AoD Review: Shadow Skill TV Vol. #2

[Chris Beveridge]

Review

Reviewer: Brett Barkley

Series: Shadow Skill

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In Summary:
For the most part, while in terms of intent and their role in the larger overall plot of the series these episodes aren’t truly much of a departure from the four of the previous volume. However, I found this volume slightly more enjoyable than the prior, as the characters, now better established for the viewer, begin to act and react in ways one would expect based on their development thus far. The viewer gains greater insight in to the characters and their world in this volume. But while I enjoyed these episodes and the insight in to the characters they offer, I still don’t have much of an idea where this series is going. I recognize there’s a fair amount of potential, particularly regarding the tenuous balance of peace in Ashlianna, but I’d like to see that explored a little further. To this point, the series feels like little more than a group of un-related episodes patched together.

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[Legion]

Gaaaahhh... nothing against the reviewer, but I have to wonder why some people continue to say the TV series is a remake of the OAVs. They're related to each other in that they're based on the same story from the manga, so naturally they cover similar events, but the TV series is not meant as a re-make of the OAVs, it's just telling the story of the manga from scratch. (Although the manga story goes well beyond what the 26 episodes cover.)

[rubyeye]

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Legion said:
Gaaaahhh... nothing against the reviewer, but I have to wonder why some people continue to say the TV series is a remake of the OAVs. They're related to each other in that they're based on the same story from the manga, so naturally they cover similar events, but the TV series is not meant as a re-make of the OAVs, it's just telling the story of the manga from scratch. (Although the manga story goes well beyond what the 26 episodes cover.)

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I agree. If anything, the OVA would be more of a re-telling had it been made after the TV series.

[Mazinkaizer]

I watched the TV series long time ago and i can say it's more of a re-telling of the story from the beginning as you mentioned but it wasn't ment to relate to OVA that much. Please feel free to correct me if i am wrong since i didn't read the manga and would surly appreciate any extra info [img]/images/graemlins/happy.gif[/img]

And 1 more thing, what happends after the eps 26 in the manga ? [img]/images/graemlins/catgirl0.gif[/img]

[Barkleyonline]

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Legion said:
Gaaaahhh... nothing against the reviewer, but I have to wonder why some people continue to say the TV series is a remake of the OAVs. They're related to each other in that they're based on the same story from the manga, so naturally they cover similar events, but the TV series is not meant as a re-make of the OAVs, it's just telling the story of the manga from scratch. (Although the manga story goes well beyond what the 26 episodes cover.)

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I'm not exactly certain where this is coming from, as I said nothing of the OAV's in this review, nor did I suggest this series to be a remake of ANY previously existing material. Feel free to search through the review if you'd like. When I review this series, I set out to do it based solely on its own merits, nothing else.

Best,

-B

[Legion]

Maybe I'm misreading this...

"Shadow Skill is a martial arts fantasy based on the 1992 manga series created by Mugumu Okada and is a re-imagining of sorts of two OVAs (or four, as the last OVA was released as both a movie and three separate OVAs) from 1995 through 1996. This series, released in 1998, while retaining much the same characters and settings as the original OVAs, is a departure from what has come before in that it is distinctly more light-hearted tone."

[Barkleyonline]

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Legion said:
Maybe I'm misreading this...

"Shadow Skill is a martial arts fantasy based on the 1992 manga series created by Mugumu Okada and is a re-imagining of sorts of two OVAs (or four, as the last OVA was released as both a movie and three separate OVAs) from 1995 through 1996. This series, released in 1998, while retaining much the same characters and settings as the original OVAs, is a departure from what has come before in that it is distinctly more light-hearted tone."

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Ha Ha. Now I see what you're saying. Yeah, actually that can be read as you're suggesting. Though I didn't intend it as such, I guess that does seem a bit like a comparison to the older OVA material. My intent was to speak to the property's pedigree and, while not directly seeking to compare this to what has come before it, I guess it can be perceived as such. I did speak to differences in tone, and I guess this could be remedied in the future by addressing the manga. However, I still believe those interested in this series, being perhaps familiar with what has come before, should know if and how this series differs from what they know. While I've never sought to do a comparison per se, I have certainly tried to offer a very basic, surface level contrast.

Inevitably, however, I believe it would be difficult to make a clean distinction between this series and what has come before, by virtue of a shared source material. It feels somewhat necessary to at least mention something came before and how this series is like or unlike that material. I don't seek to do a scene-by-scene comparison, though, or address differences in personalities, settings, or even plot.

So I hope you'll see my position. I was a little confused by the earlier statements, as I've never really compared it to the series in anything other than very loose tonal differences, and to this point, felt that was actually doing a service to the potential viewers and series itself. However, again, I can see where you're coming from and will consider trying to address this in future reviews.

Best,

-B

[Legion]

Cool. [img]/images/graemlins/happy.gif[/img] It definitely makes sense to mention the difference in tone between the OVAs and series, I've just been puzzled by some of the "re-make/re-imagining" comments I've seen in some recent reviews. The one at ANN really sticks in my mind since it's less of a review and more of a direct comparison with the OVAs, with copius amounts of "this series is a remake of the OVAs" statements. But as you said that's not what you're doing.

And yes, referencing the manga to explain the change in tone is the right way to go about it. The manga features a similar mix of light humour/seriousness so naturally that's reflected in the series. In fact, the latter half of the series will probably remind you of the darker aspects of the OVAs. Thanks for hearing me out and I'm sorry if I came off a little standoffish.

[Legion]

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Mazinkaizer said:
I watched the TV series long time ago and i can say it's more of a re-telling of the story from the beginning as you mentioned but it wasn't ment to relate to OVA that much. Please feel free to correct me if i am wrong since i didn't read the manga and would surly appreciate any extra info [img]/images/graemlins/happy.gif[/img]

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That sounds about right. I don't know exactly how close Eigi and the manga are to each other, though. There was a Shadow Skill site that had detailed summaries of the manga stories so that's where I got that info. Too bad the site has long since disappeared into the abyss.

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Mazinkaizer said:
And 1 more thing, what happends after the eps 26 in the manga ? [img]/images/graemlins/catgirl0.gif[/img]

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Since the aforementioned site is gone I can only draw from rusty memories, but I think the series basically covers a good chunk of the manga and the ending might be kind of open-ended. Kind of like His and Hers only hopefully with less stumbles and more animation. [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img] IIRC, the manga extends well beyond what the anime covers so I'm not sure what all happens. Hopefully some nice company will translate the manga so we can both find out. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]