Review of Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom

Phantom is SO close. Yes, it's later Bee Train after they realized the big money wasn't coming, and it has some STUPID things like when they spend a whole episode mistaking Los Angeles for Las Vegas. HOWEVER, it has some vision in taking the dark and occasionally sleazy 80's crime B-movies movies and refracting it through the lens of anime. There are times it reaches that kind of height of a good William Friedkin movie, like the episode where the main characters seemingly indulge in a fantasy life as a normal couple at a mall while being keenly aware of what they are now. Themain problem is it's a story told in 3 acts when it should've been told in 2 halves. The HARD left turn in the final act happens over such a short period of time in both time that has passed in the series and in the time the series has left to tell its story. I get why it is the way it is, but it really needs to be a mirror instead of an unbalanced finale with not enough weight for it to adjust to the complete changes, especially with one character. It completely spins out the momentum of the whole thing.

Which is a shame, because it's the one Bee Train series that nails the ending. It's the perfect film noir conclusion to the story. Also, Lizzie Garland is one of the best supporting characters in anime. She's a character who's so hard to get right, especially in anime if you've seen her design in the VN (Yikes), and she's GREAT here. All that said, I remember when this first came out and certain people were so relieved Yuki Kajiura had become too big for Bee Train and the new composer was far better for scoring the series. NO. JUST NO. You listen to that hip hop music cue that starts the beginning of Act 2 and you apologize to Miss Kajiura right now....