Soul Taker (TV)

I bought this 13 episode series months ago, but I just watched it about a week ago, because I thought it was going to be crap. I couldn't have been more wrong, because I think The SoulTaker's one of the most entertaining animated shows out there.

At first I was distracted by the color tones in the show. Sometimes the backgrounds will have really bright moving colors, and instead of listening to what the characters were saying, I'd end up staring at the colors...they're almost hypnotic.

This show has some strange characters, such as the Flickers, The Kirihara Group, and The Hospital Director; as well as some interesting plot twists. Kyosuke, along with Shiro Mibu, and Komugi Nakahara search to find Kyosuke's sister, Runa. They also try to find the answers to the mystery of Kyosuke's ability to transform into the SoulTaker. For some reason The SoulTaker has small sections of Star Wars randomly thrown into it, ("Kyosuke, I am your Father!"), and in the last few episodes of the show, Kyosuke seems to briefly turn into Luke or Anakin Skywalker.

This show has some great animation and characters designs, as well as a good storyline, character development, and excellent acting by both the Japanese and English casts. I don't really like the music for The SoulTaker though. I don't like the opening song called The SoulTaker, and I hate the ending song Memory; the singer's English skills are terrible.

Now the Japanese version is fine, I have no complaints about it. However, since the English dub for the SoulTaker was so well done by the Ocean Group, I prefer watching it dubbed. Being American, it would be stupid of me to not want to watch something, because it's spoken in my own language. The Japanese cast of the SoulTaker consists of Saiga Mitsuki as Kyosuke, Masaya Onosaka as Shiro Mibu, Haruko Momoi as Komugi Nakahara, Hiramatsu Akiko as Yui Kirihara, and Masahi Ehara as Richard Vincent.

In the English version, Kyosuke Date is played by Brad Swaile. Brad Swaile's a good actor, and he was able to accurately convey his character's anger, sadness, and confusion throughout all 13 episodes of the show. Trevor Devall was wonderful as Shiro Mibu, as was Paul Dobson as Richard Vincent. I love Trevor Devall's and Paul Dobson's portrayal of their characters. I also enjoy hearing Lisa Ann Beley as Yui Kirihara, Ron Halder as Daigo Tokisaka, Kelly Sheridan as Maya Misaki, Jocelyne Loewen as Komugi Nakahara, and Britteny Irvin as Runa Tokisaka.

The SoulTaker has a short OVA called Nurse Witch Komugi, based on the character Komugi Nakahara, from the SoulTaker. The SoulTaker can be purchased on 4 Pioneer released DVDs for $15.00 - $25.00. It's worth buying.

Hmmm...

I liked and I hated this at exactly the same time.

Nice music, nice graphics, some of the cast of Inuyasha powering this (Pre Viz commitments of course).

But it's plot is a bit thin. Heck it's very thin. I did like Komugi running around but I was going to rate this a rent until the ending. Then I went WTF was it all for? I blame Kousuke who is voiced by Koji Aiba of Infinite Ryvius

So I threw up my hands and went, owells, at least I enjoyed it. So I'll leave it at Unevaluated.

01. The Crest of the Devil
02. The World is an Illusion
03. The Skull and the Maiden
04. The Slithering Darkness
05. Beyond the Human Realm
06. The Malevolent Stratosphere Castle
07. The Last of a Woman
08. Mask of Hell
09. Phantom of a Beautiful Dead Woman
10. Sacrifice for Nothingness
11. Demon on a Deserted Island
12. Madonna in Black
13. The Last Inferno