Queen Millennia - Reviews

Well i have first seen this anime in 1992 and went searching until last year where i found him and rewatch it, so it seems we all survived the 9.9.1999. At both times Story and Sound let me feel dizzy but in a positive way.

Back then Story, Sound and also Animation rank among the best. Nowaday except for the animation this is still the case.

Main Plot dominates the whole Story but there is still room for subplots.

The characters are well done and have a distinguished development.

Sound is remarkable, expecially Opening and Ending are catchy tunes but also the background music is really good and fits the series.

One of Leiji’s lesser works, this series never made an impact like his other works for a simple reason. It is too Earth-bound and frankly, the same story elements can be found in his other works (Captain Harlock and Spaceship Yamato are his tops) in a more interesting way. Still, if you so much like Leiji, you won’t miss the chance to give this one a try and like it up to a point.

ART & SOUND SECTIONS: 6/10
The truth is I was simply not drawn to them. The spaceships didn’t look eye captivating, old men are simply awful to look at, and young people are idealized archetypes that border social propaganda. Ok, that’s Leiji’s unique artistic style but it doesn’t mean I have to like it. As for the sad atmosphere and the elegiac ballads, honestly I have seen far better. The problem with the animation and the music is that they seem to offer only the essentials and nothing more. And mind that I watched Captain Harlock long before watching this one, so unconsciously I am comparing similar works where the first is better than the later. So, I will give them a bit over average for trying to convey messages and feelings without succumbing to silly tricks like nudity or big explosions.

STORY SECTION: 7/10

Ok, before I begin, I must remind you this is Leiji we are talking about. All his works are full of death and tragedies that make your heart break from sadness yet always give you hope for a better tomorrow. I never liked such scenarios much but to be honest, they are better than the average shonen or mecha out there.

In the story, during the future year of 1999 (it has passed, I know), a planet is about to come so close next to Earth that the gravitational forces will destroy human civilization beyond repair. The catch is, that planet is inhabited by an advanced alien race, which uses this change of climate once in millennia to leave and prosper outside of its claustrophobic center.

The main characters are the Earthian son of an astronomer, a bunch of relatives and technicians around him and a beautiful girl leaving next to him, who in reality is an agent of the alien planet, sent to make sure the terraforming of the planets happens without those barbarian Earthians plotting something to prevent it.

At its core, the story is post-apocalyptic, as all of Leiji’s stories. It even makes several allusions to the theories about the end of the world at the turn of the millennia (where nothing happened by the way). The planet slowly approaches Earth, causes natural disasters and the world population is sinking deeper and deeper into anarchy and madness. There are those who try to evacuate the planet and saving only the ones considered to be the elite. The alien civilization wants nothing to do with Earth people and its agent is slowly caring about them. It is quite interesting to have many parties, none of which are really good or evil. Everyone just wants to live and doesn’t think much to betray or leave others to die if this will save his ass. The main theme of the series is survival versus morality; which is presented quite nice for the most part.

Still, the story suffers from many aesthetic problems that prevent it from being really good. It is way too slow (40+ episodes) when the same events could be told in no more than a normal 26 episode series. The first part is actually quite uneventful and you could mistake it for a slice-of-life anime at times. The heavy sci-fi and moral conflicts happen much later in the story so you think that half the series is dead time. Some may say this was to give time to bind with the characters but I disagree, as they weren’t really special.

Even the conclusion is actually not that realistic as Leiji opted for a bittersweet ending that looks quite ridiculous and childish by today’s standards.

Anyway, after you watch the series, the dead time seems unimportant as the general story is quite good and revolves around human drama and not huge robots or superpower teenagers.

CHARACTER SECTION: 6/10
Well, seen one, seen them all. The cast in all Leiji’s works looks almost identical to the point of thinking he is just making clones of them. The lead teenage boy is the average silly yet kind-hearted ideal Japanese, the lead girl is the epitome of grace and caring, the old man is an ugly-drawn drunkard midget. Their personalities are not really developing but they are colorful for their time; despite looking quite typical by today. Still, if you happen to have watched Captain Harlock, you clearly see they miss that grim, dark side that makes them more than just average plot elements. They act quite 2-dimentional most of the time and frankly, the lead girl does all the work and all the rest just fool around. Also, having an identical evil twin sister in the story that must fight one-to-one ruins all the seriousness the cast tried so far to maintain. By the end of the series, the characters feel far less memorable than the story itself, as only two characters are moving the strings and the rest just follow.

VALUE & ENJOYMENT SECTIONS: 4/10
Down to it, the main idea of the story is the best thing in this series. All the plot elements are better presented in many other series and the cast is nothing more than archetypes. Retro freaks will like it a lot more than I did, as I am not fond of such grim stories with an almost fairy tale ending.

SUGGESTION LIST
Captain Harlock
Spaceship Yamato
Rahxephon