Rating: 
Summary: freelance otaku
Review: _X_1999_ is a great movie--by graphics, storyline, characterization, and many other areas--which happens to be possibly the most depressing anime I've ever seen, not counting _Grave_of_the_Fireflies_.
Rating: 
Summary: too much told (or untold) in too little time
Review: Let's first place this in context -- X is actually a considerably detailed story ... at least in the written form (the manga). Transitioning it to a movie though, leaves too little time. There's a slew of characters, most of which simply aren't developed at all due to time constraints. Mind you, we do have beautiful art and good music, and the underlying story is a good one. But this anime, like many, fails in the budget department. It would have been better released as a long OVA series. Instead, we're left with 5-star potential, 4-star production quality, and a 2-star transition to the screen. A pretty movie, worth watching, but in the long run disappointing for what it could have been, given (considerably) more running time.
Rating: 
Summary: Where did the plot go?
Review: Very pretty anime as with most CLAMP works. The story dies in compacting it into 98 minutes. I know the story and like the anime even though they splice and cut to make entire story fit into the time. Personally I thought the Japanese track was much better than the English. Not for the normal reasons I have (bad voice acting being one) but because whoever wrote the script for the English track must have assumed that American audiences would have no clue what was going on. Most of it is such overkill. I tend to think Kanoe gives off the evil creepy vibe but it was explained within the first five minnutes that she was not the one to trust. Come now, if Kamui's mother did tell him such a thing do you really think he'd be that mean to the one he was told he could trust? The whole plot is a bit grim and with how little time there is between battles it can almost be summarized in saying "You're going to die. Face the fact. Your only choice is are you going to make your death a memorable one?" In closing the manga gives more to the story than just fighting and death. I'd recomend reading over watching if Viz could get their act together and regain their publishing rights.
Rating:
Summary: Why do people dislike this movie?
Review: I've seen this movie subbed and I don't know why everybody seems to dislike it so much. They've complained that the storyline is too hard to understand. Well, I have no idea what you guys are talking about! I saw this movie without the slightest idea what was going on, and by the end, I had figured everything out. The story's easy to understand, come on! Don't know what the fuss is about. Anyway, I love this movie! The animation is the best, and the acting is great. Every movement and action was carefully coordinated so the characters had a sense of being real. Facial expressions were perfect to fit the mood, and the way these actors/actress can express so much in one little world is utterly amazing. This movie kept me intrigued to the end. I don't know about everybody else, but this is definately one of the best movies I have seen (but if you don't like sad endings, be warned!).
Rating:
Summary: A Depressing Masterpiece???
Review: What can I say the cover art of the DVD sucked me in and I bought it. Well I was expecting a lot from the story line, because of the outside cover, but you should not judge anything by what is on the outside. What was inside was definitely far different from what I perceived it to possibly have in it. The plot line was disjointed, but very intriguing, though the messiah image is a bit cliqued, even though it works superbly into this movie. The messiah plot did have some of its own quirks in this movie that are fairly original. The whole mood and tone of the movie was oppressing and brooding, the animation surely made a proper set-up for the end of the world. The characters were excellent, the ones that actually spoke and did not die randomly, especially Fuuma and Kamui. The visuals were remarkable, definitely better than most animation out there. The ending was kind of drawn out with a quick conclusion, and a time of mourning. This is one of the most depressing animes I have seen, even more so than Akira, or the finale of Cowboy Bebop. Well cheer for the Dragon of Heaven, but weep for the Dragon of Earth and watch something funny after this movie, because it really is depressing. One complaint, like recent movies, notably Blood, this movie is too short what is the deal extend the movie so we can see some more character development. Recommended watch for those who aren't afraid of crying and don't mind a couple decapitations here and there.
Rating: 
Summary: Somebody shoot me
Review: X is a stylish, well-written and interesting manga. It's also a stoic, laughable and trite anime movie.Follow if you can. Kamui leaves his home, best friend and girlfriend in Tokyo for some inexplicable reason. A naked visage of his mother then comes to him and pulls a Mary Poppins by pulling a sword out of her stomach (you heard me), and gives it to him for an equally inexplicable reason. Heck, the rest of the movie is pretty much like this, and often makes you wonder whether LSD is pretty much just pumped directly into Japan's water supply. Trying to explain the plot is quite pointless, as that doesn't even seem to be the driving force in "X". Let's just say half a dozen ilicit drug-induced dream sequences and a few ultra-violent fights later, we get hit with a completely unprecedented ending. An idea that worked well in video games like Suikoden II or even episode 24 of everybody's favorite inane anime, Evangelion... Too bad here it makes you just wonder, "Uh, is that physically possible?" Quite possibly the coolest, and therefore only redeeming part of this movie, the X music video featuring completely unreleased footage and a damn-cool song, was... cut out. And as some sort of final cruel joke, the English dub was apperantly specifically made to induce bleeding in the ears. Manga Entertainment's marketing sense-- not to mention human decency- astounds me. Thank goodness that's over.
Rating:
Summary: Much too short...
Review: I can't wait til the OAV of this gets translated or fansubbed. This movie squished 15-or-so volumes of manga, the story of which hasn't even ended yet, into 90 mins of tape. Fun to look at, but very little character development, and less explanation of what is going on.
Rating:
Summary: SLOW!
Review: WELL, THE BAD THING ABOUT THIS MOVIE IS THAT IT IS WAY TO SLOW. YOU CAN'T WONDER WHY THE WASTE SO MUCH TAPE FOR SO MUCH STUPID THINGS. YOU WON'T SEE ANY ACTION UP TO THE FINAL 20 MINUTES, AND FOR A MANGA MOVIE IT LACKS GORE AND NUDITY. DONT MIND THE NUDITY (WHICH IS KIND OF STUPID FOR AN ANIME), BUT THE GORE, WHERE THE GORE WENT? IF YOU ARE NOT A ANIME FAN, DONT START WITH THIS, RENT IT AND IF YOU LIKE IT, THEN BUY IT.
Rating:
Summary: Superb Art But Disjointed Plot
Review: The plot in this anime is disjointed and hard to decipher. It gets better the more you watch it, as many of the dream sequences show events at the end, that until you actually watch it through, don't make sense. Kamui returns to Tokyo(from where we don't know)to meet up with his friends, a brother and sister. Upon arriving he is confronted by two awesome powers: the dragon of earth and the dragon of heaven. The dragon of heaven want to stop the dragon of earth from cleansing the world of people. This leads to some amazing fight scenes between the unbelievably powerful members of each group as they both want to recruit Kamui for their cause. I don't want to give away much more of the storyline but as it progresses, you definitely notice a yin-yang type atmosphere. This is a extremely dark/gothic type anime that has the best art since Ninja Scroll. Had the plot been more straight forward and less jumbled with confusing dream sequences and constant cutting between the various characters it would be a masterpiece of modern animation. Nevertheless, like I said at the beginning, the more you watch it, the more it starts to make sense but that is not a enough justification for me to give it a higher rating.
Rating:
Summary: Great movie, HORRIBLE DUBBING!!!!!
Review: At first, I was determined to enjoy this movie despite the obvious handicap of it being dubbed (I'm a subtitles fan). And, at first, I did. The CLAMP style is beautiful, the story stands (despite the fact that I haven't read the manga) and it's very neat in general. But, OH, Kami-sama. THE DUB. IT WAS SO BAD. In fact, it's the only reason this movie lost 3 stars from me! This is the sort of movie that explains why some people hate dubs- me included, now that I've seen this! I was actually starting not to care about whether my anime was subbed or dubbed. Then I watched this horrible display of Western incompetence. Constant mispronunciation of Japanese names abounds; bad voice acting is only one of the problems this dub has. From reading the reviews of this movie (remember, I haven't read the manga!! If I have my facts wrong, please don't get mad!!), I'm even more disappointed with the dub because it seems (as is my understanding) that Kamui and Fuuma, the two main characters in the X movie, are in a yaoi relationship in the original version; whereas in the dub, they are merely "childhood friends" battling over Kotori, among other things. This reminds me very strongly of the surgery that anime recieves before it airs on American TV. Apparently, CHILDREN in Japan can handle lesbians on Sailor Moon (Haruka and Michiru! They're so wonderful!), but American ADULTS cannot handle homosexual men in a rated-R dubbed animation film? The Haruka-Michiru relationship in Sailor Moon is similarly downplayed here in the West. In the American TV version, they're "cousins". I say we shouldn't let our movie anime fare be reduced to the caliber of the dumbed-down anime TV they show in the US just because producers feel they have the ability to do so in a dub. If you can find it, watch the movie X- but ONLY with subtitles, if you value your intelligence.
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