Karas: The Prophecy

Like most people probably think, this movie is a visual feast, the anime and 3D mixed together quite nicely and the fight scenes were very exciting. The voice acting in Jap was good, actually didn't watch in English, I am a big anti-dub person so the audio was good. The music was fitting, the plot was... the plot was... uhhhhh, interesting. Ya, interesting. I had to think about it and it did make sense eventually but expect to be sitting there going "Huh?" for about ten minutes after the movie. But for me that is good, any movie that makes you good is much better than most of American rubbish. My only bad points is perhaps too confusing and the anime and 3D didn't always mix. But very good!

This explanation is my culmination based on my 3 viewings of "Karas: the Prophecy", and four website explanations: Netflix, IMDb.com, and a quoted DVD text, and the official (English) website. Please note that this explanation is based on the English texts I have read and the English translation of the movie. It may not be 100% accurate, which if I have done this correctly, a more accurate explanation would really require knowing Japanese. E.g. "Eko" is actually Eku, and Yurine, is really "Yuri" and from the little Japanese I know, a single letter can drastically change the entire meaning of a word. OK, enough said.

= THE PROPHECY = It was once foretold, that the battle for the future world will start and end - with Karas.

= THE PLOT = The worlds of humans and demons have overlapped since time immemorial, and a spirit named Yurine (who represents the will of the people in the city) and her servant, Karas, have long maintained order and balance between the worlds. But humans have finally lost their beliefs of the demons and spirits. Disgusted by human arrogance, Karas turns his back on his role as guardian of the city, taking the name Eko, and plans an attack against the humans in the city. His goal is to have the humans once again believe in, and fear, demons.

Eko and his followers live in the material realm in human form, but to continue doing so they must feed on the fluids of human bodies. Their periodic feasts result in massacres that leave only a single traumatized survivor. (There is no explanation given for this - it might be part of Eko's plan to re-instill fear into the hearts of humans.)

Opposing Eko is the once demon Nue, who also lives in the material world in human form but refuses to drink blood. He wants to kill Eko b/c Eko trapped Nue's younger brother to help complete his evil plan. Also opposing Eko is Otoha, a human, who called out from his heart to Yurine - while he lies in a hospital bed in a coma. They make a contract and he becomes the new Karas.

= THE KARAS = The "Karas", which means "crow" in Japanese, is their nom de plume as well as their title. There are others called Karas as well, Eko and Otoha are just the two most current and powerful. They can transform into any of various heavily armed vehicles. (There is much about "crows" but a lesson in ancient Japanese culture may explain that thread.)

= The Humans = These "inexplicable" tragedies are the obsession of a marginalized police inspector whose daughter was the survivor of one such massacre. A young Leutenant is assigned to this "department". Beyond this simple role, they hardly have anything to do with the plot.

Final comment: the first one is: "Karas: the Prohpecy" which has phenomenal CGI and action. 5/5* the second one is: "Karas: the Revelation" which has a cheaper version of the first CGI and typical anime action. 3/5*

-LD

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my faith: http://www.angelfire.com/ny5/jbc33/

Lovely looking Animation. Similar in style to that of either Blood or Ergo Proxy. Storyline represents that of more classic Ainme demons against each other. Soundtrack is quite good, very "Computer game" feel to it. The fight scenes are all very flash and high in 3D quality. The reason I didn't rate it a 10 would mainly be due to it having slow parts that seem overly slow and sometimes, although the fight scenes are real nice, do get a bit mish mash and lose you on what is actually happening. nice addition to any collection of ainme films. Possibly one of the best demon related Ainme's out there. The dubbing is done extremely well and not too Anericanised either

i'm sorry if you guys didn't understand it, but it made prefect sense to me. but i totally get where your coming from, my boyfriend had to watch it a couple of times before he got it. i thought the animation was well done, and don't get me started on the action. to be honest the movie really did't call out to me in the store but my BF talked me into it. And i'm glad he did cuz i fell in love with this movie.i would be glad to explain the movie to anybody. i was jumping for joy when i found out it was part of a six part series. and i can't wait for the next installment. if anybody knows where i can buy any for cheap, that would be awesome.

Pros: This movie will blow your socks off in terms of visuals. Karas: The Prophecy is very fast paced and the character designs are very unique and nothing like anything you've seen stateside. The story is coherent enough for the viewer to understand and the dubbing is far better than expected. The music and sound effects are spectacular and coupled with the great visuals, it is a feast for the eyes and ears.

Cons: Unfortunately, this animated feature flows more like a TV show than a movie and the pace of this feature can get a little broken at times. Secondly, my 2nd gripe about Karas is that the visuals are so mind-blowing and fast, it's sometimes hard to follow the animation. You almost have to watch some of the fights in slow-mo to see exactly how the fight progresses.

This is a great movie to rent or to buy for anime lovers, and as a comic fan, this movie feels like it jumped out of a graphic novel. A new Hero is born!