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X - The Movie




  • 005 4  What can I say the cover art of the DVD sucked me in and I bought it . Well I was expecting a lot from the story line , because of the outside cover , but you should not judge anything by what is on the outside . What was inside was definitely far different from what I perceived it to possibly have in it . The plot line was disjointed , but very intriguing , though the messiah image is a bit cliqued , even though it works superbly into this movie . The messiah plot did have some of its own quirks in this movie that are fairly original . The whole mood and tone of the movie was oppressing and brooding , the animation surely made a proper set-up for the end of the world . The characters were excellent , the ones that actually spoke and did not die randomly , especially Fuuma and Kamui . The visuals were remarkable , definitely better than most animation out there . The ending was kind of drawn out with a quick conclusion , and a time of mourning . This is one of the most depressing animes I have seen , even more so than Akira , or the finale of Cowboy Bebop . Well cheer for the Dragon of Heaven , but weep for the Dragon of Earth and watch something funny after this movie , because it really is depressing . One complaint , like recent movies , notably Blood , this movie is too short what is the deal extend the movie so we can see some more character development . Recommended watch for those who aren't afraid of crying and don't mind a couple decapitations here and there .
    • 025 4  I wanted to like this movie . Beautiful animation and action sequences , but it made absolutely no sense . as someone else said in another review , there was very little story or character development and gratuitous nudity . I felt like I was watching a soft porn disguised as art . It left me scratching my head in some confusion .
    • 051 4  I used to own the Unflipped Manga , and recently replaced my copies . Rereading it inspired me to buy the movie . I knew it would not compare with the beautiful art by the CLAMP artists but the movie was horrible . The sense of plot you can get by reading the Manga was destroyed harshly , though the frame work of the idea is still there vital details are missing and so it misleads you about the entire goal . There is utterly no character development and its a dispassionant episode that is hastily thrown together . The art is still beautiful , but that is all . The imbalance causes collossal dissatisfaction .
    • 087 4  I saw the Japanese version with the English subtitles and I thought it was excellent . The only problem I had with it was its darkness . Sometimes it was hard to tell what was going on , but what you could see was awesome graphics and excellent fight scenes . The storyline was a little confusing , but in the end , the movie pieced together very well . I love this movie !
    • 095 4  Really this movie is excellent it has excellent animation and a magnificent plot that will keep you listening to every dialog on the film , i rally recommend this movie to all the anime fans
    • 108 4  No matter what anyone tells you , this is one of the best anime's you will ever see . Not a great ending , but all in all it is great , good animation , good music , good storyline . I have seen many anime films , and this is one of my favorites .
    • 126 4  Let me be honest , I have watched this movie several times , and I think I finally get it , but it makes almost no sense . Good movie though , and seeing it made me watch many times , I guess I should rank it higher , but I was so lost after the first viewing I really can't .
    • 131 4  Lets see they repeate the plot 300 times . As if you dident get it the first time . Film ends after plot that isent there repeated 300 times
    • 145 4  I will not do this film the honor of writing it a review .

  • 013 4  Well , I've been a huge fan of X for quite some time . I've read up to vol 17 of the manga , seen up to episode 15 of the TV series , seen the OVA and I have so many collectables you could consider it an unhealthy obsession . I have the trading cards , tarot cards , calenders , wall scrolls , posters , artbooks , ( including the beautiful X Zero ) and CDs ( soundtracks and drama CDs ) . Anyway , when this movie premiered in Japan I was actually lucky enough to be in Japan at the the time ( what a coincidence ) well . . I considered myself lucky at the time . . . anyway , all I can say is that to anyone who knows nothing of X , I can CLEARLY see where this would be a confusing movie . People die before you even know their names ! ( Wait . . who's that ? Oh never mind . . . he's dead ! ) And that's not a joke . And the ending was . . . horrible ( Is it just me . . or was the image of Kamui holding Fuuma's head a little less than touching ? ) X is an amazing series , please don't judge by this movie , read the manga ( though I am not partial to the english translations ) and watch the TV series ( soon available in US ) because this series deserves a second chance . . trust me . The movie is really bad , and confusing if you aren't familiar with X . X has an amazing plotline , every character has an intricatly woven plot that will addict you in no time ( try watching 15 episodes in one day . . that'll teach you the meaning of an all nighter ) more people should be exposed to this amazing manga and anime , I beg of you , don't judge by this . . . The problem is , they wrote and ending while the series was still in production . . . so the ending was just sort of rushed . . ( Hey Apapa-san . . . how are we going to end this . . ? Oh . . good question , oh we'll just kill everyone off , people will come to see it ! It's ' X ' after all ! )
    • 008 4  When I heard about this movie I had to buy it , I'm an avid X manga fan and I love clamps work . The way the weave stories and plots with dramatic twists . But when I saw this I couldn't help but to compare it to the manga with which I love . That was my first mistake . This is a movie which tries to condense a series of graphic novels into 100 minutes or less . It leaves out characterization for action and gore , alters the story from the original too . I went in expecting an animated version of the manga , what I got was good , but not what it could have been . I've heard that theirs work on a tv series based on X , maybe this time they'll stay with the story and not change it for time constraints . Oh , and the ending in the movie is different then that of the manga , the movie was made before the manga even had an ending written . If your a fan of the manga and just want to see your favorite characters animated then watch this , but if your expecting something as great as the manga you'll be sorely disappointed . Don't get me wrong , this movie ranks up their with Ghost in the Shell and Akira , and even Vampire hunter D , but that's if it's viewed as a seperate entity then the manga . So enjoy , but as with most books turned into movies it could have been better .
    • 057 4  I don't see why people dont like it . The art is amazing ! But the story line sucks . . . Im a HUGE fan of X / 1999 and I liked the movie . But compared to the books it has no chance . It's not possible to fit the story into 90 mins when it has over 18 manga ! Any way the story is different but the arts good and if your a fan of X / 1999 , you should at least see it .
    • 074 4  The animation in this movie is of great quality . Which makes it really sad that the movie is just plain bad . The makers of this movie just expect you to know too much stuff in advance in order to understand what is going on . Stuff happens and you have no idea , no clue , no anything . Now I don't like my movies to be explained to me in full painful detail , I'm not an idiot , I like figuring things out for myself , but this movie has huge plot holes . The plot is like an abbreviated version of the comic's , and that's too much material to cram into a movie . The same thing happened with Akira , only Akira is actually a great movie . Both the comic and the movie Akira work independent from one another . X , on the other hand is not so lucky . If you've read the comic you'll have a clue as to what's happening but otherwise , I wouldn't recommend it . Don't waste your time watching another bad movie . Read a book , it wouldn't hurt .
    • 094 4  Oh yes ! If you loved Akira , yer gonna go nuts for X . However , if you've seen the manga you might be a little dissapointed with it , but the animation in this film has no equal here on in Japan . I will say this . Buy it ! Its definetly worth it . And if you were one of the few lucky people to actually see it in theaters , I envy you . Maybe I'll be a little more lucky when Manga Enteretainment brings End of Evangelion to theaters .
    • 116 4  X was an amazing anime with a bit of gothic-like darkness about it . It has very good fight scenes and an interesting plot . In some places , it's like a huge nightmare , but it has a pretty good storyline and the dark tone to it makes it different than other anime . I loved this movie , I own the dubbed version , but I wouldn't recomend it to younger viewers . A must see for anime fans .
    • 122 4  Let's first place this in context - - X is actually a considerably detailed story . . . at least in the written form ( the manga ) . Transitioning it to a movie though , leaves too little time . There's a slew of characters , most of which simply aren't developed at all due to time constraints . Mind you , we do have beautiful art and good music , and the underlying story is a good one . But this anime , like many , fails in the budget department . It would have been better released as a long OVA series . Instead , we're left with 5 - star potential , 4 - star production quality , and a 2 - star transition to the screen . A pretty movie , worth watching , but in the long run disappointing for what it could have been , given ( considerably ) more running time .

  • 026 4  I am a manga reader so when I found out ( at volume 15 of the manga ) that X had been made into an anime I waited patiently for what I thought was a series , instead they made a movie . I was skeptical , the manga itself is massive but this blew me away . Its hard to review it and not give any spoilers , its so compact , but I cried when I finished this . Okay so half the characters are missing and the story is condensed , but like a can of Campbells soup , it only works for the better . You could not watch this film once , there's too much information , you have to buy it and watch it again and again and again , and you'll want to . When Arashi pushes the sword from her own hand is one of the most beautiful scenes in anime . Although the artists are responsible for Card captor Sakura , this one's definitely not for kids .
    • 065 4  Okay , so we have the dragons of earth and the dragons of heaven all in this apocaliptic battle that will determine the future of the earth , no problem . There is a young boy with an amazing power and he must fight his twin star which just so happens to be his best friend , okay . This is where the problem comes in we have such a lack of charecter depth . If you do not go to the special features and read the backgrounds then you will be at total lost . The story could have expanded on more of the charecter's background such as the main charecter's relationship with his mother , or the connection between the two best friends could have been explained more . I've heard that there is a series based of the movie so maybe that will help explain a lot of holes . Overall great fight scenes with a downer ending .
    • 066 4  Okay , so we have the dragons of earth and the dragons of heaven all in this apocaliptic battle that will determine the future of the earth , no problem . There is a young boy with an amazing power and he must fight his twin star which just so happens to be his best friend , okay . This is where the problem comes in we have such a lack of charecter depth . If you do not go to the special features and read the backgrounds then you will be at total lost . The story could have expanded on more of the charecter's background such as the main charecter's relationship with his mother , or the connection between the two best friends could have been explained more . Overall great fight scenes with a downer ending .
    • 088 4  Very stylish but unfortunately the American dubbing and the compression of the plot didn't do justice to this wonderful manga . It's definetely worth watching if you've read the manga but if you haven't the plot tends to leave the viewer floundering .
    • 093 4  This movie is just great . . . it's moves ur feelingz and emotionz . . . and you'll cry too ! I don't wanna tell ya about the story line or the end . . . cuz you gotta see it by your self . . the ending is something ya may not expect at all ! This movie is a must . . . you won't regret buyin ' it at all !
    • 103 4  Wonderful artwork but if you're not paying very close attention , you will get completely lost in the storyline . This anime makes your brain work very hard as you try to figure out what is going on most of the time . Much of it is in a dream sequence and you'll be relieved once the dream is over so that things wont be so confusing . The main characters are Kamui and Fuuma . I've only read a few of the mangas but it appears they are a yaoi couple . I've seen several pictures online where they are clearly homosexuals but I'm not sure if those are official pictures . If they are a couple it sadly was not portrayed in this movie . They are dubbed as being just friends .
    • 119 4  Maybe if i had sceen the series i would like this movie . . however not seeing it i woul dgove it no stars but alas the lowest i can go is 1 . fault one . Pointless unresolved , No plot . . . . Reason there is none at all . Fault 2 violence ( I like my actionsequenses ) in this movie they are just flasbacks and images of blood n stuff with no explanation . . . . Fault 3 . Animation isn't that Great . I bought this movie so you dont have to . . . blease dont buy or waste time watching ( at least see the whole series first . uggg 2 years later it still leaves a bad taste in my mouth . taste like rotten egg
    • 123 4  this movie story and plot were thin and had bad dubbing

  • 030 4  Ok , first off , if you really enjoyed the manga comic of this , you are really going to be dissapointed in this movie . First off , my favorite character , Kakyo , has been replaced with this pony-tail guy named Shugo who controls water . It was hard for Rintaro to direct a movie based on a Manga that hadn't ended yet at the time . But you have to realize that this is the way Rintaro works ( just look at Galaxy Express 999 ) . However , he does do a fare job of making the movie . I would of liked to see just one of the dragons of the heaven actually win a battle without commiting suicide . The battles were still terrific and the animation is as beautiful as that of the manga . The dubbing was a little off a times ( too noisy ) . The ending had a little too much hype surrounding it . Through the whole movie , everyone talks about how Kamui and Fuma must fight with both swords . Well , they did get to it , but the battle only lasted about 2 minutes and that was it . At some points in the movie , it seemed real boring , but it explains a lot . This is not a movie for everyone . In fact , some will dislike the movie completely . It's for those who like unhappily ever after movies . There is a 30 minutes sequel to it called X2 ( Which really just a music video featuring the earth being destroyed ) . But dont worry . If you wanted fan service , theres an X series in the works . Anyway , not a movie for everyone , but why don't you pick it up and see if you like it . You might be surprised .
    • 089 4  Not as good as the manga . They talk for the first hour of the movie , mostly to explain how the story came to be . And I highly reccomend you read some of the manga series first . This movie is rated R only because of violence and one nudity scene in the begining . It isn't that bad . Although in some areas it's more like , what ? ? ? But I would highly reccomend it to any X ( X1999 ) fan . The music isn't that great , sounds like horror music in a 50 ' s movie , but the animation is really good . I enjoy the subtitled more , because the pronounciation isn't that great in the dubbed . All the names are misprnounced . Definitely the subtitled if any , it's worth it for the extra 5 - 6 dollars !
    • 090 4  This movie is very different from the manga , but it's supposed to be , because the makers wanted to be sure the movie had an ending , even though the manga is yet to be completed . It is very well done taking that into consideration and I found some of the fights scenes intriguing , because they moved slowly . Unlike fight scenes that I'm used to , which are very fast and furious , at least the first fight with Kamui against Nataku and the other man ( Gomen , his name escapes me right now ) was very slow and had a very strange but very interesting feel to it that I enjoyed a LOT . It can be very depressing , but still is an excellent movie and worth looking into .
    • 092 4  The bottom of the front cover of the box reads : One of the greates orgies of battle and destruction ever seen in a live action film or an animated one . . . a feast for the eyes and they weren't kidding ! The powers unleashed by the characters in this movie are awesome to behold ! The visuals and animation of these powers are vivid , extremely colorful and mind boggling ! This movie has scene after scene after scene of descimation ! But don't get me wrong , this movie also has an intricate plot and an apocalyptic undertone that creates a gothic and engrossing experience like no other anime . The only area where this movie falls short is the ending . Don't worry , I'm not going to spoil it for you , but most Japanese anime films leave the viewer with something to think about ( like a moral or a lesson or some mind boggling idea that fries you brain if you think about it too hard ( i.e . Akira ) ) but this movie lacks that . The end kind of leaves the viewer with a feeling of hanging or a so what feeling . Ohter than that , the animation , the powers of the characters , the gothic and engrossing plot and the descimation ( crank your subwoffer if you have one ) will leave you speechless ! X is a must buy for every Japanese anime fan !

  • 045 4  X / B00000JL4L * Spoilers * First off , if you're not familiar with the X manga , I can honestly say that it is essential for you to brush up on the basics before attempting to watch this movie or you will be completely lost and confused . Unfortunately , the problem with this movie is that once you've brushed up on the manga ( say , by reading the Wikipedia entry on it ) , you've already reached the level of immersion this movie offers . The beginning of the movie sets the scene - the main character's nude and dead ( dying ? ) mother shows up in a dream and explains that the apocalypse is coming , he's the chosen one to prevent it , and a list of the seven trustworthy heroes that will fight along side him is as follows . . . etc . , etc . And that's fine as far as it goes - bland but standard scene setting focusing on avoiding character development as much as possible and cutting straight to the action . Unfortunately , the seven heroes are almost immediately reduced to ancillary support characters , where support is loosely defined as die as quickly and as stupidly as possible , which is a shame because the battles are really the only thing this movie has to hang its hat on . Well , that's not entirely true - the one other driving plot point in this movie is that the main character and his childhood friend are destined to oppose each other - whichever side the main character chooses to aid ( humanity and technology vs . extinction and nature , basically ) , his friend will be compelled to oppose him from the other side . While this particular aspect is interesting , intriguing , and potentially tragic , it breaks down in two major respects . Firstly , the main character is so poorly characterized that it is difficult to feel any real resonance with him . He repeatedly protests that he absolutely * will not * fight to save the world because , he says , he only want to protect my friends ! The problem , of course , being that he never puts together that the end of humanity will eventually entail the end of his pals as well . Indeed , as an aside , I have to say that this anime seems unique in the sense that I actually ended up rooting for the bad guys - even though I strongly got the impression that I wasn't ' supposed ' to - because they generally seemed more good than the good guys . The bad guys at least threw themselves into their work , rather than passively reacting constantly like the good guys did . They'd put thought and preparation into their training and strategy , while it seemed that the good guys had sat around on their thumbs all day . And the bad guys seemed to genuinely believe in their cause - intending to wipe out all humanity , including themselves , for the good of the planet - as opposed to the lackluster enthusiasm of the good guys who basically said ( and I'm paraphrasing ) Things may not be so great nowadays , but my kids don't seem to know the difference . There's a rallying cry . Which brings me neatly to the second problem with the Destined Tragedy plot . The writers seem to realize , about half-way through the movie , that the hero's foil is intensely more likable than the cardboard cut-out main character and decide to remedy this by immediately switching the foil character over to an insane , homicidal madman who kills friends and allies alike with a single blow . And it is this character shift - a desperate attempt to steer the story back on track and explain * why * the two characters can't just sit down and talk it out over a latte - that completely kills the movie because it's a gimmicky contrivance that removes drama ( as well as all the remaining ancillary characters ) instantly . Tragedies aren't tragic because someone we don't care about dies - if X had truly wanted to be tragic and thought provoking , then the two foil characters should have both chosen a side they truly believe in and then fought for that side with a heavy heart ( a la Suikoden II ) . Instead , the writers try to have their cake and eat it to by making the hero a soggy I don't want to be involved cardboard cut-out and the anti-hero a stereotypical madman on a murder spree , thus allowing them to dodge any moral questions about the nature of mankind and our affect on the earth . Unfortunately , if you want a tragedy , you can't dodge moral questions like that . Having said all that , I have to now admit that I still found the movie oddly interesting - enough to maybe watch it again , hence my rating . One of my guilty pleasures is the Dragonball Z series , mostly because I think the subtext behind the writing is genuinely interesting , but I will admit that the spectacle fighting can be pleasant to watch . And that's kind of what this movie feels like - like someone took a manga about two opposing groups with super heroes , paired them all off , and told them to have at it . If that was all X was , I would have likely enjoyed it on those merits alone , but it still shoots itself in the foot by having the fights be terminally short and by making the characters die for stupid , suicidal reasons . To wrap this review up , there's two more things worth noting . First , there's definitely nudity and violence in this movie , so be forewarned if that sort of thing bothers you . Second , there is something rather ' off ' with the English subtitles for the hearing impaired - not only do they not match the actual English dialogue ( something I've come to expect from most anime ) , there are huge stretches of dialogue that isn't subtitled * at all * . I can't say that the lack of subtitles would hamper your understanding of the movie , but that's mostly an indictment on the bland dialogue itself rather than an excuse .
    • 002 4  Overall , I heard many great reviews for this movie , so I decided to rent it . It was not what I expected . Perhaps , I was expecting too much from it , but it was a great disappointment . It seems that too much money was spent in the art and not enough in plot or character developement . After the movie ended , I can honestly say , I didn't understand a thing . At the start of the movie , they briefly list off the characters and their traits . That's about it in the character developement department . From there , they explain how the these characters need to save mankind or all humans will be obliterated . Mainly , they have to battle the earth dragons to save the Earth . That almost makes sense . Then , through all of the jumbled flashbacks , flashforwards , possible outcomes , precognitions , dream-sequences , and computer simulations , you find out that the main character has to fight an evil double of himself to decide the fate of the humanrace . Because of the premise , the whole movie sikes you up for a spectacular fight scene . In truth , it lasted maybe thirty seconds . It was extremely disappointing . I don't recommend this movie , if you are looking for an anime was plot , structure , or character developement . However , the art in itself , is rather stunning . This visuals are gripping , if not violent . I would definantly recommend this movie , if you are looking for an artsy , dramatic show and aren't interested in story . But you would be wise to first rent this before you seriously consider buying .
    • 009 4  I enjoyed parts of this movie , but that is only because I have seen parts of the series . You can read any review here about the movie . It isn't that good . The only thing I would advise you do is not watch this if you plan to watch the series . I now know the ending to the series , which is kind of unfortunate . This badly paced movie is too rushed to deal with the complex characters in the manga / tv series . Watch the series first and learn about the characters . Then maybe you should watch this movie as a goof .
    • 011 4  This Anime is great I do not know where all the criticism stems from . Yes , I have seen the television series and while it is , better this is a fine film . It can be confusing at times with all the flash backs and plot gaps but it is not random crazy $ hit like Fooly Cooly ( FlCl , which I love ) . I offer a solution to this confusion , and it is to see the television series and pretend that this movie is just the glorious last episode , trust me it will be a much more enjoyable viewing experience . So if you do not mind naked women puling swords out of their stomach , a young girl being decapitated on a giant metal cross , or a Dragon of heaven ( humans that fight to save humanity with their super powers ) being smashed by a train , cut to pieces , ripped in two , or one of the main characters get his head chopped clean off this is the anime for you ! Oh yeah !
    • 015 4  I watched this movie on the big screen and loved it , even when a couple of women walked out , muttering that they did not understand the movie at all . Even though Clamp is an all-female team , I saw the guy appeal of this movie . So I bought the tape . I did not read the manga , but knowledge of some common Japanese themes helped . For example , I find the same theme of catching cherry blossom petals in the opening FMV of Final Fantasy VIII . Another example : shrines and landmarks in Japanese cities possess supernatural powers , whether they be energy sources , spiritual hotspots , interdimensional gateways , etc . Examples of anime that carry this theme are Tenchi and Poltergeist Report ( YuYu Hakusho movie ) . The antagonist would seek out each of these places so that he / she / they can break the seals and unleash the power . The protagonists will attempt to stop the antagonists at every turn , but will lose every battle except the final battle at the most important landmark . So in the end the plot is quite simple . What puts substance in this movie is man vs . nature . In this case , God's Power sides with man , though nature makes a good argument . There are many analogies and parallels . The characters fall into anime stereotypes , but there are movies dedicated to character development and this makes itself clear that it isn't one of them . The animation is as good as Ghost in the Shell , with very , very detailed backgrounds . The action sequences , involving battles with the elements ( fireballs , etc . ) , as well as sword fights ( there should have been prolonged , and more of them ) , are perfectly choreographed ( they are just way cool ) . Overall , I find this movie more engaging than Dragonball Z .
    • 017 4  First off , I'd like to credit this movie with very skilled artwork ! There isnt a moment where the dedication of the animation staff isn't under question . That being said , it was still wonky . Being a Seishirou / Subaru fan , I was gravely disappointed in their almost immediate demise , not to mention the fact that Seishirou went nameless and untitled . Subaru Sumeragi , 13th head of the Sumeragi clan , was fighting who ? why ? Doesn't matter , they died . D I would also like to not the various changes between the TV series and the movie . Realizing , of course , they are seperate entities in themselves and the main story hasn't been changed , but much of the story has been distorted . I cant help but feel a grave sense of loss and WTF ? ! when watching this . . . The main fights , how certain character's die , even one of the Dragons of Earth is completely different ! Alas , yet another reason for Kakyou to wallow in his corner of woe . This movie could have been better , but condensing such an immense story line into two-off hours isn't a task to be taken lightly - Seeing as it's the fate of the world and all . Unfortunately , this might have been a task better unattempted . On that note : rent it , borrow it , but I dont recommend buying it unless you need a coaster . It's preordained to be a movie to make your eye twitch .
    • 029 4  The fate of Tokyo ( and the world ) becomes a heavy strain on Kamui , our young protagonist , who returns to his home at his mother's behest being told that he is the Kamui that will save Tokyo and is warned not to choose foolishly in his decision on whether to side with the Dragons of Heaven who fight for the salvations of humanity and the Dragons of Earthy who are willing to sacrifice all human life in order to give the earth a new start . He returns to his childhood friends Fuuma and Kotori . Throughout the film two Dreamwatchers are revealed as Hinoto ( a blind albino ) who works for the government to decipher dreams , and her younger sister Kanoway . The seven dragons of heaven and seven dragons of earth fight their battles throughout the extent of tokyo until the final battle that will determine our fates . I rather enjoyed this anime because of its wonderfully done characters , but lament that it is so short and does not fully cover the struggles between the main characters . A bit confusing at times with the intricacy of the dreams it is best viewed by people that have a good grasp on anime .
    • 035 4  The plot in this anime is disjointed and hard to decipher . It gets better the more you watch it , as many of the dream sequences show events at the end , that until you actually watch it through , don't make sense . Kamui returns to Tokyo ( from where we don't know ) to meet up with his friends , a brother and sister . Upon arriving he is confronted by two awesome powers : the dragon of earth and the dragon of heaven . The dragon of heaven want to stop the dragon of earth from cleansing the world of people . This leads to some amazing fight scenes between the unbelievably powerful members of each group as they both want to recruit Kamui for their cause . I don't want to give away much more of the storyline but as it progresses , you definitely notice a yin-yang type atmosphere . This is a extremely dark / gothic type anime that has the best art since Ninja Scroll . Had the plot been more straight forward and less jumbled with confusing dream sequences and constant cutting between the various characters it would be a masterpiece of modern animation . Nevertheless , like I said at the beginning , the more you watch it , the more it starts to make sense but that is not a enough justification for me to give it a higher rating .
    • 062 4  I've seen some bad Anime's in my time but so far this takes the cake . Not only was the plot kind of lame , but also the art wasn't the best . The movie's plot was simple , which is good , but it was made complex by dreams of the potential future thrown in at random times throughout the movie . This made it hard to guess what was reality and what was the dream . I think the movie would have done better if it were to stick the hardcore action and skip the overly-melodramatic dreams . The basic premise of this movie is good versus good . Humans have been raping the planet for their entire existence . Now the earth is about to crack ; Mother Nature needs a rest . The group that supports the Dragon of the Earth advocates wiping the human race out to accomplish this . The group that supports the Dragon of the Heaven believes humans must achieve the greatness god planned for them . That they will return Mother Nature to her greatness we just need to get over ourselves first . We can accomplish this through love and all that other jazz . Convoluted ? Yes but each argument has a leg to stand on . With this being said you would think that one would be torn about whom to root for . But this movie makes this choice for you by weak character development and those stupid dreams mentioned earlier . The bad guy is this evil sadistic psycho and instead of empathizing with him you just want to see him dead . Overall the movie was simple but was made complex by useless scenes . And on top of that the ending was predictable and frustrating . See it for the sake of seeing it but don't buy . It will leave you frustrated making you want to hit the drawing board and come up with a better script and more cool characters .
    • 079 4  I'm sure you already get the picture by reading other reviews . I'm just writing this to reinforce the point that this is a very dissapointing attempt of compressing 20Volumes + manga series into one 90 minutes movie . If you can , get the manga serie instead , because it is very beautifully done , the art work and the story line are superb and you actually get to know all the characters in the story . The movie shocked me from the first 5 minutes when Subaru ( from Tokyo Babylon ) dies so quickly , while in the manga he is one of the most important character of the whole story . Then one by one all the characters start to drop like flies until there are two left for the main battle scene . My advice ; don't blink because you might miss the whole final battle . Not even a great ending song by X-Japan ( an awesome J-rock band ) could save this movie , it is an insult to the manga series ! ! ! ! ! If you want to spend money on an apocalyptic style of anime I suggest you get Angel Sanctuary or Earthians instead .
    • 083 4  I was interested by the premise and the packaging and everything . But I must say this movie was really disappointing . It's not that the plot is not understandable ; it's that everything happens so quickly that you don't even really meet the characters . For example , take all those human-dragons . Just by the way they are presented , you can guess that there's a lot of backstory behind them . But in the film , they just get killed very quickly . Also , for two groups that are supposed to be somewhat equal , everytime a good guy faces a bad guy , he gets his but kicked . Finally , my biggest grip is the more-or-less friend of the hero who , for no sufficient reason I can remember , decides to join the ' evil ' side , and in a matter of days , becomes as powerful as the hero who seems to have been training since childhood . Hellooooo ! ? I'm all for suspension of disbelieve , especially in anime , but this is ridiculous ! I guess this is better if you have read the manga before . Since this is not my case , it left me completely unsatisfied .
    • 084 4  The first thing that you notice when you watch this video is of course CLAMP's wonderful art designs , the next thing you realize is that unless you've read the manga you'll be utterly confused by what's going on . Having read the manga I did know what was happening and why , but I think if I hadn't I wouldn't have understood most of it . Now please don't get me wrong , this video is worth seeing just for the visuals , so if you like CLAMP's artwork , ( which I do ) this is a definate buy or rent .
    • 085 4  I think that if I had been able to read the manga I might have actually liked this show . It was really complex , with awesome visuals ( if you like the really pointy-face type of people ) and what could have been an epic storyline . People I know who read the manga and knew all the background stuff loved the movie and were glad to see it come to the screen . Unfortunately , I , like what I suppose might be a large chunk of the population , have never been able to read the manga so had to take this as a stand-alone movie . The premise was good , the visual were good . . . but any background details about the characters were virtually nonexistant . We have three friends , two guys and a girl , and we have some superheroes in the typical anime fashion : larger than life ( which I like , don't get me wrong ) . You have a large corporation , you have bad guys , and you have magic and technology . All good stuff . What you don't have , unfortunately , is any depth to these characters . The final bad guy seems to go almost instantaneously , and without any provocation , from a best friend to worst enemy . They never touch on why he changes , or really get into the psychology of it all . I'm willing to bet anything that the manga itself goes real in depth with this , but in the anime it's just plain unbelievable . I almost didn't finish the movie , but did and went away with it leaving a bad taste in my mouth . My suggestion : if you've read the manga you need to watch this movie . I love having my favorite mangas spring onto the silver screen , it's so awesome to watch them . However , if not prepare yourself for a mediocre anime with zippo in the way of character development . They introduce the characters , then systematically begin to kill them off . It's not the happiest of endings either , let me just warn you . Why 3 stars then , if I don't have anything nice to say ? Because it's good if you actually know the background info , and I loved the animation . Simple as that . : )
    • 107 4  I like anime . I hated this movie . I saw it in a theatre with a group of 4 or 5 anime fans and we all felt stupid we blew $9 on this sub-par garbage . We all sat around afterward ridiculing the final shot ( one character cradles another character's decapitated head in his hands while crying - - pathetic . ) Do not buy nor rent this crap . I won't bother describing the plot ( OK I will : Freaky dream sequence , Dragon of Heaven fights Dragon of Earth and gets killed , Freaky dream sequence , Dragon of Heaven fights Dragon of Earth and gets killed , Repeat , Repeat , Decapitation , Boo-hoo , End credits , you realize you're $9 poorer . )
    • 118 4  It wasn't what I'd expected , to tell you the truth . It had turned out more depressing than I thought . Maybe I would say they lacked developing the characters , but all the same , if you know about the story and manga , you'd fall in love with the characters - even the bad guys . Unlike the other reviewers , I'd say there WAS a plot ( if you know CLAMP very well , you'd understand ) The story is sooooo CLAMP-like . Nanase Ohkawa - one of the CLAMP members , who creates the stories and plots , likes putting twists and turns you'd never expect and fate plays a huge part in the stories of CLAMP . But the results are not always pretty . I'd cried my heart out for hours after watching this movie . * _ * Don't ask why and yes , I KNOW it's just an anime , but the characters seem so real . Just imagine you are in the characters ' shoes . I'm sure you'd feel SOMEthing . : p I'd give it a 4 - half stars if not for the character-developing thing . And I don't know why some of the reviewers said the ending song was terrible . It suited the anime perfectly if you ask me . Well , that is if you understand the lyrics . But well , this is just my opinion .

  • 052 4  basically this movie is a way to sum up all of the goings on in the manga and tv series in a 90 minute period of time , as opposed to watching the 10 + hours of the x tv series , ( the tv series is far batter ) . some things were slightly changed to work with the time frame , and even the ending is different . think of it as a comparison of the kubrik version of the shining vs the newer made for tv version . many things werent true to the book in the kubrick version but it is an excellent movie none the less . i would reccomend you watch X only if you have already , or plan to view the series . the movies rushes in many parts , not taking much time to introduce alot of the charicters ( there are 14 main charicters ) so you dont really understand why some died the way they did or really much care when they do . ( some that died in the movie ended up not dying in the series and vica versa ) the tv series basically gives each charicter an in depth story so you better relate to them and explains things like barrier fields in a understandable fashion . if i had not seen the tv series in its entirety before watching the movie , i wouldnt understand much of what went on . but as i said , some things were changed . for instance 2 charicters that end up falling in love and living in the seires . . . . actually hate and fight each other in the movie and end up dying . i prefer the story the way the tv series did it , but the movie for what it is is its own masterpiece . i see it as a loose adaptation of the manga / tv series with alot of creative changes implied . but this doesnt make it a bad movie , this is definately one of the better animes
    • 022 4  I like this alot , but the first 20 minutes goes by slow , but after a while it gets good , I reccomend this to any anime fans , I also reccomend to check out the X series . it is way better than the movie
    • 024 4  I'll keep this short and sweet . X The Movie was a good movie with a few drawbacks , but definitly one that should be seen . But if you are looking for the best anime out there , watch the series X , though not fully finished they will all be out soon , I belive only 1 - 3 are out right now ( those are the only ones i can find ) but 4& 5 should be out soon . The series is everything the movie was not and 100x more .
    • 033 4  X : The Movie wasn't what I expected it to be actually I hated it . After the first time I saw it I literally buried it somewhere in the deep bowels of my room . I mean the beginning isn't something that keeps you wanting to see the rest of the movie but if you do happen to continue with it you will find that it doesn't live up to all of it's hype . Good thing they are starting the DVD series . Maybe that will do this great manga justice .
    • 055 4  the movie stinks . my favorite character of the series dies in the VERY BEGINNING . Hmph . and the way the people died were just horrible ( especially Kotori's death ) . poor Kamui . he's the only main character even alive at the end , which totally sucks . the movie was pretty sad , though it really sucked . like others said , they shouldn't try to fit a manga series of 18 + volumes into a 90 minute movie . the reason i give it a three , it because i started to read the manga , X / 1999 and it's pretty good . also , the graphics were pretty good . i hope that the anime series is much better than this .
    • 068 4  I have not yet had the pleasure to read CLAMP's graphic novels of X , but I have heard good things . I believe they will help the stuff that doesn't seem to get explained well in the movie . Even with some holes in the plot and character development it is still a great movie . Really gripping animation and a very interesting storyline seems to draw the audience in quickly . If you love crazy anime , you will like this one , but you will be rather confused at the end . To really get your questions answered you should pick up the X TV Series DVDs that are now becoming available . Together you should not be disappointed . Keep the faith , dEx
    • 072 4  X is a great Anime for those who are familar with its manga'a or if you have been an hardcore Anime follower for a while . IF you are any of these i recomend it totally . But if you are just getting into Anime or not into the weirder parts of anime i do not recomend this at all . In my opinion it was great work of art . But in the end its going to be up to you .
    • 080 4  With such an uninspired title I should have been optimistic . But I am a Anime fan , so I gave it a chance . Just as the amazon.com reviewer stated , the plot of X is so simple , yet it is made extremely complicated by back and forth scene shifting , similar to a Quentin Tarantino film and too many characters . X is a rather dark film which has the overused , and generic plot which pits a man against the destruction of the entire world . The dragons are superior beings who battle each other throughout Tokyo . The dragons from earth , do not want to destroy the earth , but destroy the human race which they feel is destroying their earth . The dragons from heaven are sent to stop the earth dragons . The battles are often quick and become too repetitive . Many of the beings a.k.a . dragons have their own special power . The dragons from heaven create a shield each time they battle so the rest of the city does not get damaged . As the film slowly moves along , the last 20 minutes are a bloody mess , where most of the chracters parish in quick sequences . But by then I didn't care , I just wanted the film to end . The last scene is a sentimental sequence between a man and a body-less head ! It supposed to be sad , but I found it rather amusing . Don't get me wrong , X isn't the worst Anime film , it's just average . My review may have pointed out all the negative , but the film did have it's positives . The animation production is by Mad House who did the classic Ninja Scroll . My theory : rent this before you think of buying it .
    • 111 4  Many people said X was dumb just because it was too long and had several boring parts . In my opinion this had to be one of the greatest movies yet . I know the movie goes along kinda slow , but if you appreciate the movie for its storyline , plot , and the elements , it really is a good movie . There are a couple of disturbing , violent scenes , but it made it cool to see action in this movie . I'd recommend all anime fans to see the movie but try not to just sit there and wait for the violent scenes , watch every part and see how the storyline is pretty cool and how it fits in perfectly with the rest of the series .
    • 114 4  X is not one of the high flyers on my anime flag . You have to watch it a number of times to get the entire plot , but it's not too complicated . There's alot of action and almost too much bloodletting , a few of the deaths were unnecessary . Kids should steer clear of this one , because of it's intense violance and brief nudity , but any anime fan who likes a movie with decapitation and such , should check this one out .
    • 115 4  With a cool name like X , you wouldn't know what to expect . I saw this movie in a theatre , not on the DVD , and let me say I was highly disappointed . The animation was OK , the plot seemed to have potential , but it was never fulfilled . It had so many loop holes that you were left confused when it's ended .
    • 144 4  When I first saw X in a store I thought Cool , a new anime , but I was smart enough to rent it first . . . to say the least I've seen a less jumpy more enticing plot in the writtings of a kindergardener . The movie was so shallow that I watched it with no sound , and fast foward and I could swear I didn't miss a beat of the damn plot . oh no , they're gonna get the dragons . ha I have found them . . . no let me use my psychic powers to make a big stupid polygon over 5 blocks of a city . . . yea . . . That is in fact the entire movie . IT'S MORE REPETATIVE THAN DRAGON BALL Z !

  • 053 4  Kamui Shirou , a young man whose decisions can alter the fate of all the world . . . Join the Dragons of Earth , and save the planet by destroying the world of mankind ? Or join the Dragons of Heaven , and save mankind . . . have hope that mankind will mend their ways . . . and the planet . . . Which will he choose ? What is the destiny of mankind ? That's basically the story . . . Ah . . . the television series is PHENOMENAL ! ! ! And so , thinking that the movie would perhaps be a shorter version of a wonderful television series , I bought the movie , only to be disappointed . The characters whom you come to love in the manga and in the TV series are just unimportant walk-ons that have their stories explained in a couple screenshots and a few lines . . . And the ending changed DRASTICALLY . . . the manga , I think , isn't finished being written yet , but the television series has definitely been finished , and it by FAR SURPASSES this . . . this . . . mockery of a great Clamp series . Sure , the movie is alright . . . but if you keep in mind what exactly this movie is trying to adapt ( the manga , and the television series ( even tho the TV series came after the movie . . . ) ) , it just isn't up to par . . . I definitely recommend that you see the television series . . . It was so good that I finished it in one day . . . I swear , all 11 hours or so of it , and I even watched some episodes twice !
    • 020 4  That seems a little strong when describing a movie . That is however what this movie seems to me . It was bad enough when theyk illed off Subaru within 5 minutes of the movie ! Come on ! They said they based this off of Clamps work ? ! More like stole the characters and pasted them onto a completely different plot line . Yes the animation was good , but the story developed to fast with no real plot . They didn't even do a semi-good job in developing characters . Your left with a dry taste in your mouth after watching it . Not to mention the ending really sucked . The only good thing about it is the squishing noises made whenever someone got their arm teared off or a sword ran through them ( very nice indeed ! ) . Listen if you want a nice looking anime that doesn't follow the plot of even the tv series then watch this . . . otherwise don't bother . You will only be sorry you did .
    • 021 4  I have just finished watching this movie and would like to say the following : If you HAVE SEEN the TV series ( like myself ) , I wouldn't be surprised if you were a bit disappointed by the movie . Personally , I don't want to blame it on the 100 - minute time constraint , rather , I think it was the director who had failed to interpret the story ( well , maybe it has to do with the fact that the manga was not yet completed that time ? ) . If you HAVE NOT SEEN the TV series and want to know why everything happened the way they happened ( yeah , I know , you tried your best to figure it out . . . ) , PLEASE GO SEE THE TV SERIES ( 24 episodes ) . You will get better story-telling and character-building and of course , same excellent music score and fighting scenes . Oh , btw , expect a much more touching ending also ! ( girls , get your klinex ready ) Advice to ladies of CLAMP : make up your minds . Enough said , ciao .
    • 049 4  So the series is fantastic ! Lots of character development etc . to make you just LOVE all the characters ( no matter how evil they are ) . The movie . . . yeah . . . about that . They developed two characters ( the main two , Seishirou and Kamui ) and they didn't even do a good job . Not only that but they kill off two supporting characters in the first five minutes . The only entertainment value this has is for drinking games involving counting how many times Kotori dies . The series is worth watching . The movie . . . well . . . that's your choice . . .
    • 077 4  This reminds me of the Rayearth OAVs , set in an alternate universe is considerably more morbid . ( yet again I wonder what's with CLAMP's esp . Nanase's constant obsession with obliterating Tokyo Toukyou Since the book series is still ongoing ( yet going nowhere - _ - ) it would be difficult to fit all the pieces togeather without already knowing something about the series . ( ps , there is a new X1999 series currently in Japan . )
    • 096 4  Now this is some great anime here . I love this movie . Now many would say this movie sucks but I loved this movie , my #1 anime movie . Believe it or not there is actually a story , I myself didn't notice the storyline in the when I saw it on DVD but one day I watched it again and saw that the first 5 - 10mins the story is explained fast . I also have to say for those that want only good action scenes to skip this one cause I think the story is what makes this one unique . Also this one for you might have a lame ending but I really don't mind it even though ( the hero ) doesn't do many fighting but man this movie rocks . Verdict : 4.8 out of 5.0 Great movie but action scenes could have been better

  • 073 4  Personally I love good looking anime , and this movie is very good looking . But this movie had a super complex start , and it gets worse from there . Don't get attached to any one character because no one has a happy day in this flick . It is very depressing and just hard to watch , if you do get it and want some huge climatic battles , you sorta get that , but not in the way you would expect , its just mainly the grunts floating around killing each other . Personally I think they tried a bit to hard on this film , sometimes simple is better . Hear they just made everything complex and really hard to swallow . If your looking for a good looking anime with a super complex plot , this is a gem . But if you don't want to think and become depressed when you watch it avoid this one . Hard to follow , sums this film up pretty quick .
    • 010 4  Some people are very critical of this movie . Warning Spoilers . One reason is that the plot is to the point and everyone dies excpet the main character Kamui . The good thing about this movie is that the animation is very unique . If you have seen the series and the prequal tokyo baybalon then you will not be dissapointed . These are the things that you want to see . The fights to death , the graphic vilolence . If you haven't seen the series well you will either hate it or love it . But it all depends on you , see the prequal and series then watch this . you will not be dissapointed .
    • 031 4  As my title suggests , I loved every bit of the movie except for the ending . I'm not going to spoil it for those who haven't seen it , but those who have will probably agree with me . To me , the ending was quite dissapointing , you feel like Gee , all that for nothing . But other than that , it was a great movie . Fantastic animation , excellent battle scenes , and an awesome storyline , but the ending should have come out differently . But hey , it's still worth it .
    • 046 4  I bought this movie for my fiance . He absolutely loves this film . A must see .
    • 110 4  This DVD is very different than the story . Same concept just different ending . Kamui is instructed by his mother to go back to tokyo and save the city from destruction . There he meets the dragons of heaven and they have to fight off the dragons of earth to save the people of the world from death . The dragons of heaven are fighting to bring the earth back and destroy the people who have polluted it . This is a great movie . For people who think that this is just a short version of the series are wrong . The ending is different and the characters have more perosnality . I highly recommend both the movie and the series .
    • 124 4  it kills women which is sick i mean even in evangelion didn't have that much disgusting killing the story was kind of quick compared to the manga which sounded more interesting as a happy ending fan and since Kamui was dealing with God's power , the people he cared for should have came back to life not remembering what happend

  • 075 4  Okay , let's get it straight here , I like CLAMP , I like Rintaro . So how could this anime have gone so terribly wrong ? First off , your basing a movie off of material ( CLAMP'S X / 1999 ) that was STILL IN PUBLICATION when the movie was made . So of course A LOT of stuff was cut out . Second , the plot was reduced to a 90 minute [ fight ] fest . People appeared and dissapeared for no reason whatsoever ! And there's a lot of the what the hell's going on factor . We never have time to dive into the characters , so when they die . . . we don't care . Third , it is poorly scripted . The first act , Kamui spends deciding which side he should join . The second act , everyone is offed one by one . Where's the middle ? Fourth , one of the worst endings ever . Fifth , bad BAD voice acting . Both Japanese and English . Well , I've said it . The only plus this movie has going for it is the animation . Everything else is crap . Avoid this one . Or better yet , try to find a bootleg copy of the OVA or the TV series . At least then you get some more substance for the style . Let's face it , this is one time that X didn't mark the spot . - RW
    • 027 4  This dvd definitely lacked something . . . it's always dancing around the subject . And when it came time to finally deliver the goods , the great fight scenes , or the true insights , there was none . The hereos and villans were killed off as soon as you just began to know them . Overall , I'd say more time is needed for character development , also putting more explosive , and stunning fight scenes , which extends one's imagination , couldn't hurt .
    • 047 4  I watched the series first . Then I tried to watch this . . . I didn't make it through . I was so disoriented . . . I'd heard there was a different ending to the movie than the series so I was curious . . . But again , I didn't make it through and didn't care enough to make it through either .
    • 067 4  Well , I think from my rating above , that it's pretty obvious where I stand on this one . I was at [ a local music store ] a long time ago , and saw this movie . I'd heard a lot about it , so I decided , ' hey , why not ? ' and ponied up the 20 bucks for the priviledge of taking it home . My first impression ? Perhaps this was the weapon the Pied Piper of Hamlin used to chase the children away ( or did they go with him ? ) , because after seeing this film , I was certainly left with a few vivid impressions , namely #1 : Anime fans who like this [ stuff ] are into violence , and #2 : those same said fans probably smoke . . . quite often . The entire movie is vulgar and disgusting , going from bloodbath to bloodbath , with forgettable characters like that chick who gets blown up and that chick with weird super powers and that evil guy who thinks he's the good guy for reasons that I really don't want to know . Of course , it's not all blood and violence , thankfully , our beloved and benevolent animators decided to put in a bunch of Kamui ( main character ) ' s hallucinations , which probably can be enjoyed best . . . while listening to Pink Floyd . These hallucinations make no coherent sense , nor are they explained at all throughout the flick , making me increasingly itchy that I spent [ money ] on the stupid thing . Thankfully , the movie ends , though to no one's satisfaction , if you're into that silly thing about happy or sensical endings . Of course , if you liked Ninja Scroll , you'd probably love this . . . thing , so I'll shut up now before I see that 0 of 100,000 people have found this review helpful .
    • 098 4  Well , let's just say that X : The Movie was a little less then hoped for . For starters . . . my favorite character died at the very BEGINNING ! My friend got this for me as a Christmas present b / c I told him that I wanted to see it ( considering that I'm a fan of X ) . Well , it kinda turned out to be a disappointment , but of course I already knew about the ending b / c some of my friends had already seen it . But , there was just no plot to it . Sure , Kamui comes back to Tokyo to protect Fuma and Kotori . . . wel , you'd think that that'd be good , but all of the characters die in the stupidest ways . I mean , Karen getting hit by a train ? ! Ok . . . The animation is all good , but I'm usually more interested in the storyline first and graphics come next . Of course , it's not like I'd never EVER watch this DVD again . It's good in it's own way , but you don't learn much about any of the characters ; not even Kamui . But , X : The Movie does deserve at least 3 stars from me b / c I like X . Word of advice - - do NOT watch X the series before watching the movie . The series is 10x better and I recommend it to anyone out there . ~ Aiko-otaku ~
    • 128 4  given i was told i had to have watched the series in order to understand the movie , i wouldve assumed anyways the series wouldve sucked . given my barely luke warmness to anime in general this movie starts cooling the waters even more . The movie is crammed with mythological non sense , charachters that are hardly even written , and a storyline thats feels slapped togther out of poor ideas . Visually nice but riddled with clihe'd anime designs . the storyline feels like filler as everything is focused on the action . but everything becomes so over the top and bloody that its hard not ntoice that the whoel things a mess . within mess may have been something a little more compelling if the whole didnt seem so much like some sort of death match between foes like its dragon ball z . which is pretty my reason of cooling waters for anime

  • 078 4  Ok the storyline [ is bad ] period , in order to get into the movie you have to read the extras so you can get a background check on all the characters . . . then it will make sense , a little . For instance a woman on the good side , fighting to save the world ; fights in lingerie-her excuse ? she says it keeps her in check with her roots . Doesn't make sense does it ? As for the dialogue , it's kind of bad , they try to build a connection between the characters and the viewers but it doesn't work , I don't feel sorry for the characters if they die , live , and so on . It's a pity that through out this whole movie-I didn't really get into to it-I was just waiting for the action sequences-if you're all into the animation and action sequences then this is a pretty good dvd for you . What i'm really upset about is the quality of the dvd . It's encoded at a 2 / mps which is really svcd quality rather than the standard 5 - 8 / mps dvd's . you'll probably can't tell the difference on the tv but if you play it on the comp then you can tell with a little blockiness in the background . I've seen hong kong pirated dvd's encoded at a higher bitrate-this has to tell you something . . . If you want the combonation of Story plus great animation then escaflowne is for you , This series literally raised the standards of animation-look out for the movie coming out next year , it's dark , bloody and yes it has a great story line coupled with animation .
    • 060 4  The movie had one major flaw , too short . They took a story that should've taken 3 - 4 hours and crammed it into 1 and a half . To cut back on time everybody died quickly . Watch the series instead . It's the same thing but longer . Trust me , you won't be disapointed .

  • 099 4  Well , just the other night I rented this movie from Anime Planet , not able to get the 7th volume of the series ( had already seen 1 - 5 ) . So I watched the 6th volume which I had also rented and I was amazed . I just love the X series . And once I was done with it . . . I watched this . So sorry to all of you bigbigbig fans , but I was quite disappointed . The manga rocked hard and I simply adore the series . But this movie was so - pointless that it's making my insides burn . I'm extremely sorry , but watching this was torture . The series is GREAT ! This . . . isn't . In other words , I hated it . Go readers ; go X-fans . . . go see the series for the first time or again . Go read the manga . Just . . . just don't watch this . It will simply destory your view on X . Oh , and to to all of those who love this movie ; simply sorry . I just had to write this to get the burning out of my chest .
    • 016 4  . . . Opinions on this film , that is . X is a truly debatable movie . Now , on one hand , we have the hard-core manga fans who claim that this movie is a travesty and a sham and OH DEAR LORD LOOK WHAT THEY DID TO IT - - perhaps , however , they * do * have a bit of a point . X is a rather epic manga series ( not your typical shoujo , mind you ! ) , up to volume eighteen of its Japanese release at this point , I believe . Admittedly , squeezing many volumes of an unfinished , heavily detailed manga into a single movie , AND keeping it somewhat coherent is a difficult task . The result is this movie , beautiful and delirious , as well as brutal and full of bloodshed . Also admittedly , X the movie can drag a bit at times , as it attempts to lay out a plot . The score , with the exception of Forever Love is unremarkable . Nearly all of the well-crafted manga character development has been left out . However , this movie is mostly well animated , and can succeed on a purely aesthetic level , or a comedic level if you like MST riffs . ( Karen : Arrrgh ! , Aoki : Ugh ! , Kamui : Noooo ! , Subaru : Haaa-TAH ! . Nice subtitling job , Manga . ) It depends on your preferences . After all , you can't please everyone . Omake ( extra ) : Very shortly ( 9 - 24 - 02 ) , the X TV series will be released in North America commercially by Pioneer . It is MUCH more faithful to the manga , with a slower pace , full plot and plenty of character development - - and suggest that if you were disappointed with this film , you should give X TV ( or the original manga ) a try .

  • 104 4  A very formulaic film . It has one of the most disappointing endings in anime . Very non-climatic . The animation is beautiful , but I'm a person who believes that if you don't have a strong story to back that animation up . . . it doesn't matter how good it looks . This movie doesn't really have a good story . Rent it or skip it , but don't buy it .
    • 059 4  I don't understand why people would say this isn't an amazing anime , i think it is one of the best out there , i saw it on Cable and I am going to buy it this weekend . . . the art in it is phenomenal and it doesn't get boring at all

  • 112 4  when started to watch the movie it had been on for i the 30 to 45 min . at thought it was a good movie i like the idae the story but there were some thing thought should have been better sooo im going to rent it tomorror i was shocked to see all the people who thought is wasnt that good but i like that king of movies oh well 2 each is there own i think u should go rent it on a rainy or boreing night and fined out if u like it or not if u dont it what $5

    • 127 4  It's the year of destiny , and 15 year old Kamui Shiro , a powerful psychic , has returned to Tokyo after a 6 year absence , having left when he was very young . He wants to be with his childhood friends Fuma ( his best friend ) and Kotori , Fuma's little sister ( and Kamui possible girlfriend ) . He wants to protect them from all dangers , but destiny and fate are haunting Kamui and pulling in himself and his beloved childhood friends .
      • 139 4  Love the manga series ! The plot the character the everything ! When I heard the movie was coming out I thought it was going to be great . Turns out it was ! Absolutely positively ! However , one bad thing * Spolier * Turn back now puhlease . . . One , everyone dies except the all cool Kamui . What is up with that ? They die quickly too , one after another , and I didn't even get to see my Subaru last as long as he should ! Second , the plot of the movie is a little faithful but not really to the manga . They took away my Kakyou replacing it with Shogo Asagi , he's good but not good looking as my Kakyou , the whole Magami destiny is wacked up , the role of Fuuma , Kotori and Kamui's mom , not evening mentioning Kototri's mom or dad or Tokiko , major part of the manga , is no where . Sorota is still funny , but not funny a lot , Yuuto is not funny at all , Kusanagi , the gentle nature kind Kusanagi , is now a rough hard army dood . Beast betray Satsuki , and I was so worried about the R part but it ain't that bad . Only Kamui's mom get's bared in the beginning cuz of the fire thingy , and the sword being given . That's all , oh yeah and Kanoe's clothes but hey what can you expect from old Kanoe eh ? That's all ! It isn't all the gory and it isn't all the bloody . I mean it could be worse . I read the real Japanese script of X , tsk tsk ! bad translation in the movie . When Sora says I like the girl who takes care of herself when the chips are down . . . he actually says , I love ya babe arashi ! Aw . . . I so wanna see that . Now I wanna buy the sub . So I have now the dub and sub ! great . But it's sooo , so , so , good , cry cry cry . Sob sob . Don't mind all the gore though only when Fuuma's head got . . . Er anyway . . . so good . But to keep you go through with my life , since seeing the so depressing yet ggrreeattttt movie , ( I wanna mke the vote 4.9 ! ! ! ! 4.99999 ! ! ) I had to watch some Ranma DVD's and VHS and read some ranma / Inu-Yahsa mangas to get my through the day . : : Sniffle sniffle : : Please contact me . . . at AIM SN . . . Bakonegs . I might be on SorataandDuo , but I'm usually on Bak on egs .

    • 129 4  From the very beginning of X - an animated movie based on the manga by Clamp and animated by Mad House - you know that this is going to be gory and graphic . Rintaro , of Astro Boy fame , directed this one . It's also very clear from the beginning that the movie , made in 2000 , was created for the fans of the complex Manga series . You get a quick scene of a boy - Kamui - being given a sword drawn from the stomach of his naked mother . She then recites a laundry list of These are your friends , these are your enemies , showing each one briefly . While manga fans will instantly connect with them , newcomers to the series will be completely lost . Kamui is sent to Tokyo to face the Final Battle of the Dragon of Heaven vs the Dragon of Earth . He and the good guys are on the side of Heaven . The bad guys think the city is full of corruption , pollution and slime and needs to be cleansed so there can be a rebirth . We start with a personal battle beteen a pair of enemies , which apparently is the overture . And on the battles go . . . well , in between all the flashbacks and dream sequences and meandering . There's lots of religious symbolism , from angels and devils to pentagrams and people being crucified . Kamui , the hero , is told his name mean's God's Power . The good side , the Dragon of Heaven , gets power from the 7 stars of the big dipper . They are defeated one by one . Kamui is told the 7 Dragons of Earth solely wish to destroy the earth . He refuses to care and just wants to protect his friends Fuma and Kotori . As it turns out , the final battle is between Kamui and his best friend , Fuma . Whatever side Kamui chooses , Fuma must be the other . And just as Kamui got a sword from his mom , Fuma pulls one from his sister . Interestingly , even though the original Manga's creators , Clamp , is made up of all women , I was disappointed to see either banana-brained girly-girls or lap-dancers . The two main girls - sisters - fall on the two sides of that coin . The two other main females both die gruesomely in order to ' birth ' swords for their guys . The guys on the other hand are strong , intelligent and complex . It's a pretty bizarre vision to come from a smart group of women . I'm sure it was really hard to fit the complex Manga story into a 100 - minute movie . But there are so many ways that it COULD have been told well . As it is , you have a hero who doesn't seem to really care about or do anything for the city . He decides to protect his 2 friends instead , but doesn't even do that . There are many battles between sides that we don't care about , and teammates just ' stroll ' along when their friends are in danger . As far as the main sides , all we know is that there are the earth cleansers and earth savers . In fact the ' earth cleansers ' seem to have a pretty good argument against corruption and pollution . They say to look in the future and that this solution gives the future the best possibility . The earth savers just say We must keep the status quo ! One of the heroes of Heaven in fact decided to become a prostitute and learned to use flames . She might have chosen the wrong side . . . When you get to the epic final battle , Kamui cuts off Fuma's head , and then holds the head tenderly . Flashbacks remind Kamui that he pretty much has failed at everything he tried to do . Talk about a bizarre , gory ending !
      • 001 4  I have several of the graphic paperbacks from the X / 1999 clamp production . I've read and puzzled over those , and now I have spent several hours with this DVD . There comes a point in the quest for value where one has to finally ponder why a work is the way it is . I don't expect every DVD or book to be a work of art , but I do expect that each such effort have some sense of its purpose or potential value . In the case of ' X ' , I confess I am mystified . On the surface , a young man ( Kamui ) returns to Tokyo at the behest of his dying mother to defend those he loves . But he fails to defend Kotori , who loves him , and forces his friend Fuuma to make impossible choices . On the layer below this Kamui and Fuuma are doomed to become the primary antagonists in a struggle over whether the human race should be allowed to survive . In the ensuing fight , shared with the other dragons of heaven and earth , the destruction is sufficient to wonder whether the cure is worse than the disease . In truth , the plot is a pre-ordained ballet of opposing forces driven to a tragic conclusion . I am not familiar with Japanese literature , but ' X ' reminds me of a Greek tragedy where anyone could stop the inevitable end , but no one does . Kamui's tragic flaw is his inability to act until it is too late . Fuuma , supposedly the villain of the piece , seems to be the nobler of the two , simply because he throws himself into his role . All of the characters are disjointed archetypes , but despite all of the symbols and portents , nothing really gels . So this becomes an apocalypse in search of a cause . Harumitsu Shimuzu as put together an excellent score , which seems to capture Kamui's perpetual agonizing and the film's ambivalent perfectly . The film's theme , ' Forever Love ' by Yoshiki , is worth keeping as well . But good music and interesting artwork are not enough to overcome a skeletal plot that never moves in any direction for long . A glance at the final credits reveals that this was a production with a cast of hundreds , and perhaps that is the problem . Tragedy is best when it is not designed by committee .
      • 003 4  X is probably one of my favorite anime movies of all time . It's based on a manga of the same name by CLAMP . However the movie version tells a slightly different story than the as yet uncompleted manga ( which is currently compiled in 10 tankabon ) . The shojo animation by CLAMP and the character designs by Nobuteru Yuki are absolutely beautiful and are far better than the animation in some of CLAMP's earlier OAVs ( i.e . RG Veda and Tokyo Babylon ) . The music is also excellent with the dark and gloomy soundtrack complementing the gothic feel of X perfectly . However the movie's plot suffers from two major problems . Firstly , the plot is rather slim in comparison with the X manga , sacrificing a lot of the character interaction and backstory to fit the whole manga series onto one 90 minute video . Because of this it also suffers from the same problem as RG Veda , in that there are a few parts of the movie which are seemingly unrelated to the rest of the film . It would have been much better if X had been made into a series of OAVs instead of a single movie to preserve the manga's story in its entirety . The only other problem that I had with X was that the main character , Kamui , came off as a wimp because of his voice actor . The other characters were voiced excellently but Kamui seemed to lose a lot of resentment against his fate and because of this the feeling of angst that pervades the manga series in less evident in the movie version of X .
      • 004 4  X is a stylish , well-written and interesting manga . It's also a stoic , laughable and trite anime movie . Follow if you can . Kamui leaves his home , best friend and girlfriend in Tokyo for some inexplicable reason . A naked visage of his mother then comes to him and pulls a Mary Poppins by pulling a sword out of her stomach ( you heard me ) , and gives it to him for an equally inexplicable reason . Heck , the rest of the movie is pretty much like this , and often makes you wonder whether LSD is pretty much just pumped directly into Japan's water supply . Trying to explain the plot is quite pointless , as that doesn't even seem to be the driving force in X . Let's just say half a dozen ilicit drug-induced dream sequences and a few ultra-violent fights later , we get hit with a completely unprecedented ending . An idea that worked well in video games like Suikoden II or even episode 24 of everybody's favorite inane anime , Evangelion . . . Too bad here it makes you just wonder , Uh , is that physically possible ? Quite possibly the coolest , and therefore only redeeming part of this movie , the X music video featuring completely unreleased footage and a damn-cool song , was . . . cut out . And as some sort of final cruel joke , the English dub was apperantly specifically made to induce bleeding in the ears . Manga Entertainment's marketing sense - - not to mention human decency - astounds me . Thank goodness that's over .
      • 032 4  This was the movie I was most eagerly awaiting in 2000 , the film based on the long-running manga series by CLAMP ( Card Captor Sakura ) . Not usually known for their serious comics , many people had doubts whether or not CLAMP would succeed with X / 1999 . However , it became a great manga and among my favorites . I then had doubts about X : The Movie . My fears were realized . First of all , many volumes of intense and dramatical manga were crushed into an hour and a half of special effects and great animation . The script went wrong somewhere , because at the very beginning we are winded with an enormous amount of information that unfolded nicely in the manga . The viewer is then subjected to our main character , Kamui , being projected back and forth from dream to reality , and honestly , it didn't create the effect intended . There were so many new techniques tested in this movie , that it seemed more like an animation demo than a film . Events pass too quickly . Now , onto the good . The drawings were excellent and so were the coloring . Music was powerful but not exceptional like Yoko Kanno's works . This is the equivalent of MI2 . New techniques in filming , but a pretty dull movie ( no offense to fans of MI2 ) . Remember , this is only my personal opinion , and others may have enjoyed this movie very much . If it had been made into a long-running series with the same techniques and animation , it would be among my favorites . But , unfortunately , CLAMP opted for a 90 minute movie instead . Let's all keep our fingers crossed for an X / 1999 TV Series or OAV series to be released in the not-so-distant future . If you want to see what this movie really should have been like , read the manga by CLAMP .
      • 040 4  CLAMP , an all-female group of artists and writers , has created another semi-masterpeice . X is the Sci-fi / Horror adventure of Kamui and Fuuma who must decide the fate of the entire world . Kamui must decide between becoming a Dragon of Heaven , or a Dragon of Earth , and his best friend from childhood , Fuuma , is destined to be his enemy . The story is wonderful and the art is gorgeous , however , the movie was actually based on the X / 1999 manga that was ( I believe ) 8 volumes long . The movie was abridged to fit into the space of 90 or so minutes , so you don't get the same feel for the characters . Nonetheless , this is a worthwhile buy . The dub side isn't great ( the voices seemed a bit unenthusiastic ) , but it's worth the money if you like the artwork and don't mind the lack of character development . I give it four stars .
      • 041 4  The year 1999 is know for many things , the new millennium , Clinton making an fool of himself and tbe release of Tiburm sun for the PC . One thing that is not known about 1999 is that the city of Toyko ( Not actually happened ) was levelled in an apocalyptic battle between the dragons of earth and heaven . X is an excellent example of Manga converted to Anime like Akira but only made for the fans of the Manga and not taking into consideration . The story line is confused and even more so in the Japanese version of the anime . Although it has these downfalls X is an excellent anime and all fans should get a copy as it's religious undertones and excellent battle sequences lead to a jaw dropping results . X is an anime of the ages and the confusing story line can be forgiven because the battles and animation is close to overtaking the great Akira . If you're a fan of anime you should get this but if this is your first anime I suggest you try another one as this is for the fans and the experts .
      • 042 4  I bought this DVD with high expectations . I had read many online reviews praising the animation , and being a fan of high-quality animation , I decided to take a look . The reviwers were obviously true to their words - the animation of this movie is excellent . . . the characters move fluidly , the backgrounds are detailed and realistic , and the color is stunning . The movie is most certainly eye candy for those who enjoy top-notch animation . Sadly , as beautiful as the animation is , it cannot atone for the loss of plot and characterization in the movie . The manga's story is compressed into a 100 minute film . Details are lost . I was left in a daze when the movie ended . . . I didn't quite grasp what I had just seen . I recommend reading the manga before perchasing the DVD ( or video ) , as it explains everything with more clarity . If you don't mind the fast-moving , almost-not-even-there plot of the movie , then go for it . I don't recommend this animation for children 13 or under - - there is a lot of bloodshed , violence , and death in this movie ( if you've read the manga , then you've already witnessed the gore , but I thought that I'd mention it anyway to warn those who haven't read the manga ) . Also , fans of X keep your eyes open for the episodes ( on TV ) . I'm pretty sure that X episodes are being released in Japan this year .
      • 044 4  I'm sure you've heard this many times before , but X was originally a very long series . . . and the movie seems kinda strange on it's own . I know nothing about the series , so some things didn't seem explained well-enough . The visuals were very nice , but the whole movie was pretty much in the dark , which was somewhat annoying , although I guess it was just the atmosphere of the movie . Other than that though , the movie didn't have really any flaws . It's the story of a young man named Kamui who controls the fate of the world . It eventually just ends up as a battle of 7 on 7 . The Dragon of earth versus the dragon of heaven . These dragons are really clans . The Dragon of earth is a clan that wants armageddon , and apocolypse so that the Earth can have a fresh start . The dragon of Heaven wants to try to stop the Dragon of earth , and try to keep the same earth . Kamui sides with the dragon of heaven , so the dragon of earth is essentially the bad guys . I'm not going to spoil anymore of the story for you though . I bet that this movie would done much better if it was 2 and a half hours or something , rather than 1 hour and 40 mins . I'm sure they could've made everything much clearer for the viewer if they'd done this . I still thought the movie was very good , and had plenty of action and nice animation , but It just seemed like I didn't even have the chance to meet some of the characters before they died . There is lots of explosions , and Akira-like actions . . . where enemies use their minds to make the ground fall beneath their opponent or something of the sort . There's also a lot of blood . There're swords going through people , and heads coming off . The violence isn't gratuitous , but is fairly graphic . That would probably explain the R rating . In the end , I was very satisfied with X and thought it was a worthy effort at changing a series into a movie ( even though I never saw the series ) , but it could've used some more explaining and background information . . . and some character development . But the stunning animation and character design made up for that . . . If you like action-sci-fi type anime movies with some ninja and Akira-style fights , check this one out , you probably won't be disappointed .
      • 048 4  The film X is based off of an apocalyptic manga series . However , unlike the manga , the film focuses on the roles of Kamui , Kotori , and Fuma , and the roles they play in the Apocalypse . But this abbreviated story reduces the Dragons of the Heavens and the Earth to minor characters that the viewer never really gets to know . And since so little character development has been done for the Dragons of the Heavens and the Earth , it's hard to feel any sense of loss as each of these characters are killed off during the film . There is also very little done in the film in the way of plot development , which can make the film hard to follow if you don't already have some familiarity with the property through the manga or the X anime series that was produced several years later . The DVD contains five special features . The first is labeled , Tarot Cards . There are three sets of cards : The Seven Dragons of Heaven , The Seven Dragons of Earth , and The Dream Watchers . Under each section , you select a name , and you see a picture of a character in a tarot card , and information about the character is provided . For many of the characters in the film , you get much more of their backstories through this feature than you ever get in the film . There is a photo gallery , which is made up completely of stills from the film . The Director's Interview is twenty-three pages of text that the viewer reads through . There is also an English theatrical trailer for the film included . X is an R-rated film , and it earns this designation primarily from all the blood that's shown during the film . While there is some nudity , it is overshadowed by the blood . With this rating , I cannot recommend this film to anyone under the age of 17 . If you like blood and gore and very little in the way of plot or character development , then you might find some enjoyment in this film . However , if you prefer more substance for plot and character , or if the sight of animated blood makes you queasy , then you should avoid X .
      • 056 4  This Movie is awesome , but the rating ticks me off . R , please , lord of the rings is rated 14A and 18A , and it's live action , some things i see in this movie that deserve an R rating are seen only once or twice in this movie , yet you see similar things 4 or 5 times in Lord of the rings . anyway back to the movie . i've read some other reviews , and i have to say i'm not very pleased with them , for instance , somepeolpe say it's terrible for how some of their favourite characters die right in the beginning , others don't really explain the movie , so heres the review that will tell you what its about . The Movie X { like Escaflowne The movie } is basically a replay of the T.V . Series . It starts off with Kamui seeing his mothers death , which is very tragic , just after she tells him to return to Tokyo city and join the Dragons that will save man kind and he is the Chosen one to fight on Gods behalf . He returns to Tokyo and meets up with his beloved childhood Friend Kotori { prounounced coat tory } and her older brother { Also considered like an older brother to Kamui , thow they aren't related } Fuuma { prounounced Fu ma } Monou . all of a sudden two Dragons of Earth { Bad Guys } , Show up and try to get Kamui to go with them , Kamui refuses and the three start to fight , just as things start getting topugh for Kamui , The Dragons of Heaven { Good Guys } shopw up to help , the other two Dragons run away and Fuuma and Kotori are taken Prisoners . the Dragons of heaven Convince Kamui { thats prenounced Cam Way } to come with them to meet princess Hinoto { Hin o toe } who Kamui has seen in a dream / vision before . She reveals to him that the one who kidnapped his friends was her sister Kanui { Can a way } and that right now she iis convincing Fuuma to become a dragon of the earth . She then show kamui what will happen to hie beloved Kotori if he choses to be a dragon of the earth , she show him killing her . Kamui is furiuous , but because he loves Kotori and his mother who asked him to become a dragon of heaven , he chooses the side of Heaven . One by one the Dragons of the Earth and Heaven Die , soon only Kamui and two other dragons are alive , Kotori runs away from the Dragons of earth when Fuuma tries to take the sword of the Earth form her body , she somehow gets to Kamui's hideout and keeps running , Kamui runs for her but Fuuma catche her and kills her taking the sword that belongs to him , He kills Hinoto's sister and the other tweo Dragons of Heaven . Kamui and Fuuma remeet at Tokyo Tower . There the two Dragons fight , at first Kamui tries to convince Fuuma that he is Fuuma and Not Fuuma , but Fuuma clams his old self to be dead . Kamui has no other choice but to fight , he calls forth the sword of heaven and with one final slash . sorry you'll have to watch the movie to see who wins . hope this wasn't too much of a good review , and hope this didn't spoil anything , just to let you know a few of the things i said in this review are somewhat false , and i didn't mention a couple of good things . Hope you get this movie , it's really good .
      • 063 4  Being my first wave of CLAMP animation , this nearly broke my nose when it blew me back . The animation was beautiful , and although the plot was a bit rickety and the voicing could have been better , the visuals easily make up for the loss in those . And , of course , being the X-Japan fan I am , Forever Love as the ending theme was a huge treat . . .
      • 064 4  I don't have the DVD for this anime , but I have seen the anime itself a couple of times . Hey c'mon now , the anime's DVD features isn't what's important here , but rather , the anime itself overall . What can we say about , X ? I'd say , it's definitely not for the discretion of the weak . Everything in this anime is geared towards adults . The story-telling , the character personas and the art / scene portrayals . This is one animation that is truly sadistic and depressive . . . in a great point of concept and perspective . It's just like watching your favorite day-to-day soap opera or a full-length romance film , only it adds a sinister twisted elements of betrayal , agony and violence . X , tells the story about a young boy who must decide the fate of Earth and of humans ; He could either destroy it , or spare and save this corrupted world . Kamui Shirou , the protagonist , has been away and hasn't seen the only 2 people ( and closefriends ) he ever cares about for 6 years . He made a promise to protect and love them no matter what through eternity . And just who are these 2 individuals Kamui loves ? Fuuma and Kotori Monou , 2 siblings who has known Kamui ever since they were little kids . 6 yrs . later , Kamui returns to Tokyo to fulfill his destiny and to prepare for this menacing threat he was foretold about . But that's not the worst part of it . . . For Kamui Shirou , it's himself . It's his soul's matter of ' fate vs . faith ' , being thorned apart by his own will and destiny . . . leading to his eventual loneliness in the end . Along with Kamui are these other psionic characters who also wields the vigorous potentials of psychokenesis , being able to come into people's mind and their dreams , freezing time and so fort . Definitely cool and unique fictional characters with super-unatural powers . The movie version from my opinion , only summarizes what the anime's storyline / plot is really about . But there's a few missing puzzles there and you can only understand it by watching the television series ( X / 1999 ) including characters not in the movie and an even more detailed story . The movie isn't that bad , except maybe for the bad English-dubbing part ?
      • 076 4  . . But then I never read the 30 + volume manga series , so as someone who never read X the manga , I liked the artwork and the action sequences in the movie enough to give it a good review . I've seen much worse ( cardcraptors and pokepuke to name a few ) .
      • 081 4  A wonderful movie if you're a fan of anime . But be forewarned , if you don't know X ( either the manga by CLAMP or the TV series ) then you're going to be a bit lost . They only had a certain amount of time to fit in the characters and , unfortunately , that doesn't leave much room for you to grow to care for them ( unless you already know them ) . However , the artwork is visually stunning and if you know the whole story from other sources it makes the movie much more enjoyable . I'd do a small bit of research on the manga and the characters before watching the movie . And a word of advice - - if at all possible , do not watch the dubbed . Whoever it was they chose to do Kamui's voice would be better suited to play in an episode of Speed Racer . None of the voices matched the characters , in my opinion .
      • 082 4  Let me make something perfectly clear : I love X the manga . It's a bit long , true , but compelling and beautifully drawn , and you can't help loving the characters . It's a real pity those same characters don't make much of an appearance in the movie . Oh , sure , they have the same faces and names , but sometimes that seems to be about it . But that's not the worst . The worst is that the movie makes * no sense at all , * and like I said , I've read the manga . From the inexplicable battle between Subaru and Seishirou in the very beginning to the big showdown between Kamui and Fuuma at the end ( which is set off by , of all things , saxophone music ) , this movie is one long exercise in What on EARTH ? I pity the fool who tries to learn about X from the movie ! I pity the fool ! Having said that , it is good for a few laughs , although I'm sure that's not what the writers intended . It's so horrible you won't be able to keep from making fun of it . Thank God CLAMP has said this isn't canon for the manga . . .
      • 105 4  This movie did not fulfill my expectations . X is a paradigm example of anime : nice art , nice concepts , bad story telling . X's plot resembles a mere plot proposal : a structure but no originality , no character development , and no literary complexity . I felt like I was watching a video game laden with bad one-liners ( eg . An impressive force shield , but is it really necessary ? ) The opening scene revealed some potential ( although it was soaked in Freudian metaphors ) , but the story went downhill from there . If you're an anime fan because of violence and nudity then this film is for you . If you're an anime fan because the first anime you watched was something like Akira , then this is not for you .
      • 106 4  i'm a big fan of CLAMP's work , especially X . so i've read all 15 volumes released so far , know the characters in detail , and came prepared in general to see the movie . i knew they'd have to sacrifice a lot of the plot to fit the time constraints , and i knew enough to fill in the sketchily-drawn characters . so i was free to enjoy the epic series of gorgeously rendered battles that unfolded . . . and able to feel genuinely sad as characters died . because i felt i understood them , they had meaning to me that they wouldn't have to the casual viewer . and it didn't matter that the movie didn't stand on its own . just to see the incredible detail in characters , in backgrounds , in incidental movement was enough reason to watch . five years after its creation , the movie's artwork still is almost unsurpassed in my opinion . ^ _ ^ it has severe weaknesses . it wasn't made for people not already familiar with the characters . but from where i sit , it's a fabulous movie .
      • 117 4  X the Movie is a very nice and great movie eventhough a bit violent.The first time I looked at the VHS cover and read the synopsis I knew that it's one good anime movie.The story is a bit like Wedding Peach and Sailormoon but more serious and more violence . . . . well at least to my point of view . I just love watching Earth and Heaven Dragons fighting with all their strange powers . . . such as the swords came out from body , ribbon flying . . . the best one coz it reminds me to chinese movie and etc.And the special part is that they don ; t even have to transform like Sailormoon to fight .24 hours prepared for a fight . To anime fans who can accept complex and a little bit confusing movie , this one is a must for you guys ! ! ! !
      • 125 4  I rented this movie last week , just to see how it looked and sounded on DVD . I picked up the cover and thought Whoah cool ! A movie made out of one of my favorite mangas ! . X ( X / 1999 ) is one of Clamp's best mangas to date and I was hoping that the movie version would do the manga enough justice . Unfortuantely , it didn't . And now that I've seen the film in it's entirety , I kinda wish I didn't waste the $ [ money ] I payed to rent this garbage . I didn't know an anime movie could really [ be ] this bad ~ _ ~ . * Never judge a film by it's poster * will have to be my slogan for now on . I was really disappointed by the time I got finished with about half of the movie . It was moving at the pace of a snail . I groaned at the fact that I had about another 30 minutes to go . As the movie went on though , it did get better . But overall the movie [ stinks ] . However , the film does have it's good points . The video quality on the DVD is just superb though . Every visual aspect of this film is excellent . The animation , fight scenes , and backrounds are all lush , complex , and filled with color . The score for the film is effectic but forgetable . The dub is absolutely horrible , but the sub is decent and actually has some occasional good diolauge . The main thing that really made me cringe though , was the movie's plot . The plot itself is okay , but the way it's executed just totally blows . As mentioned in previous reviews on this site , you have this epic battle for the destiny of the Earth between the Dragons of the Heavens and the Dragons of the Earth . Our hero , Kamui , barely does anything in the movie besides dose off and have trippy ( but nicely animated ) dream sequences about Kotori dieing in some gruesome manner or just the future in general . Kamui doesn't actually * do * anything until the last 30 minutes of the movie , right after Fuuma pulls that sword out of Kotori . He doesn't seem to care about the fate of the city either , even though he was warned in a dream sequence of how it would end up if the Dragons of the Heavens failed . He looked concerned then . I suppose protecting Kotori and Fuuma is more important ? He can't even do that , the dumb [ bell ] ! Kamui's allies also have the most horrible tactics and battle strategies ever . It just doesn't even seem as if they know that a battle for the fate of the world is brewing up . Everytime one of their numbers dies , the remaing guy just weeps uncontrollably ( leaving him / herself totally open ) or just tries to assist . About half of the movie's heroes die in the first 30 minutes of the movie also . I could barely remember any of the guys ' names before they died ! I mean , aren't these Dragons supposed to be highly skilled ? I could do better than these idiots . There are also the horrible plot devices . Like in cheesy horror movies , people just stand around instead of running away . Also , what was the point of Satsuki and her mega-computer ? Was there really a point to that ? I also didn't like how they introduced the characters . They did all in just one big clump where everyone was introduced at the same time . One of my favorite characters in the manga , Subaru , was killed within the first five minutes of the movie as well ! Hopefully the new TV series won't be as wretched as this film . I'd rather go straight to hell than watch 26 episodes of this !
      • 130 4  I knew bad anime existed out there , and that one day I would be unfortunate enough to come across it . That day arrived when I foolishly rented X on DVD . Is there a plot somewhere in this piecemeal mish-mash ? I looked hard and came up emtpy handed . The movie suffers from far too many characters that are utterly insignificant and weak . The dragons of heaven die off like doughboys in the wrong trench , without a thought given to their character development . Once the dragons of earth start dying , the movie just becomes laughably bad . At least the action sequences are half-decent , but they dont even deserve to be compared with the edge-of-your-seat battles in Neon Genesis : Evangelion . To conclude ? This is a terrible anime that wastes any scrap of potential and flat-out bores it's viewer . Stay far away !
      • 136 4  A very Beautiful , sexy animated movie wih blood wrencing seens . A classy but confusing story . but I watch it once and I love it ! But not the beggining though ! I wouldn't like it if I haven't read any of Clamps X / 1999 comics to keep my hope up for it ! It's great and bloody buy it ! ! ! ! ! Very tragic too . . .

    • 134 4  At first , I was determined to enjoy this movie despite the obvious handicap of it being dubbed ( I'm a subtitles fan ) . And , at first , I did . The CLAMP style is beautiful , the story stands ( despite the fact that I haven't read the manga ) and it's very neat in general . But , OH , Kami-sama . THE DUB . IT WAS SO BAD . In fact , it's the only reason this movie lost 3 stars from me ! This is the sort of movie that explains why some people hate dubs - me included , now that I've seen this ! I was actually starting not to care about whether my anime was subbed or dubbed . Then I watched this horrible display of Western incompetence . Constant mispronunciation of Japanese names abounds ; bad voice acting is only one of the problems this dub has . From reading the reviews of this movie ( remember , I haven't read the manga ! ! If I have my facts wrong , please don't get mad ! ! ) , I'm even more disappointed with the dub because it seems ( as is my understanding ) that Kamui and Fuuma , the two main characters in the X movie , are in a yaoi relationship in the original version ; whereas in the dub , they are merely childhood friends battling over Kotori , among other things . This reminds me very strongly of the surgery that anime recieves before it airs on American TV . Apparently , CHILDREN in Japan can handle lesbians on Sailor Moon ( Haruka and Michiru ! They're so wonderful ! ) , but American ADULTS cannot handle homosexual men in a rated-R dubbed animation film ? The Haruka-Michiru relationship in Sailor Moon is similarly downplayed here in the West . In the American TV version , they're cousins . I say we shouldn't let our movie anime fare be reduced to the caliber of the dumbed-down anime TV they show in the US just because producers feel they have the ability to do so in a dub . If you can find it , watch the movie X - but ONLY with subtitles , if you value your intelligence .
      • 012 4  This movie is a waste of your time . I saw X in the theater and was horrified by the bad dubbing . The series is a much better pick . You get to know the characters more and the story is more interesting . Trying to cram so much info ( or leaving lots out , whichever you prefer ) in two hours was a waste of money and time .
      • 061 4  Simply put , you had to have seen the series ( X ) to understand what is going on in the movie ; or rather you had to have seen the series to appreciate what the movie is about . I had the unfortunate experience of seeing this movie before watching the series . I felt it was extremely corny and it didn't explain much of the action that happened .

    • 140 4  I've seen this movie subbed and I don't know why everybody seems to dislike it so much . They've complained that the storyline is too hard to understand . Well , I have no idea what you guys are talking about ! I saw this movie without the slightest idea what was going on , and by the end , I had figured everything out . The story's easy to understand , come on ! Don't know what the fuss is about . Anyway , I love this movie ! The animation is the best , and the acting is great . Every movement and action was carefully coordinated so the characters had a sense of being real . Facial expressions were perfect to fit the mood , and the way these actors / actress can express so much in one little world is utterly amazing . This movie kept me intrigued to the end . I don't know about everybody else , but this is definately one of the best movies I have seen ( but if you don't like sad endings , be warned ! ) .
      • 097 4  horrendous . this is a glaring example of why any Manga that lasts over 100 pages should be made into a series and not a movie ( Akira nonwithstanding ) . you can see that the characters all have traits and personalities , but we dont get a chance to really know any of them before they are all promptly killed off . and yes , i do mean ALL killed off . one , count em , one main character survives this convoluted debacle . i cant wait to see what they do with the series , cause they certainly cant do any worse .
      • 100 4  I have watched this movie 3 times , and there is a lot that I still don't understand . If you're familliar with anime , think Akira for comprable complexity . However , I own it for one simple reason : the imagery . The animation is good ( though not the best I've seen ) , but the imagery in many of the scenes is absolutely spectacular . Things that happen , or appear to happen , have very deep meaning beyond simply what they show . This all feeds into the overriding Good vs . Evil and Man vs . Nature themes within this movie . I would give specific examples , but I don't want to spoil too much . However , I can say within the first 5 minutes you will see what I mean . Definately worth a rent , probably worth the buy .

    • 143 4  There's a lot of bad reviews for this movie , but I have to disagree with all of them . The movie is better than the series , way better and way cheaper too . Spend $30 or spend $210 on the series . The series follows the movie anyway . Plus the movie is drawn and animated better . At first , I thought the movie was a little weird , but soon I liked it , in fact I love it now . The music is great , too bad I can't say the same for the series . The ending song is soooo sad . So buy X the movie instead of the series , because it is way better .
      • 121 4  i really loved this movie ! . . . the drawing was so beautiful . . i dont know why most of viewers didnt like it . . its the best one ive seen till now . . but i didnt like the ending that much . . i wanted it to last for more and with less charectors dying in it . . but still . . it was so brilliant
      • 132 4  I think that X is a kick azz movie because of the fighting , gore , adult language , and the adult parts.When I showed it to my friend he really didn't care about it but when he saw it he said it kicked azz and now he is now liking animated movies , and is now starting to buy X . I recremend this for 13 and up because of the gore , violence , the language , and the naked parts .

    • DO NOT WATCH THIS WITH THE ENGLISH DUB ! ! ! I saw it twice in japanese and understood everything . Then I saw it once in english and I was totally lost . Everything is different in English ! The brief moments of humor - gone . The tragic element of impending doom - completely missing . Any sense of compassion or sympathy for Kamui , Fuma or Kotori - simply not there . But rest assured that in their places we find a ) bad acting b ) a lot of words and pointless explanations that were NOT in the original version c ) Some of the most incredibly stupid translations and pronounciations of names . People said Kotori and I thougt they were talking about cutlery . And somehow they made Kamui sound exactly like Kanoe My favorite moment in the english version is when Kotori cuts her hand on the magic rain and as she starts bleeding Fuma brilliantly points out You're hurt ! . In the Japanese version he says nothing . So , anyhoodelidoodely : my review I like it . The anmation is great . The interaction between the good guys ( however brief ) lets us know exactly what they're like and what the chemistry between them is like . The two bad guys ( the one who control water and the one who has that long scarf thingy - I forget their names ) are sooooo cool . I only subtracted a star because I would have prefered to see less people die from suicide / selfdestruct / two for one kind of thing where both fighters perish together . The best deaths are the individual ones . And while the end is no surprise I love it . It's short , sweet , to the point and completely inevitable . The whole movie plays out like a greek tragedy . Their destinies foretold the brave warriors try to alter fate but find in doing so they actually end up making it happen . Great stuff . Yes , Tragic but great . Everything can't be a Disney cartoon ! And don't worry about not understanding the plot . Anyone who knows anything about anime should catch on to the storyline pretty quickly . It's quite straight forward and should certainly not stop anyone from enjoying this fine piece of work and its gorgeus art and stunning animation . But in JAPANESE for God's sake !
      • 006 4  This is based off the X / 1999 manga series . I tried reading those and they not only made little sense , but ultimatly left me in state of bordem . However this anime compiles the mangas into one feature length movie that is very good , and well worth the price . The story revolves around a boy who returns to tokyo to protect his two friends from childhood . His mother is dead ( in a very gruesome manner ) and he si destined to become one of two dragons , the dragons of heaven ( white ) or the dragon of Earth ( red ) . the dragons of heaven want to save mankind while the dragons of earht want to destroy them . Neither one is really a villian because both have their good and bad qualites . Each also has a good argument for their cause . However there is piece of the puzzle left out , and that would be that the boy has a double that would counter his every move , and take up the other form . As you probably have seen by other reviews this recieved average at best . Chances are is that those critics have read the mangas or are die hard fans of the Mangas . However lsten to me when I say that it doesn't matter if read the mangas or not , this is an excellent tale that should be seen by anime fans world wide .
      • 007 4  An interesting question X tries to answer . Before I start my review here's a little warning : DO NOT WATCH THIS WITH THE ENGLISH DUB ! ! ! I saw it twice in japanese and understood everything . Then I saw it once in english and I was totally lost . Everything is different in English ! The brief moments of humor - gone . The tragic element of impending doom - completely missing . Any sense of compassion or sympathy for Kamui , Fuma or Kotori - simply not there . But rest assured that in their places we find a ) bad acting b ) a lot of words and pointless explanations that were NOT in the original version c ) Some of the most incredibly stupid translations and pronounciations of names . People said Kotori and I thougt they were talking about cutlery . And somehow they made Kamui sound exactly like Kanoe My favorite moment in the english version is when Kotori cuts her hand on the magic rain and as she starts bleeding Fuma brilliantly points out You're hurt ! . In the Japanese version he says nothing . So , anyhoodelidoodely : my review I like it . The anmation is great . The interaction between the good guys ( however brief ) lets us know exactly what they're like and what the chemistry between them is like . The two bad guys ( the one who control water and the one who has that long scarf thingy - I forget their names ) are sooooo cool . I only subtracted a star because I would have prefered to see less people die from suicide / selfdestruct / two for one kind of thing where both fighters perish together . The best deaths are the individual ones . And while the end is no surprise I love it . It's short , sweet , to the point and completely inevitable . The whole movie plays out like a greek tragedy . Their destinies foretold the brave warriors try to alter fate but find in doing so they actually end up making it happen . Great stuff . Yes , Tragic but great . Everything can't be a Disney cartoon ! And don't worry about not understanding the plot . Anyone who knows anything about anime should catch on to the storyline pretty quickly . It's quite straight forward and should certainly not stop anyone from enjoying this fine piece of work and its gorgeus art and stunning animation . But in JAPANESE for God's sake !
      • 018 4  I saw this after seeing hte X Series , and from the look of the naimation , how some things differ from this to the series , I believe this is what X the series was based on . The ending is different , and some of the characters have changed slightly , even parts of ths story have changed a bit . The overall feeling of this movie , however , left me feeling disappointed . It ended so suddenly and seemed too quick for the seriousness of what this is based around . This was released a year before the first X series DVD was released , which leads me to believe X the series ws a result of this to deepen the story where this one lacked it . I was disappointed with how this seemed to be rushing through everything to get to the final ending which was lacking . Exciting none the less , it is sitll X , which I greatly enjoy , however never plan to see this again , once was more than enough to compare the series to this .
      • 019 4  This movie was a spur of the moment buy for me , as a lot of things i buy , but i went blind into this movie . This is sometimes the best way to go though . I have mixed feelings towards this movie . For example , the animation was amazing and really well drawn out , but the plot ( if you could call it that ) all happened so fast . Don't get me wrong , i mean i still gave it 3 stars . I guess it just wasn't my cup of tea and i came on here to give my opinion . Use it as you wish , if you havn't seen it , check it out . If you have , use your money on one of three manga movies : AKIRA , Perfect Blue , Ghost In The Shell . X might rate in the top 20 though .
      • 037 4  This movie is a fantasy masterpiece . The animation is perfect , the character desing is great , the story is cool , the action is awesome and the graphics are also perfect ! ! ! I know that there are many bad reviews about this anime and the main reason is that is not loyal to the manga and the prequel Tokio Babylon . I didn't watched the tv serie , the manga and the prequel and now I am NOT INTERESTED because I don't want to hate this masterpiece . DON'T WATCH this movie unless you don't know anything about X ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! IMPORTANT FACT : This movie is NOT action-packed ! ! ! ! ! If you liked Akira and Princess Mononoke then maybe you will love this one . But if you are searching for animes like Ninja Scroll , Dragonball , Black Lion and Yuyo Hakusho then you will hate it , but don't worry ! ! this anime is NOT THAT SLOW as Ghost in the Shell and Perfect Blue . ADIOS !
      • 054 4  This manga is the first movie that i've watched in my life . On the other reviews i don't have anthing to complain , i'ts their rating . I was so impressed with the animation that i must buy the Dvd . I don't know how the english translation made this movie ( or have changed their soundtrack ) ( because I've watched the german syncrhronization of this movie ) I could admit that for the people who are watching this movie for the first time , is going to be a little complicated.The characters dying in the movie ( and you couldn't even remember their names ! ! ! ) . For the full explanation of this movie that was not explaned you should watch the X - Series , that tells you the story that wasn't shown in the movie . About going deeper in the lives of the heaven and earth dragons before they even knew that they are involved in the battle that will decide the faith of the world in the city of Tokyo . . . In the series everthing is happening for about a month , but in the movie everything has ended less than 24 hours ! ! ! Great movie ! ! ! Don't miss ! ! ! P.S . I recommend to watch the prequel to X - The movie ( first watch X ) Tokyo Babylon about Subaru Sumeragi that investigates the mysterious murders in Tokyo . . . I can't wait to watch it ! ! !
      • 070 4  This movie has beautiful art , but lacks any character development , an understandable plot , and a satisfying ending . Apparently , the author wasn't even finished writing the manga before this movie was published . The ending was so abrupt and horribly done , I was left staring dumbly at the tv as the ending credits rolled by . A RAY OF HOPE ! ! ! ! The official Pioneer Animation site . . . has announced it will be releasing the first volume of the X TV Series in the fall ! ! I have seen most of this series already ( including the ending ) and I am itching to get my hands on it . Very well done , beautiful art , character development , and a satisfying ending ! ! Save your money for this series .
      • 102 4  Now , I love anime . I love CLAMP . I love X . The REAL X , mind you . The manga . Or , now , even the anime series , although even IT has it's flaws . The main problem here ? Everything . Except the art and music . The art and music are lovely . I could go on and on , but Whitney at ' What The Thunder Said ' puts it all best . Now , for my own opinions , I think that if you REALLY wanna see this , DON'T buy it . Find a friend with it , or a fansub , or a hong kong pirate . ANYTHING . Do NOT buy it . It's a waste of money on a disappointing movie . And if you're really deperate to see Kamui animated , then find the CLAMP in Wonderland music video , or get your hands on some X TV series episodes . They do the masterpiece that is X a LOT better justice than this thing ever will . And for people that actually enjoyed this . . . I have nothing but the largest feeling of pity growing in my stomach . I don't know . If you like this movie , there's some dubbed Dragon Ball Z episodes elsewhere on this site . You'd like them too .
      • 120 4  Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh , to quote a character from a popular animated show , Worst movie ever . Before I talk about how awful this movie was I tell you what's good , beautiful artwork and design , in-fact if your an art student your the only person I might reccomend getting this because of the great artwork . Now onto the bad , where to start . . . . . . ahh yes , a plot , which X tries to have but ends up failing . There are two groups , the Dragons of Earth and The Dragons of Heaven , The Earth dragons want to destroy Earth to restore it back to how it was before we evil humans ravaged it and the Heaven Dragons want to protect us for Earth Dragons . Inbetween it all is a boy named Kamui who doesn't know what the hell is going on . He came back to town to protect his friends but , ends up joining the Heaven Dragons , too bad one of friends , Fuma , is swayed by the Earth Dragons and becomes the all powerful ulta-enemy , Kamui has to face at the end of the movie . As the movie drags on you feel like the writer was checking off a shopping list , Alright he killed him , now he dies , then him , then her . . . . And that how it goes until we get to great big battle , that they been vamping the entire time , and IT ONLY LAST ABOUT 30 seconds ! That's right it's an anti-climatic ending that makes you wanna put your foot through your television . Don't even get this movie to see how bad it is , just run ! Run fast and far away from X .

    • P ) . WHERE THE MOVIE SUFFERED THE MOST - - - - - - - - 1 ) The gradual build of suspense . . . it isn't quite there . The movie is a 2 hour rush of 12 + ( graphic novel ) issues . The pace of the movie has a few slow scenes where some of the emotion and symbology are shown , and then rushes through other scenes ( some combat scene's that's expected , but they don't leave you time to think during some of the more intellectual momements ) . 2 ) Character developement . The cast of characters is enormous . Excluding one or two small differences , the characters in the movie are essentially the same as the ones in the manga . In the movie you are introduced to them in bunches and too rapidly to form any kind of attachment or understanding of them . Only one or two key traces of their personality shine through , but that's not enough to make you really feel for the good guys . In the manga , there is more than enough time to see the humor , sadness , and profound impact of the potential future within the characters expressions and interactions . Sorata is extremley charasmatic and funny , but other than one or two quick-witted comments , you don't see that in the movie . - - - - - - - WHAT THE MANGA SUFFERS FROM - - - - - It's a bit too drawn out . As much as I love any forms of symbology ( which they were all well done ) , they are repeated too many times . Instead of balancing the repetitive symbology with weight according to its depth / importance , the symbology for most everything is repeated so much it numbs you to the stories depth . This is especially with Kamui , and Fuuma . The foreshadowing is almost as blindingly apparent in the manga as in the comic . The storyline had some heavy overtones , but with this foreshadowing they take away some of the impact of Kamui and Fuuma's situation . Other than that , I love the manga ( and its Kabbalistic comparisons & allusions ) . I also own every issue released here in the US . Lastly . . . . . I RECOMMEND THE MANGA . HOWEVER IF YOU LOVE ANIME , WAIT UNTIL THE OVA IS RELEASED IN THE US . I only recommend buying the movie for die-hard Clamp fans , or X fans .
      • 038 4  INTRO : When I first bought this DVD , I was kinda ' diving into a show that I had not read the manga of , and I half and half regret and am thankful for that . The reasons why are : - - Regret : I didn't get to hear the whole backstory and learn about the whole plot before hand . - - Thankful : I'm glad I didn't get attached to the characters who died in this as much as I already did . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - DVD : To start , the DVD itself is average . Nothing too special . Has bios and some trailers and such . I can't complain but can't praise it either . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - STORY / PLOT : The movie ( and series ) seems extremely well-done . Usually I don't mind these types of shows ( severely depressing ) . Its just this one seemed to go a little bit too far . Which isn't totally bad , its kinda ' a twist from the normal Hero saves princess routine . I would watch it a few times actually . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - OVERALL : I know this isn't the main review to read . You should obviously read someone else's review before mine ( or after ) . The only advice I can give is that you should probably see the manga first since its far better from the many Otaku I've heard from . Second , if you are hardcore into this series , you might want to check out the TV version that is coming out . It details the events before this movie ( the final chapter in the series ) and gives the lengthy manga new light .
      • 101 4  I saw X first on a fansub , then I saw it on the big screen ( in English ) when it was released in the US . ANIMATION - - - - - - Overall , I loved the detail , motion , and setting . It was elegentaly done and very realistic . Most of the symbolic imagery was handled fairly well . Unfortunatley the manga goes into a bit more detail , or better handles some of the symbolic imagery . For animation however , it was the best the animators could have done . TRANSLATION - - - - - - ( Subtitle vs . English ) The subtitling I felt was closer to how the manga was written . However , it only gave you enough detail to progress the story in the movie . A lot of little details were left out . The english version is a bit more basic , and I think anyone of the age 13 + could easily understand it . ( It was TOO basic , and almost treated the audience like they were dumb ) STORYLINE - - - - - - - - - - - The manga's ending hasn't yet been revealed in the American released comics . However , the basic underlying storyline is the same for both . A young teenage boy is chosen ( by fate perhaps ) to become the one who will decide the future of the earth . The future can follow two paths , the path where mankind is dominant ( yet does not overstep his boundaries by destroying the earth ) , or where earth tries to reclaim herself ( man is removed through the picture through certain events ) . The outcome in the movie was pretty quick , and brutal ( I'm not saying which one it is : P ) . WHERE THE MOVIE SUFFERED THE MOST - - - - - - - - 1 ) The gradual build of suspense . . . it isn't quite there . The movie is a 2 hour rush of 12 + ( graphic novel ) issues . The pace of the movie has a few slow scenes where some of the emotion and symbology are shown , and then rushes through other scenes ( some combat scene's that's expected , but they don't leave you time to think during some of the more intellectual momements ) . 2 ) Character developement . The cast of characters is enormous . Excluding one or two small differences , the characters in the movie are essentially the same as the ones in the manga . In the movie you are introduced to them in bunches and too rapidly to form any kind of attachment or understanding of them . Only one or two key traces of their personality shine through , but that's not enough to make you really feel for the good guys . In the manga , there is more than enough time to see the humor , sadness , and profound impact of the potential future within the characters expressions and interactions . Sorata is extremley charasmatic and funny , but other than one or two quick-witted comments , you don't see that in the movie . - - - - - - - WHAT THE MANGA SUFFERS FROM - - - - - It's a bit too drawn out . As much as I love any forms of symbology ( which they were all well done ) , they are repeated too many times . Instead of balancing the repetitive symbology with weight according to its depth / importance , the symbology for most everything is repeated so much it numbs you to the stories depth . This is especially with Kamui , and Fuuma . The foreshadowing is almost as blindingly apparent in the manga as in the comic . The storyline had some heavy overtones , but with this foreshadowing they take away some of the impact of Kamui and Fuuma's situation . Other than that , I love the manga ( and its Kabbalistic comparisons & allusions ) . I also own every issue released here in the US . Lastly . . . . . I RECOMMEND THE MANGA . HOWEVER IF YOU LOVE ANIME , WAIT UNTIL THE OVA IS RELEASED IN THE US . I only recommend buying the movie for die-hard Clamp fans , or X fans .
      • 141 4  The animation and storyline held such promise , but the plot just got so BORING : read SLOW and Melodramatic . Some of the cheesy lines pierced my very being and left irreperable damage . PLEASE , for your sake , do NOT buy this movie ! I might even recommend not wasting your time even RENTING this movie its THAT BAD .
      • 146 4  WELL , THE BAD THING ABOUT THIS MOVIE IS THAT IT IS WAY TO SLOW . YOU CAN'T WONDER WHY THE WASTE SO MUCH TAPE FOR SO MUCH STUPID THINGS . YOU WON'T SEE ANY ACTION UP TO THE FINAL 20 MINUTES , AND FOR A MANGA MOVIE IT LACKS GORE AND NUDITY . DONT MIND THE NUDITY ( WHICH IS KIND OF STUPID FOR AN ANIME ) , BUT THE GORE , WHERE THE GORE WENT ? IF YOU ARE NOT A ANIME FAN , DONT START WITH THIS , RENT IT AND IF YOU LIKE IT , THEN BUY IT .

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