Pros - The fact that they spent the time to really establish the lead and his relationships - Strong performance of lead actor - Great fight choreography, cinematography, and editing - Even watching it at 1.5x speed, you still get the sense of geography and progression of the fights - The fact that Eugune and Alfed still get their ass kicked hard
- Some great set pieces in the first episodes to hook you, and short cold opens in succeeding episodes that do the same - How they quickly establish the characters' motivations, and the stakes of the through story - A minimum amount of exposition
- I remember the original anime being one of those that took FOREVER to get anywhere - Having the first 25 episodes of the cartoon compressed into 5 episodes is amazing for anyone who doesn't want to sink in that kind of time!
Cons - Some really janky CGI, like the lake to Master Jericho's island, Taguro's power ups, or anytime his kuya is on the screen. There's also a bit of the Matrix Reloaded or Blade 2 uncanny valley in the later fight scenes, but I still fell they still rock. There's actually less of that disconnect because they're jumping constantly between practical and CG.
- Really spotty costume choices; Eugene, Alfred, Charlene, and Master Jericho sell it, but Dennis and Vincent's costumes don't look lived in at the start. Dennis' wig is just terrible (no other word for it) and I'm not sure if but Vincent's thrid eye practical, but it also threw off my suspension of disbelief
- Some of them look way too old - Especially Jenny and Vincent (but then I'll take older actors over bad ones any day) - The fact that the Darkness Mirror looks like an evil iPad - Not exactly a con, but had to look up the fact that Master Jeremiah was in fact a woman in the original series and the Filipino dub just got it confused
- Speaking of Master Jeremiah, I don't think they spent enough time on the training montage, or established that relationship well enough for the final fight comeback to pay off
Best bits - Eugene's funeral - The first time Eugene uses his Spirit Gun - The moment Eugene and Alfred become friends - When Alfred finally channels his Spirit Energy - The first meeting of Vincent and Eugene - When Jenny takes that dude to the floor and chokes him out - The scene where Alfred meets Mikaela
Autobot Abubot
: Yup! Different people right now. The rest of OG Filipino cast dubbers already have move on to new gigs / projects. And the OG voice of Taguro the elder has already moved on and go overseas
- The fact that they spent the time to really establish the lead and his relationships
- Strong performance of lead actor
- Great fight choreography, cinematography, and editing - Even watching it at 1.5x speed, you still get the sense of geography and progression of the fights
- The fact that Eugune and Alfed still get their ass kicked hard
- How they quickly establish the characters' motivations, and the stakes of the through story
- A minimum amount of exposition
- Some really janky CGI, like the lake to Master Jericho's island, Taguro's power ups, or anytime his kuya is on the screen. There's also a bit of the Matrix Reloaded or Blade 2 uncanny valley in the later fight scenes, but I still fell they still rock. There's actually less of that disconnect because they're jumping constantly between practical and CG.
- The fact that the Darkness Mirror looks like an evil iPad
- Not exactly a con, but had to look up the fact that Master Jeremiah was in fact a woman in the original series and the Filipino dub just got it confused
- Eugene's funeral
- The first time Eugene uses his Spirit Gun
- The moment Eugene and Alfred become friends
- When Alfred finally channels his Spirit Energy
- The first meeting of Vincent and Eugene
- When Jenny takes that dude to the floor and chokes him out
- The scene where Alfred meets Mikaela