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Directed by Daisuke Nishio
Produced by Toei Co. Ltd
As the prime operator in the Chinese Mafia, Crying Freeman’s callous killings have earned him world notoriety. Only his tears his inner struggle against his murderous destiny.
Ryoichi Ikegami’s acclaimed manga gets the anime treatment but you’d hardly notice it was an anime because the frame rate is so minimal it appears to be a manga with voice acting. Okay, so Crying Freeman doesn’t have a lot going for it so far the animation is pretty bad and the dub is poor. However by no means is this a wasted opportunity. All the hallmarks of the manga are here from the all too frequent sex scenes to the graphic violence and gore on display throughout the OVA. It is also important to note that this review is of the first episode of a six part OVA when we see more I can comment on the next five until then this is the only benchmark for you. Sorry.
Characters are the exact [exact] same as the manga the designers have made no attempt to change them and they still carry the Ikagami psuedo realism we know so well. In this respect the characters look great however it is the way they move that bothered me the most it’s all very cheap stuff every character moves at a speed of about four frames per second. I wouldn’t usually count the lack of a steady frame rate as a criticism however the corners cut on this film all add up to some painful viewing at times.
That’s not to say that all because the characters don’t move they don’t interact indeed they do it is nice [?] to see Freeman cry whenever he kills showing his inner compassion and convincing the viewer that this cold blooded killer is still a human being no matter how powerful.
The backgrounds are nice to look at as well but nothing
really moves and they seem dead but then again the characters move so [so]
slowly that it’s hardly noticeable. As
for the music on offer it’s quite nice if not a bit dated by today’s
standards indeed the music is a reflection on the opening episode of the series
as a whole slightly dated. When I
watched episode # 1 it seemed almost nostalgic a throwback to the simpler days
of animation except for that this particular series was made in 1992 not 1982!
Then again Toei Co. Ltd animated it and we all know how they can mess up
a budget e.g. Dragon Ball Z.
A solid first episode and hopefully the series will follow the same mould so as to permanently settle it as six out of ten here’s hoping.
Six out of Ten
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