Anime Review: X the movie

Review X X The movie based on the manga written by clamp and distributed under the title of X/1999 is the topic of this review. X is a mind-bending apocalyptic movie that will probably leave you scratching your head. It is also a hyper violent action movie, with quite a bit of character death. This movie is different things to different people depending on how familiar you are with the manga story. No matter who you are somehow the story seems to have lost just a bit of it's impact just because it's after 1999. I still like it anyway.

X is the Story of a boy named Kamui who is sent to Tokyo to protect the Earth. To do this he must join up with the Dragons of heaven to stop the dragons of the earth from destroying seven important buildings in Tokyo, for if they go so does the entire Earth. Oddly enough Kamui is not that interested in the fate of humanity(this sort of behaivor is common among bishonen which I will cover in another article) but rather is interested in protecting his two friends, Fuma and Kotori. Of course the other characters in the movie a quite interested in having Kamui join their side because unlike the other dragons Kamui has the choice of choosing whether he will become a dragon of Heaven and save humanity or become a dragon of the Earth and wipe people off the face of the planet. I believe the title x refers to the algebraic symbol indicating a variable, indicating the choice that Kamui makes will ultimately decide everything. Three guesses on which side he chooses and the first two don't count.

I feel it is important to note the speed at which the plot progresses. It goes so fast you might get whiplash. This is due to the fact that the movie is an attempt to compress a long manga series into a movie that is less than two hours long. Some themes are lost and their isn't much in the way of character development. The biggest example of this is how Subaru and Seishiro, two of the series' most complex characters die in the first five minutes. They don't mention Seishiro's name.

The animation of X is best described by that drooling noise Homer Simpson makes. Yes, it is that good. To go into further detail I would say that the animation quality is so good that sometimes you feel that the background aren't even drawn but taken from photographs. I have not seen a better animated movie yet. The music is also well done, especially the ending song, forever love.

Also to be mentioned is that the movie is extremely violent. It is graphic beyond that of most anime. Also various battles take up most of the duration of the movie. One of my friends who has seen this especially likes the movie because of that fact. X is a good movie but one that ultimately flawed by the very nature of a theatrical release. Normally I would give this movie a higher score however with the story available in manga and soon television form I am knocking it down a notch. However this is still a good movie and I would still recommend it to anyone that gets the opportunity to see it. I give X a rating of good.