The world of the humans and the world of the demons (yōkai) have overlapped one another, leaving humans to walk the streets of life as they normally would, while demons walk, hidden from the naked eye, down the very same streets. A seemingly young woman named Yurine and her servant; the Karas have long maintained order and balance between the overlapped worlds, ultimately keeping the demons from interrupting the lives of humans. However, humans have come to forget and jest at the existence of demons, and no longer understand the privilege it is to live without fear. Disgusted by this arrogance, an old Karas turns his back on the laws he had once upheld, and in his human form, named Eko, he creates an army of Mikura, or mechanized demons, to ready an attack on the human race.
A young man named Otoha inherits the powers of the Karas and takes his place at the side of Yurine, who claims that his soul called out for her while he lived the life of a human. They live in the world of the demons. It is now up to Otoha to prove himself as a Karas, and restore the balance that Eko threatens to upset. Meanwhile, a superstitious police officer named Sagisaka and his rational new recruit, Kure, follow the trail of the murders dealt by Eko's Mikura, as well as the trail of a rogue Mikura named Nue. The prophecy unfolds from here into a grave revelation for all in the city.
Review:
The Karas series deals with a lot of ancient Japanese mythology and environmental issues for those of u who don’t know the word Karas means “Crow” in Japanese. This series has been ongoing for almost 3 years, that is a lot of time for a show considering that its only 6 episodes series. The reason for it being that the show got stalled during productions due to various circumstances but got restarted two years after the first three volumes were release. But it has finally been released in its entirety, on a side note this will be the first actually DVD review of an Anime show most of my reviews are based of the fansubs.
Story:
I have always been intrigued by Japanese Mythology and the way the screen writers add it to the Anime in new and creative ways. And this is especially true for a show like Karas which uses the Crow as a theme but also Cat’s these 2 creatures are revered in some cultures as the creatures who carries ones soul from the land of the living to the land of the dead. The way they achieve this in Karas is top notch and fleshes out the story and builds the foundation for the story.
The first OVA starts of very cryptic but everything gets explained to the viewer later on in the 4th OVA so if it a little confusing in the beginning don’t let it put you of, the pieces of the puzzle will come together later on in the show. This might distract from the enjoyment of the first part of the show but that isn’t something big to worry about.
Just a warning to those who don’t enjoy the sight of blood, from OVA 3 onwards there is gallons of it being spilled in the show so if u are a bit gringy get your love one to cover your eyes or hide under the pillow till its over. But other than that the story combines Japanese mythology with great story telling.
Animation:
When the first OVA got released back in 2005 the animation was jaw dropping and it still is there hasn’t been anything coming close to the level of CG and animations to it every since and that’s no mean feat considering it’s almost 3 years old already. The way they integrate the CG into the show was just jaw dropping from the fighting sequences to the rain effects and explosions. This has to be the high point of the show they eye candy animation. If u don’t want to follow the story u can just watch the show purely for the eye candy. I wonder how many man hours went into making this show. ?
Sound/Music:
This was the only let down in the show with the exception of the opening and ending sequence songs and the theme that was played whenever the Karas transformed. Other than that the music was pretty none descript and nothing special. The sound effects on the other hand were amazing especially if u have a system that has the ability to support the 6.1 audio that the DVD offers, use it u wont regret the experience.
Characters:
They don’t introduce many characters during the show, instead they introduce most of the characters during the first 2 OVA`s and expand on each of there stories and how they fit into the bigger picture of the show. From Yōsuke Otoha (the Karas) to Nue (A rogue Mikura my favorite character) to Yurine the sultry “will of the city”. They get introduced at a moderate pace which suits the Anime perfectly and wraps it up nicely at the end of the show.
Enjoyment:
The level of enjoyment for this show is extremely high from the action sequences to the CG so if u want a audio visual experience that cant be given to you by any Hollywood movie out there then this show comes highly recommended.
i got part 2