Labyrinth of Flames Anime Review

Quick Review

• Reviewer: Marc
• Review Date: 2003-06-24 (updated 2012-01-08)
• 3 stars out of 5 (?)

Labyrinth of Flames is well made, well acted, nice looking... as well as incredibly tasteless, filled with huge amounts of exposed underwear, and an equal amount of very stupid and very screwed-up comedy. Unlike Agent Aika, which dressed an upskirt/underwear fetish movie in the guise of a standard action series, Labyrinth does the same (with less dirtiness for the most part) with an over-the-top comedy. This works much better--it's sleazy, but you can almost forgive it. The humor is base and simple, and there are enough lecherous camera angles to ward off even the most vague notion of decency, but it's still wacky and equipped with enough likable characters to be funny when it gets going. The heroine's retainer, severely anemic and brutally loyal Kasumi, steals the show as well as being a good analogy of it--she's cute, slightly perverted, underclothed, bleeds a lot, and makes fun of a disability, all at the same time.

Those of you who can appreciate this sort of giggling frat-boy comedy know who you are, and will have a ball. Just don't watch it with anyone you want to convince of your maturity.

Read the full-length review...

Full Review

• Reviewer: Marc
• Review Date: 2003-06-24 (updated 2012-01-08)
• 3 stars out of 5 (?)

Aside from the fact that this title features neither a Labyrinth nor a significant amount of flame (must be a metaphor or something), I learned three things watching it: One, Katsuhiko Nishijima is a skilled director with a major underwear fetish. Two, underwear fetish movies work better as over-the-top comedies. And three, "guys" are more limber than good ones. I'll come back to that third point later, but Labyrinth of Flames is the answer to the question "What would you get if you crossed Agent Aika and Jubei-Chan the Ninja Girl?" Cartoony, manic, crude, occasionally disturbing, and apparently filmed by a very short cameraman, this is another title that takes a fairly well-made anime production (Samurai comedy in this case), and spices it up with a nearly constant barrage of panty shots.

Let me repeat: When I say lots of underwear, I mean lots of underwear. Depending on your taste, the underwear alone may make this worth watching or avoiding entirely. (If you loved Agent Aika, stop reading right now and go get Labyrinth of Flames.) But, if upskirt camera angles aren't enough to base a decision on one way or the other, I'll give you my take.

Now, I didn't like Agent Aika much--too far beyond good taste with nothing redeeming--so I'm going to have to make some comparisons here, since I was surprised to find (and rather embarrassed to admit) that I actually enjoyed Labyrinth of Flames. For one thing, it isn't quite as bad as Agent Aika--a tad more restraint is shown with the underwear (especially at the beginning), and there is very little actual nudity, which gives it a little more credibility as being more than borderline hentai. For another, the fact that it's a comedy (and a raunchy, very silly one at that) makes all the low-angle shots seem more humorous and in tune with the bawdy themes. Finally--and this is what really counts--I thought that it was pretty darned funny.

Be warned--even though I kept laughing at it, I still finished the show feeling like I should take a shower or something. Be further warned--I have a whacked-out, low-brow sense of humor, and Labyrinth of Flames is most definitely whacked-out and the lowest of the low-brow. There are some screwed-up moments that qualify as creative, but for the most part the jokes are numerous, cheap, entirely tasteless, and relatively dirty. A few parts are shameful (or just plain lame) enough to push the limits of even my sense of humor, but on the whole it was deranged enough to keep me chuckling. That, and the entire second half of the second episode is a drawn-out and very silly battle that I thought had just the right blend of pseudo-drama and outright chaos.

If you look past the humor... well, you won't find much, but Labyrinth of Flames is still the best Russian-themed Samurai comedy I've seen. Of course, it's the only Russian-themed Samurai comedy I've ever seen, but it does have a bit of the classic anime charm of Nishijima's other work. Of most note is the collection of lovable loser characters, foremost among them Natsu's devoted servant, Kasumi, who ends up stealing the show (especially in the first part--she might as well have been the star).

Kasumi is one of those anime personalities that you can never get enough of--loyal, incredibly cute, willing to sacrifice her body (in the most bloody of ways) for her lady, willing to stoop to any low to bag a man, and hooked to an IV from start to finish. Yes, the first severely anemic anime heroine. In fact, a character who is cute, slightly perverted, underclothed, bleeds a lot, and makes fun of a disability--all at the same time--pretty well sums up the production as a whole.

Visually, Labyrinth of Flames has a standard look and feel to it, but since this is by the man responsible for Project A-ko, it's done right. The character designs are very cute, with just a touch of originality to them, and lots of variety in their costumes (absolutely all of which, of course, involve very short skirts). The backgrounds are generic, but the art (especially the character art) is attractive. I particularly liked the character animation--important, since a lot of the gags are purely physical--and there's also a totally pointless but appealing little dance sequence.

The music is a thing to behold... well, unremarkable would be a better word for most of it, but the end theme is a lively, classical Russian piece that is simultaneously so catchy and so completely out-of-place that I absolutely loved it. Oh, and remember that limber comment? The backdrop to the credits (à la Agent Aika) is each of the female characters in various states of undress and various seductive poses... and the bad gals seem to be quite flexible.

The voice casts in both languages are all-around good. The Japanese acting is again anime-standard but high quality. Galan has an appropriate mix of whiny and cheesy stud, and Natsu's dad (by far the weirdest character) is great--Shozo Iizuka gives him a touch of gruff and plenty of... well, "Eew." You have to see him to really understand. Among the many female characters there's a nice mix of voices, with the standout again being the versatile Yukari Tamura as Kasumi--ultra-cute, over-the-top, and not quite as innocent as you'd expect.

The English dub is also good, especially considering how hard it is to dub wild comedy well. All the casting works, and although Galan perhaps seems a little too straight, things are spiced up by a very appropriate cheesy Russian accent and Carrie's even-more-appropriate, less-cheesy Southern accent. On the topic, Carrie's Japanese actress, though she certainly won't pass for a US-native (much less a cowgirl), does a remarkably good job with the English her dialogue is spiced up with--considerably better, at least, than a lot of more serious productions.

Bottom line: Labyrinth of Flames is well-made, well-acted, nice-looking, incredibly tasteless, filled with huge amounts of exposed underwear, and an equal amount of very stupid and very screwed-up comedy. Those of you who can appreciate this sort of giggling frat-boy comedy know who you are. Just don't watch it with anyone you want to convince of your maturity.

Have something to say about this anime? Join our newly-resurrected forums and speak your mind.

Related Recommendations

Agent Aika. It this particular case, that's a complete sentence (even more panty shots, though the plot is somewhat less silly). Amazing Nurse Nanako is also in a vaguely similar vein. For similarly fun action-comedies, but with less crude humor and visible underwear, you might check out Gokudo, the Project A-ko movies (Nishijima worked on the first one, but the second is the most similar), and the ultimate hyperactive comedies Elf Princess Rane and Excel Saga.