The OVA of Master Keaton is pretty much what you’d expect of it: more Mater Keaton episodes that keep the standards of storytelling quite high with well researched settings and characters. What makes this particularly interesting is that it was written not so long after the Berlin Wall collapsed, and therefore it offers quite an interesting look at Germany compared to the one we have now.
Also, it’s too easy to label the new episodes as more random episodes of Master Keaton, because what the OVA also does is fill in a bit of the gaps here and there. There is an episode that goes for a really intense survival story, every main member of the cast gets his or her own episode, Keaton’s past also gets explored a bit, The cast definitely got better after the OVAs.
And at the same tme I do have to say that the episodes of Master Keaton that made the most impact were in the television series, so it is a bit of a tradeoff. Not to say that the episodes of the OVA aren’t great, of course, although there are a few weak points here and there. It stands out when in a series that prides itself with using really well researched stories, one of the episodes takes out members of the maffia in a way that is surprisingly similar to the way in which most kids movies take care of mafia members…
Those are just small incidents, though, but with a show as well written as Master Keaton, they do stand out. In any case the Television did have surprisingly little character deevelopment, and that’s exactly what this OVA gave us, so I’m happy.
| Storytelling: | 9/10 – Still well told, still well built up, the fights and heartwarming moments are still very neatly written, with a few exceptions this time, though. |
| Characters: | 9/10 – Some nice extra character development for the main cast really helps. |
| Production-Values: | 8/10 – This was pretty much produced in the same way as the TV-series. |
| Setting: | 9/10 – Still well researched, and it still adds to the universe where this series takes place. |
Suggestions:
– Mushishi
– Yugo the Negotiator
– Darker than Black
Don’t you mean the Berlin Wall?
Yup, I do. *fixed now*
You will notice that the setting in Monster is very true to real world as well. Actually it’s so incredible that I cannot put it into words o.O (Especially for someone who’s been to some places described there)
I am saying this because you should be prepared for a real feast. Savor it 😀
A very fun series, too bad they didn’t include the wife…she gets mentioned so much it would have made a great way to tie the whole thing together. Thanks for putting your review up.