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One of the big four (I might be too old, so in my days they meant Bleach, Naruto, One Piece, and Fairy Tail), this is a classic shounen piece, and of a series of anime that helped propel the popularity of this art form. I will not get into the details of the anime, just give you a little bit of a heads-up for what to expect (it will be short).

Plot: Bleach starts with a sound plot, catchy music, and a good cast that will make any teenager (prone to like anime) instantly like it. And it stays that way for a while, gradually improving ... in delivery. If it had stayed that way, honestly it would have made for a stellar show. Unfortunately, as many would here testify, Bleach has too many fillers (about 40-50 % of the total anime). And they're not just any ordinary fillers, they actually stop the plot MIDWAY to start a new arc, damaging the understanding of the actual, canonical plot. Though they too possess good music, they harm the quality of the anime as a whole. Keep that in mind. Otherwise, the plot seems pretty much complete where the anime ends, so the closure's there.

Music: As mentioned before, the anime has an outstanding musical score, and the Openings and Endings come from great singers and bands. Do check it out if that's your thing.

Art and animation: Typical of the 1st decade of the 2000s. It's quite good, and here even the fillers lend a hand to its overall quality.

Overall: A long show, quite enjoyable without the fillers (though some fillers are quite decent). Good music and art, and an overall mature plot. From here you can make a pretty good guess about whether you want to go ahead with this show or not.

You will probably find many pronouncing this anime to be one of the worst ever made, and chances are, after such negativity, you too will form a similar opinion. But looking from a completely neutral lens, this show isn't half as bad as it is made out to be. Sure it isn't one of the best, in fact not even by a large margin, but it DEFINITELY isn't the worst, at least if you have even the slightest interest in mythology.

Ankoku Shinwa narrates some pretty unknown mythology (as in very less promoted over the mainstream media), which I personally find more enjoyable than going over ... the more known mythologies of Greece and the like. And indeed, most of the anime is pure narration of a section of Hindu mythology, set in a dark atmosphere. Those who know nothing of it yet find discovering new things enjoyable, and are also not averse to the horror theme, may actually find it pretty enjoyable. The music also wasn't unsuited to the environment against which it is employed, and the art was typical of the era, nothing unusual there.

But as regards to any sort of character development or a sound plot, you won't find any, this show simply isn't designed for that. mind you, most horror shows also do not showcase their plot, but their horror element as their main theme. It is the same with this anime.

Lastly, the anime itself could have achieved much more if it had been more properly directed, as the base was pretty solid. Herein lies its greatest weakness, it has everything, but nothing seems to have been put in it's proper place.

Overall, do not watch this anime if you're looking for some excellent plot or fighting sequences, you won't find any. This show is only for those with an appetite for horror and who can stand a lesson in mythology.

It's been a while since I watched this movie and my memory of it as a whole was not very special, its just that it's music is one of my most favorite. With that this review says it all. I re-watched the movie a few days ago...just to clarify myself about it and boy was I thrilled.

The music was as I remembered...absolutely captivating! The movie as a whole was what would call a nice, good anime but with nothing out of the ordinary. The story was very confusing at times..indeed for those who haven't watched the anime series it can get very troublesome as they ... won't know which end's which. But it gets better eventually, though as the plot is so rushed you won't get any time to settle in. On the whole its plot needs the support of the movie to survive than the the other way round.

Artwork was ..for it's time..nicely done..especially w.r.t Rahxephon. Again however the scenes are so rushed that you don't get to grasp the full meaning of each picture..for example the Dolems (giants) were given too inadequate a time compared to the anime series, they mentioned even briefly..you start to think them as side characters whereas in the anime they hold an almost pivotal position.

Characters in the movie fared of better..at least select ones.. than most other aspects of it. In particular mental growth of the main characters is clearly visible. Here too though some mismanagement made it's way in for some characters who were proudly introduced but then conveniently ignored.
This contributes to a lot of headache in understanding the story.

In the end however, the soundtrack impressed me a lot..even if little else did. The music is absolutely fantastic..though it has only one real song. Then again you might expect at least this from an anime whose main theme is a musical world. The assertion that the movie was saved only thanks to its music would hardly be unfair. In particular a certain soundtrack in the middle of the movie almost made me cry. I would thus definitely recommend the movie to any lover of anime music, I can virtually guarantee that you won't be disappointed.

In a sense a person can truly enjoy the movie only if he hasn't seen the anime first...otherwise the whole plot is spoiled. That's the way it worked for me.

Okay now this is my first anime review so I need you to be patient with me. Personally this is my most favourite anime ever (watched it thrice and it made me cry every time), forcing me to finally write a review for it (though I tried to be more realistic here).
Now with the anime; the first impact it gives doesn't really show anything about the series as a whole, in fact the situation persists in the first arc of the show. It is only after the children defeat Devimon that the show starts to get really interesting. The second and later arcs represent the ... main struggle, and the show becomes even more appealing, to the point that you can't leave it anymore. The character development also take place during this arc, along with that touch of emotional feel. Afterwards the Vandemon arc finally puts an end to the many dissatisfactions affecting the Chosen children among themselves and their loved ones, finally creating a formidable team before the last arc. The children have by then become very mature, but still less to make them recognizable as children after all. The show gives a string of moral lessons, and gives the children a purpose they seemed to lack before. Of course they still make mistakes, but that only adds to the reality of the show, and before we realized it, they are facing their final foe. To defeat him they realize the power of their crests (which symbolize eight virtues). The ending is both happy and very sad (at this point I always seemed to cry T_T) . I must also add that though ending was pretty well done, it gave the viewer a longing for something just a bit different (.....if only......). Good anime always seem to have that kind of element in them.
Despite it being a children's anime, it doesn't fail to entertain the older audience either. In my case it brought back childhood memories, prompting me to rewatch it.
Storywise I think it was almost perfect in that it did marvellously well for its demographic group. 9/10
The art is surprisingly brilliant for 1999, with a harmonious blend of computer-made graphics and hand-drawn cartoons, excepting a few micro-flaws that is. 9/10
The soundtrack was my most favourite part (and by that I mean the subbed version) as it keeps you on track and glued to the show. 10/10
As mentioned before character development is very prominent in the series and the characters themselves leave a profound impact on the viewer. 10/10
As for enjoyment the show is very good in this regard and has a tendency to keep people glued to it till the end. 10/10
Base upon the rest of the gradings I would give it... 10/10