Phantom The Animation

"Phantom - The Animation" is a 3-episode OVA Series that wasn't really in my plan to watch list. I saw it on one of my HDDs and started watching it because...well, it's only like hour and half long.

This is an adaptation of the first episode of a semi eroge visual novel called "Phantom Of Inferno". There's also another adaptation (Requiem for the Phantom) that I haven't seen, but I really want to do it now because of this series.
The plot is really simple, a guy is kidnapped after witnessing a murder and avoiding a sniper girl named "Ein". Later, an organization erased his memories and ... he obtains the name "Zwei". Now, he lives by killing people while he tries to escape from the criminal life that now he has.

The animation here goes really hard. It's an ova from 2004, and it has the typical flaws of 2000s animation like some things being really exagerated at some times or other things like bland animation for non important moments, but the series makes up for it with some really well animated scenes for action moments. In sometimes, the animation really feels like the one that we can see in other anime series like Trigun, and that's really a good reason for watching this series.

Moving on to something else, I loved the characters of this series.
Zwei and Ein are a good couple of MCs, they really fit the tone of this series, and the other characters despite not being the most important thing in the world, they will make you feel bad if something happens to them. The series has a really likeable and interesting cast, but because of the length of the series they won't have a lot of time on screen. That's something that I think "Requiem for the phantom" corrects, because that series is like 26 episodes long, 23 more than this one.

Ending with the music and themes for this series...Well, they're awesome.
The opening may not be the best one, which reminds me of Elfen Lied's opening, but that one was honestly a better opening. The music that we hear while watching the series is really good, it helps set the tone that the animation wants to show, with relaxing music box sounds in the most of the series, accompanied by more epic songs for the fighting scenes.
Oh, and the ending theme... GOD WHAT A GREAT ENDING THEME. "I myself am Hell" by Itou Kanako is an epic song that everyone should listen. You should really check it out, even if you aren't interested in this anime, it's an epic song. If you need another reason to watch this show, here you have it, the ending theme.

Overall, "Phantom - The Animation" is one of the best OVA series I've ever seen. It's short, the animation is very well done, the action is epic, the characters are really likeable, the plot is interesting, and the ending makes you want more, but even with that, it lets you with a really good taste in your mouth at the end. I haven't played the VN yet, so I don't know how much content is left in this version, but I think that Arcs Create made a really great job for the final product. It may not be for everyone, but if you give it a try, maybe you find a series that stays in your mind for a long time.
I really recommend watching it!

ADAPTATION: Phantom: The Animation is an OVA series that is supposed to be an adaptation of the Visual Novel called "Phantom of Inferno". However, only chapter 1 of the VN is adapted and more then half of scenes from there were removed and the rest have been changed completely.

STORY: Those who have played the Visual Novel or watched "Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom" anime series will see that the base of the story is the same, but that "Phantom: The Animation" changed almost every scene. In addition, some plot developments are useless (Zwei being offered his memories back didnt't serve the plot at all), we ... know nothing about the organisation whom Ein and Zwei serve, not even its reason for existence or why they are opssesed with killing various mafia bosses and a guy called Scyhte Master is here literally a evil genius with his own base with badass monitors and his own personal army.
Also, Ein and Zwei are for some reason LITERALY superhuman. While they are supposed to be superior to other people, "Phantom: The Animation" crosses the border by leting them ALWAYS fight against armies of enemies and usually kill their opponents with clean headshots while running around.

ART: Art is ugly, characters often look different from scene to scene and camera angles that are used screw up the character designs more often then not.

SOUND: Soundtrack, OP song and ED song are nice to listen to and are probably teh only good thing in this anime

CHARACTERS: Both the Visual Novel and the TV series depend on characters, their developments and their life in their cruel world of crime and killing. "Phantom: The Animation" also tries to make good use of characters, but it fails. Their relationship develops suddenly, them becoming enemies is not dramatic at all and they seem like real souless characters about whom is hard to care.

ENJOJMENT: If you are not picky and like to watch gunfights, you may enjoj this anime. If you are interested in good plot or characters, then don't bother watching this as you will waste 90 minutes of your life.

OVERALL: Bad plot, lack of character development and badly executed story are just some of things that make this anime a bad one. If you like the premise, I suggest picking up either the Visual Novel called "Phantom of Inferno" (which has been translated) or watch the TV series "Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom" which is a much better execution of the same thing.

I seen someone say that this is an adaptation for the VN. I didn't read further but, if this OVA stayed clear of changing things from the VN, Phantom: The Animation is really boring and confusing at first. As the first episode went by, i couldn't understand what was really going on or why they even had a reason to pick the guy to wipe his memories clean and be picked as someone to be an assassin. While the OP sounds really good, it hypes you up to just be disappointed in the underwhelming 3 episodes. Hopefully while watching the full 12 episode series, i ... will enjoy that more than i enjoyed this.