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Regular
Price $89.98
Starring:
Joshua Seth,
Dorothy Elias-Fahn,
Steven Jay Blum,
Dave Mallow,
Wendee Lee,
Directed By:
Toshiaki Kawasaki,
Rated: Unrated
Studio: Adv Films
Format:
Animated,
Color,
Dolby,
DVD-Video,
Subtitled,
NTSC,
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Customer Reviews for
Arc the Lad - The Complete Collection
Far better out there
I'm not a fan of the video game because I never heard of it until I saw this. So I don't have any knowledge of it at all. Arc the Lad to me is a subpar but watchable anime. Its not bad, its just not great.
The story is about a freelance bounty hunter named Elk who has the ability to make fire. On his first mission in the series. He encounters a young girl who obviously will play a major role later on. He also encounters a man who he battles and just so happens to have some knowledge about a place Elk was held captive when he was child.
The plot changes a couple of times and I think it shaped up well until the very end. At first Elk is protecting a girl he met, next he learns a couple of friends he abandoned are still alive but went through some radical changes. He finds himself thrust into a battle and then he must make a very hard decision. This decision sets the tone for almost the rest of the series because its focused on Elks revenge. Some of the episodes skip away from the main plot and focus on Elk trying to find himself in the form of some interesting side stories.
The series has some likable characters. They have some decent powers with pretty good skills. The character development isn't that great for some. For a 26 episode series it could have been alot better. Elk for the most part is hellbent on revenge. Very reckless and has no discipline. Which come across as annoying to some viewers. He does come around and matures during the series. The thing is, the only who changes is him. Another problem I have with this is. Everything seemed to easy for the main good guys. It never really felt, they could possibly fail, and they didn't suffer casualties at all. Talk about a plan always coming together.
The series has no interesting villians at all. This is the biggest con of the whole series right before the subpar animation. Most of the enemies have the ability to transform into monsters called chimeras. The problem is the character designs,they all look horrible(fans of the original Guyver, that kind of horrible) and if you seen one chimera you seen them all. There is no real variety or changes in skill among ANY of them. The lead villians are very bland and there is just nothing really to them.
The fight scenes are not that special. Some stand out and others are just not very good. There is a small amount of blood but no serious gore that I can remember. The soundtrack for me is plus and the voice actors were pretty decent except I found Elk to be annoying at times.
Arc the Lad is far away from a garbage anime. But its kind of hard to recommend this one. If you love to check out those long 26 and 13 episode series. There is far better out there. If your just getting into anime then it would be wise to make this one of the last collectons you check out. Like I said its not bad, but its not great. I'll toss together a short list of series that is worth buying.
Escaflowne, Slayers, Rouroni Kenshin, Samurai X, Sakura Wars, Blue Seed, Blue Gender, Berserk, Noir, Cowboy Bebop, Record of the Lodoss War, Basilisk, Ghost in the Shell SAC, Crest of the Stars (I hated this at one point) and many more.
Arc the Lad - The Complete Collection
Cookie cutter
I didn't play the RPG, so if you're a fan of the video game, then you might like this anime regardless. If you knew in advance that this was based on a RPG, the poorly developed characters, emotional sentimentality, the uncomplicated plot and the nebulous arch enemy would all remind you of a classic RPG. If you didn't know in advance, you might not understand why the anime feels so rushed without proper character development of most of the cast. Often times there is no explanation for major plot devices like Leeza being an alternate key. Things just happen.
Fight sequences are boring. It's hack and slash. Most main characters never get injured and it's never as a result of combat. Arc gets hurt by a brainwashed friend and by the final boss who has a maniacal laugh but his bark is worse than his bite. I don't know why the creators thought it would be cute to name the main character and the holy relic the same name.
If you want to watch this at all, you should rent it. It's not worth buying.Arc the Lad - The Complete Collection
Elk the Lad
To start things off, I've never played the "Arc the Lad" strategy RPG games, so I can't make any comparisons between the two. However, I found this series to be quite captivating. The first part of the series is basically Elk's quest for the truth about his tragic past. The second part of the series after the turning point in Episode 13 is basically Elk's quest to find himself. It's true that there are not as many action sequences as one would expect for an action/adventure story, and it's true that the story gets a little disjointed towards the end, but overall this series pulled me in right from the start and included a very touching story with many memorable characters and the action sequences that this series does have are good nonetheless. It's hard to say whether or not I should recommend this series, since everyone has different preferences. I can only say that I was extremely impressed. As a side note, anyone who is prone to crying should grab a box of tissues before watching episode 13.Arc the Lad - The Complete Collection
arc the lad :)
i was worried at first having played the Arc the lad games but i found this a really good dvd series and would recomend it to anyone.
it is based upon a young hunter called Elk, more than Arc, but incorperates parts of arc the lad and arc the lad 2 the games into it very well.
as a whole series it is 6 disks and is great from start to finish, however it may not appeal to everyones tastes. though it is true that the lead character Elk can be rather annoying and self pitious it is more than made up for in other aspects of the story.Arc the Lad - The Complete Collection
A slow decline downwards...
This series becomes so awful that it is laughable. The characters soon become flat and bland. Elk practically beings to whines every episode and has to learn to "accept" things. This quickly leads to every episode having poor animation. The fights stop around the middle of the series. I am not joking. Tosh gets to chop up maybe 3 guys at most. The problem doesn't only lie in the animation and characters, but the story becomes down-right stupid. By the end you won't care as the creators lost interest. Clive is a horrible badguy. The last few episodes are the worst. Everyone shakes because of everything. Everyone is shocked because of everything. In DBZ, Krillin shakes when someone throws a punch. This series is worse than that. If you want a great series try "Samurai Deeper Kyo". It is so much better. The creators actually make it better as they go along. This series quickly falls apart. Save your money...Arc the Lad - The Complete Collection
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