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 I 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
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About Kabitzin: 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. |
12 Comments
While I’m much relieved to see that counselling has made the BEE TRAIN x Kabitzin relationship abusive no more, I’d personally still dock a point off the score for the ending. I didn’t mind that it wasn’t Reiji x Elen Happily Ever After but I just wish I wasn’t so confused by it.
Noir is still my top BEE TRAIN series though – no prizes for guessing why. LOL
I think the one big thing everyone’s going to take from this series is that ‘oil massage’ will never have the same meaning again. Good show.
Well, glad that you liked it, and that you didn’t show the huge allergic reaction that a surprising number of viewers had at the ending ^_^;
I still think they made the wrong call. They took the wrong ending template, and they picked the wrong ending match too. The Cal path offers much more drama and heroics. Still, it was a riveting and very enjoyable ride.
I’d give it a 4.5/5, but that’s still an excellent grade.
LOL I just got my Nikon SB600 speedlight today, and in Nikon’s official example pamphlet they used a figurine of Cal and her bike to demonstrate close up photography with multiple flash units!
You should have did this as a separate post/omake. You’d totally get away with it ;3
Ka-Ka-KABI-ONEE~SAMAAAAaaaaaaAaAaaAAAAAaaa~!!!!!
x159
That is awesome. As is Phantom — thought it was pretty good in the beginning and got better as it went along. Hell, I even like the ending a ton.
Loli Cal had a sense of flatness, but then she grew up, got two big SB800s, and suddenly understood bounce.
I have been using the word “awesome” a little too frequently of late, but I find the fact that your photo gear pamphlet included photos of a Cal figurine indescribably awesome. And random. But shouldn’t the 800s be 8008s? :P
I’ll also add my vote to the “so happy they didn’t stick with the VN character designs” camp. I’m glad that I finally got around to watching this, and even though I didn’t read your full posts until later, the captions for your screencaps cracked me up from week to week. I wish that Claudia had made it through, but given how everything ended up I guess her death makes sense (well, except for the shot-by-Lizzie bit). All in all a very good show.
They made a few direction choices that I really don’t understand near the end. It was a nice adaptation of the VN, but I think they could’ve done a lot better (like not include a silly appendage to the ending like that).
Probably my favorite BEE TRAIN series despite that.
The ending was… Man, well I like the fact that I hate the ending so much. It’s like my taste for cherry, I don’t like it, but I always eat it last when it’s on ice cream or cake, regardless if I don’t like the taste.
One of the best endings ever for me, no matter how tragic it is. (slight sucker punch lol)
Have to agree with you on this one.
One of the best anime i’ve watched in my life.
However the ending was just.. heartbreaking