Karneval: The Complete Series

KARNEVAL:
While searching for a lost friend, Nai has found himself in the clutches of Lady Mine, a very strange woman who he has no idea why she would hold him captive. His only clue to finding his friend is a bracelet that he wears, one that Lady Mine knows belongs to the Circus. Before she can get the information she wants from Nai, a large explosion rocks Lady Mine's mansion, sending her on a search to find out what the cause of the explosion is. With Lady Mine and the guards distracted, Gareki takes advantage of his distraction to find anything of value he can steal. Finding instead, a bound Nai who will gladly trade Gareki his bracelet that might be worth a lot just so he can have his freedom. Freeing Nai, the two quickly become criminals being hunted down by the military and on the run.

COMPLETE SERIES:
This is one messed up and confusing manga/animation that I've seen in a while. From the start of Karneval I was sitting there wondering what exactly was going on. There's so many different plot lines going on that I don't think there is an actual core plot. This show opens with introducing the main characters but what it don't do is give any sort of answer to how Nai was caught, what exactly is Lady Mine, how does she go from woman to that very freaky looking monster, and what's with the Circus.

I really had no clue what was really going on in this show, other than the character Nai was looking for someone, that bracelet he wears as a clue is also something that has powers, there's a group called Circus that seems to fight crime but because they are so forceful and scare everyone, they put on a circus act after a raid, and then there's the group that does genetic research as well as one group of humans and animals that have special powers. There's way too much going on in this show, especially with it only being 13 episodes, I never get a good grasp as to the point of the show and each episodes plot. As far as I could tell all this show is are some people fighting other people, they do some special moves, there are normal people (if you can call them that), some people with powers, and one really freaky, long armed woman that I didn't like at all. There's a lot of characters in this show but oddly enough there mainly all males. There are some female characters, however, with one being Lady Mine who turns into one scarey, freaky looking monster woman, this show really has very few female characters.

That's just another part of this show that I didn't understand why it was that way. However, one thing that I was able to understand is the language. Even though this is a Japanese animation, they have put in English voice overs that are clear and precise on what's being said. Which for me I was glad because by the time the third episode was half way over I realized how if I had to read the dialog I would have never understood what little I do get. At this point I think my confusion is stated, but to put a period on that confusion, this show ends with no real answer to what's happening in the show. I don't know if they thought the show was going to get picked up for a second season so they left the ending open but whatever reason there is for having it end this way, it only makes the confusion more concrete.

BLU RAY:
Yeah, I didn't understand the so called plots of this show, what I do know though is that this show looks really good. There's some really nice, sharp looking artwork being used on this show, it's confusing sure, there's always something going on that makes me wonder if I had missed something in the previous scene, but the art is sharp and nice. On a Blu Ray though, this show looks really sharp with some bright vibrant coloring and clear, crisp sound levels. The colors are vibrant and the artwork is stellar with sharp lines and a lot of detail. One feature of this set is that it comes with both Blu Ray and DVD discs so you can watch either version of them if you have it. Though if you have a Blu Ray player I would recommend you watch the Blu Ray version just to get the great colors, details, and audio the Blu Ray offers.