The Anime Review

Crimson Wolf

There are some shows that are bad, yet somehow still entertaining because of their nature. Hokuto No Ken (Fist of the North Star) stands out like this. It's a pointless show filled with wanton violence, but it's still occasionally fun to watch. Others, however, fit into another category entirely--the shows that are bad and to which no one would return. Crimson Wolf falls into this category.

To make things brief, some archaeologists fall upon the final resting place of Genghis Khan. In disturbing his slumber, they awaken a thousand year old curse. Khan warns the archaeologists that there are three people that must be killed in order to avert disaster - those marked with a wound like that of an arrow's mark shaped like a wolf. Truth be told, these are the people who can save mankind. Through a series of events, the threesome who are marked come together to fight the evil Daio, who have created this curse on humanity.

You've certainly read more detailed descriptions of movies, but that's all there is to this one, really--the plot is shoddy. There's lots of martial arts fighting, but it's not particularly exciting or engaging in comparison to other recent shows. The animation itself is bad, though the character design is nice (though pretty by-the-numbers). Another mark of a bad show--one of the Crimson Wolves is a woman who is nude more often than not throughout the show. There's a pretty intense sex scene, but what makes it laughable is that the two barely know each other - it's just there for explotation. So many cliches fly through this thing, it's a wonder it didn't collapse entirely. What's more, the script itself has incredible logical holes. The dub is by Streamline, and though it's not horrid, it's very forgettable, and the dialogue itself is often asinine. Though not as insipid as the excruciatingly bad Tekken, it's one to avoid.