Madlax - Eps 1-14
Madlax is a 26 episode series that just finished running this last fall in Japan. By the creators of Noir, at first it feels like a clone of that series. The opening features a young girl wielding a gun with practiced ease, military and civil war are the themes of the first episode. Madlax is an agent for hire (assassin, bodyguard, you-name-it) in a country gone to the dogs after 12 years of civil war. The other piece of the puzzle comes in the form of Margaret Burton, another strange young girl living a sheltered life in a far away country. The villain in all this seems to be a underground organization that moves the chess pieces of countries’ political landscapes.
However, just when you think it’s another show about a killing machine with a mysterious past meeting another girl with no memories, the show throws you a complete curve ball in the form of what appears to be magic or sorcery. Certainly there is nothing normal in chants that cause people to commit murder, books with mysterious writing covered in blood, and natives with supernatural powers.
Although I was going, “What the heck?!” after three episodes, I have to admit that the incredible weirdness and the unexplained mysterious really hooked me into watching more, just to find out what the deal was behind all that sorcery, and what the connections were between Madlax and Margaret and the other characters that show up. So far, I’m quite impressed at how they have pulled it off. A lesser director would have stumbled on the sheer complexity of the plot - it’s a feat to unravel all the strands and pull it together without revealing too much while at the same time not losing your audience. Although I do have the advantage that I am watching this all in rapid succession and stuff is still fresh in my mind.
At Ep 5 or so, I was starting to get a bit skeptical as the story didn’t quite seem to progress, just more and more layers being added, but I am glad that I stuck with it. I’m not so much fascinated with the characters as I am just hooked by the desire to know the story. However, the characters are not pushovers either. They are unique, but understated and restrained. There is no shoving it in your face as is so common in anime of yore. I guess you could say that Madlax is an example of anime direction which has finally grown up.
The music, by Kujiura Yuki (who also did Noir and My-HIme, a personal favourite) is a bit too European for my taste, except for one Eastern track with vocals that plays when something dramatic is about to happen. Good, but a bit repetitive.
The art in this show is excellent for a TV series. CG has really started to come into its own now, mainly by allowing studios to lower the cost of normal animation (and not, as some tried at the beginnng, by allowing funky animation effects previously unachievable by hand). That means consistently higher quality overall (anyone remember the travesty that was the Nadia island episodes? *shudder*). I think what I most appreciate, personally, is that characters now look far more consistent. So you don’t get that age old problem where a different storyboardist would result in one of those dreaded crap episodes where the faces are so distorted you almost wish they hadn’t made it at all.
So anyway, the designs are generic but pleasant. There is some impressive stuff going on, like this electrical fan that was rotating. I wouldn’t mind collecting some pics of Madlax, who does look kinda cool.
Dunno if I’ll be happy with the show in the end. It really depends how they pull it off. But in the meantime, I’ll keep watching.
