Supernatural: The Anime Series (DVD)

I am a 61 year old fan of the live action Supernatural TV series. Before now, I've never watched anything other than a few bits of anime so I bought this series with a little trepidation. However, it was well worth the money. If you aren't familiar with anime it is similar to watching comic book scenes in a 3D format (very simplistic description). However, this anime was so much more. It is stylized and artistic, with both bold and subtle uses of hard lines, color, and especially shadows. The characters are also fully developed. I haven't watched all of the episodes yet, but the ones that I have seen were very well done, artistic, yet easy to watch, and with very good writing. The episodes based on the live action series do not follow exactly along the same lines, which should keep the fan of the live action series watching and guessing. Each episode is about 30 minutes long. The new episodes seem to be well written, are in keeping with the original series even expanding on some of the characters we are already familiar with, and they also introduce some new monsters. With anime, there is more blood and obvious violence and the monsters are much more pronounced and for lack of a better description, monster-like. The special features are also well worth watching. I found the two segments on making of the anime to be fascinating. I had expected most of the anime work to be done on the computer but was surprised at how much of the initial scene development was drawn and edited using pencil and paper. Some of the feature interviews are a little hard to follow since you have to read the English subtitles, but I thought it was worth the effort, and occasionally J&J or Eric Kripke will add a comment. There are also extensive interviews (with answers in English, no subtitles) with Eric, Jensen and Jared together, and then each separately. Even with some repetition in those interviews, they were interesting and worth watching. J&J also introduce each episode, but don't expect a lot, each intro is only a few seconds long. The only disconcerting thing for me was the voice over work. Since Jensen only voiced a couple of episodes (the last two), it is a little weird at first to hear the familar voice of Sam, without the familiar voice of Dean. After watching a couple of episodes though you get used to it.

I'd call this a great alternate universe version of seasons 1 and 2. It hits on some of the key plot points, but diverges substantially in details on those and in the stories presented. The voice acting is odd. Jared Padalecki voices Sam, but Jensen Ackles doesn't play Dean, Andrew Farrar does and his voice and style are substantially different, leading to a different interpretation of the character. It's interesting, and dealing with it as AU, it's fun. We get a lot more players in the Sam as psychic storyline, which made for a richer narrative. I especially liked the way that storyline wrapped up. I'm sorry it didn't continue. It has a good ending and can stand alone, but Bobby (not voiced by Jim Beaver) at the very end points out there are more things left to be accomplished. I found it fun.

I will admit I was abit skeptical at first about them bringinning out a anime series of such a great show because sometimes when great shows get really big and well known they try to spread it out in to many formats that just ruining the whole thing. But not with the anime series I was thoroughly impressed with the story line and graphics of the series. Yes it was a play off of season one and two but their were also episodes completely based from a whole different approach as well and told more information about a few characters from the show you didnt know. I have been a fan of the live action series pretty much since day one, the story layout for each episode is great. I've also been into anime for a long time so when i heard about a anime series of the show coming I was like any anime fan. Couldnt hurt to take a peak and I was glad I did and so will you. So if your a fan of the show I would definetly try a few episodes out and if your a fan of anime give this series a tryout because after a few episodes you will want to watch the live action series. Its just that good; you will get hooked just like that.

"Supernatural: The Anime Series" is well-worth owning, believe me! I signed up with Amazon to buy it as soon as it was released and for good reason. The whole "Supernatural" (SPN) anime project is the first of its kind -- no other current, live American television show has been animated before. If you are a fan of either the live or anime entertainment genres -- or both --you will love this superb addition to your SPN collection. Season 7 of "Supernatural" will premier on September 23, 2011, over The CW Network. This Mad House-produced anime is based upon Seasons 1 and 2, and while covering the known, live-action story lines, it also contains some really great original episodes (back stories, usually), as well as some interesting variations that are surprising and enjoyable. It will carry SPN fans through the long wait for Season 7 with "style and grace," not to mention a lot of fun! The animation itself is superb in my opinion; it is a unique and special improvement on the usual Japanese anime or "manga" -- with jaw-dropping, guts-and-gore effects that are big and graphic, coupled with lyrically beautiful color, contrast, detail, and backgrounds worthy of a Hiroshige print. Jared Padalecki voices "Sam" for all 22 episodes; Jensen Ackles voices "Dean" in Episodes 21 and 22 ("All Hell Freezes Over, Parts I and II"). Andrew Farrar is "Dean" for Episodes 1 through 20, and he does a credible job. Best part is that Jensen and Jared personally introduce each episode, sometimes as a team, but most often singly. The 3-disk set contains lots of special features, but the most fun are interviews with creator Eric Kripke and with Jared and Jensen -- either singly or together. The back office work done by Mad House is also very interesting. All of the principals involved in this project are able to give full accounts of how the SPN anime project came to be and what they think of it. The special features should not be ignored. Enjoy the "Supernatural" anime; I sure did!

Supernatural is a show I've been watching since its premier and have been in love with since it hit the ground running. From the lore, to the characters, to the locations dotting our tattered map, there's little there that isn't to love. So when I heard that Supernatural would be coming in the form of an Anime series, by one of my favorite anime production companies (Madhouse), I was as close to doing backflips as I could ever manage to urge my body to. However, I think I was unrealistically hoping for a little bit more, or maybe a little different, then I actually got from the animated series. I did happen to wait a while for it to come down in price, because I'm a bit of a bargain hunter that way, but now that I've watched it a few times I'm pretty sure that I made the right choice to wait. Its not to say the Anime version of my beloved show is bad -its far from bad- its just a decidedly different spin on the mythos, characters and really the entire tone of the series. The Animation takes place within seasons 1 and 2 of the main series, with the overarching plot threads of both those seasons pretty much intact. This was a good thing for me as a fan, because I never felt lost when it came to the storyline, even if it may have been nice to have a completely different story all together. But where the plot remains the same most of the episodes are completely different, if not completely original to this series. And this brings about mixed results. Having gone back and watched the first two seasons after seeing this, you can tell which episodes were lifted from the original for the anime, and its a refreshing new coat of paint for many of them. Most, if not all, of their story and scripts seemed in tact, if a bit edited down for time and format (seeing as each episode of this is only 23 minutes or so) and the changes made to these stories are hardly the worst thing that could happen in the world. Actually, I found I liked the ending to one of the anime episodes much better then the live action series(but this result wasn't the norm across the board). Where the set really takes a spin in an irregular direction is the original episodes. These episodes generally try to flesh out story bits that we otherwise never see in the original series, like, as an example, a little more about the other "blessed" children that end up in the ghost town (which was more of a post apocalyptic cityscape here. Very, Japanese. Very Anime) fighting to survive the night and become old Yellow Eye's general, with Sam. This series also tells you a little more about what John Winchester is doing while he's avoiding the boys. All of which is a nice thing to see if it wasn't for how the tone of these original episodes didn't shift the whole feel of the show from quirky and melodramatic, to decisively, almost gut-wrenchingly, hardline dramatic. It works, but it just doesn't feel right with the Supernatural name branded on it. One episode, in which Sam and Dean head to Vegas (which is a trip mentioned in one of the episodes early on in the live action series, that we never see) adds a bit of lighthearted levity to the whole back of tricks, but feels awkward amongst everything else. The other thing that makes these original episodes stand out is the fact that, for the most part, these episodes use very Japanese centered folklore to provide an antagonist and story. This, was a bit of a double edge sword for me. In one case I liked it, because I greatly appreciate Japanese culture, specially when I have the opportunity to learn something new about it and its folklore. But in the other case, the case of watching it with someone who loves the original series as much as I do, but doesn't really know or care all that much about Japanese culture, it became a bit of a pain, because, like most things in Supernatural, the ins and outs of the lore were glossed over, but ultimately because of the time frame we're given to watch the story unfold, we're left with even half the usual understanding of the lore by the end. This raised a lot of questions from my friend, and many of which I couldn't answer, simply because I was new to that piece of folklore. Its hardly enough to jump to the conclusion and say "Don't watch the series!" but its something to keep in mind when it happens, just so you don't wrinkle your nose too hard --if anything it'll have you on google the next day. Also, I feel like it needs to be mentioned for the sake of mentioning, and it maybe a nitpick, the idea of having things VERY rooted in Japanese culture and folklore, making the very Japanese mark they do in any American setting, without the express notion that this -whatever- was carried here or drifted here from the far east, really does make these things feel out of place. I respect the need to appeal to the place where this version of the show first aired, I just wish that when it was dubbed over for American audiences they snuck in more nods to how these things might have made it state side, given that things that were generally not strictly American legend didn't really end up showing up in the live action series till about after season 5. Other then this the series takes new directions with some of the characters. You won't really recognize John Winchester or Bobby Singer (and Bobby takes a larger role it feels like, earlier on, but this maybe because of the melding of the two seasons into one whole). It doesn't hurt the series to see a change in them, but its a little hard to get used to at first. You'll recognize Dean, but if your like me you'll think they went a little too heavy on his boyish looks and not enough on the rugged side Jensen often brings. Sam, well.. Is Sam. They pretty much nailed him. Speaking of, don't expect to hear the original cast dubbing this series. The only actor from the original series who came for the full run of the anime was Jared Padalecki. Supposedly the story goes that due to scheduling conflicts Jensen Ackles couldn't voice Dean for more then two episodes. His replacement, Andrew Farrar, does a good job, but knowing it wasn't Jensen really made it stand out to me that it wasn't really Dean talking. Farrar sounds close enough, but you notice he needs time to get comfortable with it across a few of the first episodes, and he doesn't quite have down all of Jensen's inflections. You also won't realize till you hear it how much those inflections really matter to Dean's character, if you watch this against the live action series. Otherwise, to go with their new looks, characters like Bobby get totally new voices and for the most part I feel they fit the bill. Overall, this series will provide you a good could nights of entertainment if your a fan of the show, and may confuse you a little if your not-so-up on the show as is. The animation is great and the voice cast is solid, and the episodes where it fills in the blanks are a nice edition despite some of the inconsistency you might find between the tone of this series over that of the live action one. If you can manage to get it at a good price (I wouldn't pay over $25, if its fair to put such a thing in a review) you'll probably be pretty pleased with what you get.

Being a big fan of the television series I was really interested to see what they'd done with it in anime and I was not disappointed. Some of the stories are original and some are based on stories in seasons one and two. But even the ones that were based on TV episodes were done creatively and still original enough that it just felt like a deleted scenes episode or something like that. I especially enjoyed the fact that the animation allows them to expand on some of the effects of the monsters; the skinwalker and werewolf were really good and could never have been done this way without big movie budget. They also had some interesting original stories and back-stories on characters (like Meg Masters) that were great and felt like they enhanced the storyline that was already established. I would say the only things I found disappointing about it was the little things that I love about Supernatural. Seeing Dean in that quilted jacket instead of the leather was disconcerting and took away from his characterisation for me. I found myself struggling to accept the voice of Andrew Farrar as Dean not only because he didn't sound like the Jensen Ackles Dean that I have grown to love, but he just didn't hit the mark sometimes on portraying the Dean-ness of Dean. The last two episodes where Jensen does the vocals was much more satisfying and I wish he had done the entire series. But there were also times that I felt Jared was a little weak on playing Sam here as well, so I'm assuming that it was perhaps due to the director. The dialogue is at times a little cheesy as anime can be and a few times I felt like the TV Sam or Dean might not have said/done that, but it was pretty minimal. Jared and Jensen do little intros before each episode and some are awkward and even poorly filmed, so I felt like those could have been done better and really enhanced the video collection here. Overall, this kept the spirit of the television show and the animation was beautiful and definitely made this a necessary addition to any Supernatural collection. I hope they plan to continue it on and do the rest of the seasons as well.

I love the live action Supernatural show! I enjoy some anime, generally the darker stuff. The idea of turning Supernatural into an anime was, for me, a wonderful and natural idea. Being able to release the world of Supernatural from the limits of a live action budget opens so many possibilities. But, I feel it was wasted here. While it is visually powerful at times, it is not the level of stunning, awe inspiring, demonic fury that it could and should have been. It is far to vanilla, too airbrushed, too safe. This is an excellent example of popular anime but there is nothing special about it. It does not push boundaries, at all. I feel Supernatural was a rule breaker and the anime should have been as well. While this anime did not fall prey to what in my opinion kills so many others, that being heartless crap music, the music most often used was "Carry On Wayward Son". A good choice but as a diehard fan of Supernatural, that one is ONLY used for the season's climax. I am thankful that some garbage pop track was not used but that one is too special to get the use it got. That said, I do understand why someone would select that track. I just disagree with how it is used. The stories were interesting. Twelve of them are based on episodes of the live action show. I did not know it would be that many. I think six or eight would have been enough. Even the "original" stories took elements from episodes just not as much. I would have liked more new stories. Having these appear to be stories that happened in between episodes of the live action show would have been more appealing to me and I think it would have drawn anime fans to the live action show. Ok, Dean's voice...Yes, Jensen Ackles did not do most of the voice work for Dean. Yes I noticed it. I tried really hard not to dwell on it but it was very difficult to get around. I missed Jensen and having Jared Padalecki in every episode, while wonderful, only emphasized the fact that we really didn't get our favorite brothers together. Overall, this is a solid example of popular anime. It is however, not exceptional. I want something darker with more spectacular visuals.

I have to admit I was excited to hear that Supernatural was getting animated, but, at the same time, I was somewhat hesitant to watch it. I am a supernatural fan and I watch anime, but, when a live series gets converted into animation or vis versa, sometimes the elements that make the show good gets lost. Regardless, I pre-ordered the discs and found that I was pleasantly surprised. If there is one word to describe this anime series, it is dark. Not that Supernatural the TV series is supposed to be all "sunshine and roses," the animation gives a dark, eerie atmosphere. I guess it helped that animations do not have some of the limitations that performing live do. From the skin walker bursting out of human skin to fights on top of a high-story building, the animated series definitely had more freedom with the sceneries, settings, and monsters. Of course, there are some funny moments in the series too. I watched the "The Spirit of Vegas" in dubbed and Japanese English-subtitled. Personally, I thought that the Japanese version was funnier because some of the sounds that were present in the Japanese version were missing in the dubbed. Though viewers will have a richer experience watching the live supernatural series first, the animated series is not a repeat of the live series and can stand on its own. Yes, the episodes based on the live series do follow story line they are based from with some changes and, yes, it does end with "All Hell Breaks Loose," the last episode of season 2. However, with the two original episodes that introduce supernatural characters from Japanese mythology and the other original episodes and characters mixed in, the animated series could be viewed as an alternative story that follows the same core of season 1 and 2--two brothers, on the road, hunting monster while trying to find and destroy the yellow-eyed demon--and that explores the backgrounds and motivations of some characters who were not stressed in the live series. On that note, I would definitely recommend this series for anyone who wants to see side stories to the live series or just plain enjoy anime. Oh but be forewarned some of the animated versions of the characters take some getting used to (example: bobby). Hope there will be a second animated set.

though sometimes when they were remaking some original episode of an hour into 30 minutes, and that the most amazing parts of the original was chopped of, just when i think about the episode Heart of the original and what they did with it...anyway, the original episodes were really nice and gave another taste of something we hadn't seen. And when they redid one of the comic of supernatural Risins son, it was really nice! The all hell breaks loose part one and two were really nice and so gore! it was nice to see the other characters background too, we get to see the life of the military guy and from the other girl, we don't get the story of Ava and on Andy [though i liked Andy!] Anyway really nice and the effects are wonderful. I was sad to know that Jensen Ackles only did the dudding of the last two episodes, because it crashed a bit with Jared's voice that was from the begginning till the end. Dean had a higher voice then what we are used to, but you get over it quite easy! And the openings by the characters are really XD questionable though i liked them really good. There's some monster that are typically from Japan in this serie, which was really nice to see. You got to see some old guy who sucks luck from dean, and the Kappa ^^ i love Kappas

love superrnatural so decided to buy this and glad i did has it was just has good has the tv series hopefully they will make more

Loved it. Have been a fan of the show since the beginning and hope they do more of the animi series.

Supernatural is quite possibly the best show of the past 20 years, outdoing such classics as X files and Tales From the Crypt. The animated series is quite possibly the best since Spawn. Jared Padalecki dubbs the entire season, and rumor has it the entire series, which will probably run 4 seasons in itself if it blends 2 seasons of the regular show into 1. The first season blends season 1 and 2, and has Dean selling his soul to the crossroads demon in the finale. Although it lacks the groovy classic rock (which I admit I started buying the albums to the songs in this show) it does have Kansas's "Carry On Wayward Son" during each episode's end credits. A cool addition to every Supernatural collector's library.

While I loved the first three seasons of Supernatural, the Anime seemed to take off the best of the first two seasons of the live action and add something more to it as well. Although I was disappointed Dean wasn't voiced by Jensen Ackles until the last two episodes, the voice actor who took over did a pretty good job of imitating Dean's likeness. Still the new stories in the anime seem to be on par for the Supernatural theme.