Review of Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom

I'll just say this right now: I don't care much for mafia drama. Films like The Godfather and Scarface bore the shit out of me and the entire genre is way too tedious to keep my interest any longer than say 5 minutes. With that said, I've always had a fondness for programmes like Breaking Bad and Dexter but they just get ridiculous after a certain point. So where does that leave Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom? Well, I suppose it's the direct inverse of .hack//SIGN (another Bee Train show): it's a show that started off strong and had an intense middle act that endedup losing a lot of points due to a lacklustre final act. Is it worth watching? Well, yeah but try keeping an open mind when you're doing so.

For those of you unfamiliar with the background of Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom, allow me to fill you in. This is an adaptation of a visual novel known as "Phantom of Inferno," which deals with the story of two assassins with no memories and nowhere else to go named Ein and Zwei. Another thing to note about this anime is that it's divided into a sort of "three-act" structure. The first "act" is more or less an introduction to the characters, the second "act" covers Zwei's life as the new "Phantom of Inferno," and the third "act" takes place after a two-year time skip from the second act, which I'll talk about later on in this review.

As far as the story of Phantom goes, it takes itself VERY seriously with virtually no comedy whatsoever. The atmosphere in this show is full of tension and it's rather rare for an episode to actually be lighter in tone than the rest of the series. Even then, those episodes are still rather serious in nature. There's little to no levity to be found so if that's a turn-off, well... deal with it or just find another show to watch.

Given that this is a mafia drama, it's to be expected that there would be some action/violence in this show. However, the appearance of any sort of violence in this show is rather sparse to say the least. Phantom uses violence as a means to relieve some of the tension that would otherwise build up and quickly make the show tedious/uncomfortable to watch. Even then, the action in Phantom isn't really akin to what you'd see in Scarface where a guy pulls out a machine gun and starts firing randomly into the crowd. It's more along the lines of stealth-based kills and such. Ein and Zwei ARE assassins, after all.

Now, violence isn't really the only way that Phantom relieves some of the excess tension. For instance, there's some fan service thrown into the mix. I'm not even joking about that. Fan service is often provided by Claudia, one of the higher-ups of Inferno with so many ambitions that she'd fuck a homeless guy with every strain of hepatitis known to man if it would further her cause (all joking aside, she's actually a good character). There's no shortage of scenes in the second "act" where we get to see Claudia in an open bath robe with plenty of cleavage to spare.

Oddly enough though, there's almost nothing in the way of nudity. Like the most that we ever really see is a shot of a woman's bare breasts at the beginning of the first episode which was inexplicably covered up by a bikini top in the Phantom release on Funimation's YouTube channel. I question how a pair of exposed breasts suddenly warrants an "R+ - Mild Nudity" rating. This isn't the first time an anime with one instance of exposed breasts got a "Mild Nudity" rating here either (ref: Akira; odd how there's a scene in Episode 7 of Hellsing Ultimate where we see a guy fucking a corpse in a flashback, but Hellsing Ultimate still has a "Violence and Profanity" rating).

Going back to the story at hand, it's got quite a bit in the way of strengths but some rather glaring weaknesses. On the positive side of things, this isn't like Akame ga Kill and Elfen Lied where the show doesn't really have a sense of what it wants to be, and so it constantly swaps between two tones that are complete polar opposites of each other. We know that right from the beginning that Phantom is a crime drama that takes itself seriously. On another note, I find the concept of an organisation like Inferno to be quite intriguing and it's a lot more interesting than the “started-from-the-bottom-now-we-here” approach that other mafia dramas like The Godfather and Scarface opt for.

However, one glaring problem that Phantom has is the fact that it is a visual novel adaptation. Visual novels are designed in such a way where certain secondary/tertiary characters get thrown to the wayside since it's assumed you'll be playing through the other story routes if you really want to see what happens to them. However, that does NOT translate over to an anime context since the medium doesn't have an answer for that little nuance. Certain character arcs feel incomplete with some backgrounds being insufficiently explored or the back-story just being dropped altogether.

Another problem that Phantom has in relation to it being a visual novel adaptation is the fact that Zwei, the protagonist of this series is a teenager. This reflects the nature of visual novels tending to use adolescent protagonists no matter what the contents of the story actually is. The way that Phantom presents itself in the beginning makes you think that Zwei is an adult, but no. It's revealed toward the end of the first “act” that Zwei was in fact a student in high school before getting mixed up with Inferno. Why is this a problem? Well... for starters, you've got suspension of disbelief constantly at risk of being broken. This ties in with the next problem that Phantom has: the third “act.”

Considering the fact that Zwei is of high school age and this is a visual novel adaptation, it was only a matter of time before there was a portion of the show that took place in high school. The only problem? All of this high school crap took place during the final seven episodes of the show. The story doesn't really turn to shit here because if you can suspend your disbelief, it's pretty good. The only problem is the fact that well... I CAN'T SUSPEND MY DISBELIEF FOR THESE FINAL SEVEN EPISODES IN THE SLIGHTEST.

There were a lot of little details that just had me raising my eyebrows and then just wondering “wait, what the fuck is going on here?” Now, I can get on with it if I approach the story from a slightly different angle, but that angle involves me having to pretend that certain things just didn't happen... even though it's so blatantly obvious that it did happen, and this show takes great pains to remind you that what you saw actually did happen. So yeah... not a huge fan of that since it's basically Gen Urobuchi's way of saying “what I'm doing is wrong, I know it's wrong, but I'm gonna do it anyway.”

When it comes down to conclusions, Phantom's conclusion was rather hasty to say the least. Well... that's how it felt to me. At the same time, at least it felt like a proper finale and offered a sense of closure. I can't help but wonder how different Phantom would be if it was as long as Death Note and paced things out differently. Like if the high school bullshit happened first, I really wouldn't have a problem with Phantom whatsoever. But alack, that's yet another story of what could have been that will only be answered by fan fiction writers.

As far as characters go, Phantom has a wide variety of characters with their own varying degrees of significance. However, keep in mind that Phantom's visual novel roots prevent certain characters from truly making an impression. First up, we have Ein and Zwei: two trained assassins with no memories of their past lives and nowhere else to go. Ein initially comes off as a Rei clone, but her character is further explored as the series goes on. Zwei on the other hand is characterised in a manner very similar to Kenshin from Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal in the sense that he's got nowhere else to go so he keeps on killing. I would keep going about these two, but I spent a good hour or so trying to come up with a way to provide insight but I kept going into spoiler-heavy territory. So yeah... you want more info? Watch the show.

As for the other members of Inferno (i.e. Claudia, Scythe Master, Raymond McGuire), they're all pretty interesting characters but I found myself wanting to see more of Raymond and Scythe Master since they didn't really leave all that much of an impression on me despite the potential they had. Scythe Master is the man who created the Phantom, so right off the bat we had set-up for someone who could be a REALLY good villain. However, his characterisation falters toward the end because Gen Urobuchi decided to paint him like a madman obsessed with Broadway theatre. Raymond on the other hand is the supposed “leader” of Inferno, but we never really get to see much of him. We don't get a good feel for his morality and he pretty much just remains this enigmatic “big boss” character, which is quite a shame since I quite liked him.

Aside from Raymond, Ein, and Zwei, there were two other characters that I grew quite attached to: Lizzie Garland and Cal Devens. Lizzie Garland basically acted as moral support for Claudia and Zwei and in addition to that, I just love the role she was given as someone who has to put up with Claudia and Zwei's bullshit. As for Cal Devens, she's an 11-year-old orphan that Zwei ends up “adopting” in the second “act” of Phantom, and she's similar to Lizzie in the sense that she's there to provide moral support to Zwei. However, another role that she serves is to actually lighten up the tone of the episodes at the point in time that she's introduced.

A lot of people take umbrage with Cal because her appearance in a show like this felt rather “out-of-place” and to some extent, you'd be right. At first, I really didn't understand why she was even there to begin with. However, given that this series is rife with tension that needs to be diffused every now and then, a role like Cal's is necessary to prevent the show from getting stiff. Usually, this is where comedic relief would kick in and to some extent, Cal does provide some humour. However, comedy is a very volatile element.

If you put in too much or the wrong kind of comedic relief, the atmosphere you were trying to build up could instantly dissipates and you'd have to spend a whole lot of time just to rebuild said atmosphere. Cal basically serves as a reminder of Zwei's humanity, hence the reason why he took her in rather than outright killing her. Phantom relies on juxtaposing Zwei's mentality as a killing machine and his own humanity. While we get plenty of the former throughout the show's run, we don't really get a lot of latter. Cal's inclusion in Phantom allows for us to see the "human" side of Zwei that we often lose sight of whenever he's caught up in any business pertaining to Inferno.

With that said, the biggest problem that Lizze and Cal have pretty much trace back to the visual novel origins that Phantom has. Lizzie was absent from the third "act" and Cal undergoes a... well, let's just say that she ends up changing quite a bit during the time skip and it comes out of nowhere. Remember what I said about certain character arcs being either abandoned completely or just insufficiently explored because anime can't account for certain visual novel nuances? Yeah... that comes back to bite this show in the ass quite hard. There's also the matter of my suspension of disbelief collapsing due to the fact that all of this shit culminates together in the end rather hastily and without much second thought.

Enough about the characters though. Let's get on with the art/animation. As far as the art direction goes, everything translates over from the visual novel quite well. Character designs are nice and nothing looks uncanny, the backgrounds have a nice amount of detail put into them, and all that good shit. When it comes down to the actual animation, Phantom doesn't really have a lot in the way of it because it's primarily a crime/mafia drama and as such, there's a lot of talking involved. As far as action goes, there isn't a lot of it to be found in Phantom given that the roles that Ein and Zwei play are that of covert assassins. This plays toward Bee Train's strengths since animating fights isn't really their strong suit (ref: Blade of the Immortal, and .hack//SIGN).

The highlight of the art and animation in Phantom boils down to the opening and ending sequences. From a visual standpoint, all of them are beautiful to look at. With that said, I'm biased toward the first opening sequence, since it was paired up with an absolutely gorgeous song called "Karma" by KOKIA which syncs up perfectly with the visuals and really captures the essence of what this show is about: two assassins forced to kill with nowhere else to go. The visuals are rather abstract to say the least, but that's part of what makes the OP so good in the first place. It's almost impossible to explain without actually describing each individual frame of animation, so just do yourself a favour and watch it.

However, the biggest shortcoming that the animation has is the usage of CGI. CGI is NOT Bee Train's strong suit, and it looks even worse than the CGI dragon from Fate/stay night or pretty much anything you'd find in the Gantz adaptation produced by Gonzo. What exactly gets CG'd here in Phantom? Pretty much any means of transportation like cars, trucks, and such which means we get treated to some bad CG at least once every 1-2 episodes. I wouldn't really mind the bad CG if it was at least animated properly (ref: the CG horse-drawn carriages in Black Butler), but the actual animation of the CG cars/trucks/whatever is so stilted and jerky to the point where it becomes an eyesore. They aren't around for TOO long, so I can't hold that against Phantom for too long. Regardless, it's a rather ugly blemish to a show that would've been otherwise flawless in the visual department.

Sound-wise, the OST is some downright amazing stuff with plenty of tracks that fit the atmosphere of the show and whatever mood it's trying to convey at that specific point in time quite well. There were quite a few sombre BGM tracks that I was quite fond of along with Cal's pocket watch tune, however that's not where the OST really shines. The highlights of the OST really lie with the first opening theme "Karma" and the second ending theme "Transparent" by KOKIA. I don't know how to describe the songs without using superlatives, so the best that I can tell you is to just listen to both of those songs and make of it what you will.

As far as the voice-acting goes, I've never watched this show in Japanese with English subtitles, so I can't comment on the Japanese voice-acting. Both times I was watching Phantom, I watched it dubbed. As far as the dubbing goes, it was some really solid stuff and featured several voice actors that Funimation seldom uses like Shay Moore and Newton Pittman, both of whom give solid performances as Lizzie Garland and Zwei respectively. Aside from Shay Moore as Lizzie Garland, my favourite performances would have to come from Colleen Clinkenbeard as Claudia McCunnen and J. Michael Tatum as Raymond McGuire.

To put it short: after hearing Clinkenbeard and Tatum in shows like Fullmetal Alchemist, Black Butler, and Ouran High School Host Club, it's a refreshing change of pace to hear these two playing roles that are fairly grounded in reality. While Tatum doesn't really get a lot of chances to shine in Phantom since Raymond's appearances in the show are rather limited, he does amazingly well with the role he's been given. Aside from Stephanie Young and possibly Lydia Mackay, I can't imagine anyone else who could've played Claudia better than Collen Clinkenbeard. Like when you hear the expressions and inflections she uses, it's impossible to tell that the person voicing Claudia is the same woman who voiced characters like Rosé Thomas. It's quite nice hearing Clinkenbeard voice a character that ISN'T a damsel-in-distress, and for that I applaud her.

So what exactly prevents this OST from being nothing short of perfection? Two words: Ali Project. To put it simply, Ali Project's songs all sound the same to me and it seems like no matter what show I hear them in be that Phantom, Code Geass, Another, or what have you, the OP/ED theme that they'd come up with would feel horrendously out-of-place and grate on my ears. Plus... it doesn't help that Ali Project came up with the second OP for this show and that second OP replaced Karma for episodes 20-26... right around the time that all of that visual novel ugliness goes down. Ali Project is the sole reason as to why I wish that this show ended at Episode 19 rather than 26, by the way. I can tolerate all of the visual novel bullshit, but when I have to put up with that crap AND deal with a really subpar alternative to a beautiful OP theme... THAT'S when I draw the line and say "you know what, I'm done."

Now for the ultimate question: should you watch Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom? First, ask yourself two questions:

1) Are you capable of suspending your disbelief for just about anything?
2) Can you stomach anything produced by Ali Project?

If you answered yes to both questions, I highly recommend watching Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom. If you answered no to the first question, watch until Episode 19 or just skip the show altogether and watch something else like say Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal. If you answered yes to the first question and no to the second one, skip the first ED and the second OP and watch the hell out of this show, buy it if you feel that strongly about it. Aside from its redundant name, bad CG and rather questionable final episodes, Phantom is a good show that's definitely worth watching. As far as visual novel adaptations, it ain't perfect but it's a million leagues better than the 2006 adaptation of Fate/stay night. I just wish that this show was four episodes longer so the events of the third "act" had more time to sink in, but whatever. It's still a good show regardless. Feedback is always welcome, and with that I'm out. Peace :)