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Darkside Blues

Darkside Blues

List Price: $29.99
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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Excellent Animation
Review: As far as the story goes, this one isn't worth too much, for the story was way too complex to capture in an hour an a half movie. The animation, however is top of the line, and is just as smooth and well made as Ghost in the Shell. If you're looking for a great story, look elsewhere. If you're into well drawn animation, go for it.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: An interesting movie that demands your complete attention.
Review: Before I begin, I'll say that "Darkside Blues" was based off a manga (Japanese comics) series of the same name. After watching this movie, it's easy to see that it was made especially for fans of the manga. Still, just because you haven't read the manga doesn't mean you can't enjoy this movie. Just like "Serial Experiments Lain", however, you have to pay close attention.

At first glance, "Darkside Blues" might be considered a gothic horror film, especially since it's from the creator of "Vampire Hunter D" and "Demon City Shinjuku". But "Darkside Blues" is anything but a horror film. It's more like a drama...a very dark, modern-set, sci-fi drama.

The atmosphere is very moody and at times quite depressing. The characters, while not as fleshed out as they should be, are far from stereotypical. Surprisingly, the plot of "Darkside Blues" doesn't center directly around the title character, Darkside, although he does play a key role. To me, this is one of the more interesting ways a title character can be presented in a movie, and it works in this one.

One thing about "Darkside Blues" is that you have to pay attention, particularly with the dialogue. While people who have read the manga might understand this movie easily, people who haven't will have to watch every image and listen to every piece of dialogue to fully understand what's going on. And even then the viewer might not understand completely. Some major questions are left unanswered in this movie, and depending upon your tastes this might frustrate you. But if you're open to using your imagination, this movie will give you a field day.

And while I haven't heard the Japanese version of this movie, I have heard the English version, and it is surprisingly good. Not "Princess Mononoke" good or "Cowboy Bebop" good, but good nevertheless.

All in all, "Darkside Blues" is an interesting way to lose yourself within the realms of your own mind and soul. If you're ready to think your way through a movie, then go ahead a try out this anime.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: An interesting movie that demands your complete attention.
Review: Before I begin, I'll say that "Darkside Blues" was based off a manga (Japanese comics) series of the same name. After watching this movie, it's easy to see that it was made especially for fans of the manga. Still, just because you haven't read the manga doesn't mean you can't enjoy this movie. Just like "Serial Experiments Lain", however, you have to pay close attention.

At first glance, "Darkside Blues" might be considered a gothic horror film, especially since it's from the creator of "Vampire Hunter D" and "Demon City Shinjuku". But "Darkside Blues" is anything but a horror film. It's more like a drama...a very dark, modern-set, sci-fi drama.

The atmosphere is very moody and at times quite depressing. The characters, while not as fleshed out as they should be, are far from stereotypical. Surprisingly, the plot of "Darkside Blues" doesn't center directly around the title character, Darkside, although he does play a key role. To me, this is one of the more interesting ways a title character can be presented in a movie, and it works in this one.

One thing about "Darkside Blues" is that you have to pay attention, particularly with the dialogue. While people who have read the manga might understand this movie easily, people who haven't will have to watch every image and listen to every piece of dialogue to fully understand what's going on. And even then the viewer might not understand completely. Some major questions are left unanswered in this movie, and depending upon your tastes this might frustrate you. But if you're open to using your imagination, this movie will give you a field day.

And while I haven't heard the Japanese version of this movie, I have heard the English version, and it is surprisingly good. Not "Princess Mononoke" good or "Cowboy Bebop" good, but good nevertheless.

All in all, "Darkside Blues" is an interesting way to lose yourself within the realms of your own mind and soul. If you're ready to think your way through a movie, then go ahead a try out this anime.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Strange, but worth watching!
Review: Darkside Blues is fairly strange. It starts off with a kind of "goth" hero coming into the world from another dimension, and taking on the name "Darkside". Darkside has awesome powers, and handles everything with a kind of cool apathy. The other characters help make the story, but all the way through... there is always the wait for Darkside to come back onto the scene. The results are usually violent!

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Far from being a masterpiece.
Review: Darkside Blues is thought-provoking and complex, but too disorganized to appeal to those who haven't read the original manga. Here's the run-down; Persona Century is an organization that owns 90% of the world, and wants the remaining 10. The city of Shinjuku, guarded by a resistance group known as the Messiah, happens to be part of that 10 percent. A mysterious man whose intelligence is incalculable and physical constitution unbreakable appears from nowhere and stops in Shinjuku. He has the ability to give people a treatment called 'renewal' that expels the darkness from within their souls.

Now, this premise sounds cool and all, but the actual story is a pretty bumpy ride. I like a movie that's wrapped up at least somewhat. Unfortunately for me, almost nothing is resolved between Persona and the Messiah at the end of the movie, making it really disappointing. It's not the grand-scale climax I had expected but rather a resolution at a personal level. A lot of the dialogue is, for the most part, just stupid. For instance, Messiah leader Mai sits in a park one night when suddenly a man she's never seen before darts through the park, followed by a stream of laser beams. The man falls over in front of Mai and is unconscious. The mutant that was firing at the man walks over to Mai and says "do you have any business with this man?" to which Mai replies "nope". Then the mutant asks "is he a boyfriend?". Where does a senseless question like that come from? She has nothing to do with the guy. This kind of dialogue makes the script seem slipshod and cheap.

The music is generally bad and even annoying at times. The theme song is sung in English with such a heavy accent that almost nothing is understandable. As for dubbing, it's good and bad. It seems that one of the voice actors literally plugged their nose when voicing one of the characters. On the good side, Darkside has the perfect voice. It's dark and enigmatic without trying too hard to be so. Plus, Darkside is just one of the coolest anime characters ever created. The anime is redeemed pretty much any time Darkside appears. After that, you know he's gonna do something cool. The best line in the entire anime is "why don't I do something for your cat?", which Darkside spontaneously asks an elderly woman in his dark enigmatic voice. It's hard to make a sound decision about buying such an obscure anime before actually seeing it.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: An Underground Classic
Review: Darkside Blues is what you call an "Underground Classic". It's a very complex story. You have to pay attention to everything the characters say to really understand the plot(and I mean listen to everything). I really enjoyed this anime. Most people agree that Darkside Blues is what really dragged them head first into anime. I really recommend you buying it. This is basically an anime for those "hard-core" anime watchers. Also a major plus, the graphics are an absolute masterpiece. This is not your typical anime. If you are looking for titles such as "Oh! My Goddess", or "SailorMoon" flicks, then this is DEFINITELY not the movie for you. But if you're looking for a real complex and unusual plot line, then this is totally the anime for you.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: An Underground Classic
Review: Darkside Blues is what you call an "Underground Classic". It's a very complex story. You have to pay attention to everything the characters say to really understand the plot(and I mean listen to everything). I really enjoyed this anime. Most people agree that Darkside Blues is what really dragged them head first into anime. I really recommend you buying it. This is basically an anime for those "hard-core" anime watchers. Also a major plus, the graphics are an absolute masterpiece. This is not your typical anime. If you are looking for titles such as "Oh! My Goddess", or "SailorMoon" flicks, then this is DEFINITELY not the movie for you. But if you're looking for a real complex and unusual plot line, then this is totally the anime for you.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Perfection is possible!
Review: First off, let me say ONE word to describe this movie. AMAZING!! When I first decided to watch this movie I thought to myself that it looked pretty descent and I should give it a try. Well, I'm glad that I did because this is quite possibly the best Anime I have ever seen. The plot was very engrossing in that it had to deal with the supernatural in a "goth" sort of way. It reminded me a lot of "The Crow" because of it's dark, vengful mood. The animation is purely spectacular. Great character and plot developement make this movie a must see. If you've seen Vampire Hunter D and loved it as much as I did, then you will also fall in love this great work by the same creator!! I was help captive throughout the story by Darkside's uncanny abilities to get the rest of the characters out of a pinch in just the nick of time. The music in the film really sets the mood for what happens in each scene, if Darkside is in there tearin everybody to shreds, it's reall fast-paced. Also, a really big is that the dubbing for this Anime is great. That's so hard to find these days that when you actually do find it, you almost don't want to believe it. This Anime is, overall, a great addition to any collection, or a great start. Either way you will NOT be disappointed.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Hey pretty good
Review: For the firsat part, this movie was pretty good (hence the title). Sure there were random popups of characters but who cares, they die anyways (some in a totally cool battle scene) and also let me point out how much the female leader in the movie looks like releena from the gundam wing series (people whove watched it you kno wht i'm talking about*) For a movie that was made in 1994 the animation was pretty good but I have to say I wasnt to fond of the music even though it had a good honest beat but seriously I think it would have been used elswhere (the wrong scenes with the wrong music) but cheers to the old drunken guy who starts singing that just cracked me up. Another thing I want to point out is, did you ever notice how the guy who made this movie and lets say Ninja Scoll (yes i kno im comparing it with tht movie) always has a string of bad guys, meh thts just me but w/e. All in all I thought this movie was pretty good, the ending was fasinationg...sequal anyone?

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: terrible shipping
Review: I ordered darkside blues and it never came.i didn't even get my money back.Watch out for the super savings shipping.


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