I am not a big fan of the X-Men to start off. I mildly enjoy Bryan Singer’s lumbering first two films and completely write off Brett Ratner’s needless “X-Men: The Last Stand.” My favorite movies featuring the mutants are “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” and “X-Men: First Class.” Needless to say, I did not have high expectations going into Marvel Anime’s “X-Men: Animated Series.”
This is exactly what you expect it to be. It’s everybody’s favorite mutants adapted into the high octane anime style Japan is famous for. This will no doubt thrill enthusiasts of Charles Xavier’s gifted team of superheroes and make no difference to people who do not already follow them.
An evil cult in Japan known as the U-Men are abducting young mutants and harvesting their organs. Professor Charles Xavier must gather up his X-Men to stop these super villains and rescue the young mutants before it’s too late. Can the super powered team come together again after the death of Jean Grey splintered the group?
If you like the anime style and love “X-Men,” this will have you drooling all over. I cannot fight the fact that it looks great. There is plenty of action to keep your heart pumping, too. All the elements you expect to find when opening a comic book featuring the “X-Men” are here.
The English voice overdubs aren’t nearly as bad as I’ve heard before. They are better than the “Iron Man” anime series. I am sure most viewers will still prefer the Japanese audio track over the English.
The series comes with a few special features. They include a 30-minute featurette entitled “Special Talk Session: Marvel Anime’s ‘X-Men’ and ‘Blade.'” Another 8-minute featurette, “The Marvel Anime Universe: Re-examining the X-Men,” focuses on what goes on behind the scenes and includes looks at character art and interviews with Marvel crew. “X-Men: A Team of Outsiders” delves into the character aspects of the different members of the group.
At 287 minutes of material for the TV episodes alone, this 2-disc set is well-worth the money “X-Men” enthusiasts will pay to own it. The special features are a great bonus and will thrill those wanting insight into the making of this series. Parents need to keep in mind that this is not the Saturday morning cartoon “X-Men” found on Disney XD. The anime “X-Men: Animated Series” is geared for an older audience. It’s too bad they only released this in a regular DVD format. It would have looked and sounded superb in high definition Blu-ray.
For more articles by Eric Shirey, check out:
DVD Review: ‘Iron Man Anime’
Dallas, TX Fans Treated to ‘The Avengers’ Advance Screening
Movie Review: ‘The Avengers’
