Anime: Avenger

This may be one of the most uninteresting animes I have ever seen; yet I'll try to explain my point of view as objectively as possible.[br][br]Animation[br][br]Without being extraordinary, the animation is pretty good. The fights are fluid although not very spectacular, and the overall atmosphere is really coherent throughout the 13 episodes. One of the few good points of Avenger, to me, even if there are way too many scenes in which people don't move and stare at each other for hours.[br][br]Sound[br][br]The second good point. The musics match the scenes really well and helps create the very atmosphere the plot is unable to create. [br][br]Story[br][br]This is where things start getting bad. Avenger tries to create mystery where there is no room for. You understand the plot fairly quickyl but still, the characters act and talk as if there was a big secret to be discovered. Which is not the case. As a result, most of their sentences are either senseless or annoying. They don't bring anything new to the plot and just make the fighting scences less numerous.[br][br]In the end, the "mystery" (which everyone understands from episode 2) is kind of discovered and you really start wondering why you had to watch 13 episodes to see something that would have fit in only two.[br][br]Value[br][br]Definitely not worth the time I spent in it. [br][br]Enjoyment[br][br]These were surely 13 boring episodes (except for the last one maybe). I forced myself to go through it because once I've started an anime I don't like stopping before the end, but I have to say I certainly would have stopped if Avenger had been a few episodes longer. This was a waste of my time and I'll never watch it again.[br][br][br]

Avenger really isn't worth watching unless you're very bored and have a copy of it lying around, or if you're a fan of Ali Project. And if you're an Ali Project fan, you'd be better off getting the OST, which I'd assume exists.

Animation:
The animation quality is far better than it deserves. It looks quite good, if you can say that sort of thing about a wasteland. It particularly shines during the fight scenes, of which it has several.

Sound:
Sound is it's primary redeeming value. The soundtrack was composed and performed entirely by Ali Project, who I for one adore. While they're not entirely in their element doing background music, it still sounds good. Voice acting is solid, as well.

Story:
The story pretty much sucks. It's vague and mildly confusing. While I can't say that when you understand it you wish you hadn't, I can say that understanding it doesn't really improve it at all.

Character:
The characters are uninteresting. All of them.

This isnt one of the best series I have seen, but it is definately of average quality. The biggest shortcoming of Avenger is that this series should have had more episodes, somewhere around 24. They try to stuff too much in just 13 episodes, diminishing the overal quality quite a bit.

animation:
The overal animation was done very well, with fluid animations and very detailed characters. I havent been able to spot many (of not none) reused frames, so thats a plus. That which I especially liked, were the background designs. At first it seems that backgrounds are reused to the death, but this is not the case. The image they want to create is that people are living on a desolate planet, with hopes near to zero of survival. That image is created very well.

Sound
Normally I dont like Ali Project very much, the group who did the opening theme and the ending theme for this series and was apparently the composer as well. I must say that the overall soundtrack was quite nice. I dont think I would buy it, but it had definately some very strong tracks. The opening theme was addicting, I found myself liking it quite a bit after I had heard it a few times. The seiyuu on the other hand are just above average. Thankfully the voices had all a serious undertone (no screechy voices, like in some (comedy) anime), but I cant say any character stoud out because of the voices. They all sounded a bit the same, so they could have varied a little.

Story
The story in itself is pretty well done (pretty detailed), but should have had more episodes. While I disagree with people saying that this title is confusing when the story progresses, I think they should have put more emphasis on certain story elements. I dont mind a few things kept unexplained (it is fun to keep guessing what it could have been), this story just leaves too much open. In general you can divide this story in three parts, the story about mars itself, the story about layla and the story about Nei. Of these three, the only one that developed well was Laylas story, the other two (especially the part about Mars) are not developed well enough. Since so much was left unexplained and left me rather unsatisfied I gave it a 6.

Character
This is the one part I agree with the other reviewers. Although the major characters get enough screentime, they just dont develop at all. The only character that has a background story and actually seems to change a bit is Layla. The characters are not explained at all and are left in the dark.

Value/enjoyment
While I dont know whether or not I would recommend this title, I actually enjoyed it a bit while watching it. It is not the best title around but it was still a nice way to kill my leftover time.

The Worst anime i have EVER seen ( well i must make an exception for noir which is the only anime i couldnt even bare to complete , kinda took me 6 episodes then i quit *__* )

as for evenger it was luck that it was only 13 episodes , coz there is no way i could continue watching an anime that is soooo boooring and sooo confusing as this , there is alooot of silence in the episode and if someone talks then its full of crap O__o

but what amused me most is Laila ashley ,the most annoying shoujo i have ever seen , and how the people who she has conversation with know exactly what she is saying without her saying a single word !!!! well maybe it happens in the future that we can only talk with our eyes expresions x_x .

Avenger tries to be something it isn't - which only makes it worse.

While the animation is really nice and the surroundings look good, there isn't much bad to say about the animation. The characters look good, the backgrounds are pretty detailed and even the eyes look pretty nice.

The sound was excellent. Since the composers come from .Hack//Sign, the music is really good and also the voiceactors do a terrific job. Nothing bad to say about those, although the music doesn't seem to have anything in common with the series. Therefor a slight drop in the grade for the music.

The story is marvellous. What? Not? Oh, right, it wasn't. In some way it was really marvellous though; I haven't seen many anime where the plot was so vague and uninteresting that you didn't even understand half of it until the ending. And that's not because it was meant to be mysterious, hell no. They just kept going, while everyone knew the truth from the first 1-2 episodes, and tried to stay mysterious, which obviously didn't work since everyone already knew the entire mystery.

The characters are nicely displayed, but none of them really matters. The episodes 3-8 are merely fillers storywise, so there is hardly any character development except for the main character - and even that is very few. The characters are really static, while you would expect they would become more round the more the anime progresses.

The value of this series is pretty low. Because there is no good story and the only thing keeping this series running is the animation and the music, it would be sufficient to download the OST and some wallpapers. Therefor the value will be pretty low.
For enjoyment, if you can endure a non-existant story with good animation and good music, you might be able to finish this one. But it's definitely not good enough to enjoy it.

Avenger thrives on it's animation and its sound, but everything else seems to be an utter disappointment.

The story is either incredibly deep, or incredibly shallow.

No shit. This show at the beginning doesn't bring any focus at all to the creative plot. Surviving a calamity in her voyage to the planet's surface, behold the mighty Barbaroi warrior, Layla Ashley. Silent, distant, and stupendously fast, her will as a fighter cannot be broken. And yet, with the slightest mentioning, Leila's invincibility is broken with the name of the man who took everything from her: Volk. With her enigmatic companion, Nei, and the ever-so-useful tech geek Speedy, will Leila be able to oppose the desolate planet's infamous destructive influences? Or will she join those who died in vain, because of a forgotten mistake...

In saying that, I would think anyone who was confused watching Avenger might have been able to make sense of it (that is, if I even got it right.) The plot begins relatively thin, with a high action level, but it deepens as it goes on, making less and less sense. Eventually, a huge chunk of valuable explanations come spitting out in a certain episode...and by then the series is so confusing that going back and rewatching certain episodes is necessary to get the full effect.

My only thumbs up goes towards the actual story itself. It is unique, in a sense; and it could convey a lot more depth than what it recesses to, but this flick relies too much on it's uniqueness to prove its value. Also, the ending plays out just like many other animes - happy, but at the same time pathetic and a cop-out for lack of preparation for a better conclusion. What a bummer.

Somebody create a new cast...this one needs to go away.

I didn't like the cast at all. Though their "forms" are creative and new, they associate very well with the cast of 50 other animes that I have seen. Even animes not of the action or sci-fi genres! This is the most disappointing characteristic about this anime, as the producers attempt to create an "intellectual" effect, but fail miserably, resulting in the same, unrealistic, exaggerated characters that one could find anytime.

I find Leila to be the worst shoujo I've seen so far. It's honestly okay if Leila is silent and separated as a personality, however she is so dry that understanding what she might be thinking isn't even a possibility then. Not only that, her responses are always flat and lacking the slightest bit of emotion. She doesn't fit in at all with the place she should have, and therefore looks weak and as guilty as her enemies. When one sees this, they will know what I mean, entirely.

Of the cast, the best is probably Volk himself. He resembles a man who can't admit when he commits a horrible crime, and also someone who decides his own path without realizing the destiny that could await him. Unfortunately, the rest of the cast isn't too great though, as they become too similar to character from various other animes.

And now the good stuff, animation and sound.

Avenger has some breathtaking animations. It has no extreme specialties or smooth effects like Read or Die...it's very much like Hunter X Hunter, filled with quick moves and stunning fights. I probably liked almost all of the fighting, since Leila looks so untouchable and invincible compared to most of her opponents.

The backgrounds are very exquisite. Blood red deserts, desolate valleys, lifeless savannas and plains, and sprouts of little dome-cities plotted throughout the surface of the planet. The space scenes gleam, and the hues are dark and very technological-looking. Pretty good as it seems...except my only complaint goes to a few weird faces, and some poorly drawn desert scenes.

The opening theme, by Ali Project, is upbeat and begins with a quick, rigid, high musical note, bringing chills and an exciting distinctness from the same old melody that us otakus hear all the time. The ending is very much that way too, but sometimes it reminds me of a nursery rhyme I once did, so I didn't listen to it that much. Background music is great. I remember a multitude of times I would listen to the bg music more than the dialogues between characters...the music has much more potential than the story.

Seiyuu are good. I wouldn't get too indepth on Leila, since her voice actress probably had the most boring job in that entire production. As for the rest of them, they prove to be adequate, no annoying voices here or there, so I have no complaints. :-P

It needs work, but Avenger can still be entertaining.

Basically, I wish the story could prove its potential somehow. The ending is closed, but Avenger could continue if the makers decide that they should think about improving the story in a continuation. ^_^

I don't really recommend this to too many people. Newbies would say "wtf", and that wouldn't be too far from the response from people who like drama, comedy, or romance. Action lovers would get a great amount of action, but even then, the story could prove painful to them in the process. Otakus are also recommended to hold off on this if there is something else they want to see.

Hell no I won't watch this again. I am glad it's over, but I'm pretty sure I'll watch a continuation: if there is anyway they decide to do one.