Demon Lord Dante – Dante Resurrects (Animé TV)
Picture:
C+ Sound: B- Extras: C+ Episodes: B-
The
Horror genre odes not explicitly enter the world of Animé too much, but Demon Lord Dante – Dante Resurrects
(2002) launches on Geneon DVD with its first four episodes, as demons that rip
the hearts out of female victims are on the loose. Though the show does not explain this, like
so many things in a world that tries to stay mystical and mystified to the
point of being its own enemy so typical of Animé in general, these types of
demons are known as Incubus and Succubus.
Now we’re
talking Kolchak: The Night Stalker
and X-Files territory, but this is
then surprisingly religious, with its emphasis on “God” and variations of
Satan. It is interesting to see all this
cleansed of the annoying and tired religious debates in the United States spurned on by the extreme
religious right and in a way for which they have zero control over. “Jesus, Inc.” fails again. The episodes are:
Nightmare
Ritual
Resurrection
Madness
As the
title suggests, an evil is being resurrected and this is convincing enough, but
unlike its live-action predecessors, the lack of any explanation hampers the
show in profound ways. Some Satanists
are involved, but that does no better explain anything than the better Hammer
Horror films have done, and much better.
Despite being for ages 16 and up, a correct setting for viewership, this
is still not at the top of this kind of thing, but is a refreshing change in
the glutting Animé world.
The full
frame, color image is a bit soft and this is not because of the way the show
was produced. This does have more
impressive artwork than usual, which was another plus, but everything felt so
close to being better and does not quite make it. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo is in English
& Japanese with Pro Logic-type surrounds.
The Japanese sounds more natural, but both are about even. Extras include highlights in Japanese only
from the last two shows on this DVD and the first two on the planned next
release, five character profiles, the opening and closing without text, Geneon
trailers for this and three other Animé shows, and three minutes form a press
conference to launch the series in Japan.
If we get more of these shows, it will be interesting to see where they
go.
- Nicholas Sheffo
