Product Details

• Actors: Soichiro Hoshi, Houko Kuwashima, Fûrin Cha, Yuji Takada, Yuri Sa
• Directors: Kazuyoshi Katayama, Kristi Reed
• Producers: Hiroyuki Birukawa, Keiichi Matsumura
• Format: Animated, Color, DVD, Subtitled, NTSC
• Language: English, Japanese
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: Unrated
• Studio: Bandai
• DVD Release Date: April 1, 2003
• Run Time: 125 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000089QDS
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #111,830 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Argentosoma - Getting Even (Vol. 2)" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Diminutive, whispery-voiced Harriet continues to control the alien cyborg she calls Mr. Elf in battles with hostile alien robots. Harriet may have an alien fragment embedded in her brain that enables her to communicate so well with the cyborg. Unfortunately, none of the characters communicates with audience effectively. The script starts and stops arbitrarily, leaving story points hanging: in episode 9, an army of alien mecha attacks a city, but the viewer never sees anyone stop them. Most of the action focuses on the one-on-one combats between the Ex-1 cyborg and various robots who look suspiciously like Evangelion characters. There's no sense of a story arc: the incidents don't build and the characters don't evolve. Harriet remains annoyingly infantile; the disfigured Lt. Ryu Soma is as aloof and uncommunicative in episode 10 as he was in episode 6. (Rated 13 and older: violence, minor profanity) --Charles Solomon

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Anime!, April 27, 2003

By A Customer

First off, I would like to point out that yes, this series does has a major resemblance to Evangelion. But that doesn't matter. This is one of the best series yet. I own the first 2 DVD's and I already want to watch the 3rd Dvd. The story is incredible. It's a revenge obsessed, yet love driven story. Imagine, you trying to get revenge, but you just can't do it because it will ruin the life of someone else. There you go. The animation is my only gripe. It is great animation, but sometimes it somehow, diminishes, making it feel like I'm watching G Gundam. Other than that, it is great. I recommend buying it.
p.s. The best opening for an anime, EVER!!

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "Stop the clock, it makes me blue.", May 13, 2003

By	Marc Ruby™ "The Noh Hare™" (Warren, MI USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)

On of the many things that differentiate Argentosoma from Evangelion is the use of vengeance as a motivation. When Takuto Kaneshiro takes advantage of a mysterious off and returns to life as Ryu Soma, his only thought is to seek revenge on the giant robotic creature that killed Maki Agati, Takuto's girlfriend, in a horrific lab accident.

Frank, or the EX-1, has been taken by over by Funeral, a special agency dedicated to fighting of the waves of aliens that seem to have only one mysterious goal, reaching Pilgrimage Point. Ryu, unrecognizable after the accident, joins the Funeral team as well, but getting even turns out to be far more complicated than he expected.

Frank's controller is an innocent girl, rescued from an alien attack. Somehow, Harriet (Hattie) develops a rapport with the creature. The girl is traumatized by her experiences - the sound of guns can send her into paroxysms - and Frank becomes her guardian and the center of her life. Somehow, the grief and loss of Hattie begins to work its way into Ryu Soma, who sees parallels with his own life. Offered an opportunity to destroy the EX-1, Soma finds that he is unable to follow through.

Into this emotional bind are mixed the lives of the other members of Funeral. In particular, his continuous battle with Lt. Dan Simmonds for recognition. The two are unable to find common ground despite similar goals, and their mistrust affects the interaction of the rest of the team. Balancing this is the professional relationship between Commander Lana Ines and her adjutant, Michael Hartland.

This story is much more dependent on technology that Evangelion, to the point of containing extended scientific discussions. Of course, the older series was very much about the interaction of the characters, while Argentosoma is always reaching into the closet to pull out another techno-toy. I don't see this as a negative, but mecha lovers will probably favor this series the most. I found it dry at times, and the animation a bit clumsy, but it interested me as well. At the end of this DVD there were glimmers of real character development, which is what I enjoy the most.