Hosted by Swift Communications


Dead Leaves

Dead Leaves
Animation - 7.2
Sound - 6.2
Story - 4.0
Character - 4.7
Value - 4.5
Enjoyment - 5.5
Average - 5.3

Reviewed 20 times Statistic Help |  Review it


User Review
Jump to page   of 1  

rosepetals19 (2007-12-25 19:38:17)   2007-12-25 19:28:36
Average 5.0
Animation 6
Sound 6
Story 5
Character 5
Value 4
Enjoyment 4
Forget FLCL, this had to have had more random craziness in 50 minutes than FLCL did in the whole progression of the show, save for the record that FLCL actually makes sense if you read between the lines a bit. I can see why people make comparisons between the two, but they're totally different contextually.

For one, it's a movie, limitations come within that, no doubt. Second, Dead Leaves makes very little to no sense whatsoever-to the trained eye it's artistically inclined and attempts to be modern but without any sort of depth. What little sense it does make-well, I'll spell out without going into any spoilers, so no fear.

The story revolves around a duo of partners in crime Pandy and Retro who somehow lost their memories and end up on the run from police...only to be caught and serve time in a tortuous prison-and with their wit and partially invasive memories, they try to plot an escape to discover who they are and why they're there. Very heavily immersed in sexualized humor (one of the prisoners with a drill on his "you know what" should say plenty), bloody action sequences and randomized presentation-it's likely to leave you either feeling confused or put off. Or, if want crazy randomness with violence, fluids, and over-the-top sexual humor, you might love this little movie to tears.

Pandy and Retro seemed like characters that were "too cool, don't care" attitude-I wanted to like them, but I kept thinking there wasn't enough to them to really get an idea of who they were. Sure, I found myself laughing at some of their antics, but other times I wondered...why the overt sexual humor? It's like they're trying a little too hard, and it's apparent.

Dead Leaves mangaged to keep me watching to the end because I didn't know what to expect next. Considering I typically like strong stories and strong characters, if I had read anything about Dead Leaves prior to watching it, I probably would have canned it. Yet, I ended up watching it without even knowing the title of it until it came up on screen.

To be honest though...this type of movieisn't my cup of tea-but surprisingly, I didn't dislike it-it did entertain, but in an awkward, one-shot way. Animation wise-it's hard to judge, because if you're looking for clear fluid animation and beautiful characters-you're watching the wrong series. It's abstract art, and considering the randomness of the story, I can't really judge it too strictly.

Music isn't bad, but I found it forgettable on some levels. I remember some jazzy music playing that went along with the crazy chase scenes, and it suited the fast paced scenery, it's like they tried to take the old stylistics of Western animation and put it into bold, modernized antics and art style. Probably the best part of this movie, and what managed to entertain me overall were the VAs. The English dub is actually rather decently adapted as well. Retro's and Panda's VAs were both suited to their characters, and probably made them stand out more than simply their characterization, which was otherwise flat.

Panda looks like a panda with the way her eyes are shaped, and Retro has a TV for a head-Retro had some good punchlines, but I had the feeling they were trying too hard with the overt humor. Those are the only characters I remember, aside from the large cast of prison workers and the guy with the drill...yeah, no comment.

I had a hard time rating Dead Leaves, I understood its appeal and there were points where it was likable but I felt, like its style of humor, it was all over the place. If you want off the wall, totally random humor, this is for you, if you want a cohesive, developed story with solid, relatable characters, stay far away from this movie.


0 of 0 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes / No

pegsyjcrawford (2007-08-12 20:26:32)   2007-06-28 22:10:07
Average 7.5
Animation 9
Sound 9
Story 6
Character 5
Value 8
Enjoyment 8
Fifty minutes of pure fun. Not deep, not pretentious, just some mind blowing animation, wacky characters and a hilarious story.
::More from this review::

0 of 0 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes / No

petran79 (2007-11-30 05:22:32)   2006-07-22 03:51:59
Average 4.0
Animation 0
Sound 0
Story 0
Character 0
Value 0
Enjoyment 4
(Elixire fansubs)

I thought this would be worse than FCLC (that has here over 280 reviews and seems to be more popular) but in fact this turned out a much more enjoyable title and one
of my favorites. Maybe because it lasted only 50 minutes while FCLC lasted over 3 hours. All the elements that made FCLC exciting are squeezed here with amazing action and animation, unlike anything I've seen.
Since the subs were in French I couldnt grasp much of the story (I dont know French that good) but the story does not make much sense anyway. The action scenes were of the best and craziest I've seen and I couldnt take my eyes from the screen till
an action sequence finished.

The characters were funny and their design has nothing to do with anime, so if you're used to the traditional anime style this title will certainly not appeal to you. If you liked the video game ''Jet Set Radio'' though this might appeal to you.
If you're used in watching titles of experimental and not so mainstream animation this is worth a watch


0 of 1 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes / No

the original mr e    2006-04-29 07:11:15
Average 7.3
Animation 6
Sound 10
Story 5
Character 7
Value 9
Enjoyment 7
This is an action packed, chaotic, and frankly mental piece of 45 minute-long anime. At first I thought it was an FLCL copy (I hate FLCL) but fortunately I found it turned out to be fun and exhilirating.

Visuals:
This is a very debatable aspect of the anime. Overall, I`ve personally labelled the visuals as "above average", but they can understandably be considered excellent OR dire. On the plus side, the animation is fluid and the colours are vibrant. There are some great character and world designs, and the style of the anime is reflected in the style of the visuals. But on the negative side, the style of the visuals is also a hinderance when trying to distinguish what you`re seeing. The art direction is such that it becomes very very difficult to simply realise what`s on screen. The chaos is so extreme that it turns messy. The style is almost identicle to an american comic book or graffiti pictures, but moving. In a book, you can take a few moments to study the picture and fully absorb what you`re looking at, but here it moves along so fast that some of the greatness is lost in the action. The jagged styling of the onscreen objects and the dynamic shading requires time to focus on to appreciate it, but the anime chooses to never really stand still so it becomes impossible. HOWEVER, the chaos of the anime is a unique and fun factor of the visuals despite the difficulties it causes. I`ve never seen anything like it. It often walks the fine line between being like the splat of a paintball or the splat of vomit, thankfully choosing the more pleasant option for the majority of the time.

Sound:
I can`t fault the sound of Dead Leaves. Musically, the makers have studied each scene in depth and scored it in a way to approriately enhance what`s onscreen at that time. Whilst I agree that this should be the obvious case in most anime, for an anime as chaotic as this it would have been very easy to put any old upbeat or noisey music to it *cough-FLCL-cough*. The music here is a combination of techno, pop, and rock. The voice acting and sound effects in the anime are excellent, with suitably insane voices and insane effects provided at the right times.

Story:
The PLOT is of a below average nature, and takes a definate back seat to the visuals. At first, it seems difficult to even fathom that a plot could possibly emerge from all this insanity, but towards the end it takes shape (to a degree). Unfortunately it`s not all that interesting, and instead I felt happier just to see the chaos rather than the anime try to justify it. What`s good about the story is the world and character designs. All the gadgets and technology throughout Dead Leaves is engaging and entertaining, and the ridiculous characters are very interesting (see below). I would usually comment more on the story aspect of the anime, but there isn`t really anything left for this one. Oh, it`s often quite funny.

Characters:
First off, Dead Leaves is almost completely devoid of character depth or real development. But to counter balance this, the characters are nutty and fun to watch. The 2 protagonists, Pandy and Retro, and excellent together and really likable. They are very different from each other - Pandy seemingly a quieter and mature female, and Retro being the loud brash and immature male - but they have a wonderfully electrifying chemistry. The secondary characters, are absolutely mental, in design and mentality (eg there`s a guy with a huge Drill for his member). Almost all the characters have some form of super ablities with robotic enhancements coming out of their limbs and insane personalities. Whilst the anime takes hardly any time out to establish the purpose of all these ridiculous things, for once I felt it didn`t matter.

Value:
Being only 45 minutes long, this highly charged anime has an equaly high replay value. Putting it on resembles what I believe would be the closest thing to a low-yield 45 minute-long explosion. The only reason the replay value isn`t perfect is because the anime itself isn`t of a better standard.

Enjoyment:
After the first 5 mintues, I thought "Oh no, it`s like FLCL", but 10 minutes later I realised it wasn`t at all and I became severely entertained. The over the top gore and sexual references grabbed my attention even more, and the odd nature of the anime in general made me laugh often. If only the visuals had more clarity, the story more depth, and the characters more establishment, this would have been one of the best animes out there. As it stands, it`s left as being "great fun and exhilirating".


0 of 0 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes / No

mystvearn    2006-03-30 00:43:26
Average 4.7
Animation 6
Sound 6
Story 4
Character 5
Value 3
Enjoyment 4
This anime has over the top action and dimentia that its actually worthless to see it. There is a lot to hate and very little to like about this. Imagine carmageddon of anime;s
::More from this review::

0 of 0 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes / No

nauXolo (2006-03-16 22:40:25)   2006-03-16 22:27:30
Average 6.0
Animation 8
Sound 7
Story 4
Character 5
Value 5
Enjoyment 7
Dead Leaves has absolutely nothing memorable in it (nothing that remains in your mind unless you feel queasy after watching it and retch from the misc. liquids coming out) . A short 1 hour piece of randomness, a weak semi-circular story, and the usual combination of a comedic relief character and a more laid back character. Dead Leaves is definitely not for everyone - masked within all its cartoony animation style, there are strong themes of sex, guns, violence, and some twisted ideas that I am unable to name right now.

To be honest, the main reason I watched this all the way to the end (aside from it being so short) was I just was so shocked by how random everything was. From the start to the end, I had absolutely no clue what was in store next and this is what Dead Leaves is good at - battering you with shells pouring out from guns, extravagant explosions here and there, and random blood and other liquids coming out.

One thing I did like about this anime OVA was that it was somewhat a jail break anime. I personally have a fascination withh anything related to jail life or jail break. Because Dead Leaves's setting is all in a jail, I may have thought more positively of this. Other than that, I kind of feel that I was in the wrong conscious state to watch this - I was still thinking. Sure this is very different from much of the anime out there, but there are other random ass animes out there that are much better and enjoyable for the general public - for example, Mind Games.

Not a bad watch if you want to be rebellious and want to get away from all the typical Shounen fighting animes or the emo school drama shows... but for you to seriously consider watching this I would recommend that you have watched a lot of anime already and established a personal taste so that you won't be so quick to judge this as distasteful.
::More from this review::

1 of 1 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes / No

Kaj (2005-10-11 13:44:37)   2005-10-10 15:37:46
Average 1.7
Animation 2
Sound 1
Story 3
Character 1
Value 1
Enjoyment 2
I was told this anime was "FLCL, except worse". I found it hard to believe... can it be possible?!

Now that I've watched it, I'm sorry to say that it is. Impossible though it may seem, this anime is truly more insane than FLCL. If you despised FLCL, then this anime is not for you. If you hate shows that are just crazy without making much sense, then this anime is not for you.

I think there's meant to be some sort of story behind this, and if the characters in there would stop pissing about so much maybe I could figure out what. I just know it's something about a mutated gene. Maybe the plot is actually so full of holes they made everything crazy so that you won't understand it. If that's what they're aiming for, then they've certainly achieved it.

The characters all act like asses, and even though occasionally they did crazy things that made me laugh like when the tv guy told the prisoners to hold onto his bike, and they all just looke at him like this: O_o (in fact the animation is so rubbish their expression is almost just like that), most of the time their crazy antics just bored me. Everything they do is so over the top.

This whole thing is so nonsensical that I suspect that either the people who made it were pumped full of drugs, or they were lower, less intelligent forms of life. Or maybe they are aliens who's thoughts we can't possibly comprehend. Anyway... don't come within a mile of this if you don't want your brain reduced to mashed potatoes.
::More from this review::

1 of 1 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes / No

isokana (2005-10-14 14:30:45)   2005-10-09 18:18:24
Average 5.5
Animation 8
Sound 8
Story 4
Character 3
Value 4
Enjoyment 6
I never thought there could be 50 minutes with too much senseless violence. Dead Leaves proved me wrong.

It's very easy to see where the OVA goes wrong. It has nothing but violence. I can stomach a lot of blood and intestines but only if it's coupled with wacky/black humor, coolness, interesting story or some meaningful characters. DL has nothing of these. Characters are nothing but objects to be punctured with bullets or the ones doing the puncturing, coolness is far from the edgy animation style and humor fails most of the time. I can see a lot of stuff that is supposed to be funny but doesn't ring any bells in my head. Story... I couldn't see one. It's not like they needed a reason for their massacre.

DL is well-made anyhow. Animation is good even if it looks edgy. Music is suitably insane. And in some weird way, it's satisfying to see some of the most extreme ideas of the series. Unfortunately they are too few to save the series. As there is nothing memorable or thought-provoking, this is a one-time watching experience.


0 of 0 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes / No

Doormatter20 (2005-08-27 03:51:11)   2005-08-27 03:34:35
Average 1.5
Animation 3
Sound 2
Story 1
Character 1
Value 1
Enjoyment 1
Well I have to say this is now the worst anime I have ever seen. It was even more random then FLCL if that's even possible. It has no real coherent plotline, it just seems to be a lot of random violence and vulgarity. If you want to know more about why I disliked this one so much read on.
::More from this review::

0 of 0 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes / No

xenokite (2005-05-26 03:21:16)   2005-05-24 05:44:25
Average 7.7
Animation 8
Sound 8
Story 7
Character 8
Value 7
Enjoyment 8
Very weird but what do you expect from people associated with FLCL? This is a very fast paced show with tons of fluid animation, crazy music and a lot of off the wall stuff. Very enjoyable. I enjoyed it but when it came to an end I almost had to replay it as it kinda hypes you up as fast paced as it is. If you're a Furi Kuri nut then I'd check it out.
::More from this review::

0 of 0 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes / No

Soulrival    2005-03-22 00:45:01
Average 8.0
Animation 10
Sound 7
Story 5
Character 8
Value 8
Enjoyment 10
Definitly a WAAAAAAAY underrated(and underwatched) show. This one is probably some of the best 50-minutes you will spend watching anime. The action in this anime is INSANE and the richness of the originality and unique flavor really give it that overwhelming vibe that oozes fun. The music in it is not very standout, excluding the probably insane sound effects the director whipped up. The story is....nonexistent for the most part. It is basically there to provide a shell so more action can take place. But oooo is the action good!
The characters are....flat for the most part. They are all funny and cool to watch, but they are just flat. But what do you expect out of 50 minutes?

Overall, the only way you can decide if u wanna watch this anime is whether you will enjoy it or not. I leave it up to you, but I personally say that it was enjoyable through all of its flaws. I say its an anime to definitly check out since its so good you only wish there was an episode 2.


0 of 0 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes / No

Glen McKnight    2005-03-09 19:19:38
Average 8.0
Animation 10
Sound 5
Story 6
Character 10
Value 7
Enjoyment 10
Its sad that so many people just dont like this. Weird because I think this was an amazing step for a japanese production. The story was not mind blowing, but this movie played out in 50 mins of nearly non stop action. Its a shock they were able to squeeze in the story they did. I love FLCL still more than this. But this was so unique. I am not a huge anime fan, in fact there is very little that appeals to me. Way to much of the same giant robot plots. Or trite love stories. They all try to look different but all look anime. Here we find something that has still holds much of the style of anime, while steping away from the spikey hair fem boy look. Pandy was the first pregneant animated character I can recall ever seeing. I think this film is for people who are tired of anime. FLCL was the last anime that really felt like something fresh. This was far from perfect but the freshness of it makes it a must see.


0 of 0 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes / No

GEORGE!CLAPTON?    2005-03-09 14:03:42
Average 6.3
Animation 9
Sound 7
Story 4
Character 5
Value 5
Enjoyment 8
why is this so unpopular?
a trippy adult anime with punktastic delivery
indie diamond in the rough

overlty shallow but screw it
predictable but no time to be bored
no morals/mysteries left open
::More from this review::

0 of 0 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes / No

Max (2005-02-21 23:10:30)   2005-02-21 23:08:57
Average 7.0
Animation 9
Sound 8
Story 6
Character 6
Value 6
Enjoyment 7
I suppose I should say straight off the bat that I really, really wanted to like this. I read the few reviews it has been given here on animenfo.com, and chose to disregard them in the hopes that they just didn't "get it," and that I would. My hopes were misplaced.
There is very little depth or insight into the main characters, which would have made a lot of difference. As a result, you watch this 50 minute movie and are continually waiting for a payoff. It's a tribute to the movie that it can go for FIFTY minutes, make me want to know what happens next for all those minutes, keep my attention with literally NON-STOP action...but then, the climax comes and goes, and then the ending comes and it feels like the director is laughing at me for being so easily duped into waiting for something meaningful to happen for those fifty minutes.
There's something to "Dead Leaves," but it's really half-assed like everybody says, all style with no substance. Usually I can take, even like, that kind of art - the Coen brothers, directors of "Fargo" fame and many, many more incredible movies, are often criticized in such a way - but this style doesn't have any soul to it, it just plods along, explosively waiting for its own end.
The more I think about "Dead Leaves," the more I dislike it, and that's a bad thing. If not for that fact, I'd recommend it. As it stands, I would wait for something better from Production I.G., or rewatch "FLCL" as others have said.


0 of 0 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes / No

Ridian    2004-12-16 04:24:53
Average 2.2
Animation 7
Sound 2
Story 1
Character 1
Value 1
Enjoyment 1
Instead of writing a long-winded and unwarranted critique of Dead Leaves, I'll just cut straight to the point and let this be known: It sucks. This was like FLCL, but without any sort of charm and taken to some crass new level. In an attempt to be edgy, it merely comes across as brainless and juvenile, and has absolutely no interest in creating half-decent characters, a tangible plot or any sort of reason to watch it at all. Its only redeeming factor, as evidenced by my scores, is the good animation; naturally, this appears to have been the entire focus of the creators. Unfortunately, despite the fluidity of the action, it is rarely aesthetically stimulating, and really just becomes ugly at points.

Don't even waste your time with Dead Leaves.


1 of 1 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes / No

telebi-kun (2004-11-18 14:04:04)   2004-11-18 13:58:52
Average 5.5
Animation 7
Sound 8
Story 3
Character 3
Value 5
Enjoyment 7
The blurbs on the box for this one gush about how indescribably 'cool' Dead Leaves is.

And on a certain shallow level, yes, Dead Leaves is pretty cool. It looks cool, at least: the character designs are jagged, bizarre, and grotesque, bearing more resemblance to the stylings of John Kricfalusi, American underground gross-out cartoonists, and perhaps even to contemporary fine artists like Takashi 'Superflat' Murakami than to anything you've probably seen before in Japanese animation. The colors fairly spurt from the screen, and the overall art direction is vivid and dizzying, with nary a right angle to be found anywhere, it would seem.

But the daring visual sense is compromised by what was either an unfortunate aesthetic decision, or a limited budget. It's often hard to tell what the hell is actually going on onscreen, as the foregrounds aren't always easy to distinguish from the backdrops, and everything is in near-constant motion. Backgrounds are too flat, and the nauseating hyperkinetic action isn't helped by what appear to be many moments shot using too few frames per second.

Despite being rather hard to watch, I concede that Dead Leaves is extremely stylish. But beyond the style, this feature appears to be aiming for the puerile hearts and minds of a videogame-addled audience thoroughly desensitized to violence. The plot and script are relatively minimal, and the action is gruesome, crude, and tasteless.

Voice acting is enthusiastically game all around, and you won't find much else that resembles this, visually at least. But all in all, Dead Leaves leaves everything but a sense of style to be desired.


0 of 0 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes / No

De Baer (2005-02-02 05:35:51)   2004-10-29 18:44:21
Average 2.5
Animation 4
Sound 4
Story 1
Character 2
Value 1
Enjoyment 3
Man nehme den kläglichen Versuch eine OVA im FLCL-Stil zu kreiren, einen hohen Anteil an sinnloser Gewalt, gemischt mit geschmacklosem Humor inklusive anstößigen Szenen und heraus kommt Dead Leaves. 50 Minuten vollgestopft mit Charakteren die die Dichte eines Luftballons besitzen und einem Plot der schon fast irritierend lächerlich ist. Weder Sinn noch Substanz wird man während dem Verlauf dieser OVA ausmachen können und das einzige was ansatzweise unterhält ist der hohe Actiongehalt. Einschlafen wird man hier sicher nicht, aber sich vor lauter Kopfschütteln den Hals verrenken. Billige Animationen gepaart mit dem wohl hässlichsten Charakterdesign was mir jeh untergekommen ist und ein nerviger Soundtrack tun ihr übriges um Dead Leaves in meiner "Hall of Shame" einen Ehrenplatz zu sichern. Die Verantwortlichen für dieses Machwerk sollten ernsthaft darüber nachdenken das LSD abzusetzen, anders kann ich mir nicht vorstellen wie so eine Gehirngrütze das Licht der Welt erblicken kann. Ich empfehle mindestens 100 Meter Sicherheitsabstand!


0 of 0 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes / No

kahiti    2004-10-20 22:50:58
Average 3.2
Animation 8
Sound 5
Story 2
Character 2
Value 1
Enjoyment 1
Okay, sorry for being so harsh. But most of the rating is just personal preference.

Stylistically, very interesting and/or shocking. I think it definitely is a trip, worth your while if you want a lot of edgy visual that seems to hint at a meaning people have just been too afraid to touch before. I don't know what that meaning is, though. The story is very shady, only there to tie together the animation.

I saw this on the 24 hour broadcast from the site... all style, no substance.


0 of 0 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes / No

Coldsun (2004-10-20 22:38:50)   2004-10-20 22:35:37
Average 2.7
Animation 6
Sound 4
Story 1
Character 3
Value 1
Enjoyment 1
Perhaps I am the only person to find this to be crap so far, but thats exactly how I see Dead Leaves.

The OVA fires off at a rocket's pace from start to finish rampaging with decently animated violence and mild sexual content for roughly 50 minutes. No where within that time frame Dead Leaves offer anything of actual substance in terms of content.

Specificly because the OVA runs like an extended snuff film with wax paper thin liner of a plot to keep the monstrocity heading in a specific direction. For greater detail, check out the categories.

::More from this review::

0 of 0 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes / No

maihara (2004-09-20 13:25:08)   2004-09-20 13:22:26
Average 9.2
Animation 10
Sound 10
Story 8
Character 9
Value 8
Enjoyment 10
good animation from production IG for the year 2004. yup, reminds me of FLCL and american cartoons. manga-style alphabetical sound effect used. fast-pace and action packed with humor and mild nudity/sex. the story a bit simple i think but the actions can cover that. the dvd comes with DTS surround so you can hear the clinging bullets sound sharply. nice sound effects and ending theme (techno/trance).


0 of 0 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes / No

User Review
Jump to page   of 1  



Anime and Manga database (AnimeNfo.com)
© 2001-2006 Kevin Lamothe (supers) | Terms and Conditions
Hosted by Swift Communications


banner


Site design by ecxol.net:
ecxol