Ready for postingI honestly never expected Kenny F or LaughingMan (especially LaughingMan) to watch this anime. The suggestion popped into mind when I read Kenny’s forum post asking for a new H.P. Lovecraft-based thing to review. Maybe I have an evil muse on my shoulder but the anime “Kishin Houkou Demonbane” (or just “Demonbane” for short) came to mind so I made a half-hearted remark that Kenny could review it since it had some H.P. Lovecraft references sprinkled within. Kenny actually agreed to watch Demonbane, taking it as a test of endurance. I was surprised when I saw that LaughingMan agreed to co-review Demonbane with Kenny, and even invited me to join in on the fun. The first (but probably not the last) co-review I did was with LaughingMan on the Devil May Cry anime, in which I acted as a counter-weight against LaughingMan’s rabid hatred for the ‘anime bastardization’ of something he actually enjoyed. I believe I am fulfilling a similar purpose with my Demonbane review.
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Kishin Houkou Demonbane began as an ‘eroge’ or erotic video game (dating-sim) for the PC and was ported to the Playstation 2, minus the sexual content. The Playstation 2 version of the video game is likely what most of the current fans of Kishin Houkou Demonbane were first exposed to. Since it’s Playstation 2 port, the game has spawned sequel and prequel visual novels, a television anime, an OVA (Original Video Animation; direct-to-video), and a manga (a comic book).
The television anime adaptation began airing on May 18, 2006, and ended on August 17, 2006. It lasted 12 episodes and from what I researched it followed fairly true to the Playstation 2 video game. The most noticeable change was a new, much happier ending than in the video game.
I was first drawn to Kishin Houkou Demonbane by how extreme the anime appeared and I thought that it would be an anime that would be so cheesy it would have to be good. I have never heard of the Playstation 2 video game until after I finished watching the series, so I came into Kishin Houkou Demonbane without expectations or attachment to what could very well be a superior experience.
However, the anime provided only a mediocre experience for me at best. It was not as bad as I imagine the two H.P. Lovecraft fanboys, Kenny and LaughingMan, will no doubt say it is, but Kishin Houkou Demonbane is far from greatness and (I am assuming) only serves as fan-service for the players of the video game it is based off of; much like Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children and the Devil May Cry anime. Rarely do anime that serve as marketing tools ever achieve true greatness, and Demonbane is no exception.
STORY
We are first introduced to the poor detective Korou Daijuji who is summoned by the head of the Hado Financial Group, Ruri Hado, and her butler, Winfield, to retrieve a magical tome, a ‘grimoire’. Korou’s initial reaction is to reject the offer until he is literally bribed to perform the task. Korou encounters a young girl named Al Azif, who is the original copy of the Necronomicon, the most powerful grimoire in existence. She is fleeing from agents of the Black Lodge group, headed by evil genius and musician, Dr. West. When Korou and Al Azif are surrounded and escape is impossible, Al Azif merges with Korou, giving him magical powers. Unable to defeat the mage Korou, Dr. West summons his Deus Machina (mecha robot). Korou’s new-found powers allows him to pilot the Hado Financial Group’s own Deus Machina, Demonbane, and he successfully defeats Dr. West.
For the next six episodes, we are introduced to additional members of the Black Lodge, as well as a group of powerful magi and sorcerers calling themselves Anticross. The most prominent villains are Master Therion, the head of the Black Lodge, and his own grimoire, Etheldreda. These six episodes exist solely for establishing characters, though the pacing seems hurried and the relationships between characters is very cliché. Kurou is the noble hero who has to protect his friends; Al Azif is the quick-to-criticize love interest to the hero; Master Therion wants to take over and/or destroy the world.
Despite all the power he possesses, Kuro still acts like a dense and whiny individual like Vash the Stampede from "Trigun." Al Aziz can get pretty annoying which prompts Kuro to run away form her every chance he gets such as getting into his car and speeding away from her after the first battle using Demonbane. It's also revealed that Kuro is a freeloader taking advantage of free meals at this nearby church.
Despite my complaints on the early episodes, I still enjoyed the later episodes a fair amount. After episode seven, the anime grows much darker and the remaining five episodes is a long series of battles. I think how over the top each one was compared to the last really helped me retain some interest in a show that really adds nothing new to a tried and true formula for mecha anime.
Really plot is the show’s biggest weakness. The most glaring weakness while writing this review is “What is the Black Lodge?” The Black Lodge is indeed a secret society of assassins and hired guns, but little else is either implied or explained. I can’t blame the anime, though. It is difficult to construct a decent plot and story arch in a standard 26 episode run, let alone a very meager 12.
Still, so much was said, and so little explained.
ANIMATION
For 2006 anime standards, I am extremely disappointed with Kishin Houkou Demonbane. The animation is not horrible, but it is just horribly average. The drawn animation is average. The CGI mecha fights are average. The whole thing doesn’t lean one way or the other, making it completely mediocre and forgettable.
Even the fights are relatively weak in comparison to greater mecha anime like “Evangelion”, “Gundam Seed”, and (a personal favorite) “Fullmetal Panic”. The reason the fights are mediocre is that they fall into what I call the Voltron-Syndrome, where too much of a mecha battle is recycled footage found on every episode. I guess the easiest way to describe it for western audiences is to think about the original “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers” and the summoning of the Zords and the making of MegaZord: Often the exact same 3-5 minute footage is used in every episode, quickly turning something really cool looking into a dull chore to watch. As it was in Power Rangers, as it was with Voltron, it is with Kishin Houkou Demonbane.
SOUND
Perhaps it comes as a surprise that a redeeming feature of Kishin Houkou Demonbane is the soundtrack. It’s not as fantastic as the scores from ”Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust”, or the jazz-themed soundtrack to the original “Hellsing” series, but it accomplishes its task effectively. A majority of the more noticeable songs in Demonbane are the very mellow, very melodious ones that provide an air of hope within misery. The true testimony to the soundtrack is the ending track which compliments a good ending to the anime. While not the greatest love theme of all time, it is effective none-the-less.
PEDOPHILIA?
While my dislike of the weak story in the anime is my first-and-foremost problem, the use of Lolis (underage girls) as love interests is a very close second. Even before I had read a few of LaughingMan and Kenny Farino’s (rightly) negative comments about the excessive “jailbait” in Kishin Houkou Demonbane, I was turned off by how extremely uncomfortable some of the scenes are presented, such as one scene where Kurou is intoxicated by a gas and sexually assaults Al Azif. Through the course of the anime all of the “Grimoire Girls” are blatantly underage (a fact that even the character Dr. West points out). I honestly would have enjoyed Kishin Houkou Demonbane had the female protagonist been visibly closer to Kurou’s own age, and the ending would have been romantic in contrast to the air of creepiness it portrayed.
However, it is not only Al Azif that is an under-age love interest to Kurou, but nearly every female character (excluding Naia and the woman of the church) is depicted as not only excessively young, but overly sexual: Ruri Hadou develops a crush on Kurou, and is easily the most discreet about it; Dr. West’s bare-legged android creation, Elsa, falls in love with Kurou; the demon girl Nero/ Ennea is blatantly underage but also exchanges passionate kisses with Kurou and even sneaks up on him in the bathtub.
But whatever attention Kurou is getting from the underage girls, it is nothing as blatant as Master Therion’s relationship with his grimoire, Etheldreda. That is a whole rant in of itself.
OVERALL
My impression of Kishin Houkou Demonbane is that it is a very brief retelling of the actual game, and while the original may be great, the anime is mediocre at best. So little is explained and explored, and the whole anime feels like just another drop of water in a sea of mecha anime. The only things that makes Demonbane noticable are the original popular video game, the H.P. Lovecraft references, and the Pedophilia that raises concern.
There is no series licensed for a North American release. It's unknown if and when the series will be licensed in North America. My suggestion is that if there are any American Demonbane fans that they should hope for an English translation of the video game before the anime.
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