Shadow Skill: Epilogue (1995)

Shadow skill is a poor excuse for a film, let alone an anime. From the start it throws you into the thick of plot which is complex (but hey, a lot of good animes do have complex plots) ,slightly shoddy and has been used way to many times before. Where as some films throw you in the thick of a plot and let the viewer figure out the plot for themselves to the viewer's satisfactory, Shadow Skill is just a barrage of confusion from start to the very end (if you can last that long). Shadow Skill does have one strong point though; some of the fight scenes are are very good. After all, Shadow Skill is an action/adventure anime but the fights do not save it. The plot is just so darn bad!!! If you want a good action anime, try fist of the north star and don't let Shadow Skill ruin any good anime experiences for the future.

I saw Shadow Skill: The Movie early in my anime fandom, and totally loved it. It's an entertaining, exciting movie, with great action scenes and intriguing characters. Approach it expecting a new Spirited Away or Akira, and you will unfortunately be disappointed, but in honesty, over time I have watched the less weighty but more straightforward Shadow Skill 4 or 5 times, more than I can say for Spirited Away, which I've only watched a handful of times since I bought it. Great film, but doesn't repay repeat viewings the way this does. It's an easy movie to watch just purely because of the enjoyment.Basic story is as such, a teenage boy Gau is attempting to learn and master a fighting style known as the 'Shadow Skill', a skill mastered by his fiery and cocky older sister Ella, who is an arena gladiator. When their house is destroyed by a vengeful rival, Ella and Gau strike out on their own. They then have a set of adventures, eventually accumulating in a battle with a powerful wood spirit. It plays out a lot like a violent, older teens version of something like Willow.Shadow Skill's fun factor will win over the less cynical viewer, but there are some flaws and sticking points to the movie. For instance, Shadow Skill is episodic in nature, and despite being honestly designed as a movie it has the jump-starting narrative of edited-together serial episodes. This makes it a little on the awkward side.On top of this, Shadow Skill is visually polarising. As a big fan I find it's jagged art style, visual super-heroics and walls of blood quite comforting each repeat viewing. Still, it is, in comparison to more restrained anime, and in fact it's own sequel, a little cheesy and so ragged and raw it could be easily misconstrued as a badly drawn exercise in excess. This initial movie certainly veers more toward comic book affairs like FLCL and Voltage Fighter Gowcaiser than high-end stuff like Noir or Ghost in the Shell, and there's a touch of the anything goes designs of Dead Leaves in there too. Put simply, Shadow Skill is visually like Marmite, people seem to love it or hate it.Still, provided these minor flaws don't stick in your craw, Shadow Skill is highly recommended. It's a fast paced, dark fantasy/martial arts blockbuster style story that's worthy of any open-minded anime fan-boy or fan-girl's attention. Give it a chance, and if you enjoy this be sure to check out the excellent sequel (buy the UK DVD and this comes packed with it anyway) which is even better than this first instalment.

Shadowskill is a series of two parts; an OAV and the epilogue. It tells the story of a Gau, an orphaned boy who is adopted as younger brother of a beautiful young martial arts master. Yet again, this isn't a cartoon for the kiddies, as it is a martial-arts drama containing graphic violence.The opening of the story comes across as a hotchpotch of parts as it explains the formation of the group of main characters. This probably comes across as disjointed because of the story's origins as a Bumper Comic, originally published in short installments. Confusingly, the main characters fight a series of monsters with loosely explained premises. This is all well and good if you just want to see some action, but not easy to take seriously.The second half of the OAV is the only part of the OAV plot that I find really interesting. It deals with a fight between two dear friends who have been turned against each other. I feel that this addresses the issue of obligation and honour more clearly than the earlier part of the story, but yet again I feel like the background is somewhat glossed over. Perhaps it was felt that a superficial storyline would less interfere with the pace of the action. I don't know if it pays off, but a bunch off blustering people throwing around glowy fireballs isn't my idea of action any way.Some of the art is appealing but for the most part the plot lets it down. I think that Shadowskill suffers from tenuous character development and melodramatic nonsense, though I am not really a big fan of martial-arts drama stories. The animation of the fight scenes is not too bad, though it seems to be needlessly bloody. I don't feel that waves of blood add much to the plot line, or the realism of the fighting.Westerners may find some of the devices of the story confusing. In a way that is becoming increasingly familiar to animé fans (primarily due to the advent of Shoujo animé like Card Captor Sakura) magic is cast from cards, or more technically "Ofuda". This is a Shinto concept. Unfortunately this will probably seem weird to most people especially as the cards have to be subtitled because their names are in Japanese kanji. In the Madman release of this production this subtitling is done with glowing green subtitles, which looks kind of cheesy.It is amusing to note that though the OAV and the epilogue share the same name, they are produced completely differently. From one to the other new characters have been introduced, and the personality of already established characters has changed. One of the main supporting characters is recognisable only by her attire and the mole that she has on her cheek; in the first production having short blue hair and in the second having long brown hair.The epilogue has more comedy and more attractive art. The production quality comes across as higher, from the story telling to the pacing and the soundtrack. The animation is well done, though, as is fairly common with this sort of animé, the action comes across as far-fetched and fantastic. It is not uncommon to see parts of the scenery exploding with the ferocious blows of our protagonists, and a training battle in the middle of a rockslide has to be seen to be believed.I can see this being popular primarily with guys aged 15 to 20, or younger, if they can get it past their parents. The plot isn't very deep and there is some "fan service" (though not much). Personally I'd give it about a 5/10; I could watch it again, but I will probably have better things to do.

In a war-torn world, a martial art called "Shadow Skill" exists, and you must fight to survive. Although interesting, pretty boring characters and a very hard-to-follow story line with several plot holes (I'm not kidding, and I fully understood "Akira"). However, the bit of story line that does make sense is pretty good, and the fight sequences are excellent.Gau and his sister, Elle, set off in a journey to his parents' grave, as they have done each year for four years. However, it is in Elle's blood to fight, even if it isn't in Gau's. But Elle will teach Gau the ultimate art: the art of... "Shadow Skill"!