Supernatural: The Anime Series Part 1 Episodes 1-4

Brothers Sam and Dean Winchester are wanderers with a very particular skillset: theyre Hunters.  But they don’t track down Animals or such, they hunt more dangerous game: monsters, ghosts, spirits, even demons.  They’ve been raised by their father to combat the forces of the night in all manner of ways from guns to exorcisms.  After a long time apart, fate and the disappearance of their father has reunited the Winchesters to find him and continue what they do best: Saving people, hunting things…the family business.

A few years back, Supernatural came up in conversation between me and my sister.  When I told her there was an Anime version of it (I think it had come out maybe a year prior to this), she said that, based on what little she’d seen, the show was a good fit for an Anime.  That conversation stuck with me and, eventually, I jumped right into the world of the Winchesters, binging 6 seasons straight, and then grabbing the Anime series to check out…and now im gonna review it for the horror filled month of October.

Now, for those who might not know, here’s some background.  Supernatural is a US TV Series that has been on the air for 13 years now, and about to start it’s 14^th season soon.  The series centers on the adventures of Sam and Dean Winchester, brothers who hunt pretty much every source of evil in the world.  They started with simple monsters like Vampires and Werewolves and Ghosts but soon graduated to all out Demons and the forces of both Heaven and Hell.  My sister was right.  There is a huge amount of lore in this series that an Anime could tackle with nearly endless possibilities.  This Anime adaptation, however, only covers the first two seasons (which is a shame cause this is well before the arrival of fan favorites Castiel, Crowley, and all the Heaven and Hell battles).  I should note this as well.  While I am a fan of the show, it has been a long time since ive watched the first few seasons.  As such, while reviewing this series, im going to focus on the episodes as Anime alone and try (emphasis on TRY) not to draw too many comparisons to the episodes they were based on (apparently roughly half of this series is based on episodes from Seasons 1 and 2 and the rest are original ideas).  A couple of series tidbits might pop up from time to time.  But honestly if I were going to do a beat by beat analysis of certain episodes, we’d probably be here for a bit…and this intro’s gone on longer than I wanted so let’s dive right in already.

By the time the teaser of the first episode is over, it’s clear Anime is a good fit for Supernatural.  Don’t get me wrong, the TV show isn’t shy about its gore but with Anime, you can go as overblown and over the top with the gruesome kills.  And across the first four episodes, there are all manner of scares, chills and terrifying imagery to spare that I think sometimes surpasses the TV Series visual abilities.  Im not too surprised by this since all three of those entertaining qualities are things Studio Madhouse (the group handling this series) is best at, for more proof just go watch Ninja Scroll.  Most of the aforementioned bloodiness is mostly seen in the premiere episode, which sees Sam and Dean dealing with a Shapeshifter.  The three episodes that follow all feature a ghost or spirit as the main foe…not as diverse a supernatural foe as you’d maybe want to get things rolling.  But Supernatural: The Anime does make up for it by giving each spirit it’s own uniqueness, the winner of the trio being the evil Impala the boys have to face…cause nobody uses a car like Deans “Baby” and gets away with it.

What about Sam and Dean?  The Anime does a pretty good job of reminding us why these siblings have been so endearing to fans for more than a decade now.  Their banter is on par with Edward and Alphonse Elric and the quirks and eccentricities you can draw in an Anime style (the over exaggerations and what not) only make them more amusing to watch.  Their personalities are intact too: Sam the more logical heart while Dean is the hard headed but loveable brawn.  There is, however, one glaring bit.  Ask any true fan and they’ll tell you: Jared Padelecki and Jensen Ackles are Sam and Dean…nuff said.  While the pair do reprise their roles for the Anime, only Jared Padelecki voices Sam for the entirety.  For reasons im not sure of, Jensen Ackles could only voice Dean for a couple of episodes and we’ll get to them eventually.  Now, that’s not to say that Andrew Farrar, who steps into the role of the elder Winchester bro, does a bad job.  He’s got Dean’s tone and personality down…it’s just weird hearing Dean voiced by someone else.  I didn’t let that stop me from enjoying the first set of episodes and neither should you, I think Dean is in good hands.

Helping longtime fans and newcomers into this new realm of Supernatural storytelling are a couple of familiar elements.  Firstly, you have “Carry on My Wayward Son” by Kansas as the shows end theme.  This song is forever tied to the Supernatural legend as it usually plays during the end season recap at Season Finale Time.  If Supernatural does have a theme song, that’s it.  Next up are the introductions to each episode.  They’re brief but they do allow Jared and Jensen to appear on screen together, or solo depending, and setup the episode.  They add in their own little bits, whether it’s their fondness for an episode or just a small jab at one another.  Either way, it’s good to see the actors in live action to play guides for all fans.

I cant really complain about this first set of episodes.  The half hour runtime (compared to the one hour TV air time) means that the pacing is cranked up and let loose immediately.  For all of the heart pounding action sequences and terror filled sights, there’s still time to give to the brothers and the people they have to help.  The wandering spirit, Molly, and effeminate cop Michael are both standouts.  Molly’s story is simply tragic, a spirit unaware of what has truly happened to herself, trapped in a loop that has inadvertedly gotten other people hurt.  Michael has to deal with his desire to save his town from a mistake he and his cop brother were both part of, even if it means alienating himself from his family.  There were moments where both of these characters, and others, sometimes stole the show from Sam and Dean.  That’s a definite win for the writers of the Anime, who do a great job adapting TV Series episodes or creating their own tales (in this intro set, 3 episodes were from the TV Series and one was original).

All in all, this was a great debut week for Supernatural: The Anime Series.  Each episode had its moments of intensity, terror and utter Winchester bad assery in droves.  As far as titles go for a horror themed Anime for the month of October, I think I chose wisely.  Let’s see if the series can keep up the good work next week.  See ya then.