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Phantom:
Requiem for the Phantom
Anime DVD Review
You know that insane level of paranoia you feel when watching Le Femme Nikita or (to a lesser extent) Alias? Where you don't know who you can trust, and every moment could be your last, and there's no one, absolutely no one you can turn to for help?
That's essentially the main driving force behind Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom, a stunningly good anime interpretation of Phantom of Inferno, a visual novel game available for the PS2 and Xbox360 in Japan (with limited distribution here in the US).
For anyone who's played the game, you've already got a good idea of what's going to happen, and the anime, although a bit more ambiguous about the final outcome; well, you just know it never goes well in situations like these. The fate of the characters was decided long before they even met. It's like they say at the end of Blade Runner "I don't know how long we'd live, but then again, who does?"
So what you've got here is the story of two assassins, both trained and brainwashed by a group known as Inferno, to do their bidding or die. With practically no will of their own, these two perfect killing machines are then subjected to a series of "jobs" as Inferno attempts to become the "United Nations" of the underworld by forcing their way into every mafia organization through brute force as well as the assassination of every high-ranking mob-boss.
And of course, just after Inferno claims victory, in-fighting starts to rip the organization apart and our two protagonists find themselves in the middle and things start to get increasingly complicated. If you weren't bothered by the insane levels of paranoia before, trust us, it gets worse.
Personally, I found the direction and animation to be top-notch and the character designs were appealing. Of particular note is the recognizable car models (the majority of the story takes place on the west-coast of the US), and the 3D animation with the cel animation has now reached the point where it is seamlessly blended, and you just accept it. The series looks great and the action never slows.
My only problem is that our heroes aren't sympathetic. I realize they were both forced into this position and like Le Femme Nikita, they've no hope except to follow orders, but you just wish one of them would've somehow tried to escape this life earlier. Ein is obviously too far gone, but Zwei always seemed to have some free will. I can only assume he *liked* doing this. Or perhaps Ein's training was too effective.
Nevertheless, this series far surpassed my expectations. It's a solid, dramatic, and sometimes painfully pointed piece of paranoia that will suck you into the plot and keep you whizzing through the closing and opening titles to see what happens next.
Reviewed by Brian Cirulnick, February 2011
Below: Scenes from Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom.
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