Jan 30, 2013
*This is only my second review so some feedback would be nice so I know how to improve my reviews in the future!*
I'd say I'm quite a fan of the Mass Effect universe. It's huge and is filled with amazing planets, alien races and ancient evils just begging to be used on another medium. When I heard about a Mass Effect anime I was ecstatic! I really liked Halo legends when it came out so why shouldn't I have been excited? How brutally disappointed I was...
The story... like I said The Mass Effect universe has so much potentia,l it's great source material for an anime.
...
The movie is set between the 1st and 2nd game. Commander Shepard is believed dead and a pro-human anti-alien organization known as Cerberus is on the rise. That was fine I had no problems there. What I did have problems with was everything that came after. The plot became predictable and awfully generic as well as an awkward and totally unneeded forced romance. It really just took different scenes from other sci-fi's like "Aliens" but adding the Mass Effect backdrop. If it wasn't for the character designs and the title it could easily have some other sci-fi anime it just didn't feel like Mass Effect. Then the ending... I preferred the ending to Mass Effect 3 over the way this ends it just felt very unnecessary.
The protagonist!!! Again, the Mass Effect universe is huge there are so many interesting characters to choose from! Who do they pick as the lead for this movie? James Vega!? Why? James Vega is the most uninteresting character in the game why make a movie about his past? He is uncharismatic, lacks any real leadership qualities and makes the most ridiculous out of character decisions. The only explanation for this was because Vega wasn't Shepard. The whole anime focuses on this. Vega is the paragon lost because he's flawed and isn't able to be the same man that Shepard is. Fair enough but then Commander Shepard is a god amongst men with the fate of the Galaxy in his hands! Of course Vega can't match up to him and you don't need to make him out as the shittest marine in the galaxy to do it!
The supporting characters are your average generic marines (Aliens) whom you can predict they're dying order most of the time. You really don't feel anything for them or for Vega when they die because character development is so poor, in fact some of them I couldn't wait until they had been killed off. They were boring and unemotional at the final battle I wasn't rooting for anyone I wasn't invested in the characters enough to care it's a damn shame.
The saving grace however would have to be the art. I liked it, if Mass Effect was going to get more anime this is how I would want it to look. The action scenes looked good and were enjoyable to watch just a shame they are ruined by the story and characters.
It did have some of the soundtrack from the games playing during which is always going to be good. Some of the VA could have been better but I put this down to a poor screenplay more than anything.
Apart from the action scenes there is really nothing worth watching here. If you are a big Mass Effect fan you will probably watch it anyway. I'm not telling you not to this is just my opinion I think you should take a look maybe you'll agree with me when I say that this was a wasted opportunity. Despite how bad this movie was I'm still open to more Mass Effect anime but I'm saddened to say that it probably won't happen due to this first attempt being so poor. It is such a great universe I don't understand how they could have came up with such a generic plot with really dull characters. I hope there is a second chance for a Mass Effect anime and I hope they do better.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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