Blood Reign: Curse of the Yoma
Takashi Anno, Director
1989,1998
(of 5)
If I am not mistaken, this anime is the same as Curse of the Undead: Yoma, but dubbed. Sometimes, for some reason, films change names between the dubbed and subtitled versions. For the time that the Blood Reign was made, the animation is pretty good, hailing from the same time as Akira. There are places where the art style is similar between the two except that one is future and the other is fantasy.
The story is very much dialogue based - you will miss a lot if you cannot hear what is said. There are some holes in the plot, but this is made up for by the imagery. The story focuses on traditional Yoma, or Japanese demons, and a person with the intention of disrupting their careful plots. From a visual and action perspective, I enjoyed this anime, and even from the story aspect also because I forgive the plot holes. After all, Blood Reign has one of the coolest nursery rhymes I have ever heard.
My main recommendation is to not see the preview first, or you will be somewhat disappointed in the anime itself. Just sit back and watch the movie for what it is - a cool traditional fairy tale - and don't worry about its technical details.
Copyright TLM 2000
