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Directed by Hiroshi Negishi
Produced by Zero G Room
Shadow Skill is violent it’s the kind of movie that makes you laugh at just how violent it is and unfortunately the kind of movie that has no substance underneath it’s glorious aesthetic of blood and guts. This falls into a large basin of action anime released in the early ‘90s by Manga UK and although not as bad as Kabuto it [Shadow Skill] finds itself residing a few doors down from the aforementioned [Kabuto]. This however is no bad thing although it shares similarities to Kabuto in the “style over substance” ethos. It simply excels Kabuto in terms of execution, characters and charm.
Simply put although Shadow Skill is brainless and devoid of undercoating it’s fun to watch and in the end that’s what really counts. The plot focuses on the exploits of psuedo siblings Ella and Gau. The two embark on a quest to avenge the death of a young girl’s master however end up caught in a conspiracy to take them both down. The group comprised of Ella, Gau and Quo come across many a beastie that needs a good seeing to and a good seeing to is what the beasties get. Blood flows freely in the world of Shadow Skill in fact freely is an understatement at some points you may find yourself wondering why the monsters’ veins have been replaced with hose pipes? It all adds to the effect however and to the action that although slick and stylish is slightly prolonged and occasionally suffers Dragon Ball Z style powering up bits.
In terms of design the characters all look similar to characters seen in X by CLAMP long legs, lanky torsos and chins to impale cans of soft drink on. While bewildering in terms of muscle structure and general logic the characters are becoming and are not without their own unique charm. However the characters are not the focus of the movie rather their fists are, character development is cast aside and instead is replaced by character pummeling as a device to evoke emotion in the watcher. Does it work? No. We never feel the same sorrow for Quo as we do for say Son Goku [Dragon Ball] when we see her get bashed around by a hulking enemy and so in this respect Shadow Skill fails you won’t get any poignancy out of it but you shouldn’t really have to I guess seeing as it’s all about style and cheap thrills.
On the subject of cheap thrills, I’m glad to say that Shadow Skill doesn’t resort to fan service in order to provide the thrills this is a good thing and should be seen as a slight step forward for an action movie of this type. The music featured in Shadow Skill is also of an above average standard and adds atmosphere to the locations and fight scenes.
Shadow Skill is not worth buying however it is short and sweet and does not require more than one viewing to work all the “ins and outs” out. A rental is recommended unless you really enjoyed the OVA. Overall, good but lacking the magic needed to put it above the rest of the action crop.
Five out of Ten
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Sorry about the lack of screenshots the DVD drive on my PC broke.
