Search - Knight Hunters Eternity File - New Blood (Vol. 1) on DVD

Best approached with an open mind.

A. Laughlin | Clinton, MS USA | 08/20/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Like the original Weiss Kreuz, Gluhen (renamed Eternity File for its dubbed release) is best approached with few expectations. Fans of the original series should be advised that a number of changes are made in this new series, the characters' designs among the least of them, which may be off-putting to those who liked Weiss the way it was.

One of the biggest failings of the original Weiss Kreuz (renamed Knight Hunters for its western release, although the original title is German for "White Cross") was its poor animation quality - while the designs were pleasing enough to the eye, the consistency and quality of the animation were imperfect, and for an action-oriented anime there wasn't a great deal of action actually animated. The animation of this second series is greatly improved from the original; however, because of legal issues, the designs of the four main characters were changed. Aya and Ken fared all right, but Yoji looks as though he had a fight with a weedwhacker and lost, and wears an awful hat to boot.

Fans of Yoji, Ken, and Omi may find themselves disappointed with this volume; Gluhen introduces two new members of Weiss, Sena and Kyo, and Yoji and Ken won't appear until the next volume of episodes. A great deal of the focus of these episodes is spent on Sena, who fills Omi's shoes as the youngest and most naive member of the team. Omi himself is still present, but in a different capacity about which I hesitate to say more, lest I spoil. Aya, however, continues to play a strong role in the series, and his character is further developed.

The structure of the story is also changed. In the first series, the main villains had various operations which Weiss foiled, so there was something of a sense of progress and distinct character arcs. Gluhen, in contrast, focuses on a single operation throughout. Instead of individual operations, there are simply events which occur and which Weiss must face, and which frequently pass without much resolution. It's a better depiction of the covert-ops sort of organization Weiss is supposed to be - in the earlier seasons, the team was usually just given a target and sent out to kill them, with the intelligence work already done - but without a villain to dispatch in each episode, it's harder to get a sense of the team making much progress.

Additionally, Gluhen picks up directly after a number of drama CDs released in Japan but not available in the West, and without that background information it can seem like you're only getting about half the story.

Gluhen is more downbeat than the original series, and bloodier - although the body count per episode is much smaller, the original series showed only a little blood, while the new series animates its violence more realistically. Based on my limited knowledge, it seems to be closer to the original manga than the first series in its maturity. While it's technically superior to the original, fans may find it lacks the charm of its predecessor; still, it's worth seeing on its own strengths, provided one doesn't go into it expecting more of what they saw in the earlier series."

Gluhen finally lisenced!

Alisa | Bloomington, India | 07/23/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"It's Weiss, really it is.

Watch the first episode, and you get good animation, plot that doesn't seem to be on any particularly strange tangents, and a soundtrack that isn't totally off the wall strange. "Wait", you think, "this can't be Weiss!"

Cue killer screensavers.

In all seriousness, I'm very glad this has been released. Gluhen is much better animated than the original series was, and though the new character designs take some getting used to I ended up liking them quite a bit. The plot is essentially one long arc, not the scattered bits and breaks from before, and the character development is interesting.

Worth a look, really, especially if you liked the first.

"

Lacking the original charm...

sakura_blossom122 | Lala Land | 08/13/2004

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Knight Hunters Gluhen, taking place a while after the Knight Hunters series, has quite a few differences from the original. The animation is different and seemingly more consistant thus far. Though, I must admit I realllly don't like Youji and Omi's new character designs... A few new characters are introduced, given a few angsty flashbacks, and killed. ^^; I feel this series lacks the original's charm. The new characters are made overly angsty (betcha didn't think that was possible with this series). This series consists of one giant mission Weiss is sent on, oppposed to a bunch of missions as in the first series. Aya and two new member of Weiss are sent to a school to investigate the high number of recent suicides of students there. When they get there they find there is an even larger conspiracy at hand. Youji and Ken do not appear in this DVD, but will make their appearnace soon. The DVD still features the voice-actors' outtakes, which is always guaranteed to make you smile. I really enjoyed the opening and ending sequences. The songs and animation went well with each other. I think I probably enjoyed those sequences more than the episodes themselves. If you're a fan of the original you should check this out, just don't have very high expectations."

Not that bad...

M. Randall | Allen Park, MI | 08/03/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"After hearing terrible reviews for the original Knight Hunters show I wasn't expecting much from this anime. The cover art and story is what brought me in. The show isn't that bad. Sure i've seen better anime, but i've worse too. The story is kinda boring at times, but its an interesting idea. The voice acting is good, the animation is nice. All in all this was better then what I expected."