StoryFirst, I want to point out that this OVA has nothing to do with the
Suikoden games. As someone who wanted to watch this specifically for
that reason (to see if there was any relation), I'd recommend you keep
that in mind when reading this review, and when deciding if you'll
watch this. The Suikoden legend is based on a Chinese story that was
ported over to Japanese beliefs as well, which deals with the 108 stars
and such. If there is a direct corollation between this anime and the
games, please let me know. Otherwise, unless I'm missing something
huge, there are no related characters and nothing related of the sort
to the games.
Suikoden's actual plot is very convoluted and uninteresting, and
becomes downright weird at the end. It takes place in a post
apocalyptic looking place (as it has been leveled by an earthquake and
all) overrun by thugs and gangs, and there is no law that can overcome
them. Enter Takateru, a man who is looking desperately for his young
sister who has been missing for some time. He comes to discover the
worst gang of them all has kidnapped her, and thus, the story
begins...
Suikoden is nothing more than a hack n' slash violence fest, that isn't
that violent in most parts, and isn't much more as far as depth. We see
lots of explosions, punches, and fights (with crazy characters
sometimes), but it never amounts to anything else, making it a very
boring thing to watch. See Takateru. See Takateru beat up gang. End.
Then, however, the OVA decided to get weird and throw in some demon
related stuff in approximately 1-3 minutes of footage near the end.
This not only made no sense, but also threw in a "wtf" element to a
normally straightforward type plot (beat up bad guys). I keep wondering
WHY they felt they needed to insert that. Was it because they knew it
was already a substandard plot? If so, sorry guys, you managed to mess
it up even more. AnimationThe animation of Suikoden is quite varied. Occasionally, there are redeemable parts such as interesting scenery (such as the ruined city and broken down buildings), and the violence was pretty funny, though not necessarily in a good way. The rest of the animation was fairly crude and simple, with jerky and stiff movements and a dark boring palette of colors. The character designs were fairly uninteresting, and comical looking at times due to strange proportions. SoundThe audio was very cheesy and 80s sounding, with saxaphone pieces and generally poppy tunes. It fit, that's for sure, but it was also very uninspiring. I have nothing special to say about the voice acting, or anything else related to the music. Slightly above average, but nothing special. CharactersThough an interesting cast of characters (such as the fighting transvestite and the priest who was once a colonel), they lacked depth and background. We know little to nothing about Takateru except that he knows how to kick ass and wants to save his sister. We see his sister occasionally, she's feisty but otherwise useless. The transvestite was probably my favorite, and the yakuza nun. In general though, this was a fighting/action OVA, not a plot-heavy beast, and thus, there wasn't much to the characters, or any development, really.
There also are some weird characters that roll around near the end during the demon stuff, but they are fairly useless as well. OverallOverall, Suikoden was terribly average on just about every level. Fans of the games who are hoping to find something in this OVA will be sorely disappointed, as it isn't related. Fans of action or fighting will still be disappointed, since it didn't excel at either of these, as well. From the boring characters to the average animation, to the plot that seems concocted from a Mad Libs exercise, there's not much redeeming about Suikoden that pushes the bar higher than a 5. Watch it if you ... well, I can't think of a good reason to watch this, but hey, maybe you want to see rare things?
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