Kabitzin on October 19, 2009 · in Phantom,Reviews

No Ellen, I said "Equip amulet," not "Equip a mullet"

If nothing else, Phantom deserves props for being one of the least frustrating Bee Train series to watch all the way through.  BTW, after finishing this series, I checked out some of the screencaps from the VN, and the character designs made me giggle so much (especially Isaac).  Thank god they updated the art for the anime.

Story

There’s plenty of stories with seemingly invincible assassins out there, but I think Phantom puts a nice spin on it.  All 3 Phantoms in the story have issues and are being used as tools by the organization, and seeing the assassins agonize about trying to escape their dark life is surprisingly interesting.  Sometimes just being able to dominate criminal scrubs is not enough, and an assassin seeks loftier goals, like being able to star in a high school romantic comedy.  Phantom also showed a lot of the wrangling amongst the executives, in addition to conflicts with external groups; it’s always good to see a show work in workplace harassment into a few episodes.  And while Phantom is often moody and dark, the light portions are very amusing.

For a story that spans so much time, the pacing is quite brisk and the time jumps feel natural.  While each time jump is jarring at first, in each case it’s clear that most changes are superficial and Ellen and Reiji face the same challenges that they keep trying to escape.  This flight from the dark world of being a kickass assassin is quite gripping, even if some viewers might be turned off by the conclusion.  Naturally along the way there are several twists and turns, and I was really psyched for every episode.

Characters

One thing I like about shows with a great cast is the ability to really root for or against one or more of the characters.  I really liked the Claudia-Daisuke/Toru-Isaac-Scythe Master struggle as well as the Reiji-Ellen-Cal struggle.  All were very capable characters, and all had their own agendas.  It was really exciting seeing who pulled ahead week to week, because the twists kept shaking up the rankings.

I really enjoyed the Reiji-Ellen partnership, and the odd tension made it even better (especially how they sorta were seeing other people all throughout their relationship).  It wasn’t ever about weekly recaps of how cool the Phantoms were, but rather how they felt trapped in a life they wanted to escape.  Also, I gotta give my man Scythe Master major props.  I thought he was just a typical annoying creepy bad guy at first, but his hilarious hobbies really added a certain je ne sais pas to every secret plot.

Tilt

The art is generally good, although there are occasional minor dips from time to time.  I liked the voice work, and the music is as good as you would expect (especially Cal’s orgasmic theme).  I wasn’t in love with the second OP or the EDs, but the first OP really grew on me.

Verdict

In spite of the puzzling ending, Phantom kept me riveted from the start, so much so that I marathoned like 11 episodes just to catch up in order to blog the series.  The rest of the season did not disappoint, and I’m pretty sure that Phantom has replaced Noir as my favorite Bee Train series.

Kabitzin’s Rating: 5/5

Tagged as: Five Stars

This post was written by...

Kabitzin – who has written 1971 posts on Sea Slugs! Anime Blog.

One of the founders of Sea Slugs, I handle most of the blog admin tasks while wearing my I AM BOSS shirt. I like my action series well choreographed, and my romance series extra trashy. I also have a soft spot for puns.