Customer Reviews

The Legend of Himiko - Sacred Fire

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The Magical Girl as an anime form is one of the oldest genre and is responsible for bringing many fans (male and female) into the fold. Classics like Fushigi Yugi and no holds barred efforts like Escaflowne dot a landscape full of creations that is almost the comfort zone of romantic anime. In each, one or more modern day teenagers are translated from the irritating world of adult rules and find themselves in mythical lands where special rings, swords, or spells change them into special beings with god like powers who must struggle to save their new worlds.

Legend of Himiko is straight out of that mold. The Flame of the Bokka, the power of the land of Yamatai, is quenched in an attack by the evil General Shikara. The six women who are potential queens of Yamatai are dispersed, and a newborn girl vanishes into the flame. Years later that child, grown into a beautiful girl, is suddenly returned to Yamatai with her close friend Kutani, triggering a renewed struggle to throw off the Kune invaders and re-establish the kingdom of Yamatai.

The originality of the story come from the relationship between Himiko and Kutani. While this is a typical love/loyalty friendship, to release the power of the Bokka, both are required. Their separate adventures are what makes up most of this DVD, as they take different paths upon their arrival. Kutani falls in with the warlike Imari, who fights on the side of the rebels. Himiko meets on of the friendlier of the Kune nobles, who becomes determined to help her.

All but one of the six potential queens support the rebellion, and their bantering and argument supply much of the less serious dialog, and visits to the grand palace of Shikari provide all the dire moments a good story requires. The Kune governor has enlisted both occult help and fairly modern technology (tanks that drop from sky islands using umbrellas as parachutes). His power base is wobbly, though - his father, the emperor, is impatient to see the final conquest of Yamatai, But Shikari seems to be bogged down in his own priorities.

I found the series quite entertaining if a little lacking in finesse and polish. The artwork is better than Fushigi Yugi, but not up to the standards set by Escaflowne. Too many stills against still backgrounds. The scripting is typical, and the dubbing, unfortunately, is uninspired. But it all seems to work together so far, so I think the series is worth investigating.

Well I have to say I didn't think this would be all good but I was so wrong. The voices are great and the drawings and music is so good. You should see this this only has 4 episodes, but they are great and it's so funny. I know you will love it the charaters are so beauiful and the good guys are so cute. I haven't seen them all yet, but I will. If your a ANIME FAN a true one, you will get this. Plus one more thing The designs are great, and if you like other world Animanation cartoons you will love this. A MUST BUY. I didn'y know I did it more than once. I thought it just didn't take untill I finished reading how long it would take to come up here. My bad.
Later anime fans.

Although parts of the plot are old news, on the whole it is rather original. But the characters are sterotypes, and not very good ones. Most of them are fairly boring, though beautiful to look at. Shino the dancer in particular is gorgeous, but comes across is rather petty. Imari the swordswoman is the only one of the Queen Candidates that we see more than once or twice, but her personality is sarcastic and impatient--hardly makes her sympathetic material. Seika the fortuneteller manages to be mystical, but that means that her own personality is hidden by her prophecies. Tadami is the child inventor, but has no personality of her own. Her best friend is nothing special either--just an energetic martial artist. And Himiko herself is just as under-developed personality-wise as the candidates. Her boyfriend gets so little to do that he might as well not even be there.

The other thing I had a beef with was the constant reference to the "Bokka", which appears to be their god. But from what I have seen, this god is a watcher, not a doer. There doesn't seem to be much of a point to these references.

The story writers could have done more with this. At least they could have made the characters into likable people.