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Twilight of the Dark Master Director: Akiyuki Shinbo Number of Items: 1 Format: Color, Animated Audience Rating: Unrated Running Time: 50 minutes Studio: Urban Vision Product Group: DVD Release Date: 2001-06-12 Buy from Amazon

Customer Reviews: Total numer of reviews: 35 Average rating: 3.5 "this was the anime that got me back into being a fan" i remember seeing this film for the first time (1998 i think) at the video store and renting it... then falling in love with anime all over again. this film didn't confuse or bore me at all. i must say, though, the japanese version is much better than the english version (which isn't without it's charms). i often wonder when people dislike an anime just what format they're watching it in. the comment from mr. solomon's review about the 'fight being over before it even starts' sounds somewhat odd to me. does an anime (or any movie for that matter) need a huge battle to be deemed good? throughout the anime we are given bits of the history between takamiya and tsunami, they have obviously fought before, so i fail to see why there must be a big fight at the end to be satisfying (or whatever mr. solomon felt was missing). this movie is short, but again i don't see that as a detraction. a film also doesn't have to be long to be good (i can just imagine if this film had been two hours or so that many people would have complained: "it was so long, they could have done the same story in such a short time!"). i liked this anime mostly because it was non-standard. the plot isn't cleanly spelled out for you every step of the way, the end isn't neatly tied up, the characters aren't all good or all bad, they all fall in the middle (even takamiya). there is the feeling that you have stepped into an already progressing story and you pick up the bits and pieces as the film progresses. so, in the end, it allows you to wonder about the history between tsunami and takamiya... all in all, if you can take the mature themes of this anime (rape, incest, drug-use, murder) and are looking for something other than the usual ilk of "super-hero good-guy bashes the tar out of the pathetic villain" then i'd say give this a watch. "I am cheated!" Simply put, I felt cheated out of my money. Shamelessly shallow in character development and no plot to talk of. Dubbed script is stunted. Animation is the only positive and then only barely. Overall very disapointing movie. "Wasted Potential" After watching this movie in its entirety for the first time and actually giving it some thought, I came to the conclusion that I hated the director for cheap skating us with a short version of what very well could've been a masterpiece in anime. Though the beginning prelude speaking of the Great Mother has little effect on the movie, I believe that what makes this movie so worthwhile is its skillful animation and the personality of the main characters Tsunami Shijyo and Chen & Huang Long. Though the movie borrows from Bio Hunter with its idea to have an innocent, pure guy turn into a hideous demon, the movie is unique in the way it unfolds. The main things that irritated me about the movie were its duration of 45 minutes, its tendency to leave the viewer waiting for something to happen when it simply builds up to an anticlimactic ending, and most importantly, the brevity of the final battle between Tsunami and the brains behind the operation, Mr. Takayami. Amazon.com's review couldn't have been more accurate when it said the fight was over before it even began. About two hits were exchanged before Mr. Takayami met his untimely demise. Other than these shortcomings, "Twilight of the Dark Master" is still an interesting movie that is worth watching so long as the viewer doesn't expect very much out the plot as a whole. "Twilight of the Dark What?" OK this movie totally [stunk]. First of all it went by way to quickly (45min.) The animation was good I had to say that much but other then that....nothing. The character developement [stunk] having the movie star out with a demon raping some girl......? Don't get your hopes up its nothing eroctic, sure theres a few sketchy scenes but nothing to amusing. The concept of random characters shows up in this movie as well. From one character to the next and then back. It's one of those movies that make you think (that thinking is a bad thing). The movie ends short ( Iodnt want to give anything away) and leaves you .....with nothing actually just a glad feeling that its over and done with never to be watched again unless forced to. Im serious this movie was nothing, if your looking for something more I would go for the Hellsing series or Blood the Last Vampire movie. All in All this movie was a waste, 3 stars for animation, some what of a good character design and plot (if you can call it that......) "Big dissapointment" Ok, where shuld I start, this movie S-U-C-K-E-D! Ok, sucked. When I saw he cover I expected a at least 1 hour movie, and a good story line. But it had none of this, yeah the guy with the long coat, (The dude with blue hair) was a pretty cool character, as far as drawlings go, but the rest, was a big no-no. And I have to agree I too, feel like this could have been a great story, but was turned into some crap. If some one has the time, they should make a remake on this movie, and make it at least 20 minutes longer. Though I have to admit, it could have been a sad story, between the guy, and the girl, if the rest of the movie wasn't so bad. And some of the rape seens I really didn't care for, and thought that their was no need for it in the story, I think the story could have gone on without it. To the point where I fast forwarded some seens, (mainly because I can't watch things like that and since most anime series, or movies or NR, I have no idea if anything bad's going to happen. So anyway, all I have to say is that someone should make a remake of this story.