ÉL

Directed by ?

Produced by Green Bunny

ÉL is disturbing.  So much so that this reviewer had to watch it in small doses the first time round.  ÉL takes a seat right next to the likes of Cool Devices in the genre of hentai anime while not as graphic as Cool Devices it does manage to churn your stomach in it’s own unique way.  On top of the “gross” factor ÉL isn’t even good the animation is ugly, the character designs are bad and the fact that the soundtrack seems to consist of only one song adds to the torture.

The plot involves a crack team of police [Snipers] on the trail of a ruthless gang of assassins. Air [one of these Snipers] saves a young idol named Buxelli [?] the two fall in love and those around them get sucked into the clutches of evil.  Needless to say all these events are coupled with sex. The version I viewed had all the nastiness cut out however this did not take away from the brutality on display in many of the movies’ key [i.e. sex] scenes.  The scriptwriter on this project obviously doesn’t like doe eyed Japanese women, as he seems to have no problem with subjecting them to all sorts of physical abuse.  That’s what made me turn this movie off the first time I saw it.  It’s not for the faint hearted.

As if this wasn’t bad enough the fact that the animation is poor at best characters barely move and when they do they look jagged and unrealistic, backgrounds are also void of detail or beauty all in all it sucks [could be the wrong word to use here].  If I wanted to say something nice about this movie it would be that the relationship between Buxelli and Air is [erm] touching… just about.  Apart from that there are no other redeeming feature.  If you like appalling hentai I’m afraid to say you’ll love ÉL like your only child. If you aren’t a fan of appalling hentai you’re doing yourself a favour by not watching this.  Ever.

1 out of 10