Fire Emblem

Genre: Fantasy
General Audience
1996 Nintendo, KSS

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Cover Description:
Once, in a time before history was recorded, there existed a land known as Saint Akanea, founded by the great hero Anri. Surrounded on all sides by seven other great nations, the land of Akanea coexisted in peace and harmony with its neighbors for many years.

Then, the three gods of discord, madness and war sent Medius, Master of the Dark Style and leader of the country of Durhua, to join forces with Gamev, ruler and supreme priest of Khadin. Akanea was no match for their combined might and the land was consumed by the flames of war.

But from the ashes of war, a hero with the blood of Anri will rise. With the enchanted sword Falcion in his hands, Princes Mars would rally the people and begin a crusade to liberate Saint Akanea. This is where the story begins...

Definitely unfinished. >>> by skysenshi
Let's get to the good part first before I start my tirade. The guys here are so drop-dead gorgeous I got confused what frames I should capture for this feature. There's a redhead that looks like Aya of Weiß Kreuz, a blonde hunk that closely resembles Andy Bogard of Fatal Fury... and a protagonist who wears a ridiculous tiara on his head. The battle scenes are not lacking either. I can't get enough of seeing these cuties in action! How's that for eye candy?

Now for the bad part... Do you know that that cover description I typed up there tells more than the actual movie? The story is so jumpy even my mom, who sat beside me with my baby brother on her lap (she was trying to entertain little Tim by introducing him to anime), couldn't understand what was going on! Well, actually, it will take a normal human brain about five seconds or so to process what is actually taking place. The transition from one event to another really needs fine-tuning because it can really get confusing.

This is another proof that anime based on video games really lack that elusive "oomph" (except of course for those "animetized" Capcom games). What really sucks here is that, unlike in RPGs where the lead character gets to confront the final boss, here you are left wondering what will happen to Prince Mars after dealing with those one-dollar thugs he encounters on his way to Medius' lair. Waiting for the sequel? Don't hold your breath because this title came out in 1996 and I haven't heard of anything following it yet.

Individual Rating: Art/Animation 9; Story 6; Characters 8; Sounds 8