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Innocent Venus
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Animation - 7.2 |
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Sound - 7.3 |
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Story - 5.4 |
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Character - 5.2 |
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Value - 5.7 |
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Enjoyment - 5.8 |
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Average - 6.1 |
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| Average |
6.3 |
| Animation |
7 |
| Sound |
7 |
| Story |
6 |
| Character |
6 |
| Value |
6 |
| Enjoyment |
6 |
| My first impression of Innocent Venus was cool. I mean the action it started with was all intense. So i thought this will be interesting. However as the story moved on it got boring and just fell apart. To me each episode kept changing its whole plot.
Character wise was really not well developed. I didn't really enjoy them at all. You think what the characters are but however their not. They all changed at the last 4 episodes. I liked the characters at the beginning, however at the end each one changed making the story completely different.
One weird aspect i found was the CGI. The CGI or the Gladiators didn't really blend in with the background or the animation itself.
The whole background of the story really didn't fit in to the story itself in my perspective.
Overall This anime is pretty fair to watch with few dissapointments. Especially the ending.
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Ridian |
(2007-01-07 23:04:03) 2007-01-07 22:54:32 |
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| Average |
6.0 |
| Animation |
7 |
| Sound |
7 |
| Story |
5 |
| Character |
5 |
| Value |
6 |
| Enjoyment |
6 |
| Innocent Venus defines "mixed bag". It seems like every episode in the series has a completely different standard of consistency; some meander and don't make much of the plot, while others are extremely well-written and gripping. As a mere half season show, Innocent Venus doesn't have any clout, and it only manages to lay the foundations for an ambitious plot. A ton of potential was squandered in its creation.
IV's most fatal flaw is that it sometimes just doesn't DO anything. The plot is obsessed with keeping its current ambitions clear to the viewer, and as a result, not much of the bigger picture ever changes. It feels episodic without actually ever being episodic. If this isn't making any sense to you, here are a few contextual examples. One character is tasked with the assassination of another, but for certain reasons, this character just can't do it. There are at least three scenes like this scattered throughout the series. We as the viewer understand that the character doesn't have the will, so why do we have to keep seeing these misguided attempts at character development?
Another way of phrasing this would be to say that the show is afraid of using its resources. If something bad ever happens to the protagonists, it only feels like it's to advance the storyline. Villains and heroes alike always seem to be pulling their punches. Take Sana, for instance. She's the heroine of the story, a girl of 14 who is zealously guarded by Jin and Jo, two expatriates. Though we eventually learn Sana's true purpose, she just doesn't do anything in the series. She has one pathetically weak sequence at the end which made me wonder why she even existed in the first place. Sana is a decently written character who ends up seeming like a cheap plot device. Renee, a sniper for the opposing side, is a cool character in concept, but she too just sits on her thumbs through the entire anime. I don't think she fires more than three shots, two in the same episode, throughout all of Innocent Venus. All of the other villains lack depth. Oh, and there's that stupid little douche Gora, who is literally one of the worst characters in any anime I've ever seen. He and Megu from Rozen Maiden Traumend are fighting for that top spot now. Why does he even exist? He does nothing but bring down the quality of the overall product.
To wrap all that up, Innocent Venus is safe. Not interesting safe, but just stagnant. The first seven episodes follow the exact same formula, ready and waiting for the next episode to push the plot along like an exhausted mule. The series starts out with a bang, its first episode chock-full of tight mecha action scenes and vivid gunplay. The promise is made even loftier with the fantastic animation and beautiful, thoughtfully composed music.
Past that, though, the sci-fi warfare is kept down to a minimum in favor of "advancing" the plot. It's like a mecha series with training wheels. Though the music stays quality, the animation suffers a severe downgrade. Basically, the gears grind to a halt. But then there's a delightful twist at the end of episode eight, one that completely sideswiped me, and my excitement in the series was renewed. I was waiting on tenterhooks to see this twist through and learn the resolution for this sordid turn of fate.
Sadly, it never came. Innocent Venus, because of its painfully feeble 12 episode run, has a conclusion so rushed that you'll miss it if you blink. Its final episode is a ton of ideas that should have really been spread out over the course of two episodes for the best effect; here, it just feels like the developers are throwing whatever they can at the wall and seeing what sticks. Certain elements of character development I was waiting for vanished in the wind, and the denoument was impossibly truncated. Basically, the anime uses its last three minutes to tell the viewer what's happening to the world and all of the characters, which definitely goes over as poorly as it seems like it would.
Considering Innocent Venus is just a blip on the anime sci-fi radar, I've ranted exhaustively on it. This is because, like I said before, the series had immense potential. The plot wasn't terribly original and certainly had its presentation flaws, but it was a great idea. A majority of the characters also had a lot more promise than your typical mecha cannon fodder, most notably Jo and Renee. This could have been a Gundam-level series if it was 24+ episodes, but in its current form, it makes for a decent diversion and nothing more.
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1 of 1 people found this review helpful.
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| Average |
4.2 |
| Animation |
7 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Story |
2 |
| Character |
2 |
| Value |
3 |
| Enjoyment |
3 |
| Innocent Venus first episode starts out with a bang with great looking action scenes. Not really knowing what is going on, I thought this anime would be great. Episode by episode, however, gets worse to the point of not even worth watching in the end.
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Amaryl |
(2006-10-28 20:33:38) 2006-10-28 20:29:26 |
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| Average |
6.8 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
7 |
| Story |
6 |
| Character |
6 |
| Value |
7 |
| Enjoyment |
7 |
| IV starts out quite promising. After the first few episodes, numerous plots could unfold.
Alas, when I say "could", I mean they don't...
The one drawback that IV has, hampers just about every point of what could've been a great mecha/action anime. This drawback is none other than Time. With just 13 eps, IV wants to go too many places with its story. There are just too many characters that aren't properly introduced, they die too quickly (Just the bad guys though, the good guys don't die), and not enough dialogue to truely explain what's going on. It almost makes the anime feel pretentious, but I'd rather not use that word. I'm sure that with 26 eps the series could've been so much more. None of the 13 eps contain any filler, but the show starts out too slow and gets rushed in the end. In fact, just about all the flaws are only found in the end, as the timeframe didn't permit anything better.
The good points are of course decent mecha action. Not the kind that seems to come right out of the screen, but rather more "realistic" slow movement more natural for a machine. CGI isn't really anything to compliment, but al least adequate. The characters themselves are nicely animated, perfect for their character. You can easily see who's going turn, who's actually evil, and who's going to save the day.
But the characters hardly get any background at all. Only a few main characters, but the eventual hero of the story remains shrouded in mystery. No background, no motives, hardly facial expression, hardly any dialogue. About 50% of his dialogue consists of names he yells. Also, the side of good doesn't really know the word "bodycount". This is solely reserved for them that actually need to die.
Sound was so-so. Just the sweet, high pitched voice of Sana stood out. I can't remember any BGM and the OP/END were forgettable at best.
In the end, IV doesn't deliver the drama, character development, or story that it could have. Had this series been twice its length, I don't doubt that it would've been twice as good. The show starts great, but as soon as the plot needs to unravel, things get rushed, just because there is no more time to do a better job.
As far as I'm concerned, IV features a lot of unfulfilled (rather than wasted) potential. Up till halfway this series is definately worth it, but after that the series simply needs to end and it does just that, making the final few eps leave a little bit of disappointment.
Pick up IV if you just want a decent mecha anime, but don't hope for too much. Its in no way a must-see title.
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Shock |
(2006-10-20 08:43:39) 2006-10-19 14:04:21 |
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| Average |
7.8 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Story |
8 |
| Character |
8 |
| Value |
7 |
| Enjoyment |
8 |
| I really enjoyed this anime, and it left me wanting more. The Animation is really well drawn, the sound is also good, with the characters having much thought put into their voices and acting.
I loved the story, the idea of hurricanes wiping out economy and having people split between poor and rich, its interesting to see how it plays out. The overall plot is great, with the character development being spot on (All being unique characters, Jo, the quiet person of the trio, but giving off a strong aura, as he can fight very well, Jin being closer to Sana and more gentle and Sana, the mysterious girl who travels with them, the pirates, terrorist squad, Logos and Revenous, are all awesome). They pull off the many sub-plots of the different things happening very well.
Action is a big part of this anime, having blood, gun shootings and military warfare. The main characters own powerful military mechs and so do the Logos, thus its also a main part of the action.
If you're a fan of close-futuristic, great quality anime or a fan of mecha, you should definintley watch this anime.
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| Average |
5.0 |
| Animation |
5 |
| Sound |
0 |
| Story |
5 |
| Character |
5 |
| Value |
5 |
| Enjoyment |
5 |
| Reminds me of movies that film majors make for their final project. Plot... was... not very much existant.... It started off with a cool premise and had good promises, but the lack of coherent storyline and dialogue made the plot just die. The animation isn't all that good, and the mechs... umm... are badly animated, not having fluid movements at all.
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0 of 0 people found this review helpful.
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| Average |
7.5 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Story |
7 |
| Character |
7 |
| Value |
7 |
| Enjoyment |
8 |
| updated : complete serie watched
Animation : very fair, fluid, up to the standards of a 2006 anime. good landscape, fair attention to detail. the drawing is pretty much consistent. face expressions are well made. atmosphere well rendered
Sound is pleasant. sound effects in line with graphics, a good in-story sound track and a refreshing presence of the piano. OP /ED fair but not outstanding
Story seems pretty strong so far. few lags, although some times it slows down a little for rest. fast pace otherwise. scenario is pretty consistent. story lines takes some unexpected twists and keep the pressure up
Update :
Some actions are sometime too unbelievable that compromise the whole scenario credibility. True, the good guys never die, which withdraw some drama. 13 eps is too short a figure to allow a fair story development. There is a potential, but it was somehow wasted. story downrated to 7
Character : not bad. Well drawn, have their own personality, although a bit classical as for many animes. a little character development around the key characters but leaves room for more.
Value : This is a quality anime that appears solid and homogenous so far. seems not a bad bet to own. should be rewatch-able
Enjoyment : very fair. I am waiting next eps with quite some anticipation.
This anime easily goes in my top 30. I don't know why, but it reminds me somehow of scrapped princess. some mecha, but this is not too overwhelming, some SF. some dark aspects. I recommand everyone to give a try to at least the first few eps.
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Saya77 |
(2006-10-28 22:11:23) 2006-09-14 11:47:31 |
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| Average |
4.2 |
| Animation |
6 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Story |
3 |
| Character |
2 |
| Value |
3 |
| Enjoyment |
3 |
| Innocent Venus is a show which starts off with a bang and gets you really into the show, but quickly degenerates into a confused mess.
In the beggining, the story looks to be an incredible complex tale dealing with poltical intrigue, mystery, and human drama. However, all of this build up comes together in a horribly cliche and relatively boring ending. Maybe if the anime had been more episodes the build up in the first 7-8 episodes would have been useful (the introduction of many characters and plot lines) but with only 13 episodes to work with, it took the story too long to get to the main plot of the anime, and the ending felt very rushed.
This anime is a mecha/sci-fi/futuristic anime in which two men have saved a young girl from capture and are on the run from the government of Logos, which posseses futuristic technology, including mecha called "Gladiators", of which Jin and Jo (the two men) also have one.
The animation is solid but not great; the battle scenes get a bit repetetive as the mecha dominate all other troops and the mecha battles are each fairly similar. I guess the battle scenes are more "realistic" than your usual mecha battle scenes (slow, unagainly movement, use of wheels while on land to move at fast speeds, and the limited mobility of the arms) they were actually much more boring. The detailed backgrounds, mecha, and character models are all amazing to look at. However, the lack of battle damage or injuries incurred is a bit unrealistic (bullets either bounce off, or blow up mecha; and they either miss or kill and cause a little bit of blood to spurt out).
The soundtrack is interesting and the melancholic opening and ending songs fit the series as it is so far very well. The voice actors did a good job; especially the one playing Sana, the little girl.
Like the many plot lines in this series, the many characters were left largely undeveloped. Even to the end of the series we do not know the main hero, Jo's, motivations for joining Phantom or saving Sana. He remains an enigma and gets virtually no development at all. At the end of the series I was left wondering whether or not I should actually care about Jo or his story. Not a good feeling to have about the main character in an anime. Also, the other main character, Jin, goes through such a huge personality and character shift in the middle of the series (for no apparent reason) that I spent the rest of the series in disbelief at his every action, wondering whether or not the second half of the series was some kind of joke.
Side characters like Gora, Reene, and others are similarly undeveloped, but these characters are practically worthless. Every bit of screen time they got would have been better served developing Jo or Jin, who were both in sore need of development. Chiba was also fairly annoying and undeveloped. He seems to be a super-powerful guy, but we never find out why he became a pirate, and his role in the ending is extremely cliche. The villians are also cliche, with no purpose other than the abstract need for more "power", which they don't actually define, and we don't know how doing what they are doing will get them that power.
I wouldn't reccomend this anime; there are much better mecha anime out there. Also Innocent Venus tries to fit too much into a 13 episode series, and ends up cramming 10 episodes worth of material into the 2 ending episodes, completely ruining any effect the ending would have had.
I greatly enjoyed the first few episodes, and was looking forward to the rest of the series, but it turned out I was waiting for nothing, as the ending of the series, especially the last 3-4 episodes, sucked all the enjoyment out of the series for me.
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| Average |
6.7 |
| Animation |
9 |
| Sound |
5 |
| Story |
7 |
| Character |
6 |
| Value |
7 |
| Enjoyment |
6 |
| [updated]
When I first saw the first few episodes I really had hoped that it would turn into something more than it actually did. There were so many good things, and I would still recommend it, but towards the end it feels too rushed and some things that deserve a better explanation aren't done justice.
Overall, this series is good, but if you like something that will deliver every aspect to the full extent, this is not for you.
(In case you read the closing remarks, I do sound a lot more negative than here, but I don't want to give you the impression that I'm hopelessly dissing IV. It's a good series for passing the time, and can be really enjoyable in places.)
[based on eps 1-5]
First I didn't really want to download it, because I usually am not too crazy about Sci-fi, much less mecha. But I thought, what the hell, I'll give anything a fair chance.
Well, if you don't particularly find sci-fi or mecha appealing as a primary genre, there is something more to this anime that doesn't neatly fit into a "genre" category. Something about the mystery of not knowing about this little girl (is it because children are inherently mysterious?!) Well... something obviously to do with the selection of the main character. The name is also cryptic (another reason I decided to give it a try).
I would have to say that there is a definite mecha element to this anime - it is one of the central themes. However, it comes with a certain twist, a kind of humaneness which appeals to me (that's saying a lot - giant robots completely turn me off).
So, I guess if sci-fi and giant robots are not your thing, be consoled that you aren't wasting your time downloading this. It isn't like Gundam in the least - it is exciting and moving and mysterious.
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