Halo Legends

Halo Legends features seven different stories set in the Halo universe, each made by a different studio.

The Babysitter follows the Helljumpers, Orbital Drop Shock Troopers who are sent behind enemy lines to perform an assassination.

The Duel features the tale of an ancient Arbiter who refused to bow down to the Covenant religion. Branded a heretic, he must now face the consequences of his actions.

The Package depicts a group of Spartans, including the Master Chief, who are deployed to infiltrate a Covenant flagship and retrieve a “package” in a secret operation.

Origins shows Master Chief and Cortana stranded following the events of Halo 3, with Cortana summarizing the fall of the Forerunners, the defeat of the Flood, and the rise of humanity as well as the events of the Human-Covenant War.

Homecoming centers on the Spartan Daisy, who reminisces on her past, and the SPARTAN-II project while evacuating UNSC soldiers pinned down by Covenant forces.

Prototype is viewed from the perspective of Marine Sergeant Ghost, who is determined to fight for all he is worth in order to make up for past grievances.

Odd One Out is a non-canon parody of Halo featuring Spartan 1337, who suffers from extremely bad luck.

Master Chief Main

Genda, Tesshou Japanese

SPARTAN-1337 Main

Hirata, Hiroaki Japanese

Cortana Main

Touma, Yumi Japanese

Ghost Main

Fujiwara, Keiji Japanese

Daisy-023 Main

Kuwashima, Houko Japanese

Fal 'Chavamee Main

Touchi, Hiroki Japanese

CAL-141 Main

Noto, Mamiko Japanese

O'Brien Main

Shigematsu, Tomo Japanese

Big Brother Main

Seki, Tomokazu Japanese

Haka Main

Ootomo, Ryuuzaburou Japanese

Sugiyama, Keiichi Co-Director

Tanaka, Takahiro Co-Director, Animation Director

Minami, Masahiko Producer

Ishikawa, Mitsuhisa Producer, Executive Producer

Reviews

Feb 6, 2010

ange10

Recommended

This is my first review, so I’m sorry if you feel it is not as good as other reviewers.

Halo Legends, based on a popular game franchise is quite actually a good adaption of short stories that I rather enjoyed.
This review is based on a person who has played all the games and knows the storyline in which the games told.

"Note to people who have not played the games"
You may not like or understand this anime due to the anime adaption not following the main story line from a to c, its meant for halo fans to be able to understand the universe more and how ... the events of the past lead to events that happened in the game.

I can't rate the series overall as one series that follows one storyline main plot because it’s so diverse in that sense it offers 7 different stories and many different art styles, by many different anime developers.
But I will say that where one story shines, another may not shine as much.

Story 9/10
6 stories, which cover different aspects of halo's history, from its birth to its rebirth and how things led up to the story of halo: combat involved.
there is also a parody episode based in the halo universe but its not canon.

How well did they tell the history and events that happened?
I must say that it was very well done, from a narrated episode from the AI Cortana who was the master chiefs assistant in the game, to characters that only got introduced in the graphic novels, to totally new characters which help the viewer understand the halo universe aswell as expanding the halo universe and of course a episode with the master chief himself in which expands and explains more of his past and the other Spartans past.

Art 9/10

The art of each story are rather unique in certain areas, but all of them expect for one episode have familiar anime art styles.
The art itself in each episode is great, and fairly enjoyable to the viewer who is watching.

it the art itself which has a negative for me because of the use of so many different styles, one episode may put off a viewer and they may get annoyed of the art style and not like it as much as the other art style for example in the previous episode.
But this is also one of its pro's because of its diverse art style, there is sure to be an episode where someone's tastes is met.

So from where one episode follows traditional anime style, to one that is heavily CGI based to one that is totally unique and has a water paint blurry effect.

Sound 9/10

the sound is great and to be expected from such renowned anime producers, from the dramatic halo soundtrack that is everyone is familiar with to a eastern soundtrack that helps portray the characters for example in one episode there is 2 elites that are fighting and the soundtrack you hear helps strengthen the idea of the elites being people who considered honour as their way of living who can be greatly related to the samurai of Japan.

"note to readers" the original anime is english speaking and from my view very well done so please do not be put off if you prefer japanese speaking over english.

Character 9/10
The characters are portrayed very well, with the art styles and the soundtrack being so good, it is hard not to like the characters.
I think that without the great sound and art and story, it would be hard to relate to the characters usually but because the other elements of the anime is done so well you straight away feel the emotions of the other people in some episodes and feel their agony and desperation to shock and regret.

I will give a brief introduction the episodes and my thoughts on them.

"The Babysitter"
Is an episode about a group of hell jumpers or better known as orbital shock troopers who go on a mission with a Spartan.

my thoughts on this episode is that it tries to tell the viewer on how the Spartans where portrayed from the public eye of other UNSC personal and this one focuses on one particular hell jumper attitude to working with a Spartan on an important mission that I will leave for the viewers to find out the details of.

"The Duel"
Is based on the elites and is about an arbiter that will not follow the covenants beliefs

my thoughts on this episode is that the art style is rather unique, and may put off the viewer or irritate them when watching the episode but it should not distract the viewer in general from understanding the story its self and what it is trying to portray.

"Origins"
Is a 2 part episode narrated by the AI Cortana who explains past events of the history of the halo universe.

My thoughts on this story were that it was very well done, and that it does a very good job of explaining how things came 2 in the halo universe.
I will state that these 2 episodes should be watched first for maximum enjoyment from the viewers and people who have not played the halo games.

"Homecoming"
Is an episode that shows how the Spartan program recruited and how the Spartans came to terms with themselves.

my thoughts on this, is that it does a good job of portraying and introducing other Spartans but the episode itself is 2 short to give justice to the characters themselves, but does the job of explaining how the Spartans was recruited.

"Prototype"
The story is focused on a Marine who is sent to a distant planet to destroy prototype powered armour.

my thoughts on this, is that it does a great job portraying the main character who you as a viewer as never heard of before and is nice to see a different event that doesn’t involve any Spartans but instead shows a man coming to terms with his past and the decisions he chooses to make that makes him human.

"The Package"
is a story that is a two-part all CGI-film taking place during a raid that consists of Spartans including the master chief that raid a Covenant Battle cruiser to take back a package.

my thoughts on this, is that the CGI itself is quite good, but due to it being an anime I believe CGI does not feel right when watching an anime that contains episodes that are not all CGI.

"Odd One Out"
This episode is a parody story of Halo universe and is not canon.

My thought on this episode is that it was quite funny, and they should make more episodes like this.

Enjoyment
This adaption is quite enjoyable, though some of the episodes are quite emotional it just makes the episodes even more enjoyable.
The negativity can come in at a start of an episode with a different art style but once the person gets into the episode the difference in animation goes away and the person can enjoy the episode.

Overall I give the anime a 9/10, because of its various art styles and interesting story plots, but because of the episodes being so short the viewer may feel unsatisfied, but overall the anime is more like a taster and helps introduce more characters into the halo universe so that maybe in the future we can hope to see more of these people in later halo productions.

but for someone watching who is not familiar with the animations background (played the games or read the novels) i would give it a 6-7/10 i think.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Feb 1, 2011

vanmarckestevy

Mixed Feelings

With such a huge universe to create stories from I was very dissapointed. The duel is awesome, htis episode is worth the watch,great visuals,atmosphere, but little story (just enough to comprehend),with creative supervision by Mamoru Oshii. and it shows:)
The first Origins was also nice because it had a good connection to the halo universe (the plot) and visually very nice.
But
I do say but
the rest of the episodes are so 'empty' both visually (with the exception of the spaceship falling apart) and plot wise. The babysitter is so predictable you can write it yourself, and the rest of the episodes don't really matter.
So bit dissapointed because ... you can create awesome storylines with the AI,chief,covenant,universe,................................
The CHief alone is worth a movie:) but nooooooo
good to fill a lonely hour but for more enjoyment play the game

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Oct 16, 2011

DraconisMarch

Not Recommended

It's really hard to rate this because of the fact that only a select few of the episodes are good compared to the rest, which are garbage.

The Babysitter. This one was okay. Animation was pretty good, action was good, characters actually had a personality.

The Duel. Words can't describe how epically bad this was. Shit animation (looked like I was trying to watch through a fogged-up window), set in some garbage fuedal Japan imitation (totally out of canon), insane amounts of melodrama, characters they WANT you to care about but can't. And the actual "duel" at the end is so retardedly ... anticlimactic they should change the name of the episode.

The Package. Also okay. Pretty nice animation. All I really have to say.

Origins I. Cool for learning about the back story.

Origins II. See above.

Homecoming. This was alright. Nice psychological view into spartans' minds.

Prototype. BY FAR the best one. It did THE BEST job out of all of them giving the characters depth in such a small time frame. The animation was great, the action was the best out of all of them, AND it had David Matranga as the main character (who does his character great justice). The only problem I have with it is that it's not really clear why the prototype--and all pertinent data--had to be destroyed. They just say it does.

Odd One Out. Holy shit. This is so retardedly out of canon it isn't even funny. What the fuck is the point of this garbage? What the hell is going on? Why are there two random humans who have DBZ-type powers? Why is there a dinosaur? Why does 1337 have DBZ-like powers? God... this is shit. The sad part is that THIS is the episode in which they decided to cast Greg Ayres, Bittney Karbowski, and Chris Patton--renowned, talented VAs whom anyone who knows ANYTHING about English-dubbed anime knows at least one of. They got shit roles for shit characters for a shit episode. Oh, and Cortana looks retarded.

All in all, didn't live up to the stupid amount of hype it received.

Oh, and the credits are always epically long, but that can't really be helped I suppose.

Alright. I'm ready. Click that troll button. ;)

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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