X-Men Anime is the best marvel adaptation to date!!!!!!!!

[Godman]

This Anime nailed it on all accounts. The drama, action, sci fi, animation, presentation, all ****ted on the movie franchise and brought me back into the X world like none other, the style was just GREAT!!!! The theme was dope and Wolverine was NOT the star of the show. thank you japan. you did what american couldn't since the early 90s

[bes628]

Im currently watching the series but so far its just ok.

- The animation could go either way depending on how big of a fan you are of the Anime style, me personally I think its a tad too stylized.

- Not sure im a fan of the U-Men being the enemy for this series so far.

- seems to be slow developing.

Those are my thoughts so far.


Overall: I think its pretty boring storywise maybe its due to me having to read subtitles but idk...its just not holding my interest. I think both Evo and Wolverine and the X-Men were better entertainment.

[Godman]

Originally Posted by bes628

Im currently watching the series but so far its just ok.

- The animation could go either way depending on how big of a fan you are of the Anime style, me personally I think its a tad too stylized.

- Not sure im a fan of the U-Men being the enemy for this series so far.

- seems to be slow developing.

Those are my thoughts so far.


Overall: I think its pretty boring storywise maybe its due to me having to read subtitles but idk...its just not holding my interest. I think both Evo and Wolverine and the X-Men were better entertainment.

well, its the style i like and quite different from any rendition. i LOVE the style and i feel xmen needed this treatment from the jump. I prefer this than any movie rendition for sure though. At least this gets the characters right and its "XMEN" and not "wolverine and the xmen"

[JeanGrey]

Ive just started watching this......A M A Z I N G! I love Xmen, and just had my kids watch the old xmen on Netflix. When I found this show......so got me back into Xmen. Im only on episode 3 but HOOKED!!!! Kinda sad that the Dark Phoenix/Jean Grey only had 5min air time, esp since shes my favorite character. (obviously hence the SN) Hoping they do bring her back in some future episodes tho....Looking forward to seeing the story line/plot pans out. So far so good!

[JeanGrey]

Did anyone see Shaw's face after Jean "blew herself up" in the first episode? What was up with that smirk? Does that mean she will be coming back, and he KNOWS that via the smirk................bc he cant be happy that shes "dead", right?

[Drefan21]

I really liked the 1st and 2nd episode! Sadly after that the anime was boring. Although the last episode was really good and made me wanting more.

[EvilClareToo]

It started off well, but it will downhill a la Wolverine quickly. The story dragged on too long-it should have wrapped up in 6 or 7 episodes. And the standing around and talking over the obvious instead of fighting did irritate me. I did like the Nightcrawler/Deadpool team-up at the end-kudos for that!

[Longshot777]

When will this air in America???

G4 channel

[akfj]

The Wolverine and Iron Man animes have aired 4 episodes each. At the rate G4 is airing them, it will take two more months for the X-Men and Blade animes to air if they're aired right after the current shows.

[November Rain]

does anyone know where i can find this, i'm quite surprised there isn't more than a single thread on the entire subject, it's not like the hype to neglect an animated show like this

[RLAAMJR.]

x-men anime was kinda cool, but it lacks story. They also made Storm very weak.

[C. Lee]

I picked up a 2 disc Japanese animated X-Men series today at Wal-Mart.....I will assume it is the series being talked about in here.

[natey2k4]

Originally Posted by C. Lee

I picked up a 2 disc Japanese animated X-Men series today at Wal-Mart.....I will assume it is the series being talked about in here.

Yeah, I just picked it up along with Iron Man.

I'm not a huge fan of anime (I don't think I've really enjoyed any), but I figured for $6 a pop, why not give it a shot.

[Dread]

I'd been aware of the MARVEL ANIME project since 2009 when it was first announced and then in 2010-2011 when it began airing in Japan and ultimately G4. While I get the basic thrust of the angle, I do wonder if it is really "anime" in the traditional sense. Sure, it was animated by Madhouse, one of the top animation studios in Japan, but Marvel have collaborated with them for plenty of animated projects. All of the four 12 episode series for the collaboration were written by Warren Ellis, and most of the characters in the series are official Marvel characters. The only difference is Madhouse got more leeway with character designs (although they all had to be recognizable and conform to the basics of the characters) and they directed the episodes. I personally just consider them a set of four 12 episode TV mini-series with more of an eye for an audience beyond American children. I happened across the X-MEN ANIME in a Best Buy's for $15 last month and since it (along with BLADE) were the only two I was remotely interested in, I gave it a whirl.

My verdict? While it isn't my favorite X-Men animated series ever, I found myself enjoying it more than I intended. It was the most recent X-Men animated series since "WOLVERINE & THE X-MEN" was called from NickToons in 2010 and perhaps the first which is almost especially geared towards a teenage/young adult audience rather than 6-12 year olds foremost. It shares quite a few narrative parallels from the premise of "W&TXM" but executes them in different ways. While Ellis cites the story as original, it is heavily inspired by a few classic X-Men tales, while wisely focusing on a small central cast as well as allowing some newer characters a chance at animation.

Spoiler!!! Click to Read!:

Much like "W&TXM", the series begins with Jean Grey/Phoenix blowing up after being manipulated by the Inner Circle, which causes the X-Men to break up for a year. The crisis which forces them to reunite ultimately involves them running into Emma Frost, who is at least suspected of having something to do with Jean's death. The death of Jean naturally causes Cyclops to regress into depression and bitterness, which is something Wolverine has little tolerance for. The major difference here between this show and "W&TXM" is that Wolverine isn't the star and thus Cyclops doesn't exist merely to make him look better. This show also doesn't forget that not only Cyclops would have mourned the loss of Jean; even Logan's love for her is remembered, which "W&TXM" totally omitted.

The central cast for the show is wisely kept small with the cameos limited to the final episodes. The X-Men are Cyclops, Wolverine, Beast, Storm, and Professor X; they are joined by Emma Frost and Joss Whedon's co-creation, Hisako/Armor, around the 2nd/3rd episode. Hisako is new to animation and this series really allows her to shine; she shares the meat of the focus alongside Frost and Cyclops and the setting in Japan helps showcase that. The U-Men, who are also newer villains from Grant Morrison's run, also appear as cybernetic fanatics who hate mutants yet harvest their organs for their own experiments. The only major original creation for this series is Yui Sasaki, Professor X's long lost ex. However, Yui is obviously inspired by Moira McTaggart to the point that even her hair and occupation is virtually identical. She ultimately shares another detail with Moira, as the final leg of the series evolves into a loose adaptation of the PROTEUS storyline, only set in Japan instead of Scotland. Considering that the PROTEUS story was only adapted by the 90's X-Men series, I didn't mind seeing it again. While "Dark Phoenix" is something I am tired of seeing, Jean is rushed off the stage quickly. The other new characters for the show are mostly mid-level villains; Kick, who is named after a drug from Morrison's run who is one of the U-Men alongside John Sublime, and some of the minor members of the Inner Circle. Mastermind is adapted from the comics, but his allies are odd creations Rat and Marsh, who seem to be rejects from the Nasty Boyz more than Hellfire Club members.

I do think it is wise rather than have Marvel Anime versions of characters be transformed into crude anime stereotypes, that they remain American based characters in the shows themselves; it is simply the plots which are set in Japan. This works well with the X-Men who have traveled to Japan many times in the comics, and also countries such as the aforementioned Scotland, Britain, and even Australia. The plot revolves around the X-Men being summoned to locate Hisako when she is kidnapped in Japan, which eventually leads into a whole abduction ring by the U-Men and ultimately the darker side of Yui's plan to find a cure for her incredibly powerful and unstable bastard child with Xavier, Takeo - which ends up creating a virus which causes mutant powers to flare out of control and then burn out, killing the host.

I naturally listened to the English dub, and overall it is well cast. Steve Blum - who made his chops dubbing anime in the early 90's long before the mainstream ever noticed it - reprises his role as Wolverine here (which he doesn't do for the WOLVERINE ANIME, oddly), and as usual he's awesome. Fred Tatasciore reprises his role as Beast and Jennifer Hale also reprises her role of Jean Grey from "W&TXM" too, and as usual does a solid job with what she has, which is a lot of screaming and later psychic ghost speech moments. From here we have some new actors in various roles. The legendary Cam Clarke - best known as Leonardo from the original TMNT cartoon but who has played no end of characters - voices Professor X and while it did take me time to get used to him, he does a fine job overall. Danielle Nicolet, best known from "FAMILY MATTERS" and "3RD ROCK FROM THE SUN" voices Storm, and she actually made her sound more youthful than I am used to. Scott Porter from "FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS" plays Cyclops here and despite not doing a lot of voice work does do ol' Slim justice. Ali Hillis voices Frost and it was actually strange hearing the character voiced without an English accent; it is as if someone remembered that Frost was born in Boston. Stephanie Sheh voices Hisako/Armor, and the role is similar to a lot of anime dubbing roles she has had. Gwendoline Yeo, who voiced several characters on "W&TXM" (such as Domino) plays Yui Sasaki here, and some other OCEAN GROUP dub veterans also have roles here and there.

Fans of Storm may be disappointed as she's portrayed as being almost laughably weak here. All she seems to ever do is use her wind-power to fly and summon her trademark electric bolts, and she seems to tire for several minutes after doing the latter. Armor's powers are often drawn to look a bit generic in many comics, but really come to life in this series; overall I think it is a good thing to try to make new blood stick with the audience by showcasing them sometimes in media adaptations like this. Cyclops' optic blasts do translate well into an anime-themed production, as one would expect.

Ellis' script isn't perfect but his dialogue is usually better than his plotting (which usually devolves into "and then the X-Men fight something odd" every episode). While Wolverine gets the sorts of lines and moments in the series one would expect, he isn't treated as the paragon of morality here. Storm and even Beast will call him out on something, such as being too "macho" or suggesting that they murder Frost while she's unconscious upon first finding her. Ironically, Wolverine ends up trusting Frost before Cyclops does DESPITE the fact that Logan would have killed her in her sleep if Cyclops didn't stop him. Cyclops' angst here isn't treated as something which hopelessly hobbles him; he still seeks to act as the X-Men's leader and all the other X-Men (and the Professor) treat him as such - even if they'd all like him to figure out some way to heal or move on in their own ways. Shippers may be disappointed as Cyclops and Frost don't exactly hook up, unless you consider "one sided suspicion and contempt" as foreplay. You could argue this is another X-Men production in which Cyclops' life revolves around Jean or mourning her despite her being dead in the comics for EIGHT ENTIRE YEARS NOW, but this show handles it better than "W&TXM" did. Beast naturally acts as everyone's favorite furry scientist who can be counted on for genetics exposition as well as snarling and pouncing on enemies. As the plot revolves heavily around Hisako, she naturally gets a lot to do and her Armor form is basically powerful enough to overcome anything the plot demands.

On the upside, I found this show's version of Mastermind (voiced by Travis Willingham) to be a perfectly solid villain, in that he was smarmy and I couldn't stand him. On the downside, the story does suffer from decompression and a somewhat awkward finale. Jean Grey's spirit seems to come back at critical moments to deliver exposition or inspiration, and at one point she orders the X-Men to get up and fight...only for them to continue standing around and waiting for Hisako and Xavier to talk the end threat down. The same X-Men who consider Yui's aiding, abetting, and capitalizing on a gang of murderous cyborgs morally reprehensible suddenly forget about all that and allow her to walk off with Xavier at the end without any comeuppance. While the action on the whole is good and mature - Wolverine actually stabs things, villains get blown to bits, etc. - I did at times find the storyboarding somewhat awkward with the crazy angles and shaky camera. Wolverine has a fight with a winged mutant outside the Blackbird in episode 4 and for the life of me I could not follow much of it at all. The Inner Circle are far more "comic book" style villains here, consisting of one dapper man who wants to manipulate omega-class mutants into blowing up stuff for him, and his two bizarre henchmen.

Overall, however, I found it to be a solid X-Men mini series. It felt more like a team series than "W&TXM" did and I enjoyed the character models and didn't mind the change of scenery. The only way it could have been better would have been with a better structured finale and Colossus in the main cast, but that's just my own preference. At a price of under $1.50 an episode, however, it was totally solid.

[psylockolussus]

Nothing will top the 90's X-Men animated series!