Anime: Shin Angyou Onshi

Animation:
When the central character calls upon his army of ghosts, CGI graphics are used to their fullest. Close-ups of characters show emotion and expression clearly, varying settings including deserts, mountains, forests and village are very well detailed. The fighting sequences are by far the most beautiful display of animation within the film.

Sound:
Nothing particularly noticeable, music seems to accompany the movie well par a depressing love-song which seems to come in after the first third of the film.

Story:
The protagonist is a warrior named Moonse who is saved in the desert by a young man aspiring for his status of 'Amen Osa'(powerful warrior, protectors of the poor), wanting to rescue his fiance who was taken from him by a tyrannical, feudal king. The first 3rd of the film focus' on this mission, then by coincidence once again, the remainder of the film investigates a town whose villagers may be friendly but hiding a dark and powerful secret.

Character:
The central character is is an unlikely protagonist whose behaviour and choices are a little erratic and somewhat unpredictable, he talks little and does not interact with other characters throughout much of the film, therefore making it difficult for the viewer to know much about him. There are few other characters with central roles, they too are not explored enough for you to really, in all honesty feel any empathy.

Value & Enjoyment:
The film is at it's best during action sequences therefore I would recommend only to those who enjoy action movies. The central character reminded me somewhat of Spike (Cowboy Bebop) if that helps. I personally can't even remember half of what I just watched, it was bearable but lacked depth or real imagination.
Due to the fact that the characters were not developed well at all, I cared little for who died or not so it was literally just continueing the viewing for sake of finding out the mystery of the village. It's a shame though as the first third of the film I found the most convincing and had the best action scene in it.

In conclusion, good animation, good background noise. & little else.

Once upon a time, in an eastern country called Jushin, there were secret agents called the "Angyou Onshi." They were the police and the army of the kings and provided peace and protection. But then, the world became chaotic and Jushin was destroyed. There is, however, still one forlorn Angyou Onshi wandering in this world. This is his story.


The animation in Shin Angyo Onshi is on a very high level and makes extensive use of 3D cgi. It however blends in very well with the 2D animation and is generally on a very high level. Especially the scenes where the ghost army is conjoured are easily on par with Wonderfull Days. The backgrounds are usually very detailed (an exception being the scenes in the desert, where an uniform yellow is used for the sky) and often look like they were watercoloured. The fighting animations are neat as well and there's quite some action overall.
The character design is pretty good and uses a more realistic approach than your run-off the mill ergogame anime. Especially the hair has much more details than usual. Like in many other animated movies, there is, in contrast to series, no opening or ending animation.


The music that was used in Shin Angyo Onshi is mostly upbeat instrumental and only used during fight scenes to add more suspension. However, there's an insert and an ending song, both performed by BOA. The ending is sung in Korean, which is not surprising, seeing that many characters in the movie have Korean names as well, so it seems to be set in an alternate historical Korea. For example, the Japanese expression "Anygou Onshi" is called "Amen Osa" in Korean, which consequently is the expression used in the movie. I found the voice acting pretty solid and all voices fitting to their corresponding characters.


The overall plot is rather shallow in the beginning but gains some momentum in the second half of the movie. There is however no character development, and so the actions of the protagonist often seem to end in themselves. However, this is a movie and not a full series, so I kinda expected something like that. The fact that is is an action movie doesn't help the story either.
The main character is quite the badass and seems to enjoy killing random people. However, he's not out-and-out bad, which makes his charcater not authentic. A more stringent approach probably would've allowed me to idenitify with him more (or hate him more, which would've been okay with me as well).
What the motiavtions of Moonse are is pretty much left in the dark as well. He seems to have a much greater knowledge of the situation than the other characters (and the viewer), but how he got this knowledge or abilities is never explained properly.


While there is quite a cast for a 90 minute movie, the main focus is definitely on Moonse and the side characters don't get that much screentime other than in the fights. I however wonder why they put the Nessakoumori (a kind of bat) in this movie. It is exclusively drawn in SD style with red cheeks, huge eyes and such and therefore heavily deviates from the rest of the character designs. It's also only there for comic relief, while the overall story is definitely not meant to be funny.
However, in my opinion, the biggest flaw of the movie is the lack of a good villain. The protagonist himself said that he doesn't care who the adversary is or which motives he has. Random people with superpowers however don't make for good enemies. The powers aren't even explained properly, he just seems to pull out the needed tricks to survive the attacks of Moonse out of his sleeves.


To sum it up, I'd say this is an acceptable action movie. It's nothing special and has not the highest rewatch value, but at least it has some neat eyecandy and some good fights. It often reminded me of Wonderfull Days, which suffers from the same symptoms: An absurd story combined with very nice visuals. Too bad, as the overall premise would've allowed for a better plot.


This movie features excessive violence and you'll see more than one closeup of persons being decapitated, ripped in half or shot in the head. Definitely nothing for children. Recommended for ages of 16 and up.

Summary: Although beautifully animated, Shin Angyo Onshi lacks a continuous plot and suffers from some terrible characters. Thus, I would have to give this movie a 3/10.

Version: [Bakakozou-Saizen]_Shin_Angyou_Onshi_[DVD]_[AC381DF3]

Animation: This is Shin Angyo Onshi's strong point. This movie is beautifully animated, with some marvelous CG interspersed through the movie. Scenes are colorfully drawn and established the mood rather well. Animation is fluid, with no repetition at all. Character design is standard, nothing that stands out as awesome or terrible. I can’t say I approve of Tyun Hyan’s cloths though, sort of on the under equipped side for a melee warrior.

Sound: The voices of the characters were typical movie fare, nothing good or bad. The music matched the movie well, but nothing spectacular. I am not motivated at all to run out and buy this soundtrack.

Story: This is one of the pitfalls of the movie. The plot isn’t defined anywhere in the film. One moment the main character is wandering lost in a desert, the next he is assaulting a feudal lord, and finally he’s on an island. No good reasons were ever given, and only at the very end do we discover that he is traveling to kill a certain person. The story is horrible; the writer should be dragged out and beaten with a 10 foot ugly stick.

Characters: There is no character development. The only thing we learn about the main character is that he is an asshole who can summon a legion of ghosts by waving a medallion of horses. Not an understandable, interesting asshole like Gutz from Berserk, but an asshole who gets his kicks from yelling at his savior for not following his exact orders. We don’t find out anything from either characters’ past, and we don’t know why they do what they do. Like Tyun Hyan, why does she follow him around? Why does she apologize when she saved his life?

Value: There is simply no reason to rewatch this movie. The characters aren’t moving, the storyline is missing, and the animation can only hold you for one viewing.

Enjoyment: After shutting off my brain, I guess I did enjoy watching skimpily dressed girls fight. But would I ever pay money to buy this when it comes over to the US? Nope.