Supernatural: The Animation

Season 1 is a anime remix of the series one and two. The reviewer who complained about the exposition dumps apparently remembers season 1 of the live action differently than I do. They used to stop and tell each other things like this all the time.

The anime has the standards conventions - people change hair color to suit the environment (although I am saddened that Sam's hair never has the emotional acting that anime hair often does.) Dean is a horn-dog with an open face, Sam is obsessed with finding Dad and The Thing That Killed Mom and Jess. He gets the classical anime hero drawing. John is the gruff, tragic father - shadowed, square jawed and 20 feet tall. The true break is Bobby who seems to be older and much fatter than he should be. The English dub would also make him from New York. You either accept these things or you do not. Anime viewers are not thrown by these.

The actual supernatural elements are actually better than the series. The gore factor certainly gets a boost. The anime is the Winchesters driving into a different ghost story every week. It was a blast to visit and if you like season one and two, you should definitely watch.

I am a massive Supernatural fan, and I have to say the anime adaptation to the original storyline of seasons 1 and 2 is brilliant, it explains everything and more of the original series. When I say it explains more I mean the episodes in which Dean and John (Sam and Deans dad) are hunting something together whilst Sam is only just meeting Jessica (Sams girlfriend who died) at college, this gives you a deeper understanding of all of their past and also a deeper understanding of the relationships between characters in which you did not get to see in the original series.

However, each episode of the original series was around 40mins (minus TV Ads) with 22 episodes which is 44 episodes in 2 seasons, this anime adaptation is around 20mins long (Minus TV ads) and only 22 episodes adapting the original series season 1 and 2 which would have been hard to do in 1 season of 22 40min long episodes so its even harder to cram it all into 22 episodes lasting 20mins, so because of that some of the detail from the original series has been removed or rushed.

I think Sam and John are played really well Sam's voice is the original seasons star Jared Padalecki, who plays Sam just as well animated or on the live-action show. I was a little disappointed in Deans character, in the original season Dean is physically tough, Mentally Strong and the best hunter you can find, where as in the animated version he is still physically tough but nowhere near as mentally strong as in the original (he cries a lot) and they make him out to be a sloppy hunter too. Bobby is the worst adaptation by far, not involved enough and nowhere near his character in the original.

All in all I thought it was a brilliant adaptation. Same brilliant storyline but episodes are not exactly the same, which helps if you are a supernatural fan that has watched the original, if you have never seen supernatural the original I Don't KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING WITH YOUR LIFE, you should watch that before you watch this. THOROUGHLY ENJOYED

Terry, London, England

Enjoyed immensely all 22 episodes of the 2011 "Supernatural" anime DVD, which is based on Seasons 1 and 2 of the live action series shown on The CW Network (USA). Not only is the animation superb, but it goes beyond the usual Japanese anime conventions into some really cool and gorgeous visual effects. Episodes are introduced by Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki, as a team or separately, depending on the episode. Jared does the voice of "Sam Winchester" for all 22 episodes; Jensen voices "Dean Winchester" in episodes 21 and 22 -- "All Hell Breaks Loose, Parts I and II." Although Andrew Farrar, who voices "Dean" in episodes 1 through 20, does a fine job (and on occasion does sound eerily like "Dean"), the episodes voiced by Jensen Ackles are "pure Dean" and superior because of his distinctive vocal gifts.

In addition the anime features a number of original-story episodes that fit well into the Season 1 and 2 canons. They are well written, absorbing, and really fun to watch. The graphics and animation are truly outstanding on two distinct levels: (1) a jaw-dropping feel of "bigness," complexity, angles of view, and scary gore; and (2) lyrically beautiful color/contrast, architecture, design, and appeal. Having a nightmarish monster lurking in front of a background as delicate as a Hiroshige drawing is breathtaking! The DVD also contains an extended interview with Eric Kripke as well as in-depth interviews with Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles (together and individually) that really explore how this unique "Supernatural" project developed, and what the principals think about it. Very interesting stuff, as is the back office look at the Mad House Team that put this wonderful project together and the diverse elements that went into it. The choice of a female director to do the emotional, sensitive story lines and a male director to do the gore-and-guts action sequences was quite interesting.

Buy the "Supernatural" anime DVD; as a fan of either live action or anime -- or both, you will love it!

Sure, it isn't Supernatural. But if you want more and some other point of views or a bit more back story...and if you like anime..then give it a shot.

It isn't 60 fps like other animes though, it is what I would call 'choppy' and the use of black/white a lot of the time and not being actually 'noir' might turn some people off, I found that bit of animation kinda cool. The fact Sam is actually voiced by the real Sam makes it a bonus and the voice actor for Dean sounds pretty spot on is good enough for me.

Don't expect to be blown away or anything but if you are a fan of SN and aren't going to judge harshly then definitely give this a try. If you like both than you will probably enjoy this show.

i have seen people saying watch this if you have not watched the live action i say it's the other way round due to all of the lore being there but it's not explained as much and relies on you watching the live action, the dub is okay like any dub it has it's problems but what makes supernatural great is there and it's one hell of a ride !

Sam and Dean look like they should and there are some really good re-imagining of some characters that i will not spoil here. I think it's a shame most people who reviewed this only watched the first episode as with most thing the quality increases drastically after the first episode especially the animation that was not bad to begin with.

the bottom line is if you like supernatural and wonder about if things happened a bit differently deferentially give it a watch just make sure you watch past the first episode before judging it i love it and i hope you do too