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Manga Entertainment seem to be the distributor of choice for VIZ Media at the moment. So far we've had Naruto, Bleach and Death Note from their hallowed Shonen Jump anime catalogue, and now we get another action adventure in the form of MÄR. The story follows Ginta Toramizu, a young
daydreamer who keeps dreaming of a fantasy world when he sleeps. However,
these are no ordinary dreams. The amount he has had and the clarity of
them convinces Ginta the place he dreams about is real, even if only his
classmate Koyuki believes him. Everyone else soon believes him though when
a magical door appears in the middle of his school classroom and transports him
to the fantasy world of MÄR Heaven! Now in the
world of his dreams Ginta has amazing strength and stamina, something that comes
to the attention of a witch called Dorothy. She needs someone to help her
unlock a magical item known as an ÄRM,
ÄRMs normally takes the form of an item of jewellery that
has an inbuilt magical ability. Some take the form of weapons, some summon
protectors, some can transport you across continents, some heal and some can
harm. The one Dorothy and Ginta unlock is Babbo, a unique
ÄRM that is sentient and believes itself to be
something of a gentleman! Now carrying Babbo Ginta believes the world is
everything he could hope for, but all is not well in MÄR
Heaven. Ginta has been summoned for a reason, years before a powerful
group called the Chess Pieces nearly brought the world to its knees. They
were halted at the last by the Cross Guard and the power of a man from another
world, in a battle that took the man's life. Now the Chess Pieces are
back, and otherworldly power is required once again. Can Ginta live up to
the hero from the past and save the world of his dreams? |
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I must admit that I read the first volume of the manga incarnation of MÄR as a kind of build up to seeing the anime and was not that impressed. The manga seemed quite cynically designed to appeal to a young anime fan demographic and was quite predictable too, plus I found the majority of characters quite annoying and those that weren't had far too small a role. However, I was relatively surprised to find that the anime was far better than the manga, partly because the story progresses a lot further in 13 episodes of anime than it can in one manga volume, and partly because the story and premise simply works better in anime form. The story covered by the entire first manga volume is covered in |
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the first three episodes of the anime, and whilst it's still got the flaws the manga had it is actually a lot more entertaining because of the fast-paced action scenes and impressive CG animation. Most of the ÄRM abilities are
portrayed in impressive CGI that blends surprisingly well with the
normal anime artwork and the general animation throughout is good.
The voice acting brings the characters to life well, and the more
interesting characters - such as the witch Dorothy and ex-Cross Guard
members Alviss and Alan - are given a lot more time to shine.
After the first three episodes, which generally just set the scene and
introduce Ginta, Babbo and Jack, the story starts to get a hell of a lot
more interesting and also a lot darker. We start to learn about
the events of the past and the role the amnesiac Babbo took in the past
battle, we learn about the Chess Pieces and the campaign of terror they
subjected the world to in the past, and we get a hell of a lot more
action too. |
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Once the series gets into its stride from about the fifth episode onwards it gets far more exciting and watchable. The Chess Pieces begin to make their move and our heroes are forced to face some of their number in battle, an experience that teaches Ginta and Jack that they need to be stronger and brings on the obligatory training episodes. Yes, even though it gets a lot more entertaining it doesn't mean that it gets a lot less predictable. There's a lot of the things you usually get in this type of series, training, mastering new skills, facing an increasingly powerful series of foes, finding a powerful mentor that you'll one day surpass, trusting in your friend's abilities...you've seen a lot of it before. However, this doesn't mean |
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that you can't enjoy it again, it's just that you'll see some plot twists coming a mile off and be waiting for the characters to enter the inevitable tournament where they'll take on and overcome their enemies. Don't get me wrong, I may sound negative about this but I actually do enjoy this type of anime (and considering the success of the likes of Bleach, Naruto, Dragon Ball Z, Yu Yu Hakusho, Zatch Bell etc, etc, etc, so does everyone else), it's just that after a while you notice that a lot of them are variations on a theme. You know the action's going to be good, you know that the lead character will grow stronger, what's sets a series apart from the crowd is how well the story is developed between fights and the other characters grow and develop. This is where MÄR vol 1 succeeds and fails in some ways. It seems obvious at the start that the series is aimed a younger audience than Bleach or Naruto, the characters are generally younger, there's no blood and the subject matter isn't as dark. Because of this a lot of characters are under-developed to start with, and the series initially doesn't really delve into their motivations or pasts. However, as the story progresses you get flashes of brilliance, and hints at more depth to the characters and the world. Flashes of the past lend a kind of gravity to Alviss and Alan, and hints at Dorothy's motivation makes her more interesting. The Chess Pieces are good too, even if some of them look daft (Halloween for example), and it's good to see a bit of depth given to the villains in the form of Ian, a 'Rook' who turns out to be more than the grunt he initially appears to be. At the end of the day MÄR vol 1 is a good example of an action adventure anime that gets increasingly more interesting and exciting despite a slow start. By episode 13 I really wanted to see the next volume, which isn't bad for a series that really had to win me over after I was so underwhelmed by the manga. So in the end I find myself recommending MÄR as the perfect remedy for those missing their Naruto and Bleach fix! Extras A slipcase box and four trailers on the first disc, and nothing else. Disappointing. Ratings Feature:
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