The people that made this anime really tried their best to make this anime as bad as it can be, in my opinion. It's rare to run into something that ticks so many wrong boxes as this anime did with me. I'll give you a breakdown of the scores and the reasons behind why it earned those. Story: 1 At first glance the story seems quite interesting, however when I watched it, it quickly reminded me of several other anime and all originality of the story went completely down the drain. It's basically an almost direct combination between Tekkaman Blade, The Guyver and the Devilman AVO. Especially when youget near the ending the similarities with Tekkaman are beyond obvious. It does have a couple of interesting things but they are completely lost in the almost direct copying of the stories from the other 3 anime. The complete lack of originality earns this anime a clear 1 for story. Art: 2 A quick warning if you want to watch this anime, it can seriously damage your eye sight. The art at first can be described as generic and bland, just mediocre. However it's quickly made clear what sort of artist they approached for the making of this anime. Someone that loves static scenery that includes huge blocks dyed with primary colours. Someone that takes the lazy way out when deciding which colours would work for this anime. The static images, the huge amount of giant blocks in primary colours and the cheap visual effects amount to a rather unpleasant viewing of this anime and earn it the rightful rating of a 2. Sound: 5 Completely unremarkable, but then again, it could have been drowned out by the visual assault of bad artwork and the complete lack of an original story. Characters: 2 Same with the story, the characters are also a merger between the characters from Devilman, Tekkaman and Guyver. Even the transformed form clearly reminds you of that. Beyond the main character, the supporting characters are 2 dimensional at best. Shallow stock characters that are easily forgotten and unremarkable in every way. There are a few characters that do seem interesting, however they get too little screentime and their background isn't really explored. All of this amounts to a dreadful score on the characters rating. Enjoyment: 1 It is clear to see where this score comes from. When having read through the previous explanations it's very easy to deduce that watching this anime wasn't enjoyable in any way for me. The horrible visuals, the unoriginal story and the shallow characters made me want to bury this anime in the deepest crater on Pluto. Overall: 3 So, overall, this anime is just plain bad. The only redeeming factors that it has is that it only lasts 13 episodes, so it didn't stretch out the pain for very long. And that it spawned a spin-off that completely obliterates this one, which is Nurse Witch Komugi-chan. Than anime is just pure awesome, and since it was very loosely based on this anime (uses the same characters) it saves Soultaker from receiving an overall score of 1 and gets a 3 instead. So, ending notes: A complete rip-off of more decent anime, filled with bad visuals and shallow easily forgotten characters. The only remarkable thing about it is it's spin-off and the thought of why on earth they made this anime and launched it. If you didn't think my review was helpful, please leave a message on my profile and explain why you thought my review wasn't helpful. That way I can improve my reviews to make them better in the future. Thank you in advance.

I loved this anime. At the beginning you might have a bad view of the anime as just an all killing, no story anime. As the story moves on it becomes much deeper, so don't be too influenced by the first few eps. I recommend that you should watch this anime in segments, don't watch it all at once or you won't enjoy it. There are some that will like this style of art, it is a different, somewhat darker, little gothic style that keeps things interesting. Music's pretty good, I epecially like the opening. I really loved the characters too, each person hadtheir story and it played out. Some people might feel that the story is a waste of time, watch and see why, but it still has a point. I'm not going to guarantee that everyone will feel the same, but if you want to watch a powerful anime you should really try SoulTaker. Remember that you shouldn't watch this anime in one day, or you won't be able to fully enjoy it, just trust me.

The one word about SoulTaker is "colours". Colours, colours everywhere! The art of this anime is simply astounding. It breaks all the rules about colouring patterns, uses innovative games of light and shadow and the overall achievement is a confusion of bidimensional planes: awesome! But... While the art is original and superb, the rest is pretty much mediocre. We can't really ask too much from a plot that mixes winged monsters, aliens and shotguns, except for high doses of bloody entertainment. They give it to us and, somewhat, the amazing art is appropriated to the flow of the events. The characters don't have any especially original trait: they"work for the story". Amazing for the eye-breaking art, you should not hold any more expectations about SoulTaker. It's still a very enjoying and easy to watch series (except if you have epilepsy, of course, then it would not be recommended)

How often does an anime successfully combine a highly stylish atmosphere containing an intricate storyline, that is packed with character development and metaphors without turning into complete mush by the end? I can't exactly recall many, but The Soul Taker happens to be a diamond in the rough which succeeds in pulling off the almost impossible. However, it doesn't reach its climax completely unscathed because it certainly has those rough moments. Still, truth be told, I was very satisfied with it and this is still a series I can watch from beginning to end. Now, some folks claim the visuals take getting use to and it'salso original. Well, I was hooked to the visuals immediately, and the originality claim may be valid but I have some doubt. It's still very difficult for me to shake off the influence of Dario Argento's Suspiria. The visuals manage to combine wild combinations of colors into the backgrounds. Most of the colors really shouldn't go together, but the direction, camera work, and constant color shifts blends effectively and creates a dream like atmosphere. The backgrounds can be amazing at times yet creepy during some segments. I will admit that the color schemes can be a put off for some because it creates a disco like effect. I enjoyed many of the character designs concerning the robots and monsters appearances. They never came off generic to me. While paying more attention though, the monsters appeared to share some type of resemblance to Jedah of Darkstalkers fame. Now for the meat of the animation which happens to be the awesome action scenes. The action is very fluid with very good choreography during the fisticuffs at times. The fast paced battles do not consist of that Dragonball Z reused cel style. The gun battles are very good as well, with the camera angles working their magic during the fusillades of bullets, in combination with missiles soaring through the air with such velocity. During the first several episodes, the viewer will be delivered some good action scenes. The battles aren't heavy on gore, but they really didn't need to be. The animation does have its flaws which creeps up close to the end. Most of the later battles really didn't measure up to the earlier ones, and at times they consisted of stills with the scenes shifting to something else. I really enjoy the soundtrack which is done by Kou Ohtani. The opening theme called Soultaker is a rock track that seems to fit the show. I happen to enjoy the BGM a lot more than the opening and closing themes though. The BGM is very well used for the action scenes with different variations. They would alternate by using the same instrumental accompanied by either whistles, or guitar rifts that have a nice sound which fits with the style. I don't think it's the greatest BGM ever, but it gets the job done. I didn't have a problem at all with the English cast or Seiyuu. I feel both cast worked out very well during the heated battles and drama filled scenes. They also worked out well for the very light comedy, which doesn't clash with the content too much. The plot is very complex and requires an ample amount of patience. There is very little given in the beginning, and the writing wants to keep viewers in the dark as well as add some confusion. Many times it's difficult to tell if something is real or not. The writing is very strong for a good while, but later events would sometimes border on incoherency, and one may wonder how certain elements began to fall in place. Another thing about the writing I didn't enjoy at times was the transition from one place to another. Some things happened with no explanation. Fortunately, I found the ending to be strong. Even though there were speed bumps, at least all loose ends were tied up, and there were no questions left hanging from where I saw it. Character development is another plus because everyone is given a realistic drive. The main character Kyouske has a good feel about him, and he doesn't seem to fall into the stereotypical shonen hero role who loves to fight. Kyouske seems to be an atypical character with a little depth. The side characters are well used for the most part, but I could have done without the teenage girl whom came off too saccharine for my taste. Overall, I find The Soul Taker to be a very solid series, but I would be lying if I said the series was completely well put together. I found a lot of the symbolism to be miss, and several things really didn't add up when taking many of the revelations under consideration. Still, it delivers on telling a good story with a very good amount of style to back it up. I mainly recommend this to the most die hard fans. Warning, one must have a little patience with this one. Highs: Complex storyline and visuals, very stylish and action laden Lows: Complexity also works against it

I know average score around 6.67 cant be all that good of a show, WRONG. This show surprised even me but honestly it's the best when your not expecting it. First- the story which is nothing great at first but just wait, woo does it get interesting its my believe that a number of people vote it down, for lack of paying attention to the story witch sometimes has a complicated method of putting things. If you lack a attention span turn away if not dive right in. anime gives of a real Ergo Proxy feel at times. Second - Music, for me i really enjoyed themusic from the series. The theme "Soul Taker" comes up when he enters battle, at first i thought cheesy gave off a real superhero type of vibe but the song grows on you. Opening was great i like it personality. Art- made in 2001 the art i found smooth no awkward movements, nice lighting and the Characters are well drawn. A few scenes in fact reminded me so much of SHAFT including Misaki, Maya who looked just like Senjougahara, Hitagi from Bakemonogatari my opinion. Characters- Nice Characters development for some it didn't really dive into heavy detail, but this did not take away from story. Overall- Great story, nice art, and very good music earned it a 8 i would have gone higher but didn't like a couple of things. But overall if your into action, sci fi, drama and can follow a story there is no reason i can give no reason not to watch the series, Cheers.

So……Shinbo……you are a tough egg to crack. No, really, I think he’s that one anime director that I just don’t get. I mean, as you all know one of the series he directed and I liked was Madoka Magica but then again, it’s more of the writing of Madoka I liked than the direction. Other Shinbo works……they either seem too tough to grasp at first glance (any of the Monogatari series) or confusing as all hell (recently Mekaku City Actors) or just stuff that seems very creepy (Dance in the Vampire Bund) and he does have this style of his that is similar to TimBurton (at least that’s what I think) and it has been since he started doing more of his work with SHAFT after this particular anime. After being stabbed in the chest by his mother, Kyosuke Date returns from the dead to find out he has a twin sister named Runa, and the ability to transform into the amazingly strong, powerful and dangerous superhuman mutant known as the SoulTaker. As he seeks out his twin sister, he is being pursued by the strange mutant doctors and nurses of the Hospital, led by his own father, Richard Vincent, as well as the evil Kirihara corporation, led by Yui Kirihara, who are also tracking down Runa for their own malevolent purposes. Assisting him along the way are the mysterious Shiro Mibu and the nurse mutant girl Komugi Nakahara, who betrayed the Hospital out of strong romantic love for Kyosuke. ……..I’ve been foiled again. I was really trying to get into the story and while I did get into it for a little bit, I felt confused but not as confused as I was with other Shinbo anime. Granted, the story isn’t exactly wholly original but then again, anything isn’t exactly original nowadays. Inbetween the first and second halves of the show, it seems to pick back up in between episodes where I’m trying to pay attention.The show does borrow some elements from anime similar to this (Devilman, Guyver, etc.) but one to notice quick, they would call bullshit and since this is all fresh to me, it’s mostly passable. I wouldn’t call it great, but slightly above average. I say for characters, these are basically stock character I’m dealing with. Some aren’t bad but they are just mildly forgetful. The lead Kyosuke Date is the basic hero character with a fucked-up past about how his mother stabbed him, his sister is missing, his father wants to kill him…OK, maybe it’s not entirely basic but he does have a very messed up family. Any other character is merely a stock character with stock emotions and reactions and yes, that goes to everyone especially Komugi, that nurse character who was slightly less annoying here than she was in her own spin-off (yes, this character actually has a spin-off OVA, which I already reviewed.) Go figure. This is one weird and colorful artstyle and animation for the show. Tatsunoko Productions or Tatsunoko Pro, who’s been in the anime business since the 1960s and being that this is their first mature-themed series, it does have some of Shinbo’s style to the series, even before SHAFT got his hands on him. The color palette can be a bit distracting on the eyes and the character designs are a bit ‘meh’. Musically, I really love the opening to the show as it has this vibrant superhero feel to it despite the show not being that. Probably a contrast to the darker tone of the series and the ending song was remarkably good as well considering that did felt the tone of the show, only on the lighter side of the show. So……the dub…..from Pioneer (Geneon) and Ocean Group…..it was alright and convincing. Brad Swaile to me seems like the Canadian version of Johnny Yong Bosch or Yuri Lowenthal, playing the whiny hero role (well, not technically that whiny). FINAL VERDICT: It’s an alright show. I think if you’re interested enough or if you got an attention span longer than 10 minutes, you might get into the show as well. This one is probably recommended for a day whenever you’re bored or something.

When someone tells me Evangelion is a good anime. Or worth watching. I tell them to watch Soultaker. Seldom have I seen such a perfect EVA parody. It's so meta, so self-aware. It's literally the perfect insult to EVA fangays. Watching it after having seen EVA really adds a whole other layer I feel like is easily missed if going into this blindly. I'm eagerly awaiting the four recap movies coming over the next 20 years. The brilliant Christian symbolism and everyone wanting your dick regardless of being an insufferable bland main character is what we all love about Soul Taker. It's simply divine.

Soul taker anime review. Warning this review may contain spoilers. first impression, so we have a future world with mutants and evil corporations. With a rescue, the girl plot going on seems interesting enough. And considering I checked this out in my rookie days. This was more enough to get my interest and see what’s up. Story, 5/10 So are story with main character kyosuke who was living with his mom in some sort of cathedral and one day they get Attacked and before she dies she stabs kyosuke and days later he wakes up alive and meets a girl who claims to be his twin sisterRuna this girl is then kidnapped by the Kirihara corporation who want to capture Runa for some possibly evil reason and After that he meets a middle-aged man named Shiro who helps him get his sister back. But it turns out that this girl is actually something called a flicker who contains a piece of his sister Runa and he finds out he a mutant is known as soul taker. While they're trying to find the Flickers and save Runa are duo is joined a by a mutant named Komugi who decides to help them on their quest to catch them all while fighting the forces of the kithara group and the hospital mutants. So Soul taker starts out as pretty much an episodic, save the girl and fight the monster of the week kind of series, which at first glance seem very boring and cookie cutter. And considering how there are Meany series similar to this you are probity wondering how does soul taker hold up or retain any interest in me or any viewer who would even bother to watch it. Well I would say to that is while the first half of the series is nothing really to write home about, but I would say that the Secord half of the series is where the real meat of this series lies. As it evolves from a monster of the week plot into a series about grand conspiracy revolving around a virus that turns people into mutant’s, aliens and people trying to play god. Which sounds pretty good and to give credit where credit is due I felt that soul taker story was inuring enough and the fact it tries to be different to warrant your attention is something I can really dig. Now when this first came out people would have praised it for being slightly different and thinking outside the box, but now in modem day soul taker ideas and concepts are so dated and the series in itself hasn’t aged well, its aged as well as a bottle of milk and it doesn’t help the fact that mealy of the story elements of soul taker feel like they were poorly ducked taped together. From the mutants, evil corporations, aliens, and some sort of virus were very poorly presented and I have no problem with the ideas for the plot elements because it made it a bit more interesting. But it’s just that way were done and presented in a very cliché way, which kind of bothered me because I have seen other shows that have used similar ideas and did them a lot better., like blue gender, guyver and even I hate to say this even guilty crown did this better the whole virus doesn’t seem that important or impactful like no one is flecking out that there is a virus that can kill them or turn them into monsters. Almost No one really seems to care its like oh yeah there virus going around that could mostly kill us and there mutants running around nothing to see here, in guilty crown this virus was a big deal and treated like a big deal or this idea of this alien who made this virus for the sole purpose to editing human D.N.A so one day a mutant would be born that would able similar to the alien in D.N.A so he could mate with it. why pick humans to be part of your project to bring back your race from excitation when there clearly other races that could be better for your needs, in Guyver it was expanded that humans where bioweapons made by this alien race and were also used as the basis for highly mutable super soldiers. But in soul taker it seem like this alien just came across humanity and decided since he was Lonny and horny he decided to fuck about with the human genetic code so he could get a bride, which oddly enough kyosuke and runa are such mutants as they have evolved to the point where there basic like the alien but in human form. And the reason why I bring this up is that these series try’s to pull an Adam and Eve story at the end, with kyosuke being Adam and Runa being eve. Because Runa wants humanity to burn and the only person she cares about is her brother so why the fuck does not destroy all of humanity because you believe they would be a treat to you, your brother and the inbred mutant’s you’re going to use to inherit the earth. Even though 99.99% doesn’t even know or care about your existence in the slightest and with space travel technology it wouldn’t be hard for you to travel far away from humanity and start playing house with your twin brother and what bothers me even more is all these references to Christianity that goes nowhere and doesn’t really add anything besides woh we mentioning things from the bible and the question I would like to pose is what does talking about angels, demon and etc have to do with this type of setting. And I can see the counter-argument being that those references are part of the native and they add some character and identity to the series. And while I would agree that viewpoint, I would like to counter that there not really doing much with it as they don’t really explore or criticize any of the theology behind it and more a less has it there for the sake of being there. But besides those problems and nick picks I think we should talk about some of the things this series story-wise dose quite well. One thing I will praise the story for is that each of the flicker rescue mission all feel different and all have some sort of variety, besides the monster of the week shit, one episode which I really liked and showcases this, is the episode where the main character comes across the flicker named Megumi. Who at first seems alight. But you soon find out that she hates Kyosuke and runa with a passion. Because of their existence is in her mind the reason why she won’t have a normal life and will always be hunted like some wild animal. And what makes this episode very impactful to me at least is that it showcases how these flickers didn’t a choice to be mere fragments of runa, let alone be involved in all this bullshit. I also feel that the pacing for soul taker is pretty good and everything flows very well, nothing feels to ruched or to slow and its cool to see a series that can hit that sweet spot pacing wise even though its 13 episodes long. And my last positive I would say is that the conflict as well greyness to it has most of the bad guys of the week are not evil per say but are more a less people that fell from grace and it that’s itself make the main charter journey and the lives he takes more impactful as some of these people only sin was fighting for the wrong person or making a few mistakes in life. Like for expanse the hospital mutants who origalty wanted to use this virus to help people and in the process lost much of their humanity. In fact the leader of this group is his own father and what makes that so impactful is the reason why Kyosuke is out there fighting the Kirihara and the hospital mutants, is because he trying to find and save one of the few family members he has, but in order to do that he must fight and even kill his own father to compete for that task. Which is a pretty fucked up situation in my humble opinion. Characters, 5/10 The main character Kyosuke is a slightly bland I want to be the good guy and the hero type of character. Who for the most was ok it's just personally I dislike these types of characters. I thought his slightly going to the dark side moments are ok but it doesn't lead to much and even though he is going through so much physically and psychology. I feel that character wise he was wasted potential Because he could be a really cool antihero but no he just cry's or Feels bad after he kills the bad guy of the week that are evil and trying to kill him. and while this fits with his character and makes him feel more human instead of being this larger than life powerful super mutant that just kill people with zero fucks given. Which would have been cool to see it's just the crying that really rubs me the wrong way, because When I think about The main character kyosuke kind of reminds me of kira from Gundam Seed. Don't know if that a good thing or a bad thing but considering that kria is my lest favored Gundam protagonist I count it as a negative. The side characters are a tad bit more lively but most of them are still very one note. There is not match character development or fleshing out. Except for shiro, Komugi, and runa. Because Shiro has an ok back which relates to the main character, Basically he fell in love with a flicker who was killed by the Kirihara group that's he was actually a part of, he also makes a decent mentor figure to are the main character. Kokugi is just kind of the tag along that's slightly useful and has a thing for are the main character, She more for comic relief than anything else and she was slightly fun to watch. Runa is ok as a character, But she not very fleshed out well and her reasons for doing what's she doing is kind of petty. Also she doesn't have enough build up as well So another character that was wasted potential as well as her reason for doing what she doing is I love my brother way too much and I hate humanity because my mother tried to murder me so because of that humanity can burn even though that action was taken way out of context as that attempted murder was to awaken her powers so she could protect herself from the humans who do want to harm her and her brother. Also, most of the villains or bad guys of the week are most one-note and boring. even if some of them have reasons and motivations that make them slightly above being a one-dimensional evil bad guy of the week. Like for example there main character father Richard who isn’t a bad guy and I can see where he is coming from and why he doing what he did. But on the other hand you got Yui Kirihara one of the main antagonists who have a good motivation for doing what she does, but I feel it falls flat because how could a successful smart women like her get tricked so hard, like for context she is hiding the alien that made that virus and working with it because it would bring her dead husband to life if she gave him Runa which turns out to be a troll. And I just wondering how a smart person like her could let herself get manipulated to such a degree and you can say it’s because she was so desperate to get her husband back that she was willing to try anything. But my problem with it is why didn’t she ask for proof that this alien could deliver on what he offered and For a person who has such a high position in the business world I would have thought she would have asked for proof first instead of taking its words at face value. Art, 5/10 The animation is a bit choppy and dated, it doesn’t look as bad when compared to some series from the 2000s. but there are series that look nicer and flow better like Digimon tamers, s.CRY.ed and InuYasha. It backgrounds are slightly bland and just looks like someone is on a drug trip. The art style is very trippy and full of symbolism and metaphors and dark colors. Which is slightly cool and no shocker here as the Director of soul taker is Shinbou and if you want to see what happens when he has a limited budget and without Shaft to enable him to go all out. Like there are entire scenes with just random shit going on like a clock gears Turing or biblical symbolises just because and I can tell that Shinbou tried his best to shove in as much of his latest acid trip into this show as he could and if you’re a fan of Shinbou and like his style I think you should check out soul taker just to see some works from his earlier days before he partnered with shaft. It's fight scenes are ok, Could have been better, It's just hard to keep track what's going on exactly and it doesn’t help when most of the fights end with his finishing move lighting breaker The character design is bland, but the mutants look cool. They kind of remind me of guyver or devil man, It has that old school anime style to it. Also its color scheme is very dim, like Most of the time the series looks so bleak and dim. Which goes hand and hand with the beck future setting that the series takes place in. Sound, 5/10 I like the op song with gives the 80s feel like the beginning is just like soul taker and The ending I wasn't really a fan of because I find it boring as fuck. The ost for this is slightly forgetful. But it does fit the tone of the show very well. The music and ost were done by Kow Otani, Who done hit for Gundam wing, outlaw star and ZoidsConsidering that I like this series I found the ost kind of disappointing. Sub and dub are fine,But if I am being honest I heard better and worse. So both sub and dub are passable. Enjoyment, 5/10 I like the mutant fights as they all have different powers and forms which I thought was cool. now it could have been this ok rule of cool show with the monster of the week, save the girl, save the world from an evil corporation. Its just this series try’s to set some sort of higher standard and while I like the series for trying, the end product wasn’t up to par and I more a less enjoy it as a nice one-timer expiace or a series I could chill out and watch with a few friends while drunk Overall 5/10 Now if you want if something somewhat entertaining And something easy to watch then soul taker is the anime for you. So I guess it's an ok time passer for rookies but I wouldn't hold my breath. because in all honesty if you have any experience with anime storytelling as a whole then probably stare clear Because everything this show has done another show has done better and even if you enjoy and like soul taker I feel that it’s going to become forgettable after a point as it pretty predictable and you see most things coming from mile away. So I feel that if you like this series but want something better, I think you should check out guyver or the first half of blue gender as a place to start. Before you move on to more things.

This has got to be the most underrated animes of all time. I had a heck of a time watching this one. It had beautiful ways of displaying it's themes, and the stained glass art throughout the whole show seemed brilliant. It made sense at the end, and that makes up for the story at the beginning. I like animes with a good ending. You should too. The sound was pretty alright and didn't put me to sleep. Characters seem pretty good, especially the nurse, she's adorable. Overall I gave this a 9 because it's extremely underrated and that's disappointing to me.

I had the nostalgia lenses on when I decided to re-watch this show recently, but unfortunately it doesn't hold up to my childhood memory, except for the ending which I remembered as disappointing. I experienced a lot of push-back for the treatment that writers gave this story, it could have been much better if there wasn't the drive to push in more fight scenes near the end. As others have pointed out the good fight scenes occur early on in the show. Character say things that they expect the viewer to take on oath, but really it just left me scratching my head: i.e. thatKyosuke is the taker of souls but what evidence did they even have to support that claim, why is he called the Soul Taker? Referring to earlier parts of the show we conclude that this was a code name given to him by the Kirihara group, but later on people who wouldn't likely have had any contact with the group refer to his ability to take souls. In other words this show should have been called something else, the name just sounds cool. His attacks and the transformation are never fully explained it is just something the viewer must accept. And the aforementioned soul-taking is highly downplayed as part of the story as a whole. Based on the intro song one may expect that he is a vigilante super-hero and while this is sort of the case, the artistic nature of the show is surely in full effect with all manner of Akiyuki Shinbo's directorial flair. Unfortunately there were some weird artifacts when I watched it where shadows appear blocky, although that may have been intentional, or it may have been something glitchy with the video. The Soul Taker yanks its viewer around a lot for 12 episodes, dodging around details which could have been explained at any time by other characters, but these all important details are left out to keep the viewer interested, it’s easy to see the main plot could have been highly compressed if Kyosuke was given a straightforward answer from his father about the past, Runa, and all related details. But what is more irritating is the plot hole which is Kyosuke's life for the 17 years leading up-to him being sacrificed to activate his power during the first episode; did he always live in a world with such gotchic themes, how did he not know of the Hospital before, how did his adoptive mother shelter him so well, and what was this life like?! *Spoilers: The ending is the part which bothered me the most as I have already mentioned, moreover because the story has just been dragging its feet over the same theme for most of its run, to save Runa or to kill Runa, and then Kyosuke decides to take the low road much to my disappointment but then apparently through the magic of plot "saved her" and then somehow his mom is still alive during the very last scene of episode 13... What! I really wanted him to work out things with Runa properly i.e. through words and love -- not violence *sigh* -- and convince her to coexist with normal humans along with him... but no... I'm even all for their incestuous tryst given the fact that Runa has been all alone and Kyosuke has been who she has been hoping to save her, and they were separated at birth and don't remember each other. Clearly decisions on the writers end weren't being made with any care, since they must have been scrambling to finish the show, which they did but at the same time didn't present anything new that was interesting. They even reuse the same boring "what if we had a family and went to school" cliché that is also seen in Evangelion, seen here when Runa and Kyosuke spend a little time in Runa's idyllic fantasy land, which I felt was taking it safe... given Runa's confession it could have been something more sultry, seductive or interesting like maybe the two of them dating, which is hinted at but they were trying to remind the viewer that they were related which really wasn't necessary since their family was never together. *end spoilers The plot makes the (not so) clever excuse that the only way Kyosuke can communicated with others in his life is through fighting... what a load of bull... I almost want to fight it out with whoever decided that this even made sense. Conclusion: They fucked up what could have been a truly great show. Watch it for the artwork, but don't hold your breath about the story, you will get disappointed very early on in fact, as the girl who saves Kyosuke in the first episode has the worst voice actor in Japanese of all the Seiyuu's, and her English voice ain't that great either. They voiced Kyosuke with the same actor that played Mousse from Ranma 1/2 in the English version which is interesting, this time around I watched it in Japanese, with subs from start to finish where before I only saw it dubbed--it holds up either way. I got bored so I even decided to play back both the subbed and dubbed on half my screen and compare them side by side to see the differences and they are minor at best in what the dialogue conveys.

Alternative title: 20 Wallpapers / Second The Bible of Shinbou-ism, an intimate brainstorm from the Master. The references to Christian iconography is no coincidence. The visuals of The SoulTaker don't capture a moment, but a state of being; the goal isn't spatial realism but meaning—hierarchy, spiritual focus—and, of course, beauty. Every shot is an independent visual statement; instead of "scenes," it might be more accurate to speak of ritualistic tableaux. A certain "humble reductionism" characterizes the director: he explains his auteur choices through the needs of the audience and the animators. The static, "flat plane" composition-centric style was necessary—according to him—to avoid visual and production inconsistencies. Ifperspective is limited, for instance, the flaws of a weaker artist (anatomy, spatial sense) don't pose a problem, just as the work of a superior drawer doesn't stand out too sharply—the look remains uniform. Much like in traditional iconography, where anonymous people of varying skill levels worked on the same church "decoration," however, the "*canon* makes the result feel as though it were created by a single hand. Thematically, it fits perfectly: the anime is built around motifs of death, the duality of body and soul, sacrifice, and redemption. There is also a Baroque quality to how much it wants to overstimulate the senses. Characters are placed in a different light in every single scene, and I mean that literally—the anime couldn't care less about the principle of color constancy. Or rather, not entirely, because it seems that in most places (or in the story's world en bloc), there are no natural light sources, only monochromatic, artificial, and/or overly saturated lights, sometimes compounded by pitch-black environments. It might not just be cool self-indulgence; they might actually have a deep understanding of sensory perception. And besides, they managed to create one of the most visually stunning animes ever on a shoestring budget. The SoulTaker’s character design is also noteworthy: the influence of Devilman and Evangelion’s bio-mecha is clear, but who knows what else was thrown into the mix. Another fun fact: the opening, reminiscent of the '70s and '80s, is anachronistic, while the slow, English-language, nihilistic ending is very much rooted in the 2000s. This "ghost world" atmosphere is also very characteristic: there are no NPCs (or at most, they are replaced by text captions). In later Shinbo (and Shaft) works, the rule is usually that you exist as long as you are part of the story. Here, you only exist as long as you are in the FRAME (not even the scene)—it’s incredibly radical. One could cite several examples where, during a fight scene, the allies act as if they aren't even there; they do nothing simply because they don't fit into the frame, lol. Episodes 1–3 (roughly) are the ones that truly "succeed" in terms of the concept. Due to the extreme stylization and the sudden, disjointed New Wave editing, you don't know what's happening, where it's happening, or to whom. Unlike many, I rarely hand out the "fever dream" title, but if anything deserves it, this is it. Did they let the reins loose? They started without reins to begin with. The SoulTaker doesn't care about the narrative at all, which is why I don't think it's worth analyzing the story. In the second half, for unknown reasons (I find it hard to believe they were being serious), the plot becomes increasingly prominent, more dramatic, with more world-building and twists. The problem is that the chosen style and format aren't meant for this—the plot moves forward through exposition dumps (why this works in Monogatari, for example, is another topic). It’s not that the dramaturgy, storytelling, or pacing weren't terrible in the first half, but there, it doesn't interrupt that "primal force," that uncontrolled flow which, despite all its weaknesses, makes The SoulTaker a unique, outstanding audiovisual experience. Drinking game: take a shot every time you see a cross.