Avenger

Although it’s not the best anime ever made by a long shot, I suspect that Avenger may be one of the best values in anime in the last few years. This show rocks! It has interesting sequences to spare, beautify constructed fights and action sequences, and just the right amount of tension in the plot.

It is the future. On Mars, people live in domed colonies, with “Barbaroi” roaming the wastes between them. Layla Ashley is one of these Barbaroi, and a skilled but disturbed martial artist without any apparent equal on the planet. Resources are divided between the cities based on the results of gladiatorial combat, which makes plenty of people interested in Layla’s skills. Layla, however, seeks only revenge against the enigmatic Volk, dictator of Mars. The people of Mars have a bleak future – no children have been born in decades, and people alternately use child-sized robotic “dolls” as servants and in their place. Layla travels with a doll of special interest to Volk’s government, Nei.

Avenger is simply stunning. You can’t help but wonder what Volk’s plan is, just what he did in the past that was so horrible, and why Layla is so protective of Nei or why Volk thinks Nei is the key to the future. The animation is smooth and artful, and the music perfectly complements what’s on screen. Some of Layla’s moves reminds of Exalted charms, and I half-expect to see some sort of gold symbol appear on her forehead at any moment. Avenger loses just a few points for insisting on beating its audience over the head on some of its key points – expect to see Volk and Vespa standing around in his office, talking about how bad things are now and how it’s all their fault because the did SOMETHING wrong in the past. That said, Avenger would boring without emphasizing and re-emphasizing some of its plot points, so this is forgivable.