Dead Space blu-rays

The wonder that is Lovefilm recently sent me both Dead Space blu-rays (both animated side stories) and I am not sure how I feel about either film. They weren't bad but both of them had flaws that made the experience a little odd.

The first of the blu-rays (Downfall) tells the story of how it all went tits up on the ship in the first place and does help to provide a little back story to the first game. The problem is in the anime style which is very "western" and does not feel quite up to Manga standards so gives the whole 2 hour story a slight childish feel (despite the decapitation and buckets of blood).

That said, the second blu-ray (Aftermath) is a different breed of animation entirely.

Spoiler alert follows

Should you choose to watch it I beg you to stick with it until after the first interrogation. The art direction is a good concept, in which 4 survivors of a recon ship account their overlapped stories and each story is done in a different style of anime. Unfortunately the framing device is an unusual choice... Very bright and clunky cell shading which feels very "Reboot" in appearance (showing my age with that reference). Having better exampled use of cell shading at my disposal it is a shame that this distracts so much from the story and makes it feel so VERY childish due to the brightness and saturation of colour.

If you can see the story through the choice of medium used then both blu-rays are good additions to the Dead Space story arch, but they are both definitely titles to rent only and not a purchase opportunity.


sent from iPhone