Silent Mobius - Dark Destiny (Collection 3) [DVD]

I read much of the original manga to this, but was blown away with the quality and pace of the anime. A great addition to any collection and a good price.

Silent Mobius is a sometimes confusing story about a group of police officers in the future who were charged with repelling an extra dimensional invasion by a creature called Lucifer Hawk. I remember seeing an earlier version of this story back in the '80s, this seems to be a remake of the original story. The animation is pretty good, I've seen better. You do get a lot of story for your money when you buy this DVD, I think it's around 140 minutes. Bottom line: it's worth checking out.

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...I first saw this on Tech TV, which is rather odd since Tech TV doesn't exacly scream anime. I too thought at first when I saw one of its commercials, "the cast is all women? Great, nothing but a wet boys anime". Boy was I wrong. First off, Katsumi and her friends actually have real depth. They don't just stand around yelling at things with huge heads (you know, to emphasizethat they're yelling) and flexing off their sexiness in thongs. The fact that they're women doesn't really come into play that much, and they don't just sit around talking about guys the whole episode. Each one them has an in depth back story, as well as distinct powers making each one of them unique, and no two are exactly alike. What I also loved was the fact that each one of them had their own episode which showed more of the character to the viewer than you would previously know. Also, there is no 1 character who become the center of attention constantly. Sure the story is about Katsumi, but not one character gets ignored. I wish other animes would do this, since it is the proper way to tell a story, and not burn the viewer out on a character.The villians are creatures called Lucifer Hawks which are demons. In a bizzare twist of fate they become connected to our world and start screwing things up royally by eatting people and such (we're their food source, oh joy). That's where our heros come in. While it may sound like it reduces to a Power Rangers or Sailer Moon type of ordeal, each battle has its own unique twist that makes it interesting and makes use of each characters powers. There's also half human/lucifer hawks that cause Katsumi and pals much grief later on as well. In fact, I liked every villian as well. They were intelligent, and had their own unique motive for why they do what they do. It's rare to see a bad guy not being bad just for the sake of it now days.The music is also welcome, from the excellent beginning theme to the in show tracks which play. After hearing it I bought the sound track just to get Forbidden Pause. If you know me personally, you'd know that I'm very picky about my music. But this sound track just clicks just right and you'll be humming it while walking around work and such.All in all this is one of the few rare animes which has no glaring flaws, just 1 annoying character. The stories are well thought out, the animation is excellent, the music is soothing, the characters act like actual people and not sex objects, the voice acting is good, and the villians are great. I will admit that some battles did get kinda cheesy when the monsters shout "It's the AMP!" like it was Mr T and the A-Team busting onto the scene or something, but on a whole this is 1 anime that you should not miss. Why it's not popular I'll never know, but if you can spread the good word after watching it, that will hopefully change.

First of all, this is not a movie (there are two movies made years ago), this is the first 9 episodes of the (much newer) television series, 2 discs with a whopping 225 minutes of material. You get your money's worth.Second, the visuals/animation for a television series can't possibly compare to the two earlier movies... but plot-wise, the television series wins hands-down. Not only does it conform much more closely to the original manga/comic series, but it gives you a chance to get to know all of the other characters involved. There's room to develop multiple plots. Both of the movies revolved around Katsumi to the exclusion of other characters, and they were both also told completely in flashback mode which is not a good way to tell a story. They're both worth watching, but as introductions to the various cast members and multiple plot threads of the comic, they fall very short. So I'm very glad that the tv series has come out.Third, it amuses me that someone knows how "awful" this series is after watching only ten minutes of it, and reccomends stories made for children instead. Let's just say that Silent Mobius is a little more complex, story-wise, than Pokemon. You might as well say that, after watching a full ten minutes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, you realized it was the worst television series ever and reccomend watching Rugrats or Spongebob Squarepants instead.Speaking of Buffy, what you get with Silent Mobius is a dark futuristic tale of good people with special powers fighting off evil demonic entities... it has a little of that Bubblegum Crisis / Battle Angel Alita cyberpunk feel, a little Lovecraftian horror, and a little of that Neon Genesis Evangelion "it's the end of the world as we know it, and mankind's making one last desperate stand" flavor. It's also one of those animes where all of the major characters are female, although two have boyfriends who are background characters without special powers.Not the most amazing anime in the world, but a fun series nonetheless. And by the way, much more compelling than Gundam Wing, Pokemon, and Galaxy Express 666.