AKA: グリーンレジェンド乱

Genre: Post-apocalyptic action adventure

Length: OAV series, 3 episodes, 45 minutes each

Distributor: Currently licensed by Sentai Filmworks.

Content Rating: 13+ (violence, implied torture)

Related Series: N/A

Also Recommended: Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind

Notes:

Rating:

Green Legend Ran

Synopsis

The future is now, and it has transformed the earth to a barren, dry land. Ran is a boy looking for revenge against the anti-Rodoist group, Hazzard. It is during this quest he meets Aira, a mysterious silver-haired girl who may have something to do with the mysterious, alien beings referred to as the Rodo. Together they seek out "holy green" to find the answer to what the future for the earth holds.

Review

This title actually has several things going for it. Sure, it's a post-apocalyptic series, where the earth has been turned into a deserty wasteland. Ho hum. Big deal. Pass "Go", collect your two hundred dollars and move on. There's nothing more to see.

Well, actually, it is. You see, for starters, it's not really clear WHY the world turned to dust (almost literally) like it did. Was it the humans? The alien Rodo? Or was it something else. The series dances lightly in the outskirts of the issue in the beginning. Although it IS nice that for once, there's no fingerpointing at humans and their selfishness.

The art and animation is a study in weirdness. The settings is actually pretty damn good, details and all. And in sharp contrast to that, we have the characters and the way they're animated. Actually, the animation isn't half bad, but the characters are somewhat simple in design. It might be a sacrifice the creators made to have the animation running smoothly, but you have to wonder anyway.

The dubbing on this isn't half bad either. It's Pioneer (or is it Geneon now?), so it is to be expected, I guess. I can't say I remember too much of the music in this one. Which means that it was okay, perhaps even decent, but not really remarkable. I'm not really holding it against the series in either case, so ...

As for the plot and characterization, I'm fairly impressed with it. The main character -- well, the male one, anyway -- is perhaps a bit too typical in his brash, recklessness and his characteristics is seen in a lot of action features of this type. He's a lot like Hibiki in Vandread, I suppose. Aira, your mysterious silver-haired girl, however, is an interesting character. She is the one who practically fills us in as the story progresses, be that through her dreams or her visions. The rest of the game is, if perhaps your typical gang of roughnecks, a decent bunch.

This series is of the type that slowly reveals the main arc as it goes along, which is just the way I like it. It reels out just as much as it needs to keep your interest going and keeps enough of it back so as not to stagnate completely. And while the ending might be a mite predictable, it did put a twist on it that I didn't see coming. I won't spoil it for you, but it puts a certain issue in an interesting light, that's for sure.

So, do I recommend this? Well, sure. As long as you're not tired of your typical-but-not-so-typical post-apocalyptic adventure stories, this one has enough mystery and plot to keep things interesting and relatively straightforward. I.E. It doesn't end up as a big, metaphorical minefield that leaves more questions than it answers. And I applaud it for that.

It's a tentative four stars, but I think the small differences in this one from the usual title make it deserve this rating. — Stig Høgset

Recommended Audience: Teens, I'd say. A lot of people are killed during the movie. Not in explicit and gory detail, but violent enough to raise some eye. Also, there are showings of torture, or aftermath of torture. On another note, there is little to no fanservice here, and if there were any nudity, I sure as hell don't remember it.