Ruin Explorers

Original Title: 秘境探検ファム＆イーリ
Romanized: Hikyou Tanken Famu & Iiri
Literal: Explorers of the Unknown Fam and Ihrie

Plot Synopsis

In a world dotted with ancient, treasure filled catacombs two intrepid explorers, Fam and Ihrie, wander in search of riches (which hopefully won't require getting through too many traps), and the ultimate prize--an object which will grant its possessor any wish. Fam, a Wiggan (she summons spirits to cast her spells), is hoping to use her wish to create a place where humans and animals can live together in peace and harmony. Ihrie, a sword-swinging spellcaster with a small problem (she's been cursed so that whenever she casts a spell, she... changes), has a different wish--she just wants to resurrect her mentor (he's the one who cursed her) so that she can get even with him.

Along the way, Fam and Ihrie gather a motley crew of fellow wish-seekers: An incompetent mage and her brawny and even dumber partner, a sleazy traveling con-artist and his small but vicious dog (a dead ringer for Mutley--no doubt an ancestor), and a rather studly adventurer named Lyle, seeking that same power to combat the evil wizard who destroyed his father's kingdom. And it's the nasty magician he's after that is the real problem (when the group isn't busy fighting among themselves, that is). Like it or not, it looks like they're all going to have to cooperate to beat the bad guy to the prize.

Quick Review

Rating: 3.5 / 5
Reviewer: Marc
Review Date: 2005-10-01

Ruin Explorers superficially looks like yet another silly fantasy show, but after the light opening it builds into a straight-faced fantasy yarn. Though nothing in the production jumps out as extraordinarily good, almost every aspect of it is pleasing and solid--the art and animation are attractive, the characters appealing with an extra hint of depth, the humor amusing and the drama acceptable, and the acting solid in both languages, with some particularly sincere performances behind Fam and Ihrie. It's only real weakness is that four episodes is barely enough to fit the plot in, and doesn't provide enough time for either the light or heavy part of the story to hit it's stride, nor for the transition between them.

The end result is an unmemorable but all-around enjoyable little series.

US DVD Review

A solid DVD; it includes the whole 4 episode series on one (reasonably priced) disc, has clean video transfer (although there was a bit of color bleed that looked to be a carry over from an analog video master), the audio tracks are also quite crisp, and the subtitles actually are (not dubtitles, that is, as a few of ADV's other early DVDs). The multi-angle credits include two angles, one of the English (acting) credits and one of the Japanese (although, to nit pick, the Japanese version didn't have the imagery underneath the text that the English one did, nor did it include song subtitles). The menus are attractive (though a bit slow to respond on my player), animated, and have a couple of (very nice) tracks from the soundtrack playing. They provide access to the standards, plus a still image gallery and a large selection of ADV trailers. The original version was one of ADV's first DVD efforts back in 1999, while the later (and even cheaper) "Essential Anime" re-issue adds clean opening and ending animation plus commentary with Kelly Manison (Rasha) and Brett Weaver (Migel) by way of extras.

Content Guide

A little raunchy, and has some grim situations later on, but just barely qualifies for the 13-up ADV rated it.

Violence: 2 - Some monsters get cut up, and there's a lot of implied carnage, but that's about all.

Nudity: 2 - A short bath scene or so, with little or no detail.

Sex/Mature Themes: 0 - Light romance, nothing more.

Language: 1 - Nothing of note.

Notes and Trivia

Today's random thought on anime fantasy: have you ever noticed that in just about every fantasy series, the size of the shoulder plates on a character's armor is directly proportional to either their strength or their significance to the plot? You look--Linna Inverse, Ihrie, that punk from Lodoss War, they all have really huge shoulder pads. Weak or minor characters, on the other hand, always have deficient shoulder plates--heck, maybe that's why they're weak (ever noticed that the burly magic armor always has really huge shoulders? Hmm?). Ok, I'm done now... sorry about that.

Availability

Available in the US on one "Essential Anime" hybrid DVD from ADV. There was also a very similar earlier hybrid DVD release, as well as subtitled and dubbed VHS versions.

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