X (Movie)

Title:X (Movie)
X/1999
Overall:Watch
Keywords: , , , , , , ,
Notables: Animation - Madhouse
Original Concept - CLAMP
Rin Taro
Based on the hit manga "X" by CLAMP (still going; known as "X/1999" in the US), this movie is of Kamui and the world's fate: will Kamui choose to save our world, or destroy it, and begin it anew?

[Movie, 1996, 94 min; see also: X (TV)]

More info at Wikipedia ↗Tokyo_Babylon
OverallArtAnimationCharacter Design MusicSeries StoryEpisode StoryReviewer
Avoid 9 9 9 8 4 Ggultra2764 [series:122#1552]
Here is another example of style over substance by compressing the events of a manga series into a 90-minute movie format. In this apocalyptic battle, characters are introduced left and right without any deep depth given to their characters and they are killed later in the movie. Without the character depth, it is kind of hard for me to sympathize with the character deaths on both sides. Even with the shocking plot twist of opposition to Kamui's choice in the war for humanity's existence, we aren't given any reason for such a choice except only that it is because of 'fate.'

To be expected the scenery and character designs look slick and detailed. The characters move fluidly in action scenes as they clash in battles with their magical powers. The dreary music even makes for a nice touch to the apocalyptic environment in which the battles between the Dragons of Heaven and Dragons of Earth take place.

After seeing the TV version of X, I would recommend it over this poor adaptation of the X manga as it features greater depth on the plot and characters.

Last updated Tuesday, May 20 2008. Created Wednesday, April 30 2008.
Buy 9 10 10 10 9 manganime [series:122#1633]
This is a great movie and can't see why others hate it so much- I prefer to the series. As it is more realistic in certain matters that I won't spoil. I watched this film twice in 1 day and I love the ending music by X Japan.

You may need a some tissues handy when watching this film thou......nooooo not for that you dirty boy!

Last updated Friday, December 16 2005. Created Friday, December 16 2005.
Buy 8 8 9 7 9 8 Violet D [series:122#1393]
Ok if you aren't into blood and gruesome things happening to the characters I wouldn't recomend this one. But if you are willing to give it a chance and find out what other kinds of manga are out there I would. But hey I watch the reruns of Buffy the Vampire Slayer with my daughters. This one I watched with my daughter and all she had to say was that was a gruesome part. The storyline follows in the same way as others. Good VS Evil. In the end only one remains kneeling and holding his life time friend saying it wasn't suppose to end this way.

Last updated Tuesday, June 14 2005. Created Tuesday, June 14 2005.
Watch 9 8 6 6 6 DillonSOB [series:122#1352]
The artwork and battles are beautiful and graceful, but echoing what others have said - they included very little story and character development in the short film. All we know is two opposing powers are trying to wipe each other out to do what they want with Earth and humanity. I guess we have to shell out more $$ and watch the TV series to find out more.

Last updated Thursday, May 06 2004. Created Thursday, May 06 2004.
Avoid 8 9 6 7 5 Lonesome Summoner [series:122#860]
My god... I mean, this was an extremely dissapointing movie made by Clamp. The movie itself tried to put the whole entire series into it, which caused the movie to have major flaws. The plot was fairly simple but there was little to no character development what so ever. The unfamiliarity of the characters and the simple and breifly explained plot were major flaws. The movie could have been quite good if Clamp had put more effort into the movie. The animation is quite nice, as expected from Clamp. The climax of the movie was much too compressed, and the ending which was supposed to make one cry instead made me laugh my head off. A major dissapointment to all X Tv Series fans.

Last updated Tuesday, July 22 2003. Created Tuesday, July 22 2003.
Avoid 5 3 5 5 Inu-Yasha [series:122#430]
What is it about this movie that everyone likes? This has to be on of the worst anime I have ever seen. Well, it was pretty funny.
Let's start out with the plot. Wait, what plot? Sorry, I forgot. There isn't one. Actually, there is but unless you're this huge X fan you won't get it. I am an X fan and all but I did not like this movie. The whole thing was a joke, I swear.
The art was O.K. for the time it was made but the actual animation wasn't that good at all. They were trying to be a piece of art when all they succeeded in being was a piece of fail.
Avoid this unless you're in the mood for a comedy movie.

Last updated Wednesday, July 16 2003. Created Wednesday, July 16 2003.
Watch 9 9 5 7 Greg Bread [series:122#763]
This another example of a huge story being crammed into a 2 hour movie. In most cases this doesnt work and it doesn't work for "X". The animation and art is great, the action looks kewl too.
But really thats all there is. New characters are constantly introduced into the movie and not much background is given about them. So when a dramatic death is given to one of them, we don't really care. It just doesn't work out.
Watch the series it is much better.

Last updated Friday, June 13 2003. Created Friday, June 13 2003.
Avoid 7 7 5 5 3 0 Devil Doll [series:122#752]
[Score: 49%]
As a stand-alone movie, it simply doesn't work. I watched it on TV, and all I remember is that there were two opposing parties slaughtering each other, and that the main character had some mirroring role to play on both sides. The restricted time of a movie didn't leave space for any development of either the story line or the characters.
Maybe this might work as being a series (I didn't watch this one until now), but definitely stay away from this movie if you expect to understand what is going on, or want to have some reasonable plot and nicely elaborated characters.

Last updated Friday, March 25 2005. Created Sunday, June 08 2003.
Rent 8 7 6 5 7 0 Azusa [series:122#718]
hm.... well this is an odd one i have to say... i own this movie and it's not too great ... well like there's nice art and all but the storyline is just screwed

Last updated Friday, May 23 2003. Created Friday, May 23 2003.
Avoid 6 9 7 4 Ðå kïÐ [series:122#464]
I usually say every anime deserves a watch but this isnt any anime its "CRAPOLA" and i would recommend this to anyone it crap i forced my sell to watch it so i can give you people a review this review isnt even good but god damn this is crap!!!!!!!!

Last updated Sunday, January 05 2003. Created Sunday, January 05 2003.
Watch 10 10 5 5 6 suikoden 100 [series:122#422]
I saw this movie after I finished the series. I can easily say watch the series, not the movie.
The first thing that stood out to me about the movie was the huge amount of blood; extremely gruesome and unneccessarily gory. The huge amounts of blood was uncalled for and disgusted me.
The characters are so flat in the movie. They have no personality and are quickly killed off, with the exception of Kamui.
The story is based on a good foundation, but there just isn't enough support to hold it together. It could have been really moving had it been told in a more effective manner.
The animation, however, is somthing to behold. The art is just phenomenal, but that is about the only good thing in the movie.
The series does a much better job of telling this story and developing the characters. Go watch the series in place of this.

Last updated Friday, November 08 2002. Created Friday, November 08 2002.
Rent 9 9 9 10 10 10 Exellion [series:122#412]
The movie X was good until I saw the actual series which was awesome and the entire story revolves around the will to live idea and quite a bit of green peace save Earth stuff.Really can't say too much here in fear of spoiling the show but the character designs were good and the background stories of each character was nicely done(I like CLAMP character designs)... sat through the entire 24 episodes in a night. couldn't stop..was worth it at the end of the day though the ending requires some hard thinking as most animes i've seen
NOTE: it's not really as simple as GOOD VS EVIL but rather a greyish area thing as you'll understand when u go deeper into the story....

Last updated Thursday, October 31 2002. Created Thursday, October 31 2002.
Rent 8 9 8 7 8 Gaby [series:122#278]
Very cool movie about the end of the world. Superhuman fights, good vs evil (take a guess,who will win?),it has its defects, but its still a good movie, but is not good enough to buy it.Rent it first, if you like,you buy.

Last updated Monday, March 25 2002. Created Monday, March 25 2002.
Buy 9 10 7 8 8 boo [series:122#262]
This movie is wonderful. I think the more you watch it (and the less you read of the manga) you'll appricate it more. That's why this is a buy. I too was discouraged by the quick deaths of some of the characters, but i believe that it was due to the time contraints some of the longer stories were ommitted. The animation is striking and beautiful. You will be hard pressed to find anything more lush and vivid as this. (the TV series comes to mind)
Clamp has its own style. I know that most people are disappointed by this movie, but if you know little to none of the story, this movie should prove dark and appealing... if you are into that type of thing.
Hold of tight, the TV series will consume you.

Last updated Wednesday, March 06 2002. Created Wednesday, March 06 2002.
Avoid 8 9 5 7 2 Lord Folken [series:122#202]
This is probably the first anime I have watched, that when all was said and done, I didn't like. Not even a little. The story itself was unimaginative as was the way it was presented.(Which consisted almost entirely of the killing of characters every five minutes.)The characters, with nothing known about them other then they have "powers", seem to be there to be killed simply so that the movie is long enough to be called a movie. They are quickly dispatched leaving the two main characters to have a lame and predictable fight. Yes the animation was good, but if that was all I cared about I'd watch something with good art and a good story. I'd avoid this movie if I were you. You have been warned.

Last updated Friday, November 30 2001. Created Friday, November 30 2001.
Watch 9 10 4 6 3 Midnighter [series:122#94]
What can I say? I wanted to like X, I heard very good things about it, but in the end it was just another CLAMP magic-warrior film.
X is beautiful looking, with superb animation and obviously high production values. Spectacular cel animation is enhanced by (usually) subtle computer graphics that many people won't even notice. The character designs were usual Clamp fare, frightening eyes on freakishly long bodies, but people seem to dig them, so hey, whatever you enjoy.
Unfortunately, the incredible and beautiful animation was squandered on a story that can't rise above tedium. We've all seen and read this story a dozen times before, and it's tired. It would be nice to see a novel approach to it, or at least motivation aside from "Humans are parasites, the Earth shall be cleansed!" "No! I shan't let you hurt those I love!" Really, get some new material. Characters are introduced and then bloodily disposed of so quickly that we the audience have no time to form any attachment whatsoever.
When all the spraying blood finally coagulates and all is said and done, the audience is left with an indifferant, detatched feeling. We don't know these characters, we don't know what drives them or how they feel, they're simply cardboard cut-outs waiting in line to be butchered. This lack of empathy is the weakest point of X, and what destroys it, I believe. If X had been a television series, or at least an OAV, more time could have been spent developing characters and establishing personalities. As it is, when the predictable nihlistic ending finally rolls around, it's expected, unsurprising, and unemotional.
There was so much potential in X, and so much that could have been done with it that I couldn't help feeling cheated. Still, it's nice to look at...

Last updated Friday, October 19 2001. Created Friday, October 19 2001.
Watch 10 10 10 8 Mark Clifton [series:122#126]
As usual, anything made by Clamp has excellent Artwork/Animation. Now saying that, this movie is very dark and you will probably hate or dislike the ending. Oddly though, it's a refreshing though because it's a complete change from normal movie storylines... you'll figure it out when you watch it.
Now I was lucky to get my hands on a fansub version, which is much better than the version made by Manga. I have heard very bad things about the way Manga did the movie... but what done is done I guess. My advice is to at least check it out if your curious. And if you can get it subtitled or fansubed, more power to you.

Last updated Thursday, May 10 2001. Created Thursday, May 10 2001.
Avoid 10 10 3 10 3 3 Epoch [series:122#85]
This movie, instead of making me cry as it did to many of my friends who watched it without reading the manga, made me laugh my head off!!! The characters are so stereotyped and undeveloped, it's amazing such an anime exists! The reason I laughed so much watching this movie was because I was so shocked to see the changes that were made from the manga to the movie. Kakyou was not even in the movie!! Tokyo Babylon fans (such as me) will be very angry to find out that Seishirou and Subaru die in the first 5 minutes!!! I don't even consider this a spoiler as it happens in the very beginning.
Now the good thing about this... The ONLY good thing. THE ART is AMAZING!! If you watch this movie, watch it for only the art!!!
The ending music is very sad and the beginning is very catchy and upbeat. X-Japan knows their stuff!
Overall, I say avoid this movie, unless of course you haven't read the manga and you REALLY want to see wonderful artwork, or are a crazed CLAMP fan. Other than that, this movie can't compare with the manga it was based from. The moral of this story: You cannot take an over 14 volume manga (and still going) and compress it into 90 minutes of film.

Last updated Thursday, April 19 2001. Created Thursday, April 19 2001.
Watch 8 8 8 8 0 7 Kaitou Juliet [series:122#137]

I went into this knowing nothing about the manga, which is probably the best way. It's a compelling setup, the visuals are extremely stylish, and the combat scenes are great. All of this earns it high grades in the numerical ratings above.

But, despite those high grades, I actually didn't enjoy this movie that much. They're trying to pack too much into one short movie, so the story never really has time to build. There are so many characters that in most cases they're barely more than introduced before they get killed off.

As others have mentioned, X is very dark and violent. I'd also add depressing. If you like that kind of thing and don't demand much character development, or if you just want to see CLAMP's usual gorgeous artwork, then seek out X—but I'd still recommend renting before you buy. If you're easily upset by violence, definitely avoid this one. I guess those recommendations average out to "watch."



Last updated Friday, November 01 2002. Created Thursday, March 08 2001.
Buy 8 8 10 7 Lana [series:122#119]
I LOVE this movie. Kamui is given the burden of either destroying or saving the world. The angels of earth only want for the world to be cleansed, therefore all man must die. The angels of heaven look upon mankind with mercy and do all that is in their power to save it. Which side will he chose? He's neutral until his 2 best friends get drug into the hellish fiasco.
The animation is pretty nice. I absolutely love the plot of it, and the characters' motives. It has brief nudity near the beginning, nothing to "big" at all. @_* But if you don't like gore (and LOTS of it) don't consider "X". And it occasionally hints at romance, but nothing to spoil the mood for the action-packed-no-love- types.

Last updated Wednesday, January 10 2001. Created Wednesday, January 10 2001.
Watch 8 9 2 7 5 Kaneda [series:122#87]
What can I say, the art was awesome on this, the animation was superb, the music was great. They covered those asoexts of the anime very well. However with all the production they forgot to put in 2 things. Firstly I havent seen the manga yet, I just decided to get the movie which i suppose may have put me at a disadvantage. But from what I see the plot was barely discernable, and the amounts ofcharacte development was negligible. I ot the feeling I was supposed to feel for Kamui or something along with the rest of the dragons who eventually died. However i just could care, the characters where not developed properly and while wwatching this movie I got this empty feeling rom within. I suppose once I pick up the manga from my local comic book store I may feel different, but I'm not giving a critique of the manga I'm critiqing this movie. Which on face value was incredibly lacking in story plot and characters. Off course if your not into that stuff and just like seeing things blow up this is for you.

Last updated Tuesday, November 21 2000. Created Tuesday, November 21 2000.
Watch 9 10 6 7 4 Courtney [series:122#80]
TOTAL GRADE: 72% C
I like CLAMP. It's one of those solid production labels that promise to give a good story and in general I think they do some good manga work. From what I understand and have seen, X sounds like an awesome page-turning story that deals with human nature, good vs. evil, fate, and supernatural phanomanon on a respectable, mature, and clever scale. It provides a plot with depth and development that really unfolds a story and makes you care strongly about the struggle between the Dragons of the Heaven and the Dragons of the Earth. Now shove all that into an 80 minute package. (Sigh.)
What could have been a great adaptation of a decent manga was turned into just another apocalyptic bad guys vs. good guys struggle. The beautiful and dream-like animation does not make up for the fact they tried to tell an epic tale in a little over an hour. The plot is hollow and offers little explaination for why everyone is fighting and why the two Dragon sects have such conviction (yes they did explain it but I think they could done the series more justice than "We must save the world" and "Humans are evil"...we know, we know...) Coupled with the vague and forcibly cliche plot, there is next to no attachment to the characters. The only one they bothered to focus in on at all was Kamui (which they barely explained) and they just shoved every other character in the series into either Team Good Guys or Team Bad Guys, giving little individuality to any of them (Hell, I didn't care enough about them to remember most their names...)
X is a fairly good movie if you have no prior knowledge of the manga (you just kinda feel cheated). It's beautiful to watch and tells a fun and dark story if you're a fan of this type of anime. Watch it if you get a chance, but unless you're an armogeddon fanboy who's gotta catch them all (yeah I should be hit for that) then don't put yourself out.
Other psionic powered confrontations:
PLEASE SAVE MY EARTH
TWILIGHT OF THE DARKMASTER

Last updated Tuesday, December 11 2001. Created Friday, September 29 2000.
Watch 8 8 9 7 10 10 Tsuki [series:122#8]
Okay, I'm a big fan of CLAMP... ^_^* However, I would recommend most people to stay away from this anime unless they need a good CLAMP dose. The manga is MUCH better. This anime tried to condense the vast manga plot into 90 minutes; moreover, the art is just not the same; most importantly, they took out Kakyou! However, I still have to say, I love this movie (I still love CLAMP... ^_^*). While I say "watch" this movie, I would really recommend everybody to read the manga.

Last updated Monday, September 06 1999. Created Monday, September 06 1999.

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