Toonzone Anime of the Month (09/2013) - Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom

[JShaggy]

This month's Toonzone AotM honor goes to the suspenseful action anime series, Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom.

​

The complete series, from the studio and director behind Noir and Madlax, is available now from Funimation.

Synopsis:
Watch Phantom - Watch Anime & Live Action Streaming Episodes & Video Online

A young man regains consciousness in an unfamiliar room with no memory of who he is or how he got there. His past is lost – and his future belongs to Inferno, a violent crime syndicate that’s waging bloody war on the mafia underground.
The organization gives him a new name – Zwei – and teams him with their top assassin, the enigmatic Ein. They call her “Phantomâ€, and she’ll teach Zwei all he needs to know about his new life as an Inferno operative, starting with lesson number one: kill or be killed.

Discuss your thoughts about the series, keeping any and all potential spoilers to a minimum. Also, don't forget to rate the series when you're finished.


Enjoy!

 

[Lord Dalek]

Ah the show that introduced us to the Urobucher. Good times.

 

[Leaping Larry Jojo]

This got mixed reviews from critics, but I have a soft spot for this one as it was the first anime TV series I watched entirely in HD. I think the one thing it excelled most at was building suspense. We need more of these crime action-anime these days.

 

[GingaDaiuchuu]

Ah the show that introduced us to the Urobucher. Good times.

That would be Blassreiter.

 

[Lord Dalek]

That would be Blassreiter.

Yeah but the original VN (and by proxy OVA adaptation) came out long before then.

 

[GingaDaiuchuu]

Yeah but the original VN (and by proxy OVA adaptation) came out long before then.

Okay, then the VN and previous OVA adaptation introduced us to him, not "this show".

 

[Viper]

Well, I'm glad my choice won. Regardless of the action being a little intense, I still find it very enjoyable!

 

[GoldenSaint]

I wasn't a big fan of exactly how the last episode wrapped up, since that little bit I won't spoil here was added specifically for this anime.

Other than that, I suppose it was pretty derivative of various sources but fairly enjoyable for the most part.

 

[Leaping Larry Jojo]

Happy endings are overrated for a show like this. I thought the ending was appropriately grim.

 

[GoldenSaint]

If they had framed it just a little better, perhaps I could agree. The exact way they pulled it off came across as somewhat jarring.

 

[Leaping Larry Jojo]

It depends what you mean by framing.

Spoiler

I think that if they went down fighting in a tragic or glorious death, it would have inadvertently made the characters into martyrs. And if there's one thing a show about criminals should never do is make their characters into martyrs, no matter how much the audience is attached to them. Having them die a sudden and unexpected death seems much more appropriate to the cold blooded nature of the show. You can be the greatest assassin in the world, but all it takes is one unexpected to bullet to end it all if you're in the world of crime.

It's a little like those old decorated war veterans that saved so many lives or killed so many enemies in 'Nam or WWI or WW2...and then end up slipping in the shower and breaking their necks at the age of 55. Crap happens. You don't always get a good ending, and in a show like this that is most definitely not romantic or about heroism of any kind, I'm not that upset with the route they took.

Look at the bright side though. At least it wasn't as bad as the Sopranos' ending, LOL. At least YOU KNEW what happened here.