X-Men

Anime is not for everyone. The Japanese have a totally different way of approaching entertainment than America does. Whether it's music, fashion, movies, music and even cartoons. I'm not a big Anime fan. I think it's all long winded and they stretch stories out that into 60 episodes that could have been told in 25. I have a few anime cartoons that I love but for the most part I'm not a huge fan but when I heard about Marvel making X-Men into an anime series I was a little anxious to see it. I love everything about the X-Universe so I wanted to support.

Now, I actually like the series. I enjoy it because the same story continues throughout the entire season, unlike in America where it's a different story every episode. The way the storyline is set up helps you connect more with the characters and the plot. There are some inhibitions but no one is ever 100% with every single film or TV show they watch so that's to be expected. Overall, I thought it was done very well. There were a lot of elements to the series that give past X-Men fans something to smile but Madhouse Studios definitely revamped it to appeal to their faithful anime followers. You have mutated monsters, more technology, mutation can get to a level to where it gets deadly without proper control, etc. There are a lot of elements that are refreshing to watch and the action is definitely fun to.

Sometimes I think that adults that watch cartoons seem to forget that these shows are made for kids. The dialogue is going to cheesy and sometimes stupid but it has to be for kids to understand. Some of these reviews are just weird to me. I wonder what people were expecting to get from this. The series pretty much stayed true to it's identity, it's an anime cartoon whose foundation started from the X-Men world. I just took it for what it was and it made me enjoy it more. I even bought the DVD. I definitely would recommend this for people to watch. It's not everyone but if you watch without the expectation that it's going to be like the other X-Men animated series that are American made, you'll enjoy it more.

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The animation is obsolete, something I would have expected from animes in the 80's maybe.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.

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.

When I was a kid a watched a lot of episodes of the cartoon. Also the reruns, but I think I never watched the whole series. So as an adult I also watched the movies, which I liked mostly I think (long time ago). I did not see any comic/anime/cartoon or whatever else.

So suddenly I see there is an anime on Netflix. So I started watching it. First I was thinking: this is nice. But the more I am watching it the more it starts bothering me. I want to skip the action scenes, they all look a like and it feels like a filler. The story has a few plots, but it is not original and it is predictable. Everything happens just on the right moment.

I did not like beast who has the role to explain everything to the viewer. Suddenly he knows everything and he is connecting the dots. It is actually childish I think. So maybe I am the wrong target group as an adult. I think as a child between 10 and 15 this would be nice.

There are big muscles, big breasts, thight suits, (almost) no blood, technology/sci-fi things, it can be a bit scary sometimes, but overall everything is descend. And if you do not focus on the quality it actually looks pretty nice once you are in it. Sometimes they look funny but overall the action is great on screen. You can feel it, but then again the action itself can be boring.

So let's give it a 7 if the target group is young, it is a 4 or 5 for adults.

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!