Halo Legends

Reviewing Halo Legends is a strange exercise, as it’s a compilation of short films, rather than one cohesive story.
Similar to the Animatrix and Batman: Gotham Knight, the compilation features seven short animated stories by several different anime studios and directors, each telling a different story about the Halo Universe.

The shorts are all animated in different styles, each indicative of their animation production studio – and the roster is pretty impressive
There’s production I.G., who made both of the Ghost In The Shell movies, Bones, who created Fullmetal Alchemist, Studio 4 degrees C who are responsible for many music videos, as well as the animation for Transformers: Animated and Spriggan, and Toei animation who are one of the largest studios in Japan, and created work such as Dragonball, Mazinger, and other well-known series. In addition, the anthology is overseen by Shinji Aramaki, who directed and created both of the recent Appleseed CGI movies.

So, the production talent is without question, that much is obvious, but the real question is really whether it’s any good or not?
With 7 different movies, all of which are about different subjects and set in different time periods in the Halo Universe, the answer is a ‘yes, but…’

Of the seven different shorts, some of them are stunning, be in in terms of animation or story, and actively add something to the background and universe of Halo as a franchise. Some are simply okay, and are somewhat forgettable, and there’s only really one which is disappointing or not very interesting.
The seven short films are:

Origins 1 & 2 -
Cortana, the AI from the Halo games, reviews the information she has learned about the Ancient Forerunner race, and the overall state of the Halo Universe to the point she and the Master Chief find herself in at the end of Halo 3.
This is a good pair of episodes, as they set in concrete a lot of information that was conjecture before, and link into dialogue in the games, firmly establishing themselves as Canon to the series. They’re also very pretty, and show a lot of exciting moments from different perspectives.

Homecoming
A female Spartan aids in the extraction of a Marine platoon, while reminiscing about an event in her early life, and comes to terms with the realities of the Spartan program

This episode has the least exciting animation, and the story seems a little slow and cliche, compared to some of the others – although it does remind you of the darker side of the Spartans

The Babysitter
A squad of ODST Helljumpers are assigned a Spartan for a special sniping mission, relegating the Team’s sniper to a backup position, much to his disgust.

This one is probably a little ‘typical’ and somewhat disapointing. The twist is somewhat obvious, and the story nothing special, but there are some exciting moments, and the animation is mostly good, with a few glaring faults.

The Package
The Master Chief and three other Spartans are assigned a time-critical mission to recover an important ‘package’ aboard a Covenant vessel in the midst of a fleet, by using small, heavily-armed ridable spacecraft.

This is sadly, the most forgettable and tedious of the group, despite being jam-packed with action, and having advanced CGI animation, and being directed by Shinji Aramaki
The characters lack any real depth, and it’s hard to care about the ones who die as a result. It’s also far more style over any real substance, and is a tad disappointing.

Prototype
A marine sergeant named Ghost must come to terms with his own humanity, as he protects a base in retreat, by using an extremely powerful prototype armoured suit.

One of the better ones, with outstanding animation, a fast-moving and exciting plot that has some genuinely interesting character moments

The Duel
At the beginning of the Sangheli (The aliens know as ‘Elites’)  induction into the Covenant in the past, a General known as ‘The Arbiter’ disagrees with their goals, and refuses to step in line. He must be made an example of, and is drawn into a trap by a scheming prophet.

The animation and overall feel of this story are reminiscent of Samurai dramas, due to the music, and a special filter applied that makes the animation appear to be a watercolour come to life. It is a beautiful piece of animation, and gives the Elites some depth and background they are sorely lacking. One of, if not the, best story in the collection. It also has moments of intense action and a little humour to boot.

Odd One Out
In this non-canon tale, Spartan ‘1337′ is accidentally dropped on a planet inhabited by dinosaurs and some abandoned children after falling out of the back of a Pelican dropship. The Covenant send their most powerful warrior, the bestial Brute named ‘Pluton’ to deal with him.

A parodical non-canon story by Toei, Odd One Out is sheer comedy all the way through, and is extremely silly, while being extremely fun. It’s a gentle ribbing of the Halo universe by way of Dragonball, and is a good addition to the other episodes.

Overall, Halo Legends won’t be of any great interest to anyone who’s not a Halo fan, and it’s those folks who’ll put out the price for the disk.
Casual fans may be interested by the extra stories and background the shorts provide, but would be better served by a rental on Xbox Live than buying the disk.
Duel and Prototype are worth a look online, rather than shelling out for the full disk or rental, and are certainly a good way to spend the ten to twenty minutes that the animation runs for.

It’s an interesting addition to the Halo fictional universe, but it’d be much greater to see a full-length animated story, and the shorts prove only that there are characters other than the Master Chief that can tell interesting stories – so somebody get cracking on it!

Tags: Anime, Halo, OAV

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