Customer Reviews

Shadow Skill [VHS]

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

 

 

When I first saw the DVD cover, I said to myself...oh geez, not another "hentai" anime. Fortunately, I read about the anime and how popular voice actress - Hayashibara Megumi (Ranma, Video Girl Ai, Slayers, DNA^2, etc.) was doing the voice of Elle the main character and so, curiosity led me to check this anime out.

The anime is a fantasy meets martial arts type storyline. Elle is the master of the "SHADOW SKILL" (also, her nickname) which is a fighting style that female slaves learned with their feet because their arms were chained. Along the way she is joined by several friends, one is a young man named Gau who learns from Elle.

The action is fast paced and has its share of humor but it also has its fare share of violence and a lot of blood.

As for the series, "SHADOW SKILL" is an interesting one because it consists of an OAV series and TV episodes. The DVD features three OAV's combined to make one movie and the epilogue features two episodes from what I believe is from the TV series. You'll see a noticeable difference between the OAV and the TV episodes (and like most anime, most of the time the anime TV series and the OAV series are different).

The OAV features the adventures of Elle and friends and the epilogue spotlights on Elle and Gau and the relationship between teacher and the stubborn student.

The DVD quality is very nice and the audio sounds good via Digital 5.1 but I preferred to watch the Japanese audio track (2 CH) with English subtitles. From what I have heard from the English track, the voice acting was far off from the Japanese version and it wasn't in the same quality compared to other Manga Entertainment dubs.

As for special features, there is a character info. and photo gallery from the series. Also, a trailer and Palm/Manga Entertainment trailers are included.

All in all, "SHADOW SKILL" is a very entertaining anime. Despite it's hentai looking DVD cover, this anime is anything but. Think about it like Slayers, Bastard and a twist of Street Fighter. One can only hope that Manga Entertainment releases the TV series on DVD.

If you are into fighting and fantasy type anime, you may want to check out "SHADOW SKILL", you won't be disappointed.

I don't know which started first, the series or the movie. The Epilogue alone is what made this DVD worthwhile. It is as other reviews described below with great light and shadowing effects. The action is simply spectacular and will leave the martial artist in you drooling for more. As its name suggests, it takes place pretty much at the end of the Shadow Skill series with Gau and Elle facing each other in combat to see how much Gau has grown as a Shadow Skill fighter. There are no words to describe how great the fight scenes are!

The only downside to this DVD is the actuall movie itself. At first, you can tell it's Anime style is different from the Epilogue. It's alright, but as it progresses on, it's like their funds began to dry up on this project. The Anime progressively looks worse and worse until at one point I swear one of the characters was looking like E.T. with her eyes! I couldn't stand watching any more of it as horrendous as it was looking. THAT and the fact that the movie basically covers the same storyline you can catch in the t.v. series DVDs (which look a lot better and are a lot funnier too!).

But overall this DVD is well worth it for the Epilogue! Don't bother with watching the other half of the DVD being the movie and go for the t.v. series on DVD instead!

In a war torn world, a martal art called "Shadow Skill" exists, and you must fight to survive. Although interesting, pretty boring characters and a very hard-to-follow story line with several plot holes (I'm not kidding, and I fully understood "Akira"). However, the bit of story line that does make sense is pretty good, and the fight sequences are excellent.

this is a great action packed movie its bloody the fighting is awsome and the villans are cool looking

COOL HIGH BUDGET FUN anime to add to your action collection!! Try also: Battle Arena Toshiden, Fatal Fury the movie, Gowcaizer, Street Fighter the movie and Fist of the North Star.

WARNING:
This DVD have two movies: Shadow Skill the movie and Shadow Skill epiloge. AVOID THE MOVIE!!!!!! It's HORRIBLE, LOW BUDGET, CHESSY POWERS, POOR ANIMATION.....!!! Just makes me want to throw up!!!!!
* GO FOR THE EPILOGE!!!!!!!!! this is the one that RULES!!!! Buy this anime!! YOU WON'T REGRET IT!!!!!

P.S: This anime is NOT hentai (porno).

ADIOS!!!

Shadow Skill is a great Anime, despite the impressions you may get from the cover artwork. The story line is excellent, with the young orphan Gau being taught the shadow skill by his adoptive sister Elle. The anime features plenty of blood and some foul language, but is a great anime non the less. The only unfortunate thing about the anime is that it is too short a series. They should have made the series longer than they did. Besides for that one "flaw", Shadow Skill is an excellent martial arts anime.

If you are new to anime and want to see an entertaing movie with a not so in depth plot, than Shadow Skill is for you. While a bit over the top at times with martial art scenes, people will most likely be drawn into this flick mainly for the purpose of discovering what the shadow skill really is. Though Shadow Skill is targeted at kids, teens and young adults who are into anime may want to give this a look.

I bought the dvd a while ago and thought it was pretty good. I wanted to learn more about it so I did some hunting around and found out about the TV series. It hasn't been released in the US as far as I know, but I managed to watch it and thought it was very good. If you liked this you might want to try looking for the series as well.

I think I read somewhere that the movie was just supposed to be a pilot for the series but I'm not sure. The movie and series have similar situations and characters at first, but the stories aren't exactly the same. Too bad the series isn't out here, it was very good.

Maximum of violence with a cute story...
This manga is a must...