Review of Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom
Phantom - Requiem for the Phantom: It's been a week since I finished this anime and I still occasionally find myself visiting youtube just to listen to the "Canzone of Death" theme to reignite my thoughts on the series and it's conclusion. When an Anime has such an emotional impact on me that it leaves me reeling yet still coming back for more, I'd say it's done a pretty damn fine job, right? The premise for Phantom is rather simple. Our main protagonist is an innocent tourist who is brainwashed and turned into an assassin. A few montages later he perfects his skills and is readyto kick some ass. Now I know that sounds a little generic, but this anime is anything but. It coulda just been a cool thriller but it manages to find a clever balance by putting a lot of focus on the relationship of the two main characters and their internal struggles, so there's a pretty big "human" element to it.
The rest of the characters in Phantom really are a strong point and the main reason for it's emotional pull, with almost every character having it's own distinct personality and feeling completely fleshed out. Here every plot twist, every betrayal, every death has a huge impact because of the presence each character has in the story.
When it shifts away from it's character focus we are treated to a constant battle of wits as the leaders of Inferno (the group of assassins) struggle for power over the organization. It has a well paced and twisty-turny style, with each episode ending with a cliffhanger of sorts. It's unpredictable macabre game of power and betrayal means you never quite know who is going to come out on top so you'll never find yourself thinking "Oh, I KNEW that would happen!" (Unless you are one of those people that always says that, and if you are.... I hate you people!) Due to the nature of it's storytelling it's really hard for me to go into specifics, I'd prefer to give a few examples of what I liked but I fear I'd ruin half the experience if I did!
I gotta mention the art and sounds since I loved both. The artwork was as good as anything I've seen, detailed characters and well drawn settings. (Some of the panning shots of the city looked almost lifelike). As for the sound I am a HUGE fan of dark melancholy vibes, so the opening theme "Karma" shot straight to the top of my favorites. It's haunting opera, battle music and Zweis cool latino style rap theme are used to great effect.
To sum up this anime, for me it's a masterpiece in well crafted story telling and fleshed out characters. Maybe there's one or two faults in the story, which are mostly contained in the third act, but I feel that they pale in comparison to what I consider is a near perfect anime. This is 100% recommended for anyone that likes their animes dark, but beware, this is a rollercoaster of emotions. And I don't mean the kind of rollercoaster that ends with it slowly grinding to a halt so you can get off safely, it's the kind of rollercoaster where the track leads to a cliff face and hurtles you off with no regard to your safety!