Review of Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom

The Only Place For Killers is Right Here and Now... The first half of this series was posed to become a new personal favorite for me, but without spoiling anything plot-wise, I'll just say that so many sharks were jumped at around the halfway mark you'd think you were watching an Olympic water skiing competition on the set of Jaws. It took a lot to win me back over after that but I stuck with it due to my sheer love of the first half and it eventually did. This series is, in essence, anime's response to James Bond, Mission Impossible, Jason Borne and the likeand it has an OP drenched in atmosphere that could give almost any Bond stinger a run for its money.

Though the type of story being told, amnesiac assassins forced to fight for a shady organization, has been done before, the way in which the themes are handled philosophically was what heightened the impact and effectiveness for me. The exploration of such psychological concepts as nature vs. nurture were very well-handled. It asks, "if you could erase all of the experiences that made a person who they are, could you turn any average person into a cold-blooded killer, or vice versa?" This question has a deeply disturbing psychological toll on the main characters which was expertly conveyed through some top-notch voice acting in both the sub and dubbed versions which makes you feel a strange connection to these sometimes seemingly cold, soulless and robotic killers.

The results of the experiment also form the basis of what could be one of the most loathsome villains in anime for me. While Master Scythe may not be masterfully designed, or really imposing or memorable in any physical way, the manor in which he violates the very nature of characters and strips them of their humanity makes him a completely despicable individual who you route for the defeat of whole-heartedly.

All in all, the series had a very strong start and potential to be something truly great, it slipped up in the middle, but brought it back around for a satisfying enough conclusion, did I mention one of the BEST scores of any show ever made? Hype soundtrack is a 10 out of 10, the show as a whole is more like a 7, well worth a watch if you're a fan of the mafia/hitman psychological action-thriller genre though.