Customer Reviews

Polyphonica: Complete Collection

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

When I saw this, I was really excited. It looked interesting, and the back of it claims that the main character, Phoron, and his spirit Corticarte (Corti for short) travel around with his one-man orchestra/motorcycle fixing the ills of the world!

That's what it says, but it fails to deliver. The story barely touches on subjects a lot of people may want to know about. Back-stories on the characters are superficial at best, and some characters aren't even worth knowing. There are at least three that are shown in the opening or appear once in the show and you don't learn anything about them. Not one thing. A white-cat spirit asks a question in one episode, and shows up in the last one. Do you get to know who he is or why he's there? Nope. Also, a detective and his spirit show up a few times, and are granted their own customized ending for the episode they show up in. Really? They aren't the main characters and they get their own ending? They barely did anything!

The music aspect is good however. I love the opening and ending themes! They grow on you and the use of music to help the spirits fight is a nice addition too. I wish they could have gone into more detail about those things though....

The Anime also talks about Corti's reputation as a supreme badass. Again, this is something you really don't get to see. In fact, I'm trying to think back to any real indication that she is a "Crimson Annihilator". Even in the flashback which explains how she and Phoron met there is some action but nothing really violent or extreme.

It's also too short, which can explain a lot of the issues with character development (almost none) and plot.

All in all, it is worth watching once. I would say that you should probably check out the game of this that's out or the manga/novels. I'm sure they'll be needed to fill in the gaps.

First of all, I think it's ridiculous to give any series 1 star just because it's released in it's native language. I hate to break it to you, but most foreign films are released in their native language with subtitles. Anime has been the sole exception for the last few years, but the slow down in DVD sales and the retail market has finally caught up to it. These titles aren't done sub-only to rush them out. They are done sub-only as they cannot be produced profitably with a dub. It costs a few thousand dollars to dub each episode, and most anime series only sell a few thousand copies at best subbed or dubbed. Many anime series sell only a few hundred, and its very unlikely that the very marginal amount of sales lost by Polyphonica would be enough to finance the dub.

On to the actual show itself. While the artwork and design is definitely interesting, the animation is a bit lacking in areas. There is even a notorious car chase scene which is actually quite bad. But despite those flaws, the show itself is not bad. The characters are likable enough. The music is good, and the story lines are interesting. For those who are really curious there are a couple streaming fee online at Anime Network, so you can give it a try.

This show does try, but in the end, it is missing something that it needs to really stand out. There is a second season/ remake of the show that has not been licensed for the US yet, and it apparently improves upon this one. Polyphonica isn't a bad show, but it's not particularly great either. However, the price of entry is quite reasonable.

And I would have given this show 3 stars, but felt it necessary to up that to 4 to counterbalance the childish and uncalled for 1 star review. This is a Japanese show that will likely only move a couple thousand units. There is nothing wrong with experiencing it in it's native language.

When animes come to US, The storyline are rewrite and the wrong voiceactors are picks, So having it in the orignal langnce is ok with me,and i don't mind reading subtitles. And thier is a second Animes called Shinyoku Soukai (Polyhonica Crimson S)Where she kick Ass.