Alexander Senki

The new series by Peter Chung (maker of Aeon Flux) is beautiful. After watching the first episode aired on Cartoon Network, I can definately say that "Reign, The Conqueror" is one of the best anime series created in recent times. Peter Chung's unique style of character design creates a world of fantasy that takes the watcher on a sci-fi journey with limitless possibilities.

The Plot (the chronology of the tale, and the way it goes around the Greek world of that time in its philosophy and vision of world and life) of this animation meets the big cycle of Death and rebirth, the need of destruction for a new generation. The Hero, who's demons are his fate of war and thirst of conquest, doesn't doubt about himself when he finally realizes that he's only following a natural impulse, the motive, the energy that (according to Sandor Marai's novel "A Gyertyak Csonkig Egnek") is born in each person and dies when the goal is done. Alexander also died young, at his 32 years old. The oracles, the characters: warriors, assasains, philosophers, they all worship and hate, build, protect, and try to kill the Hero, or as he sees himself, a God. This animation is worth to see for the wonderful sequences of war, psychological conflicts in each character, and the raise of a King: the retelling of the History through the vision of mysticism, Fate, and the natural and necessary Cycle of Life: death and Rebirth.

This maybe one of the most underrated cartoons of all time. If your are a fan of Aeon Flux. Then you should love this show. The art style of "Reign" is beautiful. Very unique and creative. Not like any other anime out their. Unlike other cartoons, "Reign" has a deep story. After watching one show, you'll want too see another. The plot is alittle too complex at times. But that doesn't matter because everything gets explained throughout the show. You get a feeling of real personality in each character (Good/Bad/Evil). The fight scenes are graphic and slick.

If you're use too cheesy Anime. Then this might not be the show for you. You'll just have too go back to you're Dragon Ball Z on Cartoon Network. This is how adult cartoons should be. I could only wish their was more.

They took off Inuyasha and Torigun for this garbage?How horrible!I had to miss the last half of Torigun for this.While the animation may have been somewhat cool,I couldn't get past some of the REALLY creepy stuff going on.The men were all half naked,but this wasn't very sexy at all.They were ugly,girly men wearing cod pieces.They insulted the real history of Alexander the Great,not to mention Alexander himself by making him look like Aeon Flux.He looks like a lady instead of a guy.Then there's the fact that this took place in the 24th century.Why would anyone want to live this in real life?Isn't this supposed to be the same century Duck Dodgers exist in?Never mind.Then there's the fact Ptolomy(spelling correction) looks like Robin from Batman.Did he admire him or something?I just kept on waiting for him to blurt out"Holy hot rockets Batman!" or something similar.And I kept wondering if the Joker was going to pop out of nowhere with Batman on his trail.This is how bad the show was.Now about the creepy stuff.I kind of thought Alexander's mother was a little too friendly with the siamese python.Then the suggestion by the king's advisor of Alexander's real paternity,and showing the scene where the snake was helping his mom give birth.Just what were they trying to suggest?Then there was the creepy, little man that behaved like a dog,yet sounded like Yoda for some reason.What was up with that?He even had a magic barrel which turned into the center of the universe.And he turned himself into a flesh colored bulldog.This is an insult to Yoda from Starwars.And the queen's wicked laugh.I swear if I had to hear her annoying laughter again,I was going to puncture my eardrums with sharp pencils.Her laughter was enough to make me scream.I hope Adult Swim does us a favor,by dumping this in a minefield somewhere.Don't ever take off the really good shows,(even temporarily), for junk like this again Adult Swim!

A fantastic Anime.

Brought to you by Peter Chung (Aeon Flux), Rintaro (Astro Boy, Metropolis), and Masao Murayama (Trigun), Reign the Conqueror brings a breath of fresh air to an industry inundated with work that ignores or forgets history.

Deep and introspective, Reign covers the life of Alexander the Great with a Sci-Fi twist, mailign characterization, and a signature animation style. This title may be too deep for some, but for the philospher it is an ideal story that features several of the world's great thinkers (Socrates, Euclid and Diogenes just to name some - Aristotle's voice is supplied by John Rafter Lee, the VA behind dreadfully morose Meiyer Link of Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust).

Though it seems that Madhouse studios takes shortcuts in their animation that other firms tend to avoid - there are still some incredible drawn and CG visuals that lend Reign an almost Psycotropic atmosphere.