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.

Review

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

Ruin Explorers superficially looks like yet another silly fantasy show, but it's actually a lot more Record of Lodoss Wars than Slayers. It opens with two episodes of light comedy, then in its second half builds into essentially straight fantasy. A bit short and not what you'd call original, Ruin Explorers is nonetheless a pleasant and enjoyable little yarn.

I was surprised by how much Ruin Explorers puts into its story; the characters (despite their rather silly quirks) are relatively straight, and their quest is nothing to laugh at. By the end, in part due to some backstory that feels like more than just an excuse for swordfights, things develop into a respectable, if not very original, fantasy quest (even serving up a less-than-obvious twist or two at the very end).

On the other hand, the fact that the series spends its first half as a light, entertaining romp, then takes a definite turn toward straight (almost grim) classic fantasy is a bit disappointing from either end. From the back, it took a bit of effort to pull myself into the not-funny fantasy mood to appreciate the second half. From the front, I would have loved to see more of the fun stuff (as fun it was), and was frankly a bit disappointed that all those silly character quirks didn't have more done with them.

In the end, Ruin Explorers' only big disappointment is that four episodes is just barely enough to set everything up and conclude the story. The concept would've easily held up through more, which would have allowed it to shift moods gradually.

Despite the lack of time to develop it Fam and Ihrie still have a sweet dynamic, and both of them have slightly more believable personalities than I was expecting. Ihrie in particular may be a standard anime hothead, but she isn't nearly as over the top as she could have been, and she has some flashes of jaded practicality that I thought added a lot. Fam, likewise, is both sweeter and a bit less oblivious than her character mold requires her to be.

Then there's Lyle, the textbook studly displaced prince (see Heroic Legend of Arislan), who has a lot more hidden demons than I would have expected, as does the villain. Don't take that to mean that any of these folks qualify as deep, but they aren't as flat as they appear at first. The three comic-relief members of the party aren't much more than fun (nothing wrong with that), but I have to plug the dog, Gil, a dead ringer for Mutley from the wheezy laugh to the ornery personality. He makes the whole thing a must-watch for nostalgic Hanna-Barbara fans.

Visually, Ruin Explorers is nothing special, but built on solid ground. Though lean on action scenes, the art, animation, and character designs are all attractive, if standard fare. On the hardware front the weapons and classic shoulder-heavy armor (see the notes for my thoughts on this), are actually pretty cool looking. The backgrounds are on the simple side, but there are a couple of nicely painted locations and a neat giant tree grown out of control. There are also a few assorted flashes of artistic creativity that I rather liked; the prime example is a carnival flashback of a village festival involving rather horrific masks that operates both as not-so-subtle foreshadowing and a rather cool combination of incongruent images.

In terms of vocals, Ruin Explorers is solid all around in both languages. The English dub is actually pretty good, but both Fam and Ihrie have some of the most piercing, high pitched English voices you're ever likely to hear--anyone who thinks only Japanese voice actresses have voices that can peel paint haven't heard these two scream (or whine). Other than pitches that would make dogs flee, their acting is fine, and Lyle is not only acted well, but a smooth British accent makes him sound surprisingly studly (there are several British accents sprinkled around, adding nicely to the character of the world).

Lyle is an interesting case; where most of the roles match up fairly well between the original and the dub, his Japanese voice is very boyish--a bit too young-sounding for his appearance--where the English version is, if anything, a bit too deep for the face. Neither is bad, but the stylistic difference is interesting.

The rest of the Japanese version is also solidly acted; most of the performances are about what you'd expect, but although Fam and Ihrie aren't the deepest roles there's a sincerity in their performances (particularly Ihrie, who is a lot less overblown than she could have been) that helped carry the whole production.

In an interesting Slayers parallel, the soundtrack is one of the most memorable parts of the series despite being the stylistic opposite. Played by a full orchestra, the entire show is essentially set to a classical symphony, adding to the mellow, upbeat feel of the early parts and giving the whole thing a touch of class. The later parts are remarkably light on overdramatic themes (or any other music, for that matter), which works equally well. In all, the background music is mild and pleasing to the ear, as is the more traditional J-pop end theme, which isn't as memorable, but is so light and sweet that it'd be hard not to like at least a little.

To sum up, Ruin Explorers is far from original, but starting out as a light fantasy romp and developing into a serious story, it isn't a bad tale either way. Perhaps disappointing because it's short length doesn't allow the concept to go as far as it could have, but backed up by a great orchestral score and some likable characters, I enjoyed it in the end. If, on the other hand, you'd rather your fantasy was more dedicated to being either straight drama or silly comedy, then this series probably isn't the one to watch.

For an alternate opinion, check out this reader's comments...

Related Recommendations

Most similar (despite the different sort of ruin) to Rune Soldier Louie, although Ruin Explorers gets more serious toward the end where Louie pretty much refuses to. Also similar to the more serious parts of Slayers but with much less chaos and stupidity, and likewise with Bastard!!, with much less violence and sleaze.

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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