Halo Legends

One of the greatest Video Game franchises of all time enters the world of Anime.  From the beginnings of a long lost civilization to the front lines of an intergalactic conflict, these are some of the hundreds of stories from the Halo universe.  Some focus on the hero of the main story, John 117, better known as the Master Chief.  Others expand on familiar faces while introducing brand new ones.  These aren’t just tales that make up the Halo universe, they’re Legends just waiting to be explored.

Last year when I reviewed The Animatrix, I made the mistake in saying that it was the only kind of team up between US and Japanese creators for that kind of Anime Anthology.  I totally overlooked the existence of Halo Legends.  The Halo video game franchise is one of my all time favs, if not my absolute favorite.  The FPS action, the lore, the scope, the visuals, the music, it’s the ultimate scifi action thrill ride.  It’s not quite perfect but it’s damn near close.  So is there a need to merge it with Anime…not really but I’m happy we have it.  Halo Legends might not reach the heights of The Animatrix but there’s plenty of novel ideas, visual inspirations and loving nods to the franchise that make it worthy of being included in the vast Halo pantheon.

First off, a rundown of the Anthologies offerings: First up there’s the two part Origins, which details the epic history of Halo from the era of the Forerunners to the (then) current events just after Halo 3.  The Duel tells the story of one of the first Arbiters of the Covenant, an Elite on a quest for revenge against the jealous General who killed his wife.  Homecoming follows Spartan Daisy 023 as she attempts to escape her forced fate as a super soldier and return home to her old life. Odd One Out features a more wacky take on the Halo universe as one bumbling but hard headed Spartan battles a Covenant super soldier in order to protect a group of kids.  In Prototype, a lone wolf soldier who lost everything seeks one last attempt at redemption by holding off a Covenant invasion force with a Prototype mecha meant for the Spartans.  The Babysitter sees a group of Orbital Drop Shock Troopers (ODST’s) tasked with escorting a special Spartan Sniper on a mission that could alter the course of the war. And finally, The Package sees the Master Chief himself lead a rescue team of Spartans to recover the woman who gave them their lives from Covenant forces.  And just like The Animatrix, all of these titles come from a mix of six of the biggest Anime Studios in the business: Production IG, Studio 4 Degrees, Casino Entertainment, Studio Bones, Bee Train and Toei Animation

As with any anthology project, there are some I like better than others but my complaints feel on the smaller side.  The two I have any real issue with are Origins and The Babysitter.  Origins tries to play itself out similar to The Second Renaissanse of The Animatrix, in that it attempts to give a detailed-ish account of the events far predating the Halo games to where the franchise had paused at Halo 3.  The visuals are stunning and the music is perfect (the latter is true for pretty much every entry of this series).  However, Origins is not as intense as the ultra bloody and shocking Second Renaissance and feels more like a very long trailer for a forthcoming separate Anime project or even a video game more than a meaningful short.  As for The Babysitter, well the problem with that is lead character O’Brian.  The guy just whines continuously about being the best sniper of the ODSTs and how he has to play second fiddle to a Spartan sniper for this big mission.  The mission itself is unique and exciting, pretty much how I’d hope a level in Halo would play out.  But O’Brian is a pain in the ass.  Even at the end I felt like there couldve been a better lead.  The Babysitter also has the distinction of being one of the few shorts to include a character other than The Master Chief: Dutch from Halo 3: ODST.  In doing this though, it highlights one critically missing element: The Voice Actors from the Halo Games.  Something is missing without the voices of Steve Downes as The Master Chief or Jen Taylor as Cortana and Halsey.  Likewise, not hearing Adam Baldwin reprise the role of Dutch from ODST in The Babysitter feels wrong.

Everything else is pretty damn awesome and I have very few quibbles about The Duel, Homecoming, Odd One Out, Prototype or The Package.  If you’re looking to experience what it’s like to play an actual level in a Halo Video Game, The Package is your dream come true.  Not only does it benefit from the 3D animation masterwork of Shinji Aramaki of Appleseed fame, but it also faithfully recreates the gunplay and even the tactical display hubs in the Spartan helmets.  And the main theme playing during The Chief, Fred and Kelly’s hallways charge is enough to get any fan excited and probably aching to play some Halo after it’s done.  The Duel is a gorgeous piece of Anime that belongs in a museum; masterfully blending an old school samurai story with Alien cultures and art reminiscent of a moving water painting.  Homecoming is probably the most surprisingly welcome story of the bunch.  It’s kind of refreshing to see that not every kid involved with the early days of the Spartan project was on board with their new destiny and sought to change it.  It lends to the tragedy of their upbringing, even if they had a heavy hand in saving the universe.  Prototype is equally somber but you do get to see an above average soldier dawn a mega awesome mecha suit modeled after a Spartan and lay waste to a Covenant invasion force. 

As for Odd Man Out…well you’ll either love it or you’ll hate it but it’s the most Anime of the bunch.  The short leans heavily on tropes you’d find in most Shonen Anime, so it’s also not surprising that Toei Animation, the studio behind Dragon Ball Z and One Piece, had a hand in its conception.  Spartan 1337 is more ready to use his fists and excellent fighting skills to take down a creature who’s a mix of a Halo Brute and a Robeast from Voltron, alongside two Dragon Ball Z inspired kids who can go toe to toe with the monster as well.  It’s bombastic, it’s wacky, it’s insane and it lives up to its name.  This is the odd one out of the entire collection of stories but I loved it.  In a series of dark and serious scifi, it’s nice to see that Halo can lighten up and have some fun with its storytelling. 

So do I rate Halo Legends above, beneath or alongside The Animatrix?  Probably just beneath it.  The Animatrix did something special beyond being the first project of its kind: it made The Matrix interesting again after the sub par sequels, basically giving us the continuation promised by Neo at the end of the first one.  Halo Legends is excellent and awesome…but Halo was already that for me, Halo Legends just highlights everything I enjoy about it: The mythology, the action, the weapon and armor designs, the most epic score of all time.  The soundtrack deserves special praise.  Some shorts like The Duel have a more custom and unique sound because of their style.  The rest reuse much of the amazing music from across all of the Halo games from Halo: Combat Evolved to Halo Wars and only make the images on screen look all the more larger than life.  Not all of the stories in this Anthology are cannon like some of The Animatrix’s stories.  However, they don’t have to be in order to do the job they were meant to: bring the world of Halo into the world of Anime and have a good time telling various stories in various ways.  In the end, Halo Legends did just that and I love Halo all the more for joining forces with my favorite storytelling medium for this amazing gift.

8.5/10