Shadow Skill

Shadowskill is a series of two parts; an OAV and the epilogue. It tells the story of a Gau, an orphaned boy who is adopted as younger brother of a beautiful young martial arts master. Yet again, this isn't a cartoon for the kiddies, as it is a martial-arts drama containing graphic violence.

The opening of the story comes across as a hotchpotch of parts as it explains the formation of the group of main characters. This probably comes across as disjointed because of the story's origins as a Bumper Comic, originally published in short installments. Confusingly, the main characters fight a series of monsters with loosely explained premises. This is all well and good if you just want to see some action, but not easy to take seriously.

The second half of the OAV is the only part of the OAV plot that I find really interesting. It deals with a fight between two dear friends who have been turned against each other. I feel that this addresses the issue of obligation and honour more clearly than the earlier part of the story, but yet again I feel like the background is somewhat glossed over. Perhaps it was felt that a superficial storyline would less interfere with the pace of the action. I don't know if it pays off, but a bunch off blustering people throwing around glowy fireballs isn't my idea of action any way.

Some of the art is appealing but for the most part the plot lets it down. I think that Shadowskill suffers from tenuous character development and melodramatic nonsense, though I am not really a big fan of martial-arts drama stories. The animation of the fight scenes is not too bad, though it seems to be needlessly bloody. I don't feel that waves of blood add much to the plot line, or the realism of the fighting.

Westerners may find some of the devices of the story confusing. In a way that is becoming increasingly familiar to animé fans (primarily due to the advent of Shoujo animé like Card Captor Sakura) magic is cast from cards, or more technically "Ofuda". This is a Shinto concept. Unfortunately this will probably seem weird to most people especially as the cards have to be subtitled because their names are in Japanese kanji. In the Madman release of this production this subtitling is done with glowing green subtitles, which looks kind of cheesy.

It is amusing to note that though the OAV and the epilogue share the same name, they are produced completely differently. From one to the other new characters have been introduced, and the personality of already established characters has changed. One of the main supporting characters is recognisable only by her attire and the mole that she has on her cheek; in the first production having short blue hair and in the second having long brown hair.

The epilogue has more comedy and more attractive art. The production quality comes across as higher, from the story telling to the pacing and the soundtrack. The animation is well done, though, as is fairly common with this sort of animé, the action comes across as far-fetched and fantastic. It is not uncommon to see parts of the scenery exploding with the ferocious blows of our protagonists, and a training battle in the middle of a rockslide has to be seen to be believed.

I can see this being popular primarily with guys aged 15 to 20, or younger, if they can get it past their parents. The plot isn't very deep and there is some "fan service" (though not much). Personally I'd give it about a 5/10; I could watch it again, but I will probably have better things to do.

Shadow Skill, both the 80 minute prequel and 50 minute sequel (is there such a thing as a "quel"?), are more style than substance.

There's some decent animation, but it's marred by too many extended beauty shots and ropey translations (and idiotic scrolling subtitles for some written text). Also, the plot (such as it is) is a series of fragmented and appallingly cliched vignettes (oh look, a bar fight).

In fact, Shadow Skill looks like a bunch of Playstation beat-em-up game sequences strung together with some talking head conversations.

Hard to see why they bothered, really. If you must watch Shadow Skill, try the 50 minute sequel, not the inferior 80 minute prequel.

Shadow Skill looks like a rather strange short OVA by the modern standards of anime film making, short on plot, high on action and violence. Some would consider this to be a thing lacking in the anime industry by modern standards and if you are going to look at it solely on that, they're right. But this is so much more than just ultra violence, this kind of thing was the beginning of the Anime Boom in the West, where imported sub versions drove up the desire for people to do voice overs and the Western Dub scene began.

For a short OVA based on a Martial Arts story in a short panelled manga, this ova does a helluvalot with the source material, from the insane action and violence, to the simple yet elegant plot that weaves its story very well, piecing together the heroes journey they're on and the fulfilment of the titular Gau coming of age character.

This was one of the first things I saw of Anime, one of the best things I've seen in ultra violence and I honestly want to see more of it one day, when there's enough demand for true violent and gory anime that doesn't involve Yandere characters.

Shadow skill is a poor excuse for a film, let alone an anime. From the start it throws you into the thick of plot which is complex (but hey, a lot of good animes do have complex plots) ,slightly shoddy and has been used way to many times before. Where as some films throw you in the thick of a plot and let the viewer figure out the plot for themselves to the viewer's satisfactory, Shadow Skill is just a barrage of confusion from start to the very end (if you can last that long). Shadow Skill does have one strong point though; some of the fight scenes are are very good. After all, Shadow Skill is an action/adventure anime but the fights do not save it. The plot is just so darn bad!!! If you want a good action anime, try fist of the north star and don't let Shadow Skill ruin any good anime experiences for the future.

Shadow Skill has all that you want from a action anime: fight scenes, blood, gore, competent dialogue, if you think you relate to certain anime characters, this anime is for you. From the king of the moon, to Ella, to her younger brother Gal, you will be surprised as to how well this classic holds up compared to a more produced, or "polished" anime. I first watched it on the action channel, which no longer exists. It is truly one of those anime's you must watch, because it will be brought up some day in your future and you will look stupid for not having seen it!

All kidding aside, I recommend this movie to people age 13 and older, because despite the blood and gore, it will instill you with a sense of righteousness you never knew you had. If someone ever tells you that shadow skill is mediocre, they probably don't watch a lot of anime, because it does have its flaws. I believe the frame rate might be a little low or something, its actually been a while since I've seen it, so I just remember how awesome it was.