Customer Reviews

Blood Reign - Curse of the Yoma (Essential Anime Collection)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This is some old anime, 1989 to be exact. So when people bellyache about it not being up to snuff technically, then there's why. If you judge it by other anime of that period, then it holds up just fine.

The story is meant to be moody and semi-cryptic (imagine that! cryptic anime!) and when I watched it at about 3AM it genuinely weirded me out. There is much deceit and decadence, and the traditionally clueless main character, questing though he's not quite sure why or how.

Surely this is no Ninja Scroll or Samurai X (Rurouni Kenshin), the storytelling aspect is not nearly as well done. But on a more basic level of horror and intrigue, it succeeds well. I think it all depends on what you're expecting when you first view the film. Don't approach Blood Reign thinking you're in for the second coming of Akira and you will be pleased. But it certainly is not for kids, unless you want your kids watching ground-dwelling beasts emerge up through the bloody corpses of freshly killed drunken thieves.

Contrary to what other people say, the animation is quite lovely. People are comparing it to modern standards, so of course it is not up to par if you look at it like that, but for it's time, the animation is superb.

The storyline, while not as developed as many other animes I have seen (Evangelion, Love Hina, etc), was enough to keep me interested so that I have watched it a few times over. Also, contrary to what some other people have said, the story is not confusing whatsoever.

So if you are interested in seeing more action then story, then pick this one up. But, if you want massly developed characters and intrigue, this isn't for you.

Yoma is a twinbladed sword. On one side it's very bloody, there is ninja action and horror but with his mystical and sometimes calm story, his changing colours which are mostly of a darker nature it will more attract people who like dark fairy tales then ones who expect and want to see a good action movie. If you're in search for a good action flick with ninja/monster thematics you should stop reading here right now and go buy ninja scroll, cause this movie might dissapoint you. Yoma is also a melancholic flavoured ghost story about everlasting friendship and love that's stronger than death as well as other pathetic stuff. Romantic natures who might think now that it might be worth a try should mind the fact that there is a lot of blood and brutality as well, though it lacks the typical rapture scenes that are used most of the adult animes (which is a very good point i think). That leaves a small audience and that might be, in addition to it's age, the reason why it's not that successful and why people are so different in their opinions about it. I think it's a very good picture, cause i like dark fairytales with mystical and frightning elements as well as the era of the samurai and ninja clans. The moody colouring which might appear dull to some viewer fits the actual moments in the movie quite well i think (when you're outside at night you might notice sometimes that all around you seems to be singlecoloured or at least dominated by a certain colour). The music fits great, there is mystical music when something strange is happening, fight music when the yoma appear and Hikage has to fight em and dramatic music for the memory and love parts. Of course some things could have done better (i for myself hate the part where hikage is reminded of his childhood where he used to run trough the green fields with his best friend - nothing against scenes like that but it's repeated a lot and then always the same like a filler or something - they could have improved that a lot by using someway different scenes at least), but due to the nice characters (hikage is my favourite anime ninja ever, his skills and usage of weapons is quite unique in the genre - the redhaired aya of the second part is a kinda stereotype character in the story, but a really cute one - the yoma with their mighty arrogance who see nothing but food and tools in humans), the bitter-romantic plot (the end is someway really touching), the stunning fight scenes and the nice music it's one of my alltime favourite animes, maybe just BECAUSE it's so full of opposing elements and different from straight styled pictures.

Not perfect but, great mystery surrounds the whole movie because the Yoma are never fully explained. There could have been more conflict and fighting; this is no Vampire Hunter D or Ninja Scroll. The artwork is beautiful and the Yoma themselves are interesting, taking the forms of regular animals on earth and still containing their supernatural abilities.

I have an addition to make. My erlier review was on the original,
japanese version of yoma. Lately i watched the english version and now i want to tell all of you who read this - DON'T watch the syncronized version ! Even though you might not like watching movies with subtitles but this pictures loses A LOT in it's translated state.

The cute squeekish voice of Aya has turned into an average female anime girl voice, the yoma sound as if they have no lust in preying on the humans anymore - in short words - the whole vocal cast is totally messed up. Alone the way they speak out the name of the main person, Hikage (which they do a lot in the flic) is a pain to the ears. Plus they ruined the atmosphere of the movie's best parts by adding some additional sound effects which don't fit at all.

This shows how much a good voice acting can give to a movie or take from it.

Watch this movie with japanese audio and english subtitles (most of you are not familiar with japanese i guess), you won't regret it !

I had pretty high expectations of this ninja/horror flick, and it didn't quite meet them. Animation is clearly a bit aged in this one, but its decent enough. There is one very awesome battle scene in the beginning that got me excited to watch further, but unfortunately the rest are kind of weak. However, I've never seen an anime quite like this mixing zombies with ninjas. The whole film is extremely dark and eerie, and the story kind of drags along but keeps you a bit interested. Compared to titles like Ninja Scroll or the infamous Samurai X (Rurouni Kenshin in Japan), this is no match. Then again, it was made before Ninja Scroll, but all in all the title is decent to rent, but not purchase especially at the hefty price they put on it.

My first experience with this anime was back in the late 90's when I was still very young. This was back when they started showing ova's on cinimax late nights. It wasn't my first exposher to anime by any means, but it was the first anime that had seen that I would call horror. I wouldn't call it scary, but it has very dark and dramatic feel, with great synth music. I don't think this could have made any better with the what they had to work with considering this anime is over 20 years old. The animation is hand drawn not computer generated, so some people would probably call it dated, but I actually prefer the old drawing style's. If you like 80's horror movies, or really action packed animes, you would most likely enjoy blood reign. It's a true old school gem that should not be over looked.

It's obvious that the creators of this anime were trying hard to achieve something, but it obviously lacks the polish to achieve their intentions.

To begin with, the animation is definitely aged. It's not awful, but there are points at which I think the animation falls to sub-standard quality. There's an overall creepiness that the animators gave to the movie, but it doesn't serve to do much. Story-wise, this movie is lacking. They try hard to weave a decent story, but lack of character development and just a simple lack of direction hinders what could have been a very good plot. You never seem to care for the characters as much as you should. There are also some cliche moments throughout the movie. The music is rather forgettable. I watched the subbed version and the voice acting was decent.

Still, despite it's numerous flaws, this movie does have an underlying quality to it. Had this movie been developed in plot and overall cinematics, it could have been much better. As it is, it's an average movie that I can't really recommend unless you're just a serious anime fan.

Much in this production promised well, but alas this promise goes unfulfilled...
The film has a fairly strong sense of style that is kept up throughout, but is lacking in substance. The plain fact of the matter is that I was rather bored with it - from beginning to end. Yes, there were some good things, but these were just not enough to chase away the strong sense of ennui... which is remarkable considering that there is so much going on that really SHOULD have been interesting...

As just about all the othe reviews have mentioned, the animation is dated though it certainly must have seemed impressive at the time (which was only 1989 - surprising how much the average quality level of anime in general has gone up in the following decade).

In the sound department, there is a fairly nice stereo soundstage for the effects. The music on the other hand left much to be desired - including some unfortunate testaments to the quality of 80s synthesizers (may they rest in pieces!).

In conclusion, this effort was simply wanting. I would really rate it with two stars, but the seriousness of intent on the part of the makers that is so evident throughout earns them another star - albeit somewhat grudgingly.
If only they had been able to fully realize their vision..

Not perfect but, great mystery surounds the whole movie because the Yoma are never fully explained. There could have been more conflict and fighting. The artwork is beautiful and the Yoma themselves are interesting, taking the forms of regular animals on earth and still containing their supernatural abilities.It is also very sad in away that how friends can become mortal enemys and how almost everything comes full circle.

This is a Ninja Anime of the late 80's era of anime it is also a type of Horor Anime. The animation even to todays standards is done well IMO and the voice acting adds abit more darkness to it.

This is a Movie in two 40-45 min parts.

This dose earn it's TV MA Rating it is Violent, it is gory, it dose have some brief nudity and it can be very scary to children so avoid alowing them to watch.