Atli Hafsteinsson
I generally don't like anime, but Villgust is a definite exception. This 1993 movie is based on the Nintendo Entertainment System game named "Armored Dragon Fantasy Villgust". This two-part animated movie, in total around one hour long, fortunately doesn't try too hard to strictly follow the game, and yet remains faithful to the setting. The outcome is pretty good, in my opinion.The goddess Windina has chosen eight warriors to save the world of Villgust from Gava, an evil deity. These warriors are split in two groups, neither of which knows of the others' existence. Murobo, the main hero of the video game, is part of one of these groups, along with Bostov, Remi and the girl-cat Ryuquir. The other group composes of Chris, Youta, Fanna and the chivalric Kui. An evil sorcerer and follower of Gava tricks these two factions into thinking the other are enemies, and so a furious fight ensues. The question is, will they recognise each other as friends before it's too late?I find part two to be better animated one, a more emphasis on the actual pencil strokes and on the beauty of the characters (Murobo in particular looks stunning during part two). Yet this movie doesn't just take itself seriously - there is a lot of humour, some of which focuses on sexual matters (such as when Remi and Chris indulge in a scary fight about each others' physique) or just plain good-old slapstick.While we only just scrape the surface of the characters, what we see all gives a very good picture of their personalities. Murobo is an immensely strong dog-man who believes strongly in the honest warrior ways and does not take kindly to being deceived, as his friend Bostov finds out to his cost when he tries to make money out of Murobo's strength. Ryuquir the girl-cat is endlessly entertaining in her never-tiring play of tag that more often that not easily defeats the enemies. The dialogue is all spot-on and feels very effortless and authentic.Good luck trying to find this movie, as it hasn't even been released on DVD in Japan to the best of my knowledge. This is certainly the best movie based on a video game that I have ever seen, and if you like animated movies with a lot of integrity and good character creation as well as good animation, then this movie is surely for you if you can find it. I feel it accomplishes just what it attempts, and looks and feels very concrete.
garrett-9
I saw this "raw" before I spoke any Japanese - no subtitles, no English voices - so I can't say anything about the specifics of the plot. However, in general it involves a group of three heroic warriors who battle assorted nasty creatures, and who run into a giant beast-man and his cute young magic-using partner, and later a cat-girl creature. The heroic warriors are tricked by the lead villain into thinking the others are evil, and vice versa, and so it takes time for them to settle their differences. It plays pretty much like a "console RPG" (e.g. Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy, etc.) and it wouldn't surprise me if it was based on one.
