though he does provide most of the "snap out of it" moments.

Second, and more a personal issue than anything else, the whole "look" of the show just isn't very appealing. The colors are dull and dreary, which works for Batman or Spawn or other traditionally "dour" comic franchises but really doesn't mesh well with X-Men (which is essentially on the optimistic side of realist, much of the time), although I suppose it fits with the aggressively bleak attitude of this particular show. I could go on about other personal gripes with regard to the art style, mostly related to characters' body structure, but instead I'll make one point only: laughably massive breasts on very thin bodies.

Finally, there's how simply unlikeable or horribly bland several core characters are throughout the show. This is an area tougher to comment on without spoilers, but I'll just say that Cyclops was never the easiest character to like in the first place and in this show he's positively insufferable. Storm is nearly irrelevant, in combat and out. She only has the juice to attack for maybe a second each episode, then she disappears; when it comes to non-combat situations she seems to exist just to play den mother to Wolverine and Cyclops. Hisako has no depth and feels extremely forced into the story. A relatively major character is poorly portrayed as someone succumbing to tragic folly but actually comes across more as simply a blind, morally bankrupt idiot. Not even the villains and enemies are compelling or colorful (and often superhero story villains steal the show); they're basically divided into cannon fodder and infrequently appearing nuisances. Put all this together and you have a cast that's basically reduced to Wolverine as likable, Beast as acceptable, and Emma Frost as a watered-down mother figure.

In the end, the show is just not very good. Its good qualities are practically crushed beneath its more numerous bad ones, and it's just so very bleak all the way through - and it's a bleakness without the depth that makes darker franchises like Batman work so well. It's a shame, because the X-Men deserve better and the TV and movie-watching casual X-Men fans could use more stories that don't revolve around Jean Grey or Rogue.

The boobiest of them all

[fall1982 · 2/10 · 18 December 2020]

This isn't an original take. You just take something cool, remove everything that made it original, add all the Japanese anime cliche's you can think of, a touch of misoginy, lots of boobsshots and there you go.

Anime Facade of The X-Men

[camerica1978 · 3/10 · 3 June 2017]

Absolutely horrible. Worst of all the X-Men animated series I've watched. They merely borrowed the look and the names of the X-Men. Then they made them into lifeless facades of the originals (with the exception of Wolverine). Cardboard characters, cardboard dialogue, cardboard plot, emotions as fake as Anakin professing his love for Padme in Star Wars Episode 2.

Powers aren't even properly portrayed or used. Storm is a weakling who can't throw more than one lightning bolt without getting exhausted. Cyclops actually uses his motorcycle's rockets and lasers to shoot enemies! Y'know, the Cyclops that can shoot concussive beams strong enough to trash a tank, the Cyclops that has so honed his power and skill that he can take out multiple targets with pinpoint accuracy in a flash, the Cyclops who can make impossible trick shots with his beams -- he uses rockets and lasers instead.

With the exception of Wolverine, they may look like the X-Men, but it's like they're totally different people merely using their names and bodies. Ugh.

Terrible writing and cringe scenes

[tygertygerburningbright · 2/10 · 31 May 2021]

Yeah instead of catching bad guys just stand there and look at them or give introductions about them to confused bystanders. This is seriously ridiculously childish.

Decent new X-men cartoon.

[rds_1 · 5/10 · 1 January 2012]

Lately there are a bunch of almost classic cartoons being revived in Japan. English spoken but based in Japan.

X-men, Iron Man, Wolverine, Thundercats, maybe more? Not sure about the last one. All of these are OK to watch but it seems quite unlikely that Japan is suddenly the center of the world. That part of it is starting to annoy me because it's like the rest of the world hardly even exists. Also the drawing style (anime?) just doesn't really feel right not just because of the drawing style but also because classic characters are depicted wrongly. Wolverine in Wolverine for instance is very thin/slenderly drawn and has more feline features than wolf features. Beast in X-men has a doggy face, looks ridiculous. The slim/slender type can be seen in all characters which is just a tad off. Power wise things are off a bit as well. Especially Storm, she's quite weak now.

Typically Asian, the show is quite long winded. The story could be told 2-3x as fast. But on the other hand is does give a bit more room for deeper development. If you're into that. Personally I'm not and to me it ads to many boring parts to the story. And every episode is a cliffhanger, no one likes that and shouldn't be abused like this.

Then there is the problem of where exactly to put it in the X-men universes? Seems like it fits after the last stand movie but Cyclops and Xavier are alive and well. But Jane is dead, died similarly to "last stand".

I'm not really watching the show anymore but simply PIP'in it while doing something else. So listening to it for a big part in the background.

Storm deserves better, but the show itself is okay

[laurawanco · 5/10 · 31 July 2021]

This is a fairly standard anime, just with some X-Men flair. This wasn't really the type of anime I'm into though, I like ones with a sarcastic sense of humor or ones that are usually about someone nerdy going through something weird or messed up. Something like Inuyasha or Death Note is more my speed and this isn't really like those, but I'm an X-Men nerd and noticed that a couple of episode descriptions mentioned Charles's son (I'm a huge Legion fan) so I said what the hell and gave it a shot. At first it seemed pretty cliché ridden, but after an episode or two it tones it down a bit which was appreciated. The plot is fine, you can see a good amount of the twists coming, but it still manages to be engaging enough. It kinda annoys me that they used some comic characters, but renamed them for no real reason. They also depowered Storm a lot which annoyed me because she's one of my favorite X-Men, but doing one lightning attack weakened her so much she could barley fight for a few episodes. She gets pushed to the sidelines a lot too and it just got irritating after a while, she's a badass, let her be one! The rest of the team are in character though and get some good chances to shine (Beast makes a super smart squid which is pretty great). Scott is a bit of a jerk though, which is unfortunately how he's characterized a lot so I won't hold it against them. The only character that really annoyed me was Takeo, he's practically David Haller just with all the interesting parts removed. He barely says a word and his DID (which is a big part of what makes him so interesting) is nonexistent, he's a deus ex machina if anything which was such a let down. As is though it's fine, there's nothing in it that'll really irritate fans, the animation and action are good, and while the plot is nothing new it's still entertaining. It might not be my ideal type of anime, but I still had a good time with it for the most part.