Knight Hunters Eternity File 1:New Bl

Rating:
Summary: Mainly for fans
Review: Okay, I'll say what needs to be said: The best part of all Knight Hunters a.k.a. Weiss episodes are the opening and closing music bits and the outtakes. That's the case for ALL ANIMATED variations (seasons 1 and 2 of the TV series, the OVAS and Eternity).

That being said, Knight Hunters :Eternity is watchable and will get better in future volumes. For those who have a bit of anime knowledge, I'd say that Knight Hunters is a dramatic version of the comedies Excel Saga and Super Milk Chan. The flow of the story matches these two shows and your mind will feel the same way at the end..."O..kay. Next!"

For me, I've found that reading a synopsis of each episode and looking at screen caps is better than watching the actual show. However, fans of this series will be used to the technical faults of this show and will consider the new looks of the 4 main characters to be the most disturbing part of Eternity.

If you're not already a fan of this series, it's best to buy Eternity Vol. 1 used to see if you like it. If you sort of like it, but aren't thrilled, search the net and look up the music videos, outtakes, screen shots, and episode guides from the original Weiss episodes. You'll enjoy them more. If you hate this volume...well, you can always sell it again!

Rating:
Summary: Not that bad...
Review: After hearing terrible reviews for the original Knight Hunters show I wasn't expecting much from this anime. The cover art and story is what brought me in. The show isn't that bad. Sure i've seen better anime, but i've worse too. The story is kinda boring at times, but its an interesting idea. The voice acting is good, the animation is nice. All in all this was better then what I expected.

Rating:
Summary: Lover of Weiss Kreuz
Review: As the name indicates I love this series...tremendously! I don't know why but I became obsessed with it after the first episode in the original series. The latest US installment, Gluhen, gives rise to much more angst. I guess I should have waited just a bit longer and I could have had the dub that is coming out on July 27. If you are a fan of Weiss and you don't mind the change in character design(the artist, for some reason, wouldn't let them use her designs any more-legal stuff I suppose) you'll love this. The story is just as vague to me as the original Weiss stories were at times and yet they still make sense...There are some new faces in the Weiss team, but don't worry all 4 original bishounen(spelling?) reappear eventually! They seem to be working on the same mission throughout this 13 episode adventure(I don't know how many episodes are on the New Blood disc though) It is beautifully drawn and just nice to look at even if the story gets a bit odd at times. I think fans will enjoy it and even if you haven't seen the original series(what have you been doing?!?!) I think people will like it!

Rating:
Summary: Lover of Weiss Kreuz
Review: As the name indicates I love this series...tremendously! I don't know why but I became obsessed with it after the first episode in the original series. The latest US installment, Gluhen, gives rise to much more angst. I guess I should have waited just a bit longer and I could have had the dub that is coming out on July 27. If you are a fan of Weiss and you don't mind the change in character design(the artist, for some reason, wouldn't let them use her designs any more-legal stuff I suppose) you'll love this. The story is just as vague to me as the original Weiss stories were at times and yet they still make sense...There are some new faces in the Weiss team, but don't worry all 4 original bishounen(spelling?) reappear eventually! They seem to be working on the same mission throughout this 13 episode adventure(I don't know how many episodes are on the New Blood disc though) It is beautifully drawn and just nice to look at even if the story gets a bit odd at times. I think fans will enjoy it and even if you haven't seen the original series(what have you been doing?!?!) I think people will like it!

Rating:
Summary: You learn to love it
Review: Despite the character design changes and the new additions to team, Gluhen does have its moments. I started off hating the series and everything that's new and different. But after a while as a devoted Weiss Kreuz (bah to Knight Hunters) fan, it grows on you. I really don't think Sena or Kyou (the newest additions to Weiss) needed to be there but that's Koyasu-sama's thing. I

I hated Yohji's new design with an unrivaled passion but once you hear his voice speak (I'm refering to Miki Shinichirou, not the American VA), it hits you that this is Yohji Kudou, playboy and chain smoker, despite the awful haircut and clothing.

If you like Weiss Kreuz, then buy it and watch with no regrets. I only gave this a 4 since they didn't have enough Schwarz in the series since they are my favorite team.

Rating:
Summary: Gluhen finally lisenced!
Review: It's Weiss, really it is.

Watch the first episode, and you get good animation, plot that doesn't seem to be on any particularly strange tangents, and a soundtrack that isn't totally off the wall strange. "Wait", you think, "this can't be Weiss!"

Cue killer screensavers.

In all seriousness, I'm very glad this has been released. Gluhen is much better animated than the original series was, and though the new character designs take some getting used to I ended up liking them quite a bit. The plot is essentially one long arc, not the scattered bits and breaks from before, and the character development is interesting.

Worth a look, really, especially if you liked the first.



Rating:
Summary: Lacking the original charm...
Review: Knight Hunters Gluhen, taking place a while after the Knight Hunters series, has quite a few differences from the original. The animation is different and seemingly more consistant thus far. Though, I must admit I realllly don't like Youji and Omi's new character designs... A few new characters are introduced, given a few angsty flashbacks, and killed. ^^; I feel this series lacks the original's charm. The new characters are made overly angsty (betcha didn't think that was possible with this series). This series consists of one giant mission Weiss is sent on, oppposed to a bunch of missions as in the first series. Aya and two new member of Weiss are sent to a school to investigate the high number of recent suicides of students there. When they get there they find there is an even larger conspiracy at hand. Youji and Ken do not appear in this DVD, but will make their appearnace soon. The DVD still features the voice-actors' outtakes, which is always guaranteed to make you smile. I really enjoyed the opening and ending sequences. The songs and animation went well with each other. I think I probably enjoyed those sequences more than the episodes themselves. If you're a fan of the original you should check this out, just don't have very high expectations.

Rating:
Summary: Best approached with an open mind.
Review: Like the original Weiss Kreuz, Gluhen (renamed Eternity File for its dubbed release) is best approached with few expectations. Fans of the original series should be advised that a number of changes are made in this new series, the characters' designs among the least of them, which may be off-putting to those who liked Weiss the way it was.

One of the biggest failings of the original Weiss Kreuz (renamed Knight Hunters for its western release, although the original title is German for "White Cross") was its poor animation quality - while the designs were pleasing enough to the eye, the consistency and quality of the animation were imperfect, and for an action-oriented anime there wasn't a great deal of action actually animated. The animation of this second series is greatly improved from the original; however, because of legal issues, the designs of the four main characters were changed. Aya and Ken fared all right, but Yoji looks as though he had a fight with a weedwhacker and lost, and wears an awful hat to boot.

Fans of Yoji, Ken, and Omi may find themselves disappointed with this volume; Gluhen introduces two new members of Weiss, Sena and Kyo, and Yoji and Ken won't appear until the next volume of episodes. A great deal of the focus of these episodes is spent on Sena, who fills Omi's shoes as the youngest and most naive member of the team. Omi himself is still present, but in a different capacity about which I hesitate to say more, lest I spoil. Aya, however, continues to play a strong role in the series, and his character is further developed.

The structure of the story is also changed. In the first series, the main villains had various operations which Weiss foiled, so there was something of a sense of progress and distinct character arcs. Gluhen, in contrast, focuses on a single operation throughout. Instead of individual operations, there are simply events which occur and which Weiss must face, and which frequently pass without much resolution. It's a better depiction of the covert-ops sort of organization Weiss is supposed to be - in the earlier seasons, the team was usually just given a target and sent out to kill them, with the intelligence work already done - but without a villain to dispatch in each episode, it's harder to get a sense of the team making much progress.

Additionally, Gluhen picks up directly after a number of drama CDs released in Japan but not available in the West, and without that background information it can seem like you're only getting about half the story.

Gluhen is more downbeat than the original series, and bloodier - although the body count per episode is much smaller, the original series showed only a little blood, while the new series animates its violence more realistically. Based on my limited knowledge, it seems to be closer to the original manga than the first series in its maturity. While it's technically superior to the original, fans may find it lacks the charm of its predecessor; still, it's worth seeing on its own strengths, provided one doesn't go into it expecting more of what they saw in the earlier series.

Rating:
Summary: Gluhen means Glow, Not "Eternity File"
Review: Lol. sry ;)
Well, what can I say? Gluhen rocks. The animation is sharper and way better.
The plot line is cooler, too.
I mean, Schuldig and the rest of Schwartz are back, too! Well, it does bother me that Yoji kind of looks like Spike from Cowboy Bebop....or at least Andy from the Teddy Bear Bomber Episode! Lol. :)
Okay... Watch Gluhen. Episode 6 is when it really picks up!
Ja ne!
~Honoo Moeru

Rating:
Summary: CAN'T YOU CLEAN UP YOUR MESS?
Review: Wow, I thought I'd seen incompetence in anime before but Knight Hunters takes the prize for the goofiest production ever. Not only is the plot ludicrous, but the main antagonists seem to sit around and do nothing the first couple of episodes. With heroes like these lazy bums whose brainwaves match that of mentally deficent tree sloths, who needs villains?!

Important world figures have been assassinated recently, about 80 of them to be exact. The only leads have come from 4 suicide bombers. One of them was Japanese and attended the isolated and totally self-sufficent Koua Academy in the mountains of Japan. The school has been having a suicide problem, with eleven students taking their lives. You would think that a police investigation would have started or that there would be a big government investigation but we don't get that here. That's the first sign of poor writing and rejection of reality in this series.

A mysterious group calling themselves Weiss decides to take matters into their own hands. So one of their agents, Sena Izumi, is sent in undercover as a student. As soon as he arrives at the school, he witnesses a girl jumping off a roof and plunging to her death. He shows up for class late and cheerily says with a smile that he was late because he was helping out with the suicide girl. I knew I was in trouble right there. I mean the guy is smiling when he talks about this girl whose brains are splattered all over the pavement. Some hero.

And then there are the dramatic music flourishes when there's supposed to be something dramatic happening. It seems that the school is being controlled by a freshman student who charmingly refers to himself as "fuhrer" after his idol. His S class, which is supposed to be made up of the academic elite is in reality just a form of a nazi-like youth group who wish to take over the school.

While any dummy can see what is going on at the school, Weiss seems to take their time as other kids die on the excuse that they want to know the full story before they act. In one scene, Sena loses his friend as she slowly and painstakingly steps up to a window and takes another long time to work herself up over the window, and then takes another minute as she falls, and another minute as she falls to the ground and splatters, etc. It's indicative of the Knight Hunters. They see everything coming but they don't do anything about it.

Is this the best plot they could come up with? All these hidden mysteries at a high school that would have been shut down over the suicides long before it got to this point. Oh, I know the secrets will be revealed later, but I'm not going to be around for it. I'm done with this series. When I think about the Sena character, it is very annoying. He lets his friend kill herself. Before that he let her be put in danger for nothing. All these kids are getting brainwashed and driven insane and nobody is doing anything about it.

This dvd was total slop. The story was an insult to my intelligence and anyone who is a true anime lover. The only thing that I regret is not buying the second volume. It looked like there was going to be a Weiss member with claws ripped off from Wolverine and an effeminate looking shirtless guy with wings with a hat straight out of Pretty in Pink. On second thought, I'm thankful NOT to have to see that!