3x3 Eyes: Legend of the Divine Demon Anime Review

Quick Review

• Reviewer: Marc
• Review Date: 2006-07-19 (updated 2012-10-21)
• 3 stars out of 5 (?)

This sequel series takes up four years after the previous one abruptly ended, and was produced about the same amount of time later. The changes, both in production values and story, are numerous. Amusing supporting cast is largely gone, and Pai and Yakumo have reversed roles--panicky but sharp normal girl and competent demon fighter. The much darker story is more coherent and evenly paced, but still suffers from some of the same mythology overload for those watching it for the first time. The changes all make sense within the plot, but they're more than a little jarring. Visually, however, Divine Demon builds on the strengths of the original, adding sharp kung-fu action, imaginative backgrounds, improved art and character designs, and some creepy horror scenes to the creativity, grit, and gore of the first series. The acting lacks the variety of the previous series, but replaces it with much meatier drama and some impressive performances.

In all, this follow up series presents a darker, more coherent plot with more emotional depth, but it's still a little confusing and blunt with the moral. Backed up with a few rollicking action scenes and the same gore and drama as the first series (and even a little of the humor), 3x3 Eyes: Legend of the Divine Demon is a solid, watchable adventure.

Read the full-length review...

Full Review

• Reviewer: Marc
• Review Date: 2006-07-19 (updated 2012-10-21)
• 3 stars out of 5 (?)

Note that this review is specifically of the second 3x3 Eyes OAV series, Legend of the Divine Demon. While packaged together with the first series now, it was produced four years after the first series and is quite a bit different.

This sequel series takes up four years after the previous one abruptly ended, and was produced about the same amount of time later. It is a decent chunk of action-horror, but is so closely connected as a sequel that it shouldn't be left to stand alone. The stylistic and story differences are major, however, so I'm going to make a number of comparisons.

Things certainly haven't stagnated--almost everything from the previous series has changed. Due to time elapsed, Yakumo is more mature and jaded, and has developed into a competent demon-fighter. Pai is... well, a totally different character, thanks to amnesia. In a role-reversal, she's now the one wrestling with demons in her past (literally). While I missed Yakumo's good natured take on the mess surrounding his situation and Pai's awkward adjustment to human life, the characters have more emotional depth, a significant improvement.

The quirky supporting characters from the first series are nowhere to be found (although a couple of less broad ones are introduced), a bit of a disappointment. Making up for it, the villains are much better--they actually have some personality and are significantly scarier.

Without giving too much away, this series is distinctly darker than the first one, and sadly not as original--more standard action horror than the unusual mix of humor, normal life, and demonic plots that 3x3 Eyes started with. Almost all the subplots of the first series have been completely dropped, which is more than a bit disappointing. Another negative is one thing that hasn't changed--the moral of the story is still heavy-handedly shoved into the plot at times. That moral, speaking of which, has shifted focus from what it means to be human to an emphasis on facing destiny and doing the right thing rather than the easy thing.

One significant positive is that the plot doesn't try to cover nearly as much ground, and as a result feels more coherent and well-paced. There's also plenty of international (and supernatural) flavor as the characters travel into the depths of Tibet and beyond, though in a bit of a disappointment almost nothing is done with the language barriers that played heavily into the manga.

Unfortunately, as if the demon-related backstory weren't confusing enough to begin with, there's much more detail in Divine Demon, and it introduces several new twists that keep things a little too complicated for their own good. There's substance to it if you're familiar with the manga or watch the anime a few times, but as a first-time viewer I was left feeling bewildered by the time it was all over. Speaking of which, the end is probably the weakest part. The last episode is dramatic and has some good twists, but goes overboard with the tension and gets bogged down by it. The very end, though creative, is also a little weird and rather unsatisfying. I can't go into detail without spoiling it, but the manga was nowhere near finished at this point and it shows (rumors of a third haven't thus far panned out).

Visually, Legend of the Divine Demon is a big improvement over Immortals. It takes the strengths--relatively good art and animation, character designs with potential, and good, gory action--and builds on them to produce a fine-looking show. For example, the character designs are significantly improved while still faithful to the originals--Yakumo is recognizable but less strange looking, and Pai has a slightly sharper, more attractive look, a style shared by the new characters. The art is crisp, clean, and attractive, and the backgrounds are much better--quite nice, in fact (including some commendably realistic Tokyo scenes in the first episode).

The horror scenes have been cranked up a couple of notches--creepy dolls, desolate wastelands, that sort of thing. Not spectacular, but good enough to comfortably qualify as action-horror. And that brings me to the biggest improvement: the action scenes. The sense of space is drastically improved, the animation is smooth, and (thanks in part to a more competent Yakumo) there are a couple of highly cool kung-fu style fights. To top it off, it still retains the gore and grit that distinguished the first series.

The Japanese voices are again populated by an interesting collection of actors with a distinctive variety of voices. Pai has changed enough that her voice is no longer a stretch for Megumi Hayashibara (or nearly as distinctive), but there's more than enough full-bodied dramatic acting to mark hers as the standout performance again. Yakumo also has some interesting drama for Kouji Tsujitani to work with this time around. The treasure hunter MacDonald is the standard loud-mouthed Westerner, but well-enough acted by Houchu Ohtsuka. The English dub, based on a quick look, is about on par with the first series.

Kaoru Wada is back for the music which, like the art, improves on the strengths of the first series--sparse but surprisingly good, with some particularly nice creepy themes toward the end. There's also a beautiful, wistful flute theme reminiscent of his theme for Gunnm and Joe Hisashi's work on Miyazaki's movies.

In all, this follow up series presents a darker, more coherent plot with more emotional depth, but it's still a little confusing and blunt with the moral. There are also enough character changes to make this feel too much like a whole new series for my taste, and a less original one on top of it. The changes aren't unreasonable or unexplained, but they are jarring nonetheless. Still, backed up with a few rollicking action scenes and the same gore and drama as the first series (plus a little of the humor), 3x3 Eyes: Legend of the Divine Demon is a solid, watchable adventure.

Looking at the two series (to date) as a whole, you have a story that starts rough and slowly evens out as it works through several surprising and dramatic twists and turns. Its strengths are a few substantial characters, a sense of humor about itself, emotional force that builds slowly up to the end, a liberal sprinkling of tense action scenes, some cool kung-fu fighting later on, and an involved plot. Its weaknesses are that same involved (read: convoluted) plot, a lack of flow between episodes, heavy-handed drama and "messages," a rocky start (particularly visually), and generally unsatisfying conclusions. In all, I found the series worth watching and relatively enjoyable, but it never quite lives up to the potential of the manga.

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