Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom

[MeMyself]

The story starts off with a young man waking up in a strange room. He does not know who he is, where he came from or how he got to where he is. Suddenly there is a young girl trying to kill him. The girl’s name is Ein, aka Phantom, the most ruthless and deadly assassin around. This attack turns out to be a test to see if the boy, soon to be renamed Zwei, has what it takes to become an assassin for the crime gang known as Inferno. If he doesn’t he dies.

Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom is a series from 2009. It is a remake of the 2004 anime film Phantom, which I reviewed once before in these forums. Only here, with a two season series, it goes into more detail and continues on into the future.

The story continues as Zwei becomes Ein’s apprentice, but the student is soon about to bypass the teacher. Not surprisingly, the criminals of Inferno cannot be trusted. There are twists and turns, betrayals and schemes, with Zwei and Ein being caught in the middle. Eventually, everything goes full cycle for Zwei as the tragic events spin out of his control.

I watched the first season of this series on Netflix streaming. I will soon start season two. So if you have anything to say, please no spoilers. This is a dark and gripping story, and I am eager to watch the second half. More to come after I finish the series.

Warning: Contains bloody violence, nudity and sexual situations. Not for the kiddies!

[Steathassasn]

i rember when it was a interactive DVD. Then i rember the OVA. both were good but nothing beats the iDVD verson. if you mess up ..u die. XD

but its a good story no matter how they hash it. enjoy the series

[MeMyself]

I'm not so sure you could call the movie version an OVA. My understanding is an OVA is a 45-90 minute capsulized version of the series. In the case of Phantom, the movie came first by about 5 years. The series is a remake that goes on past the point where the movie ends.

[cool2burn]

I found both to be very good

[Steathassasn]

i actually had both the Idvd ( Phantom of Inferno ) and the 3 episode ova Phantom: The Animation ( i was excited to get it when it came out but i had to get rid of it ) so whats out now is actually a rehash of the Game's storyline ( which is Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom ) which im glad they made it longer...( i wish they would do like 5 seasons there's too much you can do with this series)

( info provided by Wikipedia : Phantom of Inferno )
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantom..._The_Animation

[MeMyself]

I am through episode 7 of the second season. Wow! Every episode has a twist and ends with a cliffhanger. I hope to finish this weekend. My final analysis then.

[MeMyself]

I just finished off the series. In part 2, Zwei after regaining his memories reverts to his real name - Reiji. While investigating a gangland killing, he finds a young girl named Cal. Taking her in, Zwei/Reiji begins to train Cal to be a killer. He feels remorse about his life and guilt exposing Cal to the violence, but it is the only way he knows to save her life. Meanwhile, there are a series of crosses and double-crosses in the works, and Zwei/Reiji is a pawn in the middle of all of them.

I can’t tell you anymore without spoilers. Every aspect of the story is a spoiler with plot twists in almost every episode. This is a series which keeps one guessing up until the very end. When you finish one episode, you can’t wait until you get to the next.

The only weak plot point is

Spoiler:

when Zwei/Reiji and Ein/Eren escape to Japan after a two year period and pass themselves off as high school students. It is as if they don’t age all the time they are with Inferno. Meanwhile, in two years Cal grows from a girl of about 13 to a young woman of 18-20. Also, Eren passes as Reiji's kid sister, but he is Japanese and we find out at the end she is from Mongolia. Do Japanese and Mongolians look alike? But it is easy to overlook this.

If anyone wants to discuss the series in more detail, I am going to start a spoiler thread.