Finally it got subbed. I was really starting to get worried that there are no subs while Queen’s Blade get like ten subs in english and other languages (speaking of which, it is scary how the second episode get subbed as soon as raws are out). I have already watched the raw, and I have read the novels quite a time ago. Unlike a certain Slayers and JC Staff fanboy, this episode did not appear to me as bad as he made it to be. Unlike that fanboy, I know what is Guin, so you won’t accuse me of spewing ignorance against it.

Guin Saga IS firstly a novel series that started back in 1979, so I was still minding my own business in my mom’s womb. The novel series is STILL ongoing and had spanned over 100 volumes and it is written by a woman. How did she find the energy and motivation to do it is… A mystery to me. It must be quite the great thing if Kentaro Miura took inspiration from it for Berserk.

The animated series was first announced one or two years ago and now it is here and I shall go on talking about it:

This start with the fall of a kingdom, Paros or Palos, depending on the translation, after the invasion by the Monghols (as far as I remember, the french novels spelled it like Mongauls, but obvious reference is obvious, so it is hard to hide). Then, two twins, survivors of the royal bloodline, are forced to flee and end up in a forest. Not exactly the magical forest of the Smurfs, but the kind of old, thick, dark and creepy forest that would make the Blair’s Witch forest look like a nice place for a camping.

The twins are:

Linda

Headstrong loli before headstrong lolis were trendy. She is the one with a spine, a bit of strong will and, to be fair, she is helped by precognition powers. She is portrayed the same in the novels AND the anime.

Remus

Named like the unfortunate brother of the founder of Rome, Remus is the sheltered prince who have been thrown too early into the life that sucks, due to unfortunate circumstances. As a result, he is nice, placid but wimpy and in serious need to grow a spine. He is the total opposite of the warrior nobles we have meet in litterature (Paul Atreides) or in history (Alexander the Great). His soft character is a bit closer to the ill-fated french king Louis the XVIth.

He is portrayed the same in both novels and anime.

Hiding in the forest from Mongholian patrols, the twins end up to be caught by a Mongholian patrol and get saved by a muscular guy wearing a leopard mask who gives the patrol a Ong Bak style beatdown of epic proportions, well not before Linda get a bitchslap that would get people loling:

Leopard mask, who only know “Guin” as his name, is in need of water, can’t remove is mask and is amnesiac. All of that sounds cliché. However, Fantasy as a genre never cared so much about being mindblowingly original, I mean look at Conan the Barbarian or Lord of the Rings. The strenght of the fantasy genre is how it tells epic journeys (Earthsea), compelling worldbuilding and world visions (Earthsea again) and greater-than-life characters (Moorcock’s creations), and many more. So while “cliche” and “generic” plague the genre like STDs rapes a thai hooker on the end of her career, there are always one fantasy novel that surprises you and reconciliate you with the genre.

Back to Guin, the Leopard Mask and the Twins have to face another challenge: the night and the resulting awakening of the forest’s horrors, because Guin killed guys earlier and now they are back as deformed monsters that only fire and Guin’s brute strenght can repel. Things does not go as planned as rain start pouring (they don’t get a break), so Guin takes the twins with him and jump in the closest body of water where the horrors shall not follow them.

And when they makes it to the daylight, a patrol find them. Yes, Fate is a bitch to King, Loli and Shota.

I know what comes next and seriously I wonder how ugly the next antagonist will be made by the animators.

Differences with the novels:
1. Guin using a dead guy as an improvised mace against the patrol. Until the guy turns into pulp, that is.

2. Guin clearly set the forest on fire to deal with the ghouls AND jumped into the water to keep the twins and himself safe from the flames of the arson.
These differences however did little to detract from the actual plot in the anime.

Now on the technical field, the character design is how I would like to see in an adaptation of a Moorcock‘s work (pssst, Elric or Hawkmoon in anime, perhaps by Madhouse or Bones please?) in the animated media; looking western while still clearly keeping the japanese touch. I didn’t play a lot of Final Fantasy to tell how inspired Uematsu is when he composed the soundtrack. For a first impression on the soundtrack, I must say that I liked it.

The animation is not really bad, the different scenes, from action scenes to talking heads scenes just don’t have the same degree of love. The fight of Guin against the patrol was fantastic and an appetizer for the potential that Guin the anime have to offer. However, other scenes makes it clear that Guin Saga is on a lower priority than Bashquash (on the brighter side, it’s not like it get Maid Guy-like treatment). It is just too bad because, 1. the original material really deserves justice as far I have read from the novels. 2. The good bits of the first episode shows its potential. However, we cannot judge a full series from episode one alone. The maker or the breaker, other than production values fluctuating between quality and QUALITY, will be pacing and the number of episodes. ANN list 13 titles. Beyond that, it is the big unknown, the second trailer is really promising and I can’t wait to see my favorite Ishtvan in action. From how the first episode progressed, they may be done with the first novel by the third or fourth episode.

Who should watch Guin Saga? Anyone raised with the likes of Conan the Barbarian, Lodoss and Berserk. Or anyone who needs some manly fix to counterbalance their dose of moé. I mean, if punching a guy into a tree so hard that it burns is not manly, I don’t know what else is.

Will I keep on watching? Four more episodes before I decide to keep or drop. I hope it will be the former.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 9th, 2009 at 9:26 pm and is filed under Anime.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.