X-Men

While I love these original comic book stories, straight from the source, even animation wise, these Marvel Anime segments aren't my favorite to watch, great X-Men story though!

I really enjoyed this visually stunning X-men series. Everything looked great. I thought the story had a more mature theme then most animations of the X-Men and I thought most of the characters' personalities were spot on as I've been a comic collector of X-men for 30+ years. Storm tho I felt was a little underutilized and the exception as her personality wasn't as regal as should be but not too far off. Also Emma wasn't as "frosty" as she could be but leaned more towards her "teacher" personality. Wolverine was done the best. Arrogant and kind of an ass with his witty remarks but always with a big heart underneath his rough words and seeing his berserker persona was a real treat. Cyclops struggles were true to his personality. Beast and Xavier were as true as well. Armor was a pleasant addition. Mastermind with the addition of newly thought out enemies to back him was very good to witness. Battles were visually stunning and enjoyable and showed some different things and that's saying a lot, especially showing one way to stop wolverine I've never seen before that was interesting and I have almost every comic with him in it. Great ideas. Well thought out story leads to an epic ending. The biggest reason I write this review instead of giving my rating and moving on? I thought the average rating fair tho I gave higher and was stunned a whooping 9 out of 11 people giving reviews for this was below the overall average. Take that into account. Please don't let the few loud haters keep you from giving this great 12 episode story a try.

I am a big fan of Japanese anime and I also like the X-men universe, so I thought I would like this a lot. But after watching X-men there is no good thing about it I can think of.

The animation is obsolete, something I would have expected from animes in the 80's maybe. I was so confused, in fact, that in order to complete this review I went back a few times to make really sure I saw the 2012 version and not some knock off.

The story makes no sense, with insane and cardboard bad guys, ridiculous female characters and really boring and bad dialogue. The difference between the powers and behaviour of female heroes compared to male ones was immense and totally uncalled for. All of the Japanisation of X-men had the problem that they made all characters behave like Japanese people, actually, but this was the worst. Imagine that Storm got tired after each attack and the other two: Armor and Emma Frost, could do only defensive things and maybe give a punch or a kick sometimes. Even Jean, the character that dies in the start of the series, can only do one thing: die to protect her friends. Useless in almost any battle, they are there to be protected and talk about feelings.

What I think bothered me most, though, is the lameness of it all. After anime of terrible beauty and horror and others brilliant ones about friendship and camaraderie, after twisted tales of amazing character complexity, the Japanese think they could reintroduce X-Men to their country using this crap: empty dialogue, cardboard characters, stupid plot, stunted violence.

Conclusion: You want something Japanese with super powers, just watch Akira! This series is a stain on the anime community.

Surprisingly solid, especially after the severely underwhelming Wolverine anime. It's hardly breaking new ground and there's nothing especially new or original here, but it's solidly realized and feels true to the characters. It takes bits from the Dark Phoenix saga and The Brood, as well as others. Worth watching for what it is.

Lately there are a bunch of almost classic cartoons being revived in Japan. English spoken but based in Japan.

X-men, Iron Man, Wolverine, Thundercats, maybe more? Not sure about the last one. All of these are OK to watch but it seems quite unlikely that Japan is suddenly the center of the world. That part of it is starting to annoy me because it's like the rest of the world hardly even exists. Also the drawing style (anime?) just doesn't really feel right not just because of the drawing style but also because classic characters are depicted wrongly. Wolverine in Wolverine for instance is very thin/slenderly drawn and has more feline features than wolf features. Beast in X-men has a doggy face, looks ridiculous. The slim/slender type can be seen in all characters which is just a tad off. Power wise things are off a bit as well. Especially Storm, she's quite weak now.

Typically Asian, the show is quite long winded. The story could be told 2-3x as fast. But on the other hand is does give a bit more room for deeper development. If you're into that. Personally I'm not and to me it ads to many boring parts to the story. And every episode is a cliffhanger, no one likes that and shouldn't be abused like this.

Then there is the problem of where exactly to put it in the X-men universes? Seems like it fits after the last stand movie but Cyclops and Xavier are alive and well. But Jane is dead, died similarly to "last stand".

I'm not really watching the show anymore but simply PIP'in it while doing something else. So listening to it for a big part in the background.