Review of Karas: The Revelation (2007) by Singha S — 07 Aug 2009

Karas: The Revelation barely slips into 4 stars for me, which is what I gave the first. It is a satisfying enough conclusion to leave me content with the Karas series yet still felt like it was missing something.

I still stand by my statement that "If there is one contemporary anime film that is the equivalent of a summer blockbuster, it would have to be 'Karas'" It's a thrill ride and will be appeal even to those that aren't hardcore "otaku (anime fans).".

Karas: The Revelation is the second and final installment of Tatsunoko Productions movie series (Gatchaman, Speed Racer), honoring their 40th anniversary. The Karas movies were created and directed by Keiichi Sato, who also contributed to several other anime works including Big O and Wolf's Rain.

My thoughts on production, animation, sound, & music remain fairly the same as the last film, which is good news.

PRODUCTION and ANIMATION.

Spectacular is the word for Karas's animation. The quality is up there with Hollywood grade animations, with its smooth movement and beautifully crafted character designs. But most notable was the 2-D/3-D fusion. Karas is one of the first anime productions in which I have seen two-dimensional animation really blend nicely with 3-D CGI graphics, despite a few fram rate issues here and there. The visuals alone make this film worth watching.

The rendering and tone of the 2-D animation seemed very un-anime like and is almost reminiscent of the last theatrical American 2-D animated films we saw (such as Dreamworks Sinbad & Road to El Dorado or Disney's Treasure Planet). It is still anime but more dynamic and with a Western touch to it.

SOUND and MUSIC.

Here is yet another area where Karas really shines. Again, very theatrical. All the sound effect were crisp, clear, and realistic. Volume of voices was all balanced well to create depth and a lifelike dialogue experience.

One of Karas's biggest benefactors is its musical score performed by the international-renowned Prague Philharmonic Orchestra. The music is professionally played and executed with emotion and dynamic qualities.

Tatsunoko Productions greatly fixed one of my complaints about the limited music score of the first. Music pieces are reworked and we get to hear some softer and jazzier music. Remixes of existing themes add more instruments without loosing its feel. Great improvement in the music department.

My only new complaint is the omission of a Dolby Surround EX 6.1 mix for a 5.1 mix. At least it didn't go to 2.0 stereo only I suppose.

STORY.

There's more story and better, but still it doesn't lend itself to be anything special or groundbreaking. It really ties up a lot of questions brought up in the first and creates a satisfying conclusion.

+ = Scintillating, fluid animation, practically seamless 2D/3D hybrid technique, more diverse musical score performed by Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, on English dub - solid cast featuring professional American actors. Better story and look into characters.

- = Characters still relatively static, story nothing great, loss of awesome 6.1 mix.