Karas: The Ending At Last

I have just recently watched the 2nd half of Karas. And all I can say is, wow! I loved the animation so much! I have been waiting to finish this anime ever since I saw its first half. A friend of mine recently lent it to me. He had the 2nd half of the story, while I had the first. I didn't know he only had the 2nd half though. (note to self: tell him when he contacts me.)

"Karas" means "The Raven" so in the movie, you'll see a lot of ravens. It was released as a pay-per-view movie by Tatsunoku Production for its 40th anniversary of anime production. It has six parts all in all and was compiled by Manga Entertainment for English fans. This is their box cover:



This was released as a 2-part DVD collection.

For me, Karas talks about humanity and cultural differences between modern and past. People against other people. Idealism against responsibility and justice. And most importantly, it talks about purpose. That every creature always has a purpose, and if you extinguish the other, the balance would be lost. I loved the idea behind the story, however, you won't understand it very much unless you're not so caught up with the animation. You really have to focus on the story itself to comprehend the significance and meaning.

As for the animation, i was very impressed. The 3D went very well with the 2D animation. The blend of both 2D and 3D animation was meticulously made so that each scene can have the proper feel to it. For example, a busy street, people talking, and other normal, not so action-packed scenes are done in 2D form, while action-packed scenes, especially the Karas are in 3D form. I also love the blend of 2D and 3d together like in a scene where a Karas (3d) is standing and the background is in 2D. The way they blended the two forms of animation together was excellent since they managed to pull the viewer's eyes to focus only on the the needed character/s and at the same time blend the background so that it doesn't look so 2D, just like these:



On the first picture, the eyes are involuntarily diverted to the city itself, and not to the people (2D) who are walking along the way. The second picture's style is a contrast to the first. We will notice that our eyes focus directly on the character and not on the background which blended quite well with the foreground.

This anime is a must-see for all anime enthusiasts who love action-packed OVAs, which talk about morality, differences on beliefs, subjectivity of good and evil, and of course, those who love to watch animes with a kick-ass animation!