(L) Guin Saga

[FuzzyWuzzy]

I love Amnelis also. She got a lot of development.
Istovan, I only started liking him in episode 26 when he swears allegiance to Doal.
The main characters got a lot of development but the villains and sub characters didn't get any which is really the only thing I didn't like.

[roriconfan]

My review

Spoiler for harsh:

PROLOGUE
Guin Saga is not the sort of anime you would expect to see with modern storytelling. And this is no surprise as it is based on a story format of the 70’s epic fantasy way of showing things. This is why it has a retro appeal to it very reminiscent of old epic movies like Conan the Barbarian or Krull.
If I could describe this series in game terms, I would say it’s like a standard 2nd edition D&D campaign, with rather stereotypical characters, kingdoms at war, armies of thousands clashing, random encounters with monsters and full of the cheesiest dialogues you can probably think of.
Still, it can still be entertaining besides a nostalgic trip to times past as the animation is superb and the flow of the story never feels staggered.

ANIMATION SECTION: 8 [Conan the Barbarian pays a visit to the Twelve Kingdoms.]
The artwork is simply superb, detailed as many other well made fantasy series such as the Twelve Kingdoms and Serei no Moribito... but in western style. In fact, it has the best looking pseudo medieval western fantasy of all anime to date.
The feeling of epicness is all over the place, fitting a marvelous (albeit generic) fantasy/adventure world. Most landscapes have a magnificent variety of colors and details and most outfits are as extravagant as armors in modern MMORPGs. The characters also look interestingly drawn, although they do feel dry on proper reactions to danger or fear… just like in retro movies, hehe.
Before you get the wrong idea, the animation is NOT awesome for a 2009 production but it still so well made that you don’t mind it… especially after watching any pathetic ecchi / harem series that seem to take up most of the new releases in recent years.
If there is a rather big minus I noticed, that would be the action and movement in general, such as the lips moving funny when Guin the leopard or any other monster talks or the 3D images looking rather off with the 2D. Oh, and blood in this series seems to be invisible as… there is none shown despite the really brutal battles and numerous deaths of characters. Obviously censored in order to make the series accessible to a younger audience and make more money. Well, too bad because more money means less coolness. Give us Berserk violence you moneyhoarders!
Still, the battles are actually made to look more realistic than the average fantasy anime out there as they last a few minutes at the most and the fighters use close combat techniques that have a semi-realistic regard to physics. What also makes an impression is how straightforward and simple everything is done, yet it feels better that what you would expect from a series with lots of battles. A character will not do a triple flip, pose, have his face covered in shadow while shouting “super dual slash rock breaking sword” and a huge aura coming out of his body. No magic missiles, impossible recoils and injuries miraculously vanishing in this series. Ok, the characters still seem to wear armors and hold huge weapons no man could ever hope to use properly. And they break walls with their fists. Yet all things considered your disbelief is way smaller than watching a Naruto battle. They fight without stopping to chat and they end it in far less than five episodes of punching one another.

SOUND SECTION: 8 [You will not get away with this evil count Goris!]
The music themes are great and fitting to the whole epicness of the series, being a blend of epic rock and Latin chorus. And the voice acting is also good for everyone, full of emotion and… yes, epicness again. Some may say the twins sound too annoying, being too crybaby and butchy girl but that is a minor detail.
What I didn’t like is many parts in the dialogues where the characters MUST mention the name of everyone they talk to every five minutes, even if they know him for decades. Also, the way they talk sounds pretty much like comic book material as they keep using all-time favorite hero vs villain quotes.
Still, even that is fitting to this sort of series and doesn’t hurt if you buy the premise.

STORY SECTION: 6 [Now where did I put that 2nd edition Dungeon Master’s Guide?]
As if straight out of a cheesy campaign book, it is the story of two kind hearted royal twins TM being hunted by an evil army TM and being saved by a man with a leopard head, who has memory loss TM. The story is not bad at all but it doesn’t feel much either. More mature than a fairy tale yet not close to be seen as realistic or serious.
The first half is about the gang being chased by evil minions and Guin the leopard fighting them in order to protect the twins. He even gets to rally all the savage tribes of the wilderness in order to fight the Mongol (racism or what?) army. This part is actually ok to watch. The story is generic and the battles rather dull but everything is done with such passion and atmosphere that unless you expect Hellsing action every 5 minutes, you are not going to be bored.
The second part is where things get rather dull as the action is almost zero and there is a lot of political intrigue and mystery going around. This part fleshed out the characters, introduced the basis of romance amongst many characters and made the world to feel a lot more complicating than just “save the princess, kill the dragon”. Still, not many things happened and the ending is way too open for a sequel as nothing is really resolved.
I must say that the story had a dramatic change from Conan the Barbarian to Rose of Versailles type of story and it seemed to never use the good parts of each kind. Too little story, no twists on the first part, too little plot, no action on the second. It is still an ok watch but seriously, it could be done better. And as I said, it is not even finished so tough luck.

CHARACTER SECTION: 7 [Hasta lavista… Guin]
The cast is an interesting bunch. It begins very generic and rather boring but as the episodes go by, many get killed and many more develop through romance or some revelation about themselves. Heck, they even grow up as many years go by. Thus they become a lot more than yet another generic cast.
Still, they will feel weak for half of the show as there is nothing going on around themselves and it is mostly “get the twins / oh harsh world” type of plot where the story drives the characters and not the other way around. What I mean is that there was a lot of DM help (cough) Divine Intervention to help the plot move along and the characters were not masters of their own fates. Also, Guin seems to strike too much like “I can beat you all, I can outsmart you all, I am the destined one yet I know nothing about my past” type of lead (if not like a Tiger Mask or King look alike) that seems to have the scriptwriter in his animal skin boxer pocket. Adding a mascot fuzzy animal did not help. Also, we have yet again two dynamic women in the cast who take no shit from anyone until they are mocked for being born female, fall in love and turn to passive sheep thereafter. On the opposite hand, the two main boys begin as crybabies and grow up to be badass. Oh the cheesiness…
But beyond all that the cast is fine and it sure has a lot more meat than most casts. Still, leaving the story unfinished meant to leave their development unfinished. That detracts a lot from the overall.

VALUE & ENJOYMENT SECTIONS: 5
Some parts feels great and some are plain snoring, thus at an average I half liked this series. It was thresholding too much between epic feeling and cheesy storytelling to really shine and is not even complete. What can I say, I no longer like the simplistic plot of the 70’s. Plus, after you watch the series once, you realize that the scenario was way too simple to actually bother watching again. Also, the battles were too short and usually “divine interventioned” to actually care scrolling through again. Thus, it was a so-so experience.

Overal: 6.5/10

[klare]

finally manage to watch eps 26

the feeling is like this is season 1, we dont even have any info on the origin of Guin, what will happen to Amnelis? Naris vs Remus? who will Linda choose? is Istovan only a dreamer after all? so many many things unanswered...

to me the best part of the show is always when Guin fighting to protect the twins, he is a typical old-style hero that no one can defeat him, he always win in the end

the not so good part is the sometimes slow pace, escpecially the Naris-focused episodes

the worst part is when big battle is shown, i can only say the story (maybe the novel is better) always disregard strategy and logic while involving army controntation

and Istovan is right, Guin tends to lecture a bit too much, but he is still cool

Overall rating: 7 (could be much better)
Favourite character: Remus (his change in the later part is interesting and Linda is a disappointment after a strong start)

hope the show will continue with some improvements made

[OkamiNoKaze]

This series was great, Guin is a bad ass, I wonder if he could take He-Man or Conan? the music in this series was epic, you could definetly tell it was done by the Final Fantasy Composer. In fact I could totally see this story as a the plot of Final Fantasy game. I also enjoyed the little comments by the subtitler, they really added to the experience.

[BulletRain]

I agree the series is awesome. I really hope there is a 2nd season, I want to know Guin's origins.

[Dralha]

Originally Posted by BulletRain

I agree the series is awesome. I really hope there is a 2nd season, I want to know Guin's origins.

/agree

I found that the series dipped a bit in the middle, with the Naris arc, but it picked up towards the end and whetted the appetite for more.

[Tyrone Biggums]

Woah, so this was a pretty epic series. And 126 Volumes to work with too, no FILLERS!

Anyone know if they are going to make a second series for it? And just who was the real Princess of Light?

[Shiroth]

No information yet regarding a second season. I'd be really surprised we we had one.

[Feedert]

Originally Posted by Tyrone Biggums

And just who was the real Princess of Light?

It's Amnelis, right?

Because the prophecy is that Istovan will become a king by marrying Princess of Light, and Istovan did become the King of Mongoul by marrying Amnelis.....

[Kanon]

Originally Posted by BulletRain

I agree the series is awesome. I really hope there is a 2nd season, I want to know Guin's origins.

Me too. Too bad the anime is not likely to get a second season. I'd like to know if Guin's origins were revealed in the novels. After 126 volumes, I sure hope so, but you never know.

[klare]

i do hope a 2nd season will happen, feel like we only seen a little piece of something big

[AnimeFangirl]

We have. I've been reading up on the Guin Saga on j-wiki and we have a long, long way to go. A second season will cover more of the "good parts" of the series, but after the first 40 or so volumes, it sounds like the quality really drops off.

The covers

[lililovelilica]

Originally Posted by Feedert

It's Amnelis, right?

Because the prophecy is that Istovan will become a king by marrying Princess of Light, and Istovan did become the King of Mongoul by marrying Amnelis.....

So it's really True that Istovan get married with Amnelis,and that Amnelis killed herself,and that Rinda have to get married with Marius(Political excuse)and Becomes the Queen of Parros cause her brother got out of the throne...
And since the writter Kaoru died,we won't get an end to Guin?
How Sad....I love The Guin Saga Series...I haven't read all the books,Just 10 of them because a friend of mine borrowed to me...
I think that Guin is not a Human at all,but he's not an evil person,he's just like Aslam,the character(Lion)of Narnia,a creature that just wishes justice above all!
Guin's lover,Aura maybe she's really a princess who's waiting for his return.
I don't know yet,but Kaoru-sensei's writting is pretty good,even if it's very loooooooooooong(about 300 pages)it's very stimulating fantasy story.
I wish i got all of her books(looks like she was working at the 129°book but then loose to Cancer.)my only option is-(To ask Kaoru-sensei when i Die about this:What the hell is the ending about?I want to know so much!I have the right to know since i'm a writter as well and i'm a big BIG FAN!)

[Konor of the skies]

hey this is konor of the skies if you want to see my Guin saga/skylander crossover story. go to fanfiction net and searce "Skylander saga" Make sure you leave a review!