Anime Colony: Shadow Skill

Exclusive review: Inu-Yasha:
Rumiko Takahashi's (Ranma 1/2, Maison Ikkoku, Mermaid Tales) new hit TV series in Japan

  Rating: PG-13
  U.S. Distribution Rights: Manga Entertainment
  Genre: Fantasy

Shadow Skill (Movie)

Description: For fourteen-year old Gau, it is time once again for him to return to the graves of his parents, murdered by bandits when he was just ten. In the company of his adoptive sister Ella, Gau quickly comes to relize that his journey is more than a pilgramage, and that his combat abilites as a student of the Karuda school of martial arts are about to be pushed to their breaking point!

Attacked by the demonic Wolfman, left for dead and then forced to fight Ella and Karuda master Scarface, Gou's dreams of becomming a new generation of warrior are put to the ultimate test - can he face his sister in single combat? Will he be able to match the unearthly abilities of Scarface? And can Gau ever uncover the secrets of the Shadow Skill?

Overall Grade: 84% (B)

Reviewer: Clyde Adams III
Episodes reviewed: Movie; subtitled

Grade: 84% (B)

Shadow Skill is a thrilling, involving, dramatic fantasy, highly recommended for fans of fantasy martial arts. Production values are high, the art and music are very good, and the choreography of the fight scenes is outstanding. The main characters, Ella and Gau, are superbly played by veteran voice actors Megumi Hayashibara and Kappei Yamaguchi, (perhaps best known as female and male Ranma).

There is very little plot in this fifty-minute feature. Fourteen-year-old orphan Gau is being trained in the martial arts, specifically in the Shadow Skill, by his "big sister" Ella, who "adopted" him when he was ten.

Much of the run time consists of fights. The fights are clearly fantastic; combatants fly through the air, they shoot energy bolts from their hands, and they move and smash boulders and other huge objects. Gau spars with Ella. Gar has one huge, major, staged fight with Ella, in an ancient gladiatorial amphitheater. Gau and Ella, with some last-minute help from the unquestioned master of Shadow Skill, Scarface, fight off enemies, the warriors of the Wolfen, whose origin and motives are not explained.

Gau also takes some time being taught the origin and philosophy of Shadow Skill by Scarface.

My complaint about Manga Video's translation is that it's rather pedestrian. Grand, pretentious things are being said here, and they call for grand, pretentious, poetic language.