AoD Review: Madlax Vol. #3

[Chris Beveridge]

Review (http://www.animeondvd.com/reviews2/disc_reviews/4327.php)

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In Summary:
With each episode it's much easier to separate the show from anything else that feels similar as the plot is slowly coming into light and the characters are defining themselves more and more. These episodes up the ante nicely by bringing in more relevant bits of information about the Gazth-Sonika world, the way Enfant is made up and some of the more secretive plans by those working in that war-torn country. The series feels right on track for this point in its run and as it starts moving into the second half I'm now actually looking forward to more of it. Madlax is growing on me rather nicely which is a real surprise considering how much the show initially turned me off when I saw the first episode.

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I'll never really understand the total dislike of the first episode... well... actually, I understand why someone would feel that way, but I can't really identify with it. I think it does an awesome job of setting the expectations around the "reality" (or lack thereof) that the make up the rules of the universe in that series.

Anyway, for this disc, we start to get a sense that our two leading ladies may not actually be the central characters in this series. This is where we start getting closer to Vanessa, who is probably the most "real" out of all the characters, the most human, and maybe even the most sympathetic. The one we can identify with the most.

(Okay, I'm biased towards mature power-executive women. Go figure :D)

Beyond that, overall, just as you start thinking this series is going to start answering questions, it goes and spins off more loose strands -- you tie one up, and 3 more unravel. The clues are starting to gel clearly, but you really can't quite fathom where it will wind up.

I absolutely adore "MADLAX", almost as much as I adore "Noir". Before "Noir" (which I first saw in hi-def on INHD early last year), I wasn't particularly an anime fan at all; these two series have opened up the genre as sort of a "crossover" for grown-up film-junkies like me, and are well-liked by my other nearly-40 friends.

So to the ADV guys who hang around these threads: More like these, please! /images/graemlins/wink.gif

(oh, and more HDTV, too!!)

[chloes_fork]

Yeah, Noir was my anime gateway drug too, and while I'm not finding Madlax in the same league so far, it's increasingly interesting. A big difference for me is that I found Mireille and Kirika immediately identifiable as characters, for all their minimalism, while Madlax's and Margaret's oddness and eccentricities are keeping me at more of a remove from them. I cared about Noir's characters on a personal level very quickly, and I still consider it among the more emotionally involving anime I've seen. With the Madlax crowd, I feel like I'm on the outside looking in. So far. But I haven't seen volume three yet, and I certainly am on board until the end.

And no, I don't really see the huge issues with the first episode, either.

BTW, Fellini, welcome to the AoD forums. I've enjoyed your posts over at AnimeNation, so it's nice to see you over here too. /images/graemlins/happy.gif

[haruhara]

I too enjoyed the first episode, though its not my favourite. I think a lot of people were turned off by the unrealistic-to-the-point-of-being-stupid action scene, where Madlax is able to score headshots with her eyes closed and bending over backwards while veteran soldiers can't even touch her. Of course, there is a reason why this is, but in Bee-Train fashion this doesn't come till much later, and a lot of people didn't bother to stick around for it.

I havn't actually sat down to watch this DVD yet, but I saw the episodes on fansub last year and know that theres some good stuff here. One of the highlights for me was the hacking scene, very tense.

I did manage to check out the Conversations with SSS, and although I didn't find a lot of them to be as funny as previous volumes, the online chat between SSS and Margeret had me laughing quite a lot. I'm not a big fan of the dub, but Margeret's VA was great in that one.

I'm also very glad that ADV have started putting the unused R2 DVD covers on the insert, like they did with Noir, as there are some great covers that I would be disapointed to miss out on.

Also, today I got the OST in the mail from Geneon. Theres some great music here, my favourites being "to find your flower" (end of Ep 4) and "Margalet" (end of Ep 2).
The insert includes lyrics for "Nowhere" and the opening song "Hitomi no Kakera". Strangly the lyrics are for the full version but the OST only has the TV-edit. Theres also a 4 page interview with Yuki Kajiura, and some character bios. But theres a strange inconsistency, they couldn't decide whether its "Quanzitta" or "Kuanjitta", so they went with both. I can't remember how ADV spelled it.
They also have "Anfan" as opposed to ADV's "Enfant", must just be a different translator

[chloes_fork]

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haruhara said:
They also have "Anfan" as opposed to ADV's "Enfant", must just be a different translator

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Except enfant is an actual word (French for "child"), so you can't just spell it any old way. /images/graemlins/tongue.gif Or is anfan also a word and I don't know it?

[haruhara]

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chloes_fork said:
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haruhara said:
They also have "Anfan" as opposed to ADV's "Enfant", must just be a different translator

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Except enfant is an actual word (French for "child"), so you can't just spell it any old way. /images/graemlins/tongue.gif Or is anfan also a word and I don't know it?

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Thats true, but when written in Japanese it just looks and sounds like Anfan (or Enfan as the fansubbers spelled it). Besides, it all sounds the same, the OST translator probably didn't pick up that its supposed to be a french word.

A Google search doesn't reveal much, except for one rather hard-to-decipher site... So I'll go with the "It was French, dumbass!" explaination. /images/graemlins/happy.gif

On my pricey import OSTs, most of it is spelled out in Roman chars, and "Enfant" is plain-as-day.

I am, of course, listening to the OSTs (and the two CD-singles) right now. As a warm-up to a mini-marathon of the 3 discs for my evening's entertainment. I'm just defective that way. /images/graemlins/tongue.gif

The liner notes for disc 3, as mentioned in the review, have a great little interview with Yuki Kajiura, about how Mashimo (the director) gives her the "menu" for the series. Usually it's a descriptive, straightforward phrase to set the tone/style. Mashimo instead uses phrases like "The Gatekeeper of Hell is All Alone" and "Picture Book, Blood, and Deep Sea Fish".

I've blogged before how much I dig this guy, but damn, this is great! :D

[haruhara]

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Fellini8pt5 said:
The liner notes for disc 3, as mentioned in the review, have a great little interview with Yuki Kajiura, about how Mashimo (the director) gives her the "menu" for the series. Usually it's a descriptive, straightforward phrase to set the tone/style. Mashimo instead uses phrases like "The Gatekeeper of Hell is All Alone" and "Picture Book, Blood, and Deep Sea Fish".

I've blogged before how much I dig this guy, but damn, this is great! :D

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Lol, when I read that interview about the Mashimo Menus, I couldn't help but think that you were going to love it.

I've gotten that predictable? LOL. :D

I just finished my mini-marathon, and I've got to say...

When there are more discs available, my head will explode. Simply explode.

Change of subject, I've finally (after all this time of avoiding it) watched the "Conversations with SSS" extras. The first one maybe cracked a smile out of me... barely. The 2nd and 3rd ones, though, I was laughing pretty hard, despite the fact that I really don't like the dub very much.

It must be that it's Friday night and I've had a few brewskis. But still... *muffled delayed giggling*

[haruhara]

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haruhara said:
Also, today I got the OST in the mail from Geneon. Theres some great music here, my favourites being "to find your flower" (end of Ep 4) and "Margalet" (end of Ep 2).
The insert includes lyrics for "Nowhere" and the opening song "Hitomi no Kakera". Strangly the lyrics are for the full version but the OST only has the TV-edit. Theres also a 4 page interview with Yuki Kajiura, and some character bios. But theres a strange inconsistency, they couldn't decide whether its "Quanzitta" or "Kuanjitta", so they went with both. I can't remember how ADV spelled it.
They also have "Anfan" as opposed to ADV's "Enfant", must just be a different translator

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A closer inspection reveals more errors like these. On the same page they have Carrossea and Carossur, Laetitia and Leticia. I also got a chuckle out of "Sekandari". Of course, this doesn't stop the OST from being awesome, it just seems that whoever translated the booklet wasn't paying attention at all.

The interview with Yuki Kajiura is great. Apparently, when she started work on the Madlax soundtrack, she locked herself up in a hotel room on the 30th floor of a skyscraper for a change of environment. She says that the beautiful nightscape and unreal scenery that was "like a foreign dimension" inspired her to compose her favourite song from this OST, "the day, too far" (track 12), on her first night. I love this soundtrack.

[KakasheU]

A little late, but I got my copy a few days ago. =) I have two comments:

1. I really like the pacing of the story. Feeding snippets at a time, making you wonder and want more. In particular for me were the two children...

2. My cover was not the same as the one listed in Chris's review. My cover is the insert that he mentioned (the one with the bathing suits); the insert follows this cover too.
Are there multiple versions of the front cover in circulation?

[AbeChinchilla]

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KakasheU said:
2. My cover was not the same as the one listed in Chris's review. My cover is the insert that he mentioned (the one with the bathing suits); the insert follows this cover too.
Are there multiple versions of the front cover in circulation?

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Lucky son-of-a...

How much do you want for it?!? /images/graemlins/noseblef.gif