Madlax

[nixie1512]

I'm up to episode 4 now, and hm.. i think it's quite interesting, though i can't say much now. I love the animation, the scores.. but hey, anyone know anything more about this series? This show is kinda weird.

[Tamashii]

There is another thread just like this. Do a Search.

My opinion: Ughh...

[nixie1512]

i did, but the search came out nothing.
maybe there have problems with the search button since it's got new layouts? or is it my computer fault?

[Tamashii]

Probably the new forums. It might take a few days for things to go back to full-working order.

[nixie1512]

so is madlax that.... bad?

[Tamashii]

Of what I've seen so far... quite. It gets more and more ridiculous every episode. I lost my ability to get fansubs for the month, so I can't see it conclude. But I'm pretty damn sure I'll laugh my ass off when I do.

[TypicalIdiotFan]

Episodes 1-4:

Yeah, I know most of you have already gotten around to finishing this one, but I started doing the fansub thing after this one, Midori no Hibi, and a few others were already licensed. So for me, this is fresh and new.

Or is it?

Intro

I like the song. It is Yuki Kajiura music after all. Doesn't appear to be too revealing an intro, but it is just one facet of a trend that I'll get to later.

Episodes 1-4

I like this show so far. I am not going to go into specifics on each episode, but I'll just say what I like and don't like and later on give my final thought.

What I don't like:

It's basically the same setup, feel, and direction, of NOIR.

What I like:

It's what NOIR should have been.

My biggest beef with NOIR was that there really was no substance to the whole mystery. Sure, we got repetitive flashbacks that anybody with a 40 IQ could figure out after the first viewing, but there really was no explaination as to how everything came to be. How did Kirika and Mirielle really get together? I know that in the end supposedly it's explained by destiny, manipulation, blah blah blah. But it always felt kind of weak to me. The beginning and end were, honestly, the most boring parts of NOIR.

Madlax, however, starts off a little better. You get one random mission from Madlax herself. Then the whole thing does a 180 and focuses instead in on Margaret, who seemingly has nothing to do with anything else. And that's the part that works better. There is a mystery, slowly being built up, as to what these two people have to do with each other. The anime itself is directed in such a way as to give you an idea of what's going on while at the same time telling you nothing. I realize it's only 4 episodes, but these two main characters haven't even "met" yet. In a normal anime, they'd rush the thing in the first episode. Kind of like what they did with NOIR.

However, despite this show being what NOIR should have been, that doesn't mean we have to revisit the same old stuff that was NOIR. Mirielle and Madlax are about carbon copies of each other. They have the same overall feel in their character design (blonde, good looking, sophisticated, etc) and generally the same personality (whimsical, yet focused when they have to be). Kirika and Margaret are, thankfully (at this point), not quite the same. But you still have the (inevitable) pairing of an older expert assassin / mercenary and a younger girl with a lot of mystery to her existence. They even have pages from a book that seem to be a key to their past, which is the same damn thing that NOIR had to deal with with the Soldats pages.

Probably the other aspect that puts Madlax above NOIR is the numerous and interesting side characters. It seems like there isn't someone in the wings who doesn't at least tickle your fancy a little bit. Like NOIR tho, a lot of the "targets" are interesting people too. I found the officer guy in episode 3 to be a particularly fascinating person; apparently so did Madlax. I still wonder about that oddly romantic embrace...

Anyway, maybe it's just because it's Bee Train and Kajiura teaming up for the upteenth time, but Madlax is hardly boring. Sure it can be ridiculous in terms of the situations it conjures (like what Tamashii was saying), but it's an anime. Anime is, by definition, ridiculous. It's the story that you're supposed to focus on.

Eyecatch

This is what eyecatchers are supposed to be. Good, quick little attention getters that let you know it's break time / return time.

Exit

Butthead: BEAVIS! THERE MUST BE AT LEAST 30 NAKED CHICKS IN THIS MARTINI! UH HUH HUH HUH!

Overall

I'll stick with it. I had to watch it twice to really understand everything I was seeing, but it's worth buying the DVDs for. ADV Films has done a rather marvelous job dubbing this; which (along with FMP? Fumoffu's dub) might be a sign that ADV is pushing the envelope of dubbing mastery again. They also add in quite a few little extras, including some "prank calls" made by SSS (Three Speed in the dub) to the various characters in the anime who happen to have phones with them. Some of them are pretty funny, some are dumb. Either way, it's just the actors / actresses having fun.

Ratings

Interest - 4/5: NOIR Part Deux or I Can't Believe It's Not NOIR? I guess I"ll find out.
Overall - 4/5: Not spectacular, but interesting enough to keep me wanting more.

[Sorrow-kun]

I've seen the whole thing. I found it quite boring. Some interesting plot twists towards the end, but some of the sections in the middle were poorly paced, IMO, and it really struggled to keep my interest for a lot of the time. As TIF alluded to, it's the side characters that are really interesting. I just couldn't appreciate Margaret or Madlax. Madlax moreso. She was too eccentric for my tastes, and a lot of her decisions and actions just left me saying "What the ****?".

The action scenes were a bore as well. Seeing Madlax make impossible shots while twirling like a ballerina around blind grunts isn't really my idea of an exciting fight scene.

It's the side characters that I liked personally. Eleanor, Vanessa (who, IIRC, is voiced by Mitsuishi Kotono) and that dude who's name I can't remember were all interesting.
And yet they were the ones that got killed off -_-

Anyway, Madlax just felt too much like Noir 2 to me. I wouldn't recommend it unless you were a really, really big fan of Noir 1.

[sohryu]

I, too, have only seen the first 4 episodes, and I have to say that so far it's been dragging. At first, I was interested in finding out more about Margaret, but that faded, fast. If someone else weren't forcing me to watch it, I wouldn't finish it myself. It reminds me too much of Noir, which I also did not like, save the fact that I'm only halfway finished with it.

[Sorrow-kun]

I, too, have only seen the first 4 episodes, and I have to say that so far it's been dragging. At first, I was interested in finding out more about Margaret, but that faded, fast. If someone else weren't forcing me to watch it, I wouldn't finish it myself. It reminds me too much of Noir, which I also did not like, save the fact that I'm only halfway finished with it.Well, you probably should quit with Noir then, because you've seen the best part of it. Well, in my opinion anyway. Most people rave on about how good the second half of Noir was, but I much preferred the first half. Mission-of-the-week type stuff, but they all culminated to some sort of kick ass action sequence.

Which reminds me of something I much preferred in Noir than in Madlax. The action scenes were far more interesting. The number of different ways Kirika could find to kill people was one of the highlights of that series, imo. Especially the popcorn thing. Man that ruled.

[hayama22]

The only people who will really be able to enjoy this one for what it's worth are Noir/Mashimo fans. Being part of both, I enjoyed it, even found it to be powerful at times, although still stupid none-the-less. I'm surprised by TIF's praise, the first episodes were so dull, I really didn't start enjoying this series until around episode 6 when I realised how entertaining the characters were. This is certainly not what Noir should've been. Noir is a beautiful drama, Mashimo's classic. MADLAX is simply a fun action series, nothing more.

The action scenes were a bore as well. Seeing Madlax make impossible shots while twirling like a ballerina around blind grunts isn't really my idea of an exciting fight scene.

It's the side characters that I liked personally. Eleanor, Vanessa (who, IIRC, is voiced by Mitsuishi Kotono) and that dude who's name I can't remember were all interesting.[/spoiler]

I actually enjoyed the action scenes. The way the main females danced around, it was very stylish. I especially liked the fight scenes in the city between Madlax and Rimelda(sp?).

The side characters certainly did steal the show. I particulary enjoyed Carrosaur Dawn:

The best scene in the series was probably in episode 20, when the truth about his life was revealed to him, and he realized he had been killed saving Margaret, and that he was only a fragment of himself(that's a major theme of the series), he had been created out of a desire to protect Margaret Burton. Then, as he dies, he lies down next to the sleeping Margaret. It was very powerful

I enjoyed this series, but I probably won't buy it until the boxset is enventually released.

[TypicalIdiotFan]

I'm surprised by TIF's praise, the first episodes were so dull, I really didn't start enjoying this series until around episode 6 when I realised how entertaining the characters were.

Maybe I just realized it sooner? I just like the way the story is being told so far. It is a better way of going about things then what they did with NOIR.

This is certainly not what Noir should've been. Noir is a beautiful drama, Mashimo's classic. MADLAX is simply a fun action series, nothing more.

Heartily disagree. NOIR was a mess. The best part of NOIR was the mystery of the past, which turned out to be almost too convoluted and metaphysical for my tastes. To me, when I found out the ending of NOIR, the rest of the show seemed so pointless. It honestly killed it.

[hayama22]

I guess it's just a matter of taste. I really did not care about the plot of Noir at all, I was in it for the drama. While I'm not sure I liked the direction the show went in, and there were a bit too many questions regarding Altena's motives, it did move me, and that was all that really mattered.

MADLAX will probably satisfy you more than Noir, just don't expect too much from it.

[Tyrdium]

Madlax was... meh. Good idea, but they failed in the execution. The music was great, though.

[Major Tom]

I've seen trailers for this, as it starts coming out in July.......I instantly saw the Noir traits, especially when I saw Bee Trains name on it......but I thought to myself 'is this a Noir wannabe? This this look flash, but will it be utter crap? Are they trying to depend on the coolness of Noir?' (yes, I'm a Noir fan, even with the strange ending...).

But reading this....I dunno. I was going to create a thread asking if this was worth the money. I think I'll look into it, but if Yuki Kajiura is doing the music, I'm bound to love the soundtrack. I'll pickup a vol.1 next month and we'll see.

[Zelkiiro]

Hmm...I might have to pick this up when it's liscenced. Noir WAS pretty good, after all, so I might also enjoy its clone, if not more than Noir itself.

[Sorrow-kun]

This was licensed ages ago. Not too long after it finished airing, IIRC.

[TypicalIdiotFan]

This was licensed ages ago. Not too long after it finished airing, IIRC.

Yep. And it was one of ADV Films' quicker releases from license. That's not saying much, since they waited 6 years to bring out Blue Seed 2.

Not that I blame them. BS 2 is terrible.

[hayama22]

This was licensed ages ago. Not too long after it finished airing, IIRC.

It actually was licensed the week before it was finished airing(which really sucked for people watching the fansubs who didn't want to watch things illegally).

[Sorrow-kun]

Ah, that's right. I remember being temporarily banned from one of the subber's IRC channels for doing an "@find madlax 26". Then when I came back, I tried "@find adl". It almost worked to. One of the ops complimented me as he was banning me.

[PerfectDeath]

Ah i remember the licensing... that staled the ending... it was almost done :'(
but i've seen the netire thing.
some of the phylospohy (oh he's goin at the phylosphy again <_<) was corney... but hey when's it not... damn you psychology knowledge making anime phylosophy corney :P
so yes i did find the supernatural stuff kinda weird because the begining all the way up to neering the ending was all along the realistic way... then neering the ending the mystery was being placed together also the interaction between the main characters was actualy doing something... they spend more than half the series till they finaly meet.
i enjoyed the fighting scenes as well, also much like with many of my reveiws on "cloned anime" i've never seen the "mold" they came from, so i havn't seen noir
but at least madlax was not a boring anime... exept for when madlax wasn't on... i found margeret bland for the first bit.
your really don't want to see this... nasty spoiler below
so if you don't want to be spoiled stop here.


till she whent, kinda psyco... i found that an interesting twist good stuff there.

[Major Tom]

This is on a vaguely related topic, but since we are discussing whether or not something is worth getting/watching, I think it would be more appropriate to ask here than start up another thread.

I've been seeing traliers for Cromartie High around, and I think it looks rather amusing. It's not int he AA library, and the other site I had a look at had viewer polls, which I personally don't trust as a reliable source of ratings.

Is Cromartie High any good?

[Sorrow-kun]

Wow... that's totally... unrelated. I don't think even the most tightassed vigilante mod would have cared if you started a new thread about that.

And just so it doesn't look like I'm spamming, I'll say I'm also interested in seeing what people think about Cromartie. My exposure to it's been very little, so all I know about it is that it has a robot that looks like a box and, apparantly, it has more lesbians than Marimite (if that's possible). Unless I'm mixing it up with something else.

[Major Tom]

I feel so stupid. I should have remembered this. Sorrow-kun,

Check out this thread here (http://www.animeacademy.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18703&page=1&pp=15&highlight=cromartie)

It's all about Cromartie. All in all, from the responses there, sounds interesting, I think I will check this one out as well.

[Major Tom]

Sorry for the bump, but I saw the first 4 episodes earlier this week......and now for my impressions as of yet.

I don't know how much of TIF has seen, but I can't really say that Madlax is what Noir should have been yet...probably need to see all of it before I can make that judgement. What I can say is that this, so far, has elements that Noir could have greatly benefitted from, which puts it a notch abouve Noir at this stage. It would have been better to develop Kirika and Mirielle seperately for a couple of episodes rather than drop them into it from the word go.

I can see most of the character traits of Kirika and Mirielle in Madlax and Margaret, with 2 main differences. Kirika was naive, but in a dark and brooding way, whereas Margaet is naive, but in an innocent and airheaded way...Kirika did something bad in her past, whereas Maraget had something bad sone to her in her past. And Madlax is a hopeless romantic, I don't remember Mirielle being so.

As for the soundtrack, well, I'm enjoying it, but Noir's appealed more to my tastes. A big plus, Madlax has a listenable OP song, I cannot stand Noir's. The ED sonds are about the same......but naked chicks in your martini? I suppose you'll start seeing those if you have too many martinis.......and I couldn't properly identify the pistols Madlax uses, but it looked like an FEG P9M, and if she's carrying Hungarian pistols, that's 2 big pluses in my book!

All in all, Madlax grabbed my attention in much the same way that Noir did, which is a good thing. I'll keep up with this one to see how it pans out.

[PerfectDeath]

good ol too many martinis.
though i'm not a master of guns, nor have i watched noir, i did find the hole millions of nakid chicks awkward at first, but after seeing though the eps you get used to it.
"oh hey, martinis... with nakid chicks... meh." *drinks*

[TypicalIdiotFan]

The ED sonds are about the same......but naked chicks in your martini?

:thumbup:

[Major Tom]

Time to bump this thread. I probably should have done this earlier, but whilst I like local DVD realises, bimonthly releases can be suckly at times. Too much time passes in between and I forget to update.......

Anyways, I am beginning to agree with TIF (if he is still reading) in part. The story telling technique used in Madlax is indeed far superior than that of Noir, and a style they should have used. By now (Ep. 16) the fact that there are links between Margaret, Madlax and Carrosea(?) has been established, and that they are all bound by the book in some way. It has set up a nice sense of mystery and intrigue. However, if they don't start going into expanations and resolutions in the next few episodes, then intrigue will turn to confusion and ultimatly frustation.

Personally, I do like Noir better. the soundtrack, whilst certainly being up to Kajiura's standard, it doesn't appeal to my tastes in the same way that Noir's did. The setting is the real world.....but not at the same time. Nafrece is obviously France, Gazth-Sonika is some Asian (probably mainland) country....but I dont' get a real sense of place from such allegories. I liked how Noir used real world places, it gave the show a gounding that Madlax doesn't quite have.

Still I'm loving the intrigue, so I'm keeping on watching.

[shar_sakura]

I think that Madlax is an ok show, I felt that it was a little slow moving for a bit and I kind of started getting uninterested but I do want to watch it to the end on episode 20 hehe

[Major Tom]

Time for the bump. I've eps. 17-20 for a while....just haven't had time to watch it (damn Oblivion!)

Madlax is now both intriguing me and infuriating me. I said last time that they should start on answers from here on in, and we've gotten pittance in the way of answers. But the scenario has me hooked, wanting to know more.

We have a glimpse as what these books are all about, and a taste of what happened to our protaganists. However, we are no closer to finding out what Enfants intentions are, and since the subject was brought up in the last set of episodes, no information on what this 'gift' that Margaret and Carrosea has (excpet that they can handle the books).

I suppose in the remaining 6 episodes, but if they continue on at this pace this are going to get mighty rushed by the time the end rolls around.

[D.A.]

I watched Madlax only because I'm a Kajiura fangirl, and I found it rather interesting. But again, the later part of the story disappointed me, like Noir did. I'm especially upset when Vanessa and Elenore died, while Rimelra (I hate her) is alive, and a doll became human. :(