Halo Legends was one of my forays into becoming a huge Halo fan well partly. At the time the only game I had played was a small portion of the original and the third entry. Even though at the time I had very little experience with the series I was very excited because it appeared to be a cool concept. Why not combine a popular video game and an anime? Perfect idea I knew that this movie couldnt really disappoint but let me tell you this was not what I was expecting. Halo Legends is an anthology piece think Animatrix Memories or Neo Tokyo. It can really be hit or miss depending on your expectations. Origins The good part about the first episode is that it helps in informing newcomers about the history it starts off with the forerunners and the flood as well as the war and more importantly the destruction of both. The problem here is that when I first watched Origins I couldnt make sense of most of it. Who were the forerunners whats this about the flood? Huh? Watching it after playing all the games made me realize that I already know most of this. Plus the games simplified a lot of the lore for the player in an understandable way. Really Origins is a confusing one because it does a horrible part in educating an uninformed Halo fan. The problem also lies in that it takes the course of two episodes and they arent really all that interesting. The animation was decent to say the least and the sound was okay. Origins neither entertained or educated me all that much since most of its narration over moving animations. The Duel The next episode featured is The Duel it tells the story of the Arbiter who wishes to diverge from the Covenants religion. Mamuro Oshii actually directed this one and best of all it was animated by Production I.G. Thats about all the positive points because I found the actual episode dull. Maybe it was the watercolour style but I didnt pay attention half the time. I actually think there is a somewhat interesting premise here harkening back to samurai movies but this one did not work for me. It was boring and dull and I had no problem skipping it upon further viewings. Homecoming Homecoming is one of my favourites amongst the shorts and it has to be the darkest and interesting. It tells the story of a kidnapped girl drafted into the Spartan program. When she ends up escaping the project upon returning home she realizes that she has been replaced by a girl who looks exactly like her. Homecoming was also well animated since it was made by Production IG. Sure I can praise this entry all I want but when it comes to really explore the lore of Halo it does little to nothing the books are much better at this. Odd One Out Odd One Out was by far the weakest and most jarring of all of them. Think of Dragon Ball Z mixed with Halo. Who came up with the idea and thought that would be a good thing to include in Halo Legends? This honestly feels like a parody partly because it is but it doesnt feel like it should be a part of the whole film. Similar to Homecoming it doesnt add a whole lot but at least that episode was enjoyable. Odd One Out really lives up to its name I dont really even like considering it as a piece of Halo media. It is literally cliche anime Halo. Prototype Prototype follows the early days of the SpartanII program in which some marines must defend a facility from the Covenant. I admit this one was a little more action intense than the others but it did little to entertain or inform me of anything. Really it was just an action sequence nothing more nothing less. All style no substance. The Babysitter Remember what I said about Homecoming? How good it was well if theres one that takes the cake for the best out of all of them its The Babysitter. All around this episode is great I really love the style and it was one of the few to include tiny facts that current Halo fans would only pick up. It also helps that I just love the ODSTs already and its nice to actually see the tension between them and the Spartans on screen. That and I loved the animation style of this episode too. The Package The Package is the final segment of Halo Legends and while visually pleasing it had absolutely no relevance whatsoever. Some may argue that they might not like the style but I quite enjoyed it to some extent. Storywise its really paperthin and simple the title alone kind of gives it away. While it might look the best its another case of style over substance. Halo Legends is a good time if youre already a follower of Halo. Dont go into this anthology series thinking youll come out as a more informed Halo fan because you wont. Its made specifically for Halo fans and thats about it. Halo Legends is just kind of there for those who havent experienced the games but as a fan its hard not to justify at least watching this once. Its good here and there and I had a great time seeing Halo from an anime perspective even if some of them were absurd. Its still annoying some of the direction choices for certain episodes namely the Duel and Odd One Out when they could instead be expanding more of the lore. Halo Legends doesnt do a whole lot for the universe aside for the first short. Instead Legends decides to retell key aspects from the games in an anime format. Ironically enough the best part of the whole thing was seeing the teaser trailer for Halo: Reach before the film started was definitely a reminder of simpler times and my first step into committing to Halo.
70 /100
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