Dont hand me garbage and tell me its Mass Effect Mass Effect: Paragon Lost is what you expect to be a nice sweet snack but really this is a pile of mush forcefed by the creators that want to cater to the diehard fans. I got a fullcourse meal of mush fed to me I cried not tears of joy but tears of sorrow. I was never the hugest fan of Vega from Mass Effect 3 so you can go ahead and dislike this review. To me James was never really a compelling character because he was introduced way too late in the trilogy. For me to actually care about him would require some adequate backstory or some DLC to flesh out his story. Comparatively speaking Garrus has had 3 games for his entire story to be bridged and a journey that felt connected to my character. So whats the compromise? Create an animate film to do just that establish Vegas backstory through transmedia means because that worked out well for Halo 5: Guardians amirite? So whats really unique about Paragon Lost? Well stop me if youve heard this one before. A group of space travelers in the Mass Effect universe seeks to resolve a problem at a colony. The plot honestly sounds like a side quest from the game which should have probably been a part of it as DLC or something. Mass Effect fans will find this a tired formula which means as a newcomer it should perfect right? Wrong this is an anime film made for fans of the series which ironically doesnt do anything new to set itself apart from them. Im all for extending the story of Vega except this film barely scratches the surface of any meaningful connection to his character or the cast. The movie almost coaxes you into thinking that this will be a relevant addition to the Mass Effect universe only its not. This is not only Mass Effect filler its Mass Effect trash. Its irrelevant to the rest of the story since it doesnt go beyond the boundaries of its premise. Paragon Lost goes from point A to point B without any plot twists or careful worldbuilding. The entire package paints itself as this grandiose adventure when in reality its just uninspired scifi schlock. Its generic anime missing out on what makes Mass Effect so special in the first place. We mainly get a focus on Vega during his early days as an alliance marine where he and his team get embroiled in missing person case at a colony. Theres the standard loveinterest the twist is that the collectors were behind the abductions and it ends about as predictably as you might expect. Its not very exciting not fun and just not something I havent seen before. I hold Production IG in a high regard as theyve done some great work in the past. I could go on about Ghost in the Shell S.A.C but it doesnt change the fact theyve had less than stellar years. Stuff like xxxHolic looked generic in comparison to shows with more animated refinement and somehow Paragon Lost that was made in 2012 looks just as standard. The animation is lifeless and it feels as if there was no effort put into coordinating a distinct style. Oh hold on whats this? Ok I found a conversation between Funimation and Production IG. Let me just paste the text below: Funimation: Help us make an anime based on the hit video game Mass Effect k? bye? Oh yeah we have a couple of writers already on it so dont worry this will be a good collab project Production IG: K...cool well get right on it. Oh wait when do you want this? We might be a while making other GOOD stuff right now. Well get around to producing Paragon Lost though stay on the line plz I think the biggest reason the film suffered was that there was no clear direction or transparency between the two companies. I mean come on 20th Century Fox gave Creative Assembly 3 count em 3TB of concept art from the Aliens movie. In short Creative Assembly had a lot to work on making a video game based on a movie. Paragon Lost There are literally no redeeming qualities to the animation heck you get honestly put a grainy filter over the film and say this movie came out in the 2000s and Id believe you. They really played it safe with the art direction. Even the plot is confused about its identity. Paragon Lost acts as if its not supposed to mess with the continuity of the universe even though its completely ok with disregarding some of the established Mass Effect lore. Production IG has always had a relatively good track record with Ghost in the Shell Moribito PsychoPass and Blood+ but did they put their C team to take this project on? Older series that came before Paragon Lost look way better than this. The animation struts around like one of the most standard looking shows from the 2010s. I can barely recall any memorable soundtrack pieces. They had the electronic Mass Effect 3 vibe to them but they felt forced into the movie that didnt have any congruency. I would also like to point out that Freddie Prince Jr. was the only one to return to his original role. The rest while not completely demanding recast the roles of Captain Anderson and Admiral Hackett. Maybe the voice actors played it smart and decided to be avoid being associated with this horrendous movie but it does break the immersion when you expect those characters to sound like they were in the games. Theyre fairly small roles but true fans will notice how jarring those two will sound since Funimation replaced them with some of their goto voice actors. As for the characters themselves everyone Vega knew was just so expected. The squad fills the new meat trope people whove gone through the training process but have never seen combat. None of the team was impactful funny or the least bit charismatic. Which brings me to Vegas super contrived love interest. The Asari relationship felt so shoehorned into the main plot. Its as if the creators saw the games knew about the branching relationships and thought it would work well to have in this film. Its a supposed attempt at an emotional story that you the viewer is going to care about. Paragon Lost is filled with throwaway characters and plot. Its potential to capitalize on Vegas history is truly its a detriment to the already divisive storyrelated decisions Mass Effect 3. In retrospective Paragon Lost just feels like an insult rather than an homage. There are a lot of instances where we could have got a good side story to bridge some gaps while adding a bit of worldbuilding too. Think about it you have Funimation funding the production Production IG animating and hell even the writers of the Clone Wars in it too. But maybe it was too many cooks in the kitchen? Im not actually sure what went on behind closed doors but I know it wasnt anything ambitious. There wasnt much I enjoyed of Paragon Lost I dont even want to recognize it as official canon because of how forgettably dull the final product was. This film is just menial fanfiction that just mistreats the brand. Its upsetting to know such talent go to waste on something that couldve just been a part of the game. Hell you know what? Make this an interactive DLC and then well talk about redeeming the story and characters. The people who actually like this train wreck A. probably havent watched enough Anime B. have low expectations of what a good anime is or C. like this ironically cant see why you would though theres not a lot here to like. No matter what anyone else says about their enjoyment of the movie do not believe them. This was the most generic thing to come out of the Mass Effect universe. This was wasted potential and did not deserve to exist past the concept stage. In my opinion it wouldve been better served as a comic because it doesnt take advantage of the anime format. Its not even something Id recommend as a standalone film for nonfans its just so dry of any substance. Everyone and anyone should give this film a hard pass. The only thing I liked was seeing the development process of this film which didnt result in much after seeing this. Avoid watching or supporting this train wreck but if youre really that desperate just get the bluray for the DLC and Sticker I can guarantee that youll have great adventures finding out what object youll be placing it on. Paragon Lost does nothing for me as a fan and it wont do anything for you either. Paragon Lost? More like Paragon Lost my interest. Ill see myself out now.