Anime: Halo Legends

Watch A Few Of The Episodes, But Not All Of Them

This anime is a decent attempt to bring American tastes through the form of foreign animation. I dont think it was really intended to fully appeal to the Japanese, or appeal to non-xbox owners. 343 Industries made it for the fans, regardless of corporation loyalties. Now, I've seen all of the episodes, and I'm not really impressed, and I love the Halo Universe.
There are about 3 or 4 episodes that are well written and actually seem to fully grasp the Halo concept and Extended Universe. I honestly suggest that for those that are interested in this anime to watch "The Babysitter," "Origins Pt.1 and Pt. 2," and "Odd One Out." I would suggest Prototype because the detail was very nice, and it was overseen by Bones who made the wonderfully crafted Darker Than Black, but the episode was really meh, for a lack of words. Prototype was a hit or miss with me. I bet if Bones had the opportunity to have extended that episode, create a core story line, and more of character back bone, it probably would have been better.

I warn anyone to avoid "The Package." It was great CGI, but it's use of unoriginal characters (John, Kelly, etc) and a FAT SPARTAN (I mean really? A fat Spartan? And they made him black? I'm no racist, but did they really have to make a fat, black Spartan, run a suicide mission and become the first one killed off in the episode? Come on 343!, you should have seen this!), Dr. Halsely, whom they made look like Samus or some really young 20's something scientist, who in the books is really kinda plump, and gray haired, be saved by John like a knight in shining armor, and the very ugly, unrealistic "space motorcycles," made the entire episode boring and unattractive. Now, I know that the main military, the UNSC, in the Halo Universe is really Americanized, no matter how diverse it is meant to be or exotic, but even the US Military wouldn't design a very wasteful piece of space flying crap. American Military likes to spend resources and money wisely, and I would predict that even with the abundance of colonies and new worlds that probably gave way to extra resources, no military would make something like that, especially when the whole universe is being raped by the Covenant. What I mean from the past paragraph (or rant) is that, no matter how close 343 Industries worked with the animation studios, the studios didnt do enough research and study. 343 pretty much said "Go for it," and left, patting artists on backs for pretty artworks and designs, without really pointing out the facts that they've created for the universe. If they wanted to do a Halo anime, they should have did it right, or at least better.

As I've recommended before, "Origins" is fantastic episode. Reading the books gave me insight into more of a deeper understanding of the Halo universe. From politics, to drama, to firefights, to new discoveries, Halo hasnt failed me in story and building an Extended Universe that can be compared to the Star Wars Universe, with it's extensive fan base and merchandising, no wonder this title, this franchise, and this symbol, has become Xbox's life line of money and popularity. I applaud "Origin's" take as a historical documentary narrated by the game's AI, Cortana. The images of battles from the Forerunners to the future version of humanity's pilgrimage to other planets was awe inspiring. I am happy to know that this is the first episode on the DVD, leaving the rest of the crap near the end of it.

This anime is just for fun and for the fans. Some things may be questionable to a die hard Halo fan, and some may not even be noticeable to the casual. My opinion, if not expressed enough, is that this anime has done an average job at trying to promote the Halo Universe. This anime is average, but it almost borderlines garbage. I, a Halo fan? calling Halo merchandise borderline garbage? No, I'm saying this anime adaption of my beloved series is close to garbage because it was made by former Bungie employees. If Bungie worked on it, it would have been 10 times better, and probably a 3 hour long movie. But, I give my thanks and appreciation to the work put into this.

This anime should also probably be watched with a friend, as what I had done, because it probably would have been boring if I watched it alone, so grab a buddy if your interested.

Animation:

There are differing types of style and animation type since it's a series that's produced by several animation companies, but as expected from the big names, they don't disappoint. If you have already watched some recent productions of the studios involved, you can make a good guess on what to expect. Be it the modern anime style of Homecoming or Prototype, or the Appleseed movie-like full CGI of the Package, the animation quality is top notch. It certainly is important as quite a few of the episodes involve heavy duty combat action and it certainly gets an action fan's blood boiling at times. The only thing that held me from a giving a 10 is the Duel episode, which is CGI with way too much blur.

Sound:

By the time I wrote this article, Japanese audio tracks were just out, so will have to base my comments on English dub and some episodes that I re-watched with Japanese. Now surprisingly, most of the English actors did a fine job, one that I didn't really expect. For some characters, it was lacking as it had that synthetic feeling that's generally lamented by anime enthusiasts. Still, I won't be judging the sound score by that, as the Japanese voice acting is great across the board, with some well-known seiyuu who can be recognized right away. (Daisy-023 sure looks like Clare to complete the familiarity!) BGM gives the space epic setting well and is generally shared among the episodes, with some of them having themes of their own, like the Duel's Japanese rhythms.

Story:

Origins episodes are the only ones with some connectivity, since they tell the past of Halo universe. The others are all stand alone episodes, and all being approximately 15 minutes, have to hurry the progression a bit too much. Considering that, it can be said that it's a great accomplishment to have several emotionally moving episodes which surprises the audience who's expecting a poor to so-so adaptation of a famous franchise, which is generally the norm of visual adaptations of computer games. It sure comes as a shock to watch Homecoming, Prototype and the Babysitter in a row, which are all boasting noteworthy action and drama value. Even somebody with no knowledge of Halo franchise should be able to enjoy these episodes as good sci-fi/action.

Character Development:

Again, the very limited time-frame requires much to be compressed in a small container. As some of the episodes deal with events, rather than characters, the evaluation can only be done on the more character-oriented episodes like the ones I mentioned just in the previous section. Now honestly, I have to say that I grew more accustomed to some characters like Daisy-023 and Ghost in 15 minutes than leads of hundreds of episodes-spanning anime series. I wished that I'd see more of them, in maybe an enhanced version of their story. It certainly was an unexpected attachment for me, that was established in mere minutes. I doubt I could expect more from such short screen time.

Value:

If one thing can be said with full certainty for this series, it's being very high-value for the time invested. Decent story, fine characters, great animation and all that packed to the maximum in a small package. I already re-watched some of my favorites and it feels like I will be doing that again soon enough. Maybe as soon as I finish writing this.

Enjoyment:

The first thing some people said when they came across this series was: "Hey, an American oriented X-Box game being adapted to anime? Hah! What would they know about it?! It'll suck!" Now, I wasn't so hasty as I had witnessed outstanding anime cutscenes in Myth series and heavily Ghost in the Shell inspired Oni of Bungie, way before they were acquired by Microsoft and had to crank out a new Halo every second year to keep the X-Box platforms afloat. Those guys were into anime seriously when barely any westerners thought it was more than mere mechas or Pokemon. I wasn't let down.

It's safe to say that the series turned out to be the most enjoyable anime experience of recent months for me, and possibly of a much longer time if I consider sci-fi genre. Thus, I can recommend it with ease to anybody who's into sci-fi action with some drama. There's even a parody of the franchise done with Odd One Out. The animation quality by itself is commendable and supplies the dynamic power needed for this genre. Considering the length and stand alone nature of the episodes, it can be watched in pieces now and then with relative comfort.