Rating:
2.66
Approval:
79.4% (21 votes)
(Writers note: If you read this review, RATE this review. Authors thrive on feedback, whether it be a simple happy face, or an in-depth critique.)
The last 4 episodes of Madlax are funnier than most anime comedies. Madlax is an absolutely splendid parody of slow moving action/fantasy/dramas, in the same vein as The Golden Child (Asian kid with magical powers, flying dragons, mythical demons, and Eddie Murphy seeing this ridiculous world through the most cynical eyes.), and The Princess Bride. There’s one problem, however; Madlax was never intended to be a parody. The only enjoyment to be found in Madlax is the kind you bring with you. I enjoyed Madlax in the same way I enjoyed such films as Armageddon, Godzilla, and Troy; by ridiculing them mercilessly.
The animation in Madlax is some of the best I have seen in a TV series. Characters are drawn beautifully and move fluidly through exquisitely rendered environments. From the claustrophobia of a thick Asian jungle, to the bustling madness of a big city, Madlax is filled with beautifully rendered and realized animation. Unfortunately, all of this beauty is marred by an overuse of repeated frames, unnecessary flashbacks, and long, boring panning shots of still frames. These flaws crop up occasionally in the early episodes, becoming more prevalent in the third act.
The music to Madlax is gorgeous. From beautiful operatic singing over a pumping soundtrack, to a quiet humming over a church chorus, the music in Madlax is wonderful to hear. The sound effects could use some work, with unnecessary “swishing” sounds whenever a gun or knife is drawn, which happens quite often. It’s unfortunate that the sound effects artists for Madlax decided to use such a cheesy horror movie cliché in an action/drama. Every time a gun appears on screen, whether it is holstered, drawn, or pointed at something, an annoying gun-cocking sound is heard.
As wonderful as the music is, the music in Madlax suffers from poor editing. The wrong music plays at the wrong times, detracting from moments it was supposed to enhance. One song in particularly I found completely out of place occurred whenever “magic” took place. An annoyingly loud male chorus, with the singers’ voices spiking randomly, resulting in a cacophony of annoying sounds. “Magic” occurs in Madlax only during pivotal scenes, which the annoying music all but ruins. It is unfortunate that such lovely music ended up detracting much more from the viewing experience than it added.
The problems I had with the plot and story of Madlax are far too numerous for me to mention them all without writing another review like the one I wrote for RahXephon. I doubt anyone wants to read 13 pages on how bad Madlax’s story is, so I will summarize.
Madlax’s premise sinks the series the moment we are made aware of it. Assuming the creators have seen the Monty Python sketch “The Funniest Joke In The World”, they should have already been aware that the idea of “dangerous words” is absolutely ridiculous, and impossible to take seriously. Unfortunately, Madlax plays out joylessly, with absolute seriousness; the series’ most fatal flaw. With such an outlandish premise, the audience needs a character, preferable a main character, who sees the story for the mess it is, and reacts to it as the audience does, with incredulousness and cynicism. We need an Eddie Murphy character, who can view these crazy contrivances and respond with, “…Get the fuck out of here!” Or better yet, a character like Jay in Dogma, “What the fuck is this, The Piano? Why ain’t this bitch talking? What the fuck happened to that guy’s head!?”
To better illustrate, imagine Space Balls played absolutely straight. Imagine Mel Brooks’s Yogurt speaking each line as if it was a dire warning, meant to be taken literally and seriously. Now imagine Barf (John Candy), or Pizza The Hut saying their lines in the same way, with muted voices, as if each line should bring tears to your eyes, instead of making you laugh. That is the tone that Madlax has. The characters go through these impossibly ridiculous situations and contrivances, yet never bother to question any of it. With the mindlessly slow pacing of the series, both the audience and the characters are given ample time to reflect on Madlax’s ridiculousness, but only the audience will be making good use of their time.
Madlax has many other problems as well. The gun fighting in Madlax is as cliché as it comes. In the Madlax Universe, it is safer to be surrounded by 20 tanks and 300 soldiers than it is to face one of the main characters. It does not matter if that character has any fighting prowess or not. When the plot says that it’s time for this person to get hurt, or it’s time for this person to die, their fighting abilities drop to zero, with no reason, explanation, or logic behind it.
In lesser anime, in an attempt to lengthen the series to it’s predetermined running time, the director will allow certain scenes to run on longer than is necessary in order to fill up the allotted time. For instance, a panning shot of a still frame of someone’s face that lasts twice as long as it needed to get the intended effect. This is referred to as “padding” a series. In worse anime, flashbacks are used not only at the start, but also in the middle of the series, for no other reason than to help fill up the allotted time. Another ploy is the filler episode. An episode in which characters do not change, the plot does not advance, and nothing much happens in general. Madlax employs copious amounts of all three, creating a mind-numbingly slow and monotonous 26 episode series from what could have been a thrilling two hour movie, or four episode OVA. The first and second act nearly dropped me into a coma, they were so slow.
The characters are yet another fatal flaw in the series. If the director were to replace each character with a cardboard box, most audience members wouldn’t notice. Yes, they are that bland. Margaret Barton takes “blank slate” to a whole new level, with her actions and surroundings having zero impact on her state of mind. Her personality is so arbitrary, that it is impossible to be surprised by anything she does. Give a hundred thousand dollars to a homeless man? Ok. Murder 20 pregnant women? Yeah, why not?
Another main character, Madlax, is a super-assassin, working freelance in the middle of a civil war. She is almost as bland as Margaret, expressing the entire emotional spectrum, from happy, to not so happy, to I’m-not-very-happy.
The Curse of the Talking Hero and the Curse of the Talking Villain are very much alive in Madlax. I counted at least a dozen instances where the story could have wrapped up if only the characters had taken one simple logical action: Pull the trigger. It is so bad, that the villain could literally walk up to Madlax, state plainly, “I am the villain. I will destroy the world and everything you care for just because I can.” And she still wouldn’t shoot him. In reality, people learn from their mistakes. In Madlax, the same mistakes are repeated again and again and again.
I didn’t kill the villain before, so he killed someone precious to me. I have him in my sights again… should I shoot him? Not yet. First I’m going to tell him how mad I am at him for killing that person I liked. Oh crap! He killed another friend of mine while I was standing here chatting and got away! I won’t fall for it a third time, no way!
Hey, there he is again! What should I do? I know! I’ll shoot him dead like I should have done the last two times… but I’ll wait till he’s done talking first. Oh no! His friend saved him and killed yet ANOTHER person I liked!
Now I’m really peeved! If I ever see him again, I’ll make sure to give him a thorough talking to while pointing my gun at him menacingly. Lets just hope his friend doesn’t help again…
To sum up, Madlax is a cliché filled mess, with a preposterous premise that sinks the mystery of the first two acts. The third act is sunk when characters’ IQs skyrocket and plummet at the whim of the plot. Luckily, great fun can be derived from Madlax simply by making fun of it as you watch. The final episodes left me howling with laughter, as one ridiculous contrivance after another rose to the surface, to be accepted blandly by a “blandest of the bland” cast of characters. I had fun watching it. However, emotionally speaking, Madlax achieves the opposite of it’s objective. The Anime Database describes an anime with a 2 rating as being “Worthless”. Madlax is an inspired parody, especially in its third act. However, as far as action/drama/fantasy goes, it is worthless.
