Search - Witchblade: The Complete Series on DVD

A Taste for Killing

AMP | Somewhere on Earth | 08/16/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The Good Things
*Has good video and sound quality.
*Comes with a number of extras; making-of featurettes, interviews, textless songs, trailers, and outtakes. It is all allocated on disc five, while the rest of the show takes up the first four discs.
*Comes in a nice slim box, with all of the discs on a fold-out thing and all associated booklets in its own envelope (just like with the complete box set of "Burst Angel," "Speedgrapher," or "Samurai 7"). Has a lot of cool artwork.
*Good amount of exciting action and fighting.
*Very good animation style and quality.
*Very good production desgin. The characters look phenomenal, the settings look interesting, and the Witchblade weapon itself is incredibly awesome.
*The main character has some very big...ahem...fan service.
*Aside from that, the protagonist is a great character who shows compelling emotion and awesome wickedness. The other characters are great, and their drama is very immersive.
*Storyline is great, especially since this rendition is much more sci-fi and fantasy orientated.
*Look out for one or two inside jokes.

The Bad Things
*Don't know how accurate it is to the original comic book. It is certainly different than the 2001 live-action TV show. But this version is still quite enjoyable.
*Not for kids; rated TV-MA for bloody violence.

This anime version of the comic book "Witchblade" definately makes for some awesome anime. It is exciting, and a good story with good characters. There is hardly anything dull about this show, and is probably one of the best to have come out in recent years. Highly reccomended to any anime fan, and probably to most fans of the comics."

I thought this would suck but now I see it is Raging RED HOT

Jay F. Grissom | San Diego, CA. USA | 11/17/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I have passed over this Anime many times, because I don't like the American comic. I only gave it consideration because my brother in-law recommended it.

Well saying "I don't like the comic" is unfair... I'm sure the writing is good and Top Cow is known for producing quality products (high quality graphics, paper, toys, etc... etc...) But, the Witchblade logo reminds me too much of the Thundercats logo. And additionally I don't like the American style art that original source material has. Just MHO.

I'll stop talking about that before I find someone at my doorsteps upset with me for bashing the most popular new comic of the last decade. New is relative... considering franchises like Superman have been around for 60 plus years I think.

THIS Version of Witchblade However... is stunning! The story is deep and valid. It is the classic heroes journey, and it is absolutely fantastic!

Watching this immediately makes me think of one of my other absolute favorite anime franchises... Elfen Lied. Just like Elfen Lied they contrast hyper-violence with powerfully moving relationships... Beauty and the Beast wrapped into in one person then pumped up on "sexy-violence steroids" to end up with a really high contrast product.

The women are outrageously sexy and usually that just doesn't do it for me when it comes to anime. Sometimes I'm put off when the fan service levels are this high. See my reviews on Misuki Chronicles and you will see that I'm just saying this.

The fan service is REALLY REALLY high on this, almost to the point of ridiculous. But the content of the story and the high impact action just makes that something that has to be overlooked.

This is another keeper for the collection... and I feel it is a must own. Dare I say the success of this could set a new trend... I can see that many other comic producers would want to jump on this bandwagon the same way they did with "digital comic painting" back in the early 90's when Image Studios launched that boat for the first time.

Top Cow apparently gave Gonzo/Funimation creative freedom on this because it is remarkably different from the American version. In my opinion that is good...

The only constant is the Witchblade. Which really demonstrates the thinking of Top Cow... The Witchblade is a great tool for telling many stories... very clever... and remarkably strategic in the market place.

Should you own this? I would say... Sell what ever you gotta sell to get this into your collection... The images are so stunning, and the story is so powerful you would be crazy to pass on this one... (Like I did for quite a while.)

I regret not getting this sooner because I have picked up some pretty mediocre anime lately and that money would have been much better spent on this title at twice the price.

In summary:
The Action - Rivetingly Awesome. Complete edge of your seat stuff.

The Fan Service - Super sexy but not offensive.

The Story - Very compelling. (My wife and I watched the 4 DVDs that have the story on them in just 1 sitting. We pulled an all-nighter on the couch to watch all of this... it is that good.)

The Production Quality - Really high... very little in the market place is better today. (Perhaps the folks that did the new Appleseed might have higher production standards.)

The audio quality - Superb. I don't like the opening song but the audio is normalized well so you don't have to keep adjusting the sound when action changes to dialog. It is very easy to clearly hear what is being said. And the rest of the music is really good for the show...

The artwork - The quality of the cover art is not as good as the anime and the box cover art is pretty high quality. The overall artistic rendering during the animation is very clean and will likely stand the test of time. (Again I'm not real big on American Comic Style Art)

The box quality - This is pretty good. I would have to say this, while excellent, is the weakest link. The fold out thingy has some great artwork on it that is clearly a different artist than the cover artist.

Overall 5 stars but I wish I could give it more.

You will like this I'm 100% sure of it."

An Entertaining Look At The Witchblade Anime Style

Rich | CA | 11/08/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I actually have a few of the comics of the Witchblade from the 90's and also the live-action show so after seeing a few episodes of this series I decided to get this as well. The shows main Witchblade holder is a woman by the name of Masane Amaha who also has a young daughter she loves deeply by the name of Rihoko Amaha when Masane unwittingly becomes involved in the Witchblade agendas. Apparently their are certain factions that have been searching for the reemergence of the Witchblade after a faction had it stolen from them and it was later lost though. After an episode or two you find out Masane is the recent holder of the WB and is pretty much kidnapped by one of the factions to control the new WB holder and its power. The series is hard-core with plenty of action and bloody violence so it's definitely not for younger kids. There are also sexual undertones but not anything to r-rated so don't worry about any true adult scenes if teenagers watch this. The characters they made for the show are extremely entertaining Masane is a kind loving parent but seems at most time to somewhat of a ditz and the character of Reiji Takayama(One of the scientist from the faction that firsts kidnapped Masane) is also a nice character for the show. I like how Renji who after having been betrayed before by someone is at first stoic and just professional to Masane seeing her as just an experiment but after opening up to her more becomes a more caring and loving person again especially after meeting her daughter. The series is dramatic but has its humorous scenes kind of like Bleach a little bit. The video is wide-screen and clear and sharp so no problems with that. The audio is also great and the voice actors both for the English and Japanese cast did an incredible job for their characters. So if you like the hot action warrior women with plenty of fighting and a touch of sci-fi this series might just be a good set for your library...."

Wickedly Awsome

T. Cox | 11/04/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I give this anime series 10 stars if it would let me. This series rocks. Witchblade is so cool. It with this woman who has to fight to keep her daughter and she posesses this really cool power, (Witchblade). She transform when danger appears. This is movie is not ment for younger viewer due to violence. All I can say you have to buy this to see what I mean..."