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Anime
Synopsis:
The
ultimate combat in a kingdom of warriors. Two men stand atop a
towering pinnacle of stone. One is Scarface, disfigured champion
of the Shadow Skill. The other is Gau Ban of the Black Howling.
It has been ten years since they first met-ten years in which
the untrained boy has become a fearsome warrior... A decade earlier,
in the kingdom of Koruda, elite fighters battle for honor beneath
the blood-red flag of King Falkai. While Ella Ragu limbers up
for an apocalyptic confrontation with the demon beast Barsalf,
her adopted brother Gau is surprised by the arrival of a mysterious
masked figure. After the fight, it is this man who give Gau the
strength to triumph when he and Ella are attacked by the mighty
Gao X. Ella and Gau later join spellcaster Fowari, and young fighter
Quo in a desperate attempt to defeat a carnivorous demon known
as the "King of the Moon." But even as they work together, conflict
grows deep within the group. Watched by the enigmatic Scarface,
friendship erupts into lethal combat-Shadow Skill versus Death
Magic in a fight to the finish. Epilogue - In a war torn world
of deadly conflict, one small group of heroes stands against the
forces of darkness, armed only with two weapons-their unswerving
dedication to good and the superhuman martial art known as the
Shadow Skill. For fourteen-year-old Gau, it is time once again
for him to return to the graves of his parents, murdered by bandits
when he was just ten. In the company of his adoptive elder sister,
Ella, Gau quickly comes to realize that his journey is more than
just a pilgrimage, and that his combat abilities as a student
of the Karuda school of martial arts are about to be pushed to
their breaking point! Attacked by the demonic Wolfman, left for
dead and then forced by Ella and Karuda to fight master Scarface,
Gau's dreams of becoming a new generation of warrior are put to
the ultimate test. Can he face his sister in single combat? Will
he be able to match the unearthly abilities of Scarface? And can
Gau ever uncover the secrets of the Shadow Skill?
DVD
EXTRAS:
• Region 1 encoding (US and Canada only)
• Color, Dolby
• Contains Shadow Skill: The Movie and Shadow Skill: Epilogue
• Character Bios
• Photo Gallery
KNOWN DVD
SECRET(S): None that I know of
When I first saw the
DVD cover, I said to myself...oh geez, not another "hentai"
anime. Fortunately, I read about the anime and how popular voice
actress - Hayashibara Megumi (Ranma, Video Girl Ai, Slayers, DNA^2,
etc.) was doing the voice of Elle the main character and so, curiosity
led me to check this anime out.
The anime is a fantasy
meets martial arts type storyline. Elle is the master of the "SHADOW
SKILL" (also, her nickname) which is a fighting style that
female slaves learned with their feet because their arms were
chained. Along the way she is joined by several friends, one is
a young man named Gau who learns from Elle.
The action is fast paced
and has its share of humor but it also has its fare share of violence
and a lot of blood.
As for the series, "SHADOW
SKILL" is an interesting one because it consists of an OAV
series and TV episodes. The DVD features three OAV's combined
to make one movie and the epilogue features two episodes from
what I believe is from the TV series. You'll see a noticeable
difference between the OAV and the TV episodes (and like most
anime, most of the time the anime TV series and the OAV series
are different).
The OAV features the
adventures of Elle and friends and the epilogue spotlights on
Elle and Gau and the relationship between teacher and the stubborn
student.
The DVD quality is very
nice and the audio sounds good via Digital 5.1 but I preferred
to watch the Japanese audio track (2 CH) with English subtitles.
From what I have heard from the English track, the voice acting
was far off from the Japanese version and it wasn't in the same
quality compared to other Manga Entertainment dubs.
As for special features,
there is a character info. and photo gallery from the series.
Also, a trailer and Palm/Manga Entertainment trailers are included.
All in all, "SHADOW
SKILL" is a very entertaining anime. Despite it's hentai
looking DVD cover, this anime is anything but. Think about it
like Slayers, Bastard and a twist of Street Fighter. One can only
hope that Manga Entertainment releases the TV series on DVD.
If you are into fighting
and fantasy type anime, you may want to check out "SHADOW
SKILL", you won't be disappointed.
THE MOVIE: A-
THE DVD EXTRAS: C+
THE DVD OVERALL: B
Check out other cool
DVD reviews on this movie by clicking here: 1
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