Karas: The Prophecy

This movie is sick. The animation is some of the best I've seen. That being said the first time through I missed a lot of the story so it didn't make much sense. Watch it again! The story is really good once you can see past the amazing visuals, the colors and different approach to storytelling is so good I can't speak enough about this DVD. One of the few DVD's I can watch multiple times with out ever getting bored, it's like watching art in motion, you don't have to understand it to appreciate it.

The better the system you run Karas on the more you will enjoy it. This was made to push the limits of your audio and video equipment get ready to be blown away.

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

First of all, do not watch the movie without having Karas: The Revelation, too. It basically ends abruptly and Revelation starts abruptly at the same point in the story.

The film is a Japanese anime, but in a style that is not often met. The characters are designed in an original way and the usual great Japanese animation is complimented with 3D-like, very fast, action sequences. And, before you say it out loud, it looks good, not like the usual 3D crap, and it blends very well, without that feeling of changing art style.

The plot is a bit weird and not easily grasped and felt, however once you get it, it's OK. Every city is alive and it creates a creature that looks like a punkish little girl to blend with a human soul and create a Karas, which is raven in Japanese, not a golden fish. The Karas is the city protector, both in physical and spiritual senses. Also, the city is full of demons that normal people cannot see, but that are essential to the functioning of the city. The demons do feed off human blood, but usually in a non violent way, and they gain strength from the human belief in them.

Now, the bad guy comes, a disgruntled former Karas, bent on destroying all humans, which he sees as spoilers of the city. The demons can't do much about it, since people have stopped believing in them and so are weak to the point of dissolution. The bad Karas is merging demons with machines to create monsters that eat humans and obey his commands.

The premise is pretty fun, the characters are also interesting, and the conflicts, while being pretty obvious and a bit childish, are also with enough complexity to add to the film. Where Karas chines is the action sequences, which are great in term of design and scale and animation. You often get these slow motion scenes where humans just seem to freeze in time, while supernatural creatures take long conversations and battle at ridiculous speeds and power levels.

Bottom line: not as complex as many anime that I've seen, but with great animation. It's like a Japanese blockbuster anime movie: simple plot, great special effects.

After being rushed to an emergency ward in a hospital, a man is called to protect the spirit world by becoming both a doctor and a guardian. By battling a man who once had his job in the past and the spirits whom he took under his wing and turned them into machines that feed on human blood, Otoha has to preserve the balance of the human world and the nether world by using his power as a Karas.

Guaranteed that if you love action, you will be drawn into the movie by the first 10 minutes of this film. The story strikes as odd but the action completely makes up for it, for every minute of boring talk and calm scene, there is an equal minute of hardcore fighting. Combining both CG and Japanese animation, this is truly a masterpiece of anime. If you're a first timer, I would highly recommend this film.