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The Soultaker - The Monster Within (Vol. 1)

The Soultaker - The Monster Within (Vol. 1)

List Price: $29.98
Your Price: $26.98
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: This is good and has a great nature
Review: Soul taker overall is pretty darn good. However dont feel bad if u are confused by the first few episodes. Overall things do pick up and it becomes very cool and worth watching. If you like horror, science ficion and mystery, this is the anime for you.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Garbled
Review: Soultaker tells the story of a young boy, Kyosuke Date who is killed by his mother as she herself appears to die and later is dug out of his grave alive by a girl who is a fragment of the sister he never knew he had. It seems that 2 seperate powers, the hospital and the Kirihara group, are vying for the "flickers" of his sister and Kyosuke becomes embroiled in a conflict against them along with his mystery companion Shiro Mibu who friend or foe refuses to give away his agenda. It is in being pursued by robots and mutants that Kyosuke discovers that he himself is the powerful mutant code-named Soultaker.

Soultaker while possessing what initially seems like some quality animation is let down by a weak and garbled storyline that you are expected to swallow no questions asked. Although things not automatically being revealed to the viewer is common in anime it was quite an extreme in the case of Soultaker which refuses to tell you the bare essentials of anything while proceeding with a storyline that it appears you need to know something about the characters in order to understand. Having said that this is the first three episodes so there is time for further development.
In these first three episodes the main protagonist seems almost one dimensional (and that is saying nothing of those whom he shares the screen with) having been thrown into the malestrom which he accepts all too easily despite his doubts and although constantly asking why? never seems to get an answer but there is only confusion rather than intrigue so it is often hard to care and things are far too sketchy for too long which is quite deterring when awaitng even the occassional pay off. Even the action sequences seem tame when looking at other current anime on the shelves with events move at a hasty and unexplained pace leaving the viewer clueless.
In regards to the animation the character design is faultless and the mood created by the dark tones and stained glass backgrounds is beautiful to look at yet suffers from being all too static. The characters barely move so it is more like looking at a single piece of art rather than an actual animation and this is often frustrating to watch as there is a panel of nothing but dialogue while the characters remain posed still. As mentioned above the action is sub-standard again suffering from that lack of motion and when the Soultaker makes his appearance it is short and limited packing none of the grandeur and martial arts mayhem that we come to expect when watching anime.
Perhaps of course this is what sets this from the norm and it may well be to the tastes of some but not this reviewer. This is however the first installment of Soultaker so it might be too quick to judge the whole series on its basis and hopefully the remaining episodes will not follow suit and allow this to be the great anime it has the potential to be.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Erm....WHAT??
Review: the soul taker to me is a running joke with my freinds. What WERE they thinking? The points of view were completely random, people were spitting out dialogue at random moments, it was like the characters were cast in stone, because trhey barely moved. AND WHAT IS WITH THE TEA??? I have never in my life seen an anime that people drank so much tea! The only anime that is more pointless then this was bey blade. One of the things that i really didn't get was..well there was a fight scene, then suddenly, SPARROWS?? There was randomly a flock of sparrows. And the artists, obviously had an odd obsession with stained glass windows because people were being dyed random colours. So my overall review is..DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME!!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Confusing but great!
Review: The very first episode might be very confusing, but the second and third ones are better because then the creators sorta half explain what happened in a weird twisted sort of way. Also, in the credits, I've recognized the Japanese voice actor of Duo from Gundam Wing and the American voice actor of Quatre of Gundam Wing(Kyosuke's voice). I love this series, the animation is great and it has a plotline that actually make a person think!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Confusing but great!
Review: The very first episode might be very confusing, but the second and third ones are better because then the creators sorta half explain what happened in a weird twisted sort of way. Also, in the credits, I've recognized the Japanese voice actor of Duo from Gundam Wing and the American voice actor of Quatre of Gundam Wing(Kyosuke's voice). I love this series, the animation is great and it has a plotline that actually make a person think!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Complex yet exciting
Review: This anime is beyond a doubt confusing yet artistic and beautiful. You don't really get what's going on when you first watch it, yet it draws you in through style and mystery. The animation is spectacular. The story is very interesting once you watch the anime a few times. Give it a break, as with some movies, the storyline may be complex, so we watch it a few times to actually understand. So, don't automatically dismiss this anime like this....

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Wow
Review: This is definetly a great anime, one of the best in a while. Superb animation is the first thing you will notice. There is not one normal angle on a shot, the colors are vibrant and detailed, and it is all blended so very nicely. Character designs are top-notch as well. The story is super deep an after these first three eps, you'll need to know the whole story. Do not believe what you may hear about the plot. It is confusing only for the first couple eps. After words you can enjoy the energy given off by this title. I have seen the whole series and it is worth every penny. I don't know about the dub, though, the eps i saw were all in subs.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: I've seen the whole series. Its a good story, actually.
Review: Well where to begin... I have a friend from japan who is very cool. He sends me all the new anime. A long time ago he sent me soultaker and at first I thought it [stinks].The animation was weird and seeing as I speek no japanese I had no idea what was going on. By the way i loved the music.When I next talked with my friend he explained what the hel.l these people were saying. The story is actually a really unique one. A virus and a very messed up family, I mean I never saw shiro being the VPs Brother. oops dont wanna give anything away. Anyhow the animation is actually great if you look at it from an artistic point of veiw. Its not like a lot of anime it holds a very distinct stile.So its not perfect but its ok. And seeing as you cant really dis the story if you can get past the unusual animation its flawless. Just see the end. WOW.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: good animation, but nothing else.
Review: Well, I just got finished watching, The Soultaker: The Monster Within, and well they definately have the animation aspect down, but to make a truly good animation it takes more than just good animators. First of all the voice acting and the dialogue were awful. They really need to get some better writers, and get an entire new cast of voice actors. Second, the music was laughable, I haven't heard anything that bad since, well...I can't remember the last time I heard music that bad. And I can't forget about the mad scientist, I mean aren't mad scientists just a little played out by now? So if you are just looking for some eye candy, then Soultaker is the anime for you, but if you want good music, voice acting, and a coherent story line, look else where, in fact I would recommend Boogiepop Phantom or Lain.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: WOW!!! BREATHTAKING!!! AMAZING!!!
Review: WOW!!! Amazing, a great title this Soultaker. Top notch animation with deep storytelling. Vibrant colors and great character designs, Tatsunoko are giving it all here. This is a great series with high production values and i enjoyd every minute of it. 75 minutes of action and drama. All this is worth four stars, then why give it five? Well, it's because of the great extras that comes with the dvd :-)
Creditless opening and ending secuences are what every one wants.


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