Green Legend Ran

Animation - 7.8

Sound - 6.8

Story - 8.6

Character - 7.0

Value - 7.2

Enjoyment - 7.6

Average - 7.5

Reviewed 5 times Statistic

Help | Review it

User Review

Ridian

(2005-05-01 21:25:44) 2005-05-01 21:24:41

Average	6.5
Animation	8
Sound	6
Story	7
Character	6
Value	6
Enjoyment	6

Green Legend Ran is an anime that I would probably enjoy a lot more if I could just bring myself to give a damn. Everything about this OVA is conceptually sound: plot, characterization, sound and especially animation. In a sense, it doesn't really do anything wrong. But frankly, I just didn't care. I didn't care about the future of the planet, I didn't care about Ran's struggles, and I didn't care about any of the characters. As for entertainment itself, the anime is serviceable enough. Green Legend Ran doesn't skimp out on typical action conventions like explosions and gunfighting, but the dull parts are REALLY dull. It's almost as if the directors foraged out to make something preachy and informative, decided it was too boring, and slapped in a bunch of action scenes.

I don't suppose it's really fair, because the anime only had about two hours to do anything. Then again, so did Rurouni Kenshin - Reminiscence...but that's not really a fair comparison. The latter title had not only a better overall layout, but a far higher budget and the advantage of ten years' time. For all it's worth, however, Green Legend Ran is a nice-looking OVA. The animation, though sometimes a little ropey, is often incredibly fluid and vivid. It's obvious that someone put some minimum of effort into making this a viable series, even though the dub actors really didn't. Green Legend Ran's English dub is rife with innumerable cringe-worthy moments where the actors just sounded confused, poorly-inflected or choppy.

The plot at its root is generally unoriginal -- think Now and Then Here and There and Earth Girl Arjuna mixed together -- but it's the conventions that set this apart from any other sci-fi title. Unfortunately, a lot of what the anime babbles about rarely makes sense. You'll hear a lot of yammering about Green 1, Green 5, the Holy Green and rot like that, none of which is really elaborated on. One can imply their purposes, but in the end I didn't get a chance to figure it out. Not that I really cared. All of the simpler plot elements, such as the killer of Ran's mother and Aira's fate, are wrapped up nice and neat for the viewer, but the ending is pretty unspectacular. Considering how horribly drawn-out it was, it definitely didn't accomplish too much. Now and Then Here and There was good because it got the viewer to care about the war-torn world and the suffering people in it...Green Legend Ran is just pappy nonsense that everyone knows will end in smiles.

The final nail in the coffin was that the characters were generally pretty flat, stimulating more of me not caring. Ran is the typical hard-headed shonen hero who does plenty of stupid things that make the viewer want to kill him. Aira is okay, but not really a patch on Lala-ru; whereas the latter was a dignified, untouchable character, Aira herself is just a rather typical personality. I suppose she has some interesting sequences, but like most of everything else in this OVA, I really didn't care about her. There are two supporting casts in each half of the anime who intertwine towards the end; we never really learn the purpose of the first one, but the second crew is fairly interesting. Wow, I can't even remember who the villain was. Uhhhh...that blond guy, I guess. I don't know what he did in the anime though. Hm.

When an anime becomes too heavy-handed in its environmentalist preaching, the whole experience becomes unpleasant. Princess Mononoke succeeded in having an earth-friendly tinge because it didn't beat the viewer over the head with it. PlanetES is interesting in this regard because it doesn't glorify the ecological views presented therein. Animes like this one are simply too egregious...even though the humans are never accused for the destruction wrought upon the earth, it's made pretty obvious in the first minute of the series. Quite simply, I don't watch anime to be reminded of how our planet is falling apart. Between this and the general apathy that the rest of Green Legend Ran invokes, one may find themselves hard-pressed for an excuse to watch this. Recommended to fans of Earth Girl Arjuna (heh), or to those who want something a little like Now and Then Here and There.