Finished Anime: 07-Ghost

07-Ghost

Set in a gothic fantasy world, this is the story of Teito Klein, an orphaned slave who became the top military academy student. However, an unexpected turn of events left him pursued by the forces of the Barsburg Empire. Now an escaping convict, Teito's sheltered by the church and it’s law of sanctuary. Here, he discovered many mysteries surrounding himself, the church, and the Empire itself. The fact that he might be connected to a dethroned king and the mystical stone of god, 'The Eye of Mikhael' made him the target of the empire more than ever. Fortunately the church is under the mythical 7 Ghost protection. But who are the Ghosts really. Will Teito be free from the military's clutch, And what of his said mission to uncover the history. And who is the military's Chief-of-Staff Ayanami exactly. Teito's future seems to have spiraled into an unexpectedly perilous path.

Type: TV | Episodes: 25 | Aired: Apr 6, 2009 to Sep 21, 2009 | Genres: Action, Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
Producer: Studio DEEN | Main Cast: Saiga Mitsuki (Teito)
Director: Nobuhiro Takamoto | Original Creator: Yuki Amemiya, Yukino Ichihara| Series Composition:
Screenplay: | Music: Kotaro Nakagawa | Character Design: Maki Fujii

[ OVERALL IMPRESSIONS ]

(I actually want to give this a 4.75 . . . but that might be because of bias. Haha!)

07-Ghost is one of those series that has so many bishounen that are oh-so-pretty, which brings to delight to fangurls who just want to see bishies and don't care for anything else. And since the boys/guys are being so close and sweet, it's fanservice to BL/yaoi fans, even if it's not exactly such a series.

The story is not very original either; lots of cliches to spot here and there. Some story changes and additions (aka fillers) had sucked so much that I couldn't blame the people saying "MANGA IS HELL BETTER!!!". At times it also goes too dramatic and overdone to the point that the angst is becoming pretty annoying (oh the main character does that pretty often).

So why the hell am I still watching this series despite those stuff that are such eyesore and make my head hurt so much? Well, aside from the fact that I'm a huge fan of the manga, THIS SERIES HAD REALLY BEEN AWESOME!!!!!!!!

Yes, the story is your typical narration of the life of the main character with a dark past on the quest for revenge. Teito had also been so special and he possesses a lot of the typical leading character traits. But despite all those, the story had remained interesting and . . .different actually. What I'm trying to say is that, the writers (mainly the original author) have some magic that they were able to use these stereotypes in a good way. Like, even though the event you're seeing is something usual, later you'll be surprised with a twist or see a revelation that there's actually different from what it seemed.

The characters are a bunch of stereotypes as well (heck, even my favorite. He's not the first divine being with a crack attitude). However, though they're pretty stereotypical, they still possess some unique traits that make them different from their counterparts and look-alikes in other series. Take the main villain for example: Ayanami is your usual shounen bad guy who is oh-so-evil and is very merciless towards the main character and had been hunting him while he's on the run. He had also been using some pawns in doing that job, but since they're not the strong ones they were easily taken care of by the protagonists. It had been episodic in that sense in the earlier episodes. But later, in one occassion he himself gets involved (he had sent someone and had been there at the same time. Will be spoilery if I specify) . . . and what's cool is that he actually won! The villain won!. That alone is seriously not something common in the anime world. Moreover, despite Ayanami's cruelty to the protagonists, he's actually being very caring towards his subordinates. He's not being evil exactly either, because he's not causing chaos simply because he wants to rule the world and other evil goals, but actually, he wants to save it. So we often see villains like these? I could go on and mention what's unique in each main character of this show . . . but this review might become too long.

Oh yeah, I like the genre mix in this series. It has been a little overdramatic though, but it still showed us a wonderful fantasy setting! As for the action scenes, I'm not that please with the actual battles; but their moves had been awesome! If only those cool moves were executed and exchanged well, they would have looked really good! And of course, the comedy here had been enjoyable! Some jokes may be a little overused (like with Teito being small and called a brat, but as FMA also has that overused joke) but it sures knows the riht time to be funny and it had been hilarious (that Doll!Frau cracked me up so much!)! I also believe it's also supernatural since we encounter demons/monsters and angels as well after all.

I am a huge sucker for stories that has church vs military involvement. It's interesting that this series presents that both actually have a good cause yet they don't really get along well, and the church and the state remains separated. Applied to the real world, right? And though I like series that emphasize how annoying religious fanatics are, it doesn't mean I dislike the decent ones. The religious stuff here isn't exactly based on Christianity, but it had references. Despite that the bishops here are badass, they do act like what church heads are supposed to be: serving and helping the people, no matter who they are. They also show forgiveness and pray for even those that had done wrong to them. That's what religious people are supposed to be! Genuinely kindhearted! I'm emphasizing this because I know of other series wherein the protagonists are part of religious groups, however they only focus on just fighting demons; not exactly showing what people of the church are supposed to be like. Priests/Bishops and Nuns doing fights are cool, but it's still nice to show of what they're really like in the real world.

Other amazing things in this series include the animation and the music! Though I agree that the part in some scenes were a little weird/distorted, but most of the time it had been very very pleasing to the eyes! And no, I'm not jsut talking about the characters' faces! Haha! Even the backgrounds and effects and other parts have been beautifully illustrated! I especially love the art directing on some scenes! It had been really really creative and stylish! Big applause to the art director!!!! And as for the music, the OP and ED themes may not be exceptional, but they sound very very very nice. Background music is excellent though! Maybe it's jsut because I'm a fan of church music, but it sounded really wonderful and mystical~ So pleasing to the ears~ I'm dying to get a copy of the OST!

Overall, this series had been so stereotypical in some parts to the point it made me got *facepalm*. But despite those flaws, the 07-Ghost is still very amazing! Especially on the animation and the music part! It was very enjoyable, and oh there should be another season of this once there's enough manga material!