WITCHBLADE: THE COMPLETE SERIES (ANIMATED)

By: Iggy Michniacki on 11.13.2009

The Movie Itself:
"Sought by the greed of men since the dawn of human kind, but only bestowed upon the women whose fate it forever scars... The Witchblade. Is it the righteous sword of God? Or hand of the Devil himself. Now a new bearer has been chosen. And she must discover the answers for herself. As she stands on the brink of destiny, she is forced to seek the balance between ecstasy and ruin.”

Michael Turner created the comic series Witchblade in the mid 90s and it was met with much praise in the graphic novel world. Seeing its share of spin-off comic series as well as other forms of media copying it, Witchblade has become well known, but not well recreated. That is until the anime series came along; and instead of trying to unsuccessfully recreate Turner’s vision, it took Turner’s concept of the weapon, the Witchblade, itself and developed an entirely new story for fans to enjoy.

Masane Amaha (voiced by Mamiko Noto – Japanese; Jamie Marchi – English) doesn’t remember anything prior to the great earthquake when she was found with her newborn daughter, Rihoko, at the epicenter unharmed. After six years of living in a women’s shelter trying to piece back together her life, Masane has finally made her way back to Tokyo to try and find out anything. Immediately she is picked up by the police and separated from Rihoko which leads to a night in prison. Upon a close encounter with an ‘ex-con’ who escalates her powers, she soon realizes that she is the bearer of an ultimate weapon, the witchblade.

Early on, the ‘ex-cons’ aren’t Masane’s only worry as Neogenes start to appear, attacking ‘ex-cons’ and eventually fighting with Masane as the Witchblade. While all the action is going on, behind the scenes her employer Douji Group and Father, head of the NSWF, are also at a battle for ownership rights of the Witchblade and therefore Masane with it.

But even those aren’t the worst of her problems, as Rihoko’s ‘savior’ and free-lance photographer, Yuusuke Tozawa, is constantly trying to uncover the truth of all these disturbances and murders; and in doing so stumbles across an important part of the truth.

The series changes direction about half way through, with ‘ex-cons’ becoming less of a problem, Masane proving her strength with Neogenes, and some very important secrets revealed including ones about Rihoko and Masane’s past. In the end, Masane’s appearance and attitude begin to change, she's run-down by the Witchblade. And, she must make a choice of sacrifice in order to save what is dear to her, knowing the Witchblade is ready to move on to a new, strong-willed, female host.

So does Witchblade: The Animated Series succeed or fail? I think in more ways than not, it does succeed. As a Witchblade comic series fan, I was pleased to see the story take a different route. Fear of Michael Turner’s masterpiece being destroyed disappeared in the first episode when the story showed to be completely different- yet still held true to the witchblade as a weapon. The characteristics of the weapon were the same, attaching only to a female that was strong enough and deserving. The Neogenes were also present, adding complexity to the story and having a similar origin to the comic series.

The biggest key of the series is the plot, as anime time and time again has tried to capture my attention usually falling well short. Witchblade is a series I enjoyed and it comes in big part to the familiarity with the ‘idea’ but yet a new plot to capture my mind. The plot twists are great, as some become obvious before occurrence but others may blindside you wondering what is going to happen in the next episode. I found myself presently impressed with the series ability to borrow from other’s successes (most notably the comic it is based off of) but still feel completely original and different.

The voice acting, well, this is where some problems seemed to arise. The Japanese actors know exactly what they are doing, or at least it seems that way. Their voices lend to the characters in a bit more real tone and style with the American voice actors seeming to do the usual dubbed trick – over doing it.

The concept of Witchblade is a great one; original, compelling and fun. Taking it and turning it into an anime series with its own original direction was no easy task but the teams at Gonzo and Top Cow Productions did it correct. Witchblade: The Animated Series is a fun anime that can be an enjoyable experience for any anime or Witchblade fan.
Rating: 7/10

The Presentation:
The woes of translating a movie! Much like some of the other recent foreign language releases, Witchblade: The Animated Series suffers from an audio track being, well, misplaced. The Japanese track is only a 2.0 Dolby Digital track and the dubbed English track is the TrueHD 5.1 track that will blow many away. Reason? Obviously many American movie goers don’t do well with subtitles, but that’s another subject. Acceptable? In my opinion, no; but it won’t affect the score as I do have plenty of nice things to say about the English track.

The video is presented in full 1080p via a Mpeg-4 codec that is vibrant and nice. There is quite a bit of strength to this video and it lies in the coloring the most. The colors are vast, bright and true; they add a dimension to the show giving it a bit more life. The detail is good as well, with it presenting quite a bit more detail than the DVD version. Detail might be limited due to it being two-dimensional animation, but everything that needs to be seen on characters is seen. There are some minor issues to the video that keep this away from being a true winner. Detail, although great on the foreground and characters themselves disappears in some dark sequences. Crushing seems to be a bit of a hazard in dark, fast scenes as well. Background scenes don’t always look as clear as what is going on in the foreground either, with it sometimes seeming out of place. The great news is that these discrepancies are few and far between leaving much of the goodness to be enjoyed by fans.

With the complaints out of the way regarding audio (read above), I can say that the Dolby TrueHD 5.1 English track is simply outstanding. Loud, vibrant, and destructive, this track simply is electric and adds quite a bit to the viewing experience. The dialogue is truly a treat on this English track with everything said loud and clear. Not once is there an issue with conversations being washed out as everything comes out great across the center channel. Sound effects, especially during action sequences, are what seem to be the best part of the audio. Every detail is loud and vibrant, extending across all of the speakers and making clear, distinct noises. The surround speakers are never weak, as mentioned the audio sounds great on all of the speakers. I really have no complaints about this track at all, as the music sounded (by sounded, I mean due to speakers not due to the music itself) great, the subwoofer was active, and every part of this audio presentation was right on cue.

I did sample the Dolby Digital 2.0 Japanese track, and although great as well, it didn’t have the dimension the English track did.
Rating: 8/10 (video 7/10, audio 9/10)

The Extras:
The special featuers of Witchblade: The Animated Series were quite a treat, and surprising for that matter as I’ve never been one for anime extras. As a comic fan, and a Witchblade (the comic) fan I was really pleased with the amount of extras that focused on Top Cow and the comic book industry.

• Japanese Cast Interviews: Masane Amaha, Rihoko Amaha, Yusuke Tozawa, Reiji Takayama, Reina Sohou, Hiroki Segawa, Tatsuoki Furumizu & Maria are all part of the interviews. I did find it a bit weird that the Blu-ray set focuses the audio track on the English side, but focuses the special features on the Japanese voices.
• The Witchblade Forged (SD): A three part series that really tackles the creation, history and story behind Witchblade the comic, idea and anime. This featurette was my favorite of them all, as it was extensive and detailed. Much of the Top Cow crew, and other people familiar with the series, sit down and discuss nearly everything about it. Great for the Witchblade nerds; the rest of you, not so much.
• Inside Top Cow (SD): Including many featurettes such as ‘How to Create a Comic Book the Top Cow Way,’ ‘Studio Tour Outtakes,’ ‘Coloring a Comic Book Page,’ ‘The Early Days of Image Comics,’ ‘Top Cow Staff Talks about Comics,’ ‘Experiences in Japan,’ ‘Crossing into Other Media.’ Most of these featurettes explore the comic book world and show what actually goes into creating them. The tour, staff and experience features focus more on Top Cow Studios. It is a bit disheartening to know that the past few years before his death, that Michael Turner wasn’t as involved in the Witchblade process. Anyways, these features picture quality are pain
• Textless Songs: This featurette has the two title theme songs and the three ending credit songs without text crossing your screen.
• Promotional Video (HD): Self explanatory really; just a long animated promotion video showing the scenes of action and violence to hype up the release.
• Japanese TV Spots (SD): These were a real treat! Watching Japanese advertisement at its finest; quick commercials for the DVD release of Witchblade: The Animated Series.
• Trailers (HD): Trailers for the other FUNimation titles that are coming soon (or are already out); eight in all.

Overall:
Anime fans can rejoice as Witchblade: The Animated Series is a strong and unique cartoon. Witchblade fans, they can also rejoice as the concept Michael Turner came up with stayed in tact with a new and original story. Blu-ray fans can rejoice as well, at least the geekier ones, since this Blu-ray set is priced fair and comes with a strong video presentation and a wonderful audio presentation. The extras are fun as well, making this a recommend for any anime lover out there. Others, you may want to rent it first due to the median the great story is delivered through.
Rating: 8/10