Estudio: Bones, Bee Train, Production I.G, Studio 4°C, Toei Animation
Sinopse:
Halo Legends features seven different stories set in the Halo universe, each made by a different studio.
The Babysitter follows the Helljumpers, Orbital Drop Shock Troopers who are sent behind enemy lines to perform an assassination.
The Duel features the tale of an ancient Arbiter who refused to bow down to the Covenant religion. Branded a heretic, he must now face the consequences of his actions.
The Package depicts a group of Spartans, including the Master Chief, who are deployed to infiltrate a Covenant flagship and retrieve a “package” in a secret operation.
Origins shows Master Chief and Cortana stranded following the events of Halo 3, with Cortana summarizing the fall of the Forerunners, the defeat of the Flood, and the rise of humanity as well as the events of the Human-Covenant War.
Homecoming centers on the Spartan Daisy, who reminisces on her past, and the SPARTAN-II project while evacuating UNSC soldiers pinned down by Covenant forces.
Prototype is viewed from the perspective of Marine Sergeant Ghost, who is determined to fight for all he is worth in order to make up for past grievances.
Odd One Out is a non-canon parody of Halo featuring Spartan 1337, who suffers from extremely bad luck.
Nenhum episódio encontrado.
Comentários
DraconisMarch
It's really hard to rate this because of the fact that only a select few of the episodes are good compared to the rest, which are garbage. The Babysitter. This one was okay. Animation was pretty good, action was good, characters actually had a personality. The Duel. Words can't describe how epically bad this was. Shit animation (looked like I was trying to watch through a fogged-up window), set in some garbage fuedal Japan imitation (totally out of canon), insane amounts of melodrama, characters they WANT you to care about but can't. And the actual "duel" at the end is so retardedlyanticlimactic they should change the name of the episode.
The Package. Also okay. Pretty nice animation. All I really have to say.
Origins I. Cool for learning about the back story.
Origins II. See above.
Homecoming. This was alright. Nice psychological view into spartans' minds.
Prototype. BY FAR the best one. It did THE BEST job out of all of them giving the characters depth in such a small time frame. The animation was great, the action was the best out of all of them, AND it had David Matranga as the main character (who does his character great justice). The only problem I have with it is that it's not really clear why the prototype--and all pertinent data--had to be destroyed. They just say it does.
Odd One Out. Holy shit. This is so retardedly out of canon it isn't even funny. What the fuck is the point of this garbage? What the hell is going on? Why are there two random humans who have DBZ-type powers? Why is there a dinosaur? Why does 1337 have DBZ-like powers? God... this is shit. The sad part is that THIS is the episode in which they decided to cast Greg Ayres, Bittney Karbowski, and Chris Patton--renowned, talented VAs whom anyone who knows ANYTHING about English-dubbed anime knows at least one of. They got shit roles for shit characters for a shit episode. Oh, and Cortana looks retarded.
All in all, didn't live up to the stupid amount of hype it received.
Oh, and the credits are always epically long, but that can't really be helped I suppose.
Alright. I'm ready. Click that troll button. ;)
ange10
This is my first review, so I’m sorry if you feel it is not as good as other reviewers. Halo Legends, based on a popular game franchise is quite actually a good adaption of short stories that I rather enjoyed. This review is based on a person who has played all the games and knows the storyline in which the games told. "Note to people who have not played the games" You may not like or understand this anime due to the anime adaption not following the main story line from a to c, its meant for halo fans to be able to understand the universe more and howthe events of the past lead to events that happened in the game.
I can't rate the series overall as one series that follows one storyline main plot because it’s so diverse in that sense it offers 7 different stories and many different art styles, by many different anime developers.
But I will say that where one story shines, another may not shine as much.
Story 9/10
6 stories, which cover different aspects of halo's history, from its birth to its rebirth and how things led up to the story of halo: combat involved.
there is also a parody episode based in the halo universe but its not canon.
How well did they tell the history and events that happened?
I must say that it was very well done, from a narrated episode from the AI Cortana who was the master chiefs assistant in the game, to characters that only got introduced in the graphic novels, to totally new characters which help the viewer understand the halo universe aswell as expanding the halo universe and of course a episode with the master chief himself in which expands and explains more of his past and the other Spartans past.
Art 9/10
The art of each story are rather unique in certain areas, but all of them expect for one episode have familiar anime art styles.
The art itself in each episode is great, and fairly enjoyable to the viewer who is watching.
it the art itself which has a negative for me because of the use of so many different styles, one episode may put off a viewer and they may get annoyed of the art style and not like it as much as the other art style for example in the previous episode.
But this is also one of its pro's because of its diverse art style, there is sure to be an episode where someone's tastes is met.
So from where one episode follows traditional anime style, to one that is heavily CGI based to one that is totally unique and has a water paint blurry effect.
Sound 9/10
the sound is great and to be expected from such renowned anime producers, from the dramatic halo soundtrack that is everyone is familiar with to a eastern soundtrack that helps portray the characters for example in one episode there is 2 elites that are fighting and the soundtrack you hear helps strengthen the idea of the elites being people who considered honour as their way of living who can be greatly related to the samurai of Japan.
"note to readers" the original anime is english speaking and from my view very well done so please do not be put off if you prefer japanese speaking over english.
Character 9/10
The characters are portrayed very well, with the art styles and the soundtrack being so good, it is hard not to like the characters.
I think that without the great sound and art and story, it would be hard to relate to the characters usually but because the other elements of the anime is done so well you straight away feel the emotions of the other people in some episodes and feel their agony and desperation to shock and regret.
I will give a brief introduction the episodes and my thoughts on them.
"The Babysitter"
Is an episode about a group of hell jumpers or better known as orbital shock troopers who go on a mission with a Spartan.
my thoughts on this episode is that it tries to tell the viewer on how the Spartans where portrayed from the public eye of other UNSC personal and this one focuses on one particular hell jumper attitude to working with a Spartan on an important mission that I will leave for the viewers to find out the details of.
"The Duel"
Is based on the elites and is about an arbiter that will not follow the covenants beliefs
my thoughts on this episode is that the art style is rather unique, and may put off the viewer or irritate them when watching the episode but it should not distract the viewer in general from understanding the story its self and what it is trying to portray.
"Origins"
Is a 2 part episode narrated by the AI Cortana who explains past events of the history of the halo universe.
My thoughts on this story were that it was very well done, and that it does a very good job of explaining how things came 2 in the halo universe.
I will state that these 2 episodes should be watched first for maximum enjoyment from the viewers and people who have not played the halo games.
"Homecoming"
Is an episode that shows how the Spartan program recruited and how the Spartans came to terms with themselves.
my thoughts on this, is that it does a good job of portraying and introducing other Spartans but the episode itself is 2 short to give justice to the characters themselves, but does the job of explaining how the Spartans was recruited.
"Prototype"
The story is focused on a Marine who is sent to a distant planet to destroy prototype powered armour.
my thoughts on this, is that it does a great job portraying the main character who you as a viewer as never heard of before and is nice to see a different event that doesn’t involve any Spartans but instead shows a man coming to terms with his past and the decisions he chooses to make that makes him human.
"The Package"
is a story that is a two-part all CGI-film taking place during a raid that consists of Spartans including the master chief that raid a Covenant Battle cruiser to take back a package.
my thoughts on this, is that the CGI itself is quite good, but due to it being an anime I believe CGI does not feel right when watching an anime that contains episodes that are not all CGI.
"Odd One Out"
This episode is a parody story of Halo universe and is not canon.
My thought on this episode is that it was quite funny, and they should make more episodes like this.
Enjoyment
This adaption is quite enjoyable, though some of the episodes are quite emotional it just makes the episodes even more enjoyable.
The negativity can come in at a start of an episode with a different art style but once the person gets into the episode the difference in animation goes away and the person can enjoy the episode.
Overall I give the anime a 9/10, because of its various art styles and interesting story plots, but because of the episodes being so short the viewer may feel unsatisfied, but overall the anime is more like a taster and helps introduce more characters into the halo universe so that maybe in the future we can hope to see more of these people in later halo productions.
but for someone watching who is not familiar with the animations background (played the games or read the novels) i would give it a 6-7/10 i think.
BlueEmbers
The foremost obnoxious element of the series is the sheer overpowered, Steven Spielberg amped action. The story is propped up with Halo Lore which will diddle most Halo fans. The art is acceptable, and the sound is okay. That aside, dont expect to be met by any sort of cutting edge animation, in unique character exploration, or really anything that makes it more than Halo fan service. While the different aspects of the series aren't dreadful in particular, the lack of uniqueness makes for a show that you cant wait to move on from,or unless you're a Halo nerd, you'll enjoy the novelty of it.
Samura15
It's very hard for me to do this review since each short is different and made by a different company but overall these shorts are fantastic (This is coming from the point of view of a long time Halo fan since she was 7 years old) The Babysitter: 9 Animation was pretty decent and for a short period of time I did get emotionally attached to the characters. There is also a good twist ending that people will enjoy. The Duel: 9 For me the animation was unique and colorful. I wish they developed more but this was actually for me the saddest out of all of them. Thefight scenes were extremely epic.
The Package: 7
I have to say this is my least favorite. The animation though CGI looked a bit campy to me and I really don't think CGI goes well with anime unless it's a video game. When I first heard John 117 it was off putting because I'm so use to his original voice but as I watched more episodes I got use to it and forgave that. I also didn't like how Halsey is so young but there are good things about this too. The action is awesome and it does reveal a lot about who was Cortana's maker and such.
Origins Part 1: 9
Very great recap of Forerunner/Flood War and why Halo was created. Animation was a bit too simple but I loved how much this one can suck you in by a matter of seconds.
Origins Part 2: 10
Second part has better animation and is more epic than the first. Contains the most memorable moment in the entire series.
Odd One Out: 10
Hilarious. That's all I have to say. O yea and hearing Brittney Karbowski (Black Star) and Chris Patton is win.
Prototype: 10
What can I say about Bones? Amazing animation, amazing story, amazing everything.
Homecoming: 10
The second saddest of the bunch. Very interesting and gripping and finally they were able to depict Halsey correctly.
So that's my overall review. Again I'm writing this in the point of view of a long time Halo fan since she was 7 years old so if you don't know Halo I don't know what your POV on this will be.
vanmarckestevy
With such a huge universe to create stories from I was very dissapointed. The duel is awesome, htis episode is worth the watch,great visuals,atmosphere, but little story (just enough to comprehend),with creative supervision by Mamoru Oshii. and it shows:) The first Origins was also nice because it had a good connection to the halo universe (the plot) and visually very nice. But I do say but the rest of the episodes are so 'empty' both visually (with the exception of the spaceship falling apart) and plot wise. The babysitter is so predictable you can write it yourself, and the rest of the episodes don't really matter. So bit dissapointed becauseyou can create awesome storylines with the AI,chief,covenant,universe,................................
The CHief alone is worth a movie:) but nooooooo
good to fill a lonely hour but for more enjoyment play the game
nicosico
This is difficult to review since these are separate stories, made by different studios, BEFORE YOU WATCH THIS: if you don't like the Halo series please avoid this in any way, if you have only played the games you might find it a little confussing, if you're a fan of the extended universe and like anime (which is kinda obvious if you are here) deffinitely watch it. The story touches on very good aspects that the expanded universe has touched a lot, the rivalry between ODST and Spartans, the pressures of being a soldier, and other stuff i wont mention because it would be difficult notto spoil.
the stories connect with stories from the book, we learn more about the history of the Halo universe with these stories that aren't told anywhere else, I watched both the sub and the dub, I reccomend the sub better, since the voice actors for known characters are not the sames as in the game, which made it feel a little weird.
The art is as good as most anime's plus a lot of variations throughout it, you'll get a surprise from "The duel", specially if you're an artist or you understand art well enough, the soundtrack is great.
The characters are developed as much as they need to be for you to understand each story, and is perfectly done in the short amount of time each episode is.
hope you find this helpful!
StonerWithABoner
i hated this piece of crap with a passion! it was confusing more so than other animes i was so mad when i got done watching it! i never really hated a anime this much the story was dreadful the art was Decent at best the character development was god offal! i didnt enjoy it at all and my buddy who was watching it with me ended up falling asleep and it was only about 3pm... i hate this anime and i hate the person who recommended it to me... if you want to waste precious moments of your life that you can never get back... then i guess you could watch thistrash...
but you might as well watch something good!
they would have to pay me to watch this crap again!
Pera
Halo one of the biggest franchises in gaming history, and know with the help of 343 Industries and some of Japan's greatest directors and story makers we get Halo Legends. Halo Legends has 9 episode's, with different story's and characters, and almost all of them are well writing and with great story to keep you entertained. If your a Halo fan those nine story's will give you new insite and a new look on the Halo franchise and I'm sure for those who like Anime also will have some enjoyment in this small packaged. Halo has always been know'n for their beautiful soundtracks, and they return inHalo Legends, many of them redone and it makes you come more in to the story. While I have some complaiment with the artwork and sound, some of the episode could have gotten better animation then it did, although this didn't ruin all that much, they could have spent some more money and time on the animation so it feels more real then i did.
I'm sure all Halo fans like myself will enjoy this, and if never have played Halo or been so interested in Halo this is your chance to watch what some of the story in Halo is all about.
Umm_what
Okay, Halo Legends hmm. Hard to rate being a collection or ONA. Seems the ratings and reviews are all over the place and if you don't like halo to begin with, you probably won't like Halo Legends. I am a fan of the Halo series, I've read some of the books and I own or owned all of the games but one. But I'm not so much a super halo geek fan that I approached this with a biased opinion, ZOMG!! ItZ Haloz!! AHM CHARGIN MAH...you get the picture. I'm going to give each segment it's own overall rating: Origins part one and two is firstup and it's a really good back story to the depth of the halo universe so, if you interested about the expanded universe the covers a lot. It's well animated and the narrator does a fine job as well. Not much more I can say about it I guess. 8/10
The Duel is just like one of those animes that takes itself too seriously. All the elites are now wearing samurai armor and it seems the Elite society is just like pre-modern Japan. Sure, maybe there's some similarities with Elite and Samurai code of honor but yeah...that's about it for similarities. Also I didn't like the ridiculous filter they used over the animation, it's like your watching it through a translucent glass window. 3/10
I feel iffy about the next segment, "Homecoming". It's well animated, great sound and the action scenes are well presented but it was more about two friends or lovers or whatever that were in the spartan program. It's all deep thoughts and memories. The MC goes to her former home to find she's been replaced. It's like when one of the gundam series (00, wing or seed) tries to do a heartfelt self discovery episode and it ends of feeling too manufactured. 6/10
Next is Odd One Out. I know it's suppose to be comic releif but ughhh. The Spartans name is 1337. He fights a t-rex then two super powered teenagers join him to fight a giant ape thing. Yeah, dbz fans, you can have this one. 3/10
Prototype is pretty good if you just want so damn action. Actually it feels like something right out of one of the games. The covenant come to steal some prototype technology and the commanding officer ops to use it in the fight rather than give it up. The visuals are exciting and like I said, good action. 7/10
I'm not sure why but the version I watched on Netflix didn't have the segment called The Package. Oh well, I'm sure it's okay.
Lastly, is my favorite, The babysitter. The baby sitter here is a spartan and the babies are the ODST, not that ODST are babies, more like reliable spec op badasses. It's not like the stories amazing though, it's just about the rivarly between ODST and Spartans. The animation is great and very lucid looking. It gave a very nice atmosphere, like I was reading it in a book. Actually if the writers and production house that made this took it upon themselves to make an animation adaption of the Halo book Ghost of Onyx, well, that would be damn alright with me.
Story - 6/10
Art - 8/10
Sound - 7/10
Character - 6/10
Enjoyment - 5/10
Overall 6/10
Darkness007
So here we have it. We've been waiting for them all this time and now their out. Halo Legends. Jam packed with unique storyline and animation, each episode can be called an OVA. They don't necessarily connect with one of another, but they still have a good storyline. Plot - 8/10 Let me emphasize this again. *Please be open minded about these OVAs everyone. Some takes place during ODST to even before Halo War. Again each OVA has their unique style in both animation and storyline. Character - 8/10 Since these OVA are about 10 - 15mins each, don't expect much in character development.Art - 8/10
Each and every one of the OVAs has their own distinguishable styles, ranging from anime - digital animation.
Overall - 9/10
Great storylines and animation.
thefunkhunter
Well this is ova is 8 separate episodes by all different director. There is no continuity between the episodes as each acts as a stand alone segment of the halo universe. This ova reminded me of a poor man's version of the matrix ova that was released a few years back. It begins with 2 prelude episodes that consist of (no lie) 30 minutes of narration and voice over work that is extremely boring and tells the backstory of the halo universe. After an epic setup they go into the different episodes they have a really bad cg episode and a horrible episode 5 thatis a comedy episode. Many of the episodes are borderline unwatchable they are that bad.
There are 2 episodes worth checking out episode 4 (sorry i forget the name of the episode) and "the babysitter" where master chief doesn't speak and acts powerful and mysterious that fans of the video game may enjoy.
Other than that i found the even the dead space anime to be better than this disappointing release, it seems to be nothing special 2 out 8 episodes worth watching is not a great number so that's why i gave it such a low rating.
Tyrannicswine117
Warning possible Spoilers Now giving something like this probably makes me a huge Halo fanboy, true I am a Halo fanboy, but these few episodes managed to reveal more and expand upon this amazing universe. Story (10/10) There may be only 9 episodes, but each one focuses on different stuff that goes on in the Halo universe and it doesn't just focus on the humans either, even the Arbiter gets his own episode showing us more how Sangheili culture works and what their like as a species. A lot of the episodes do involve humans fighting against the Covenant along with the odd Spartan, but it really goes intodepth between the relationship of the UNSC marines and the Spartans, not knowing where they really came from and whether they should trust them to get the job done.
Even the Master Chief and blue team get a full episode to themselves, showing how well they work together and how badass they are.
It even tells us about the origins of Halo and how the Forerunners managed to beat the flood by having to sacrifice themselves.
I also found it funny how we even got an episode that felt like a proper anime version of Halo, feeling a lot like the ridiculousness of DBZ.
Characters (9/10)
There is a wide variety of characters to choose from, as each episode focuses on someone different or a whole group of people entirely.
What I really like about this, is that it opens the universe beyond the games and by this point the latest game would've been Halo 3 ODST, so fans knowledge of the Halo universe would've been very secluded to the Master Chief. These episodes help show us there are more characters out there who made an impact on the war with the Covenant along with giving us a character from the Covenant as well to show us that there's a story here as well.
But it also does give us some Master Chief as well just to keep the main fans happy, while also showing us why he is such a good leader with other Spartans.
However I think out of all the characters Spartan 1337 is definitely one who stands out and feels like the Halo version of Deadpool and would fit very well in an anime version of Halo, since his snarky and overconfident personality make him a very enjoyable character.
Art (10/10)
What I really like about almost every episode is the different artstyles used for them, making each episode feel unique and would stand out. The best artstyle from an episode would have to go to The Duel which looked really well done and showed that Sangheili were not too different from the ways of the Samurai.
Odd One Out also stands out too, because it felt like it was going for a DBZ parody, just within the Halo universe and it did that very well.
Sound (10/10)
Music and sound effects wise, were great, they really captured the true essence of Halo and what it stands for, despite the music being taken from the games it was redone very well and fitted the moments of each episode.
Extras:
What I really like about these episodes, is that they try to focus on every possible aspect, ranging from the battles, to the spartan program and the Spartans themselves and it even allows us to take a look into the Covenant more as we see they aren't the complete monsters their shown to be in the games.
Enjoyment (10/10)
Overall (10/10)
When it comes to adapting a video game into a viewing format like a film or an anime, this definitely gets the feel of Halo spot on and really does well to give us stories to expand it's universe beyond the games.
NeonKazma
'm a big Halo fan. It's one of the most ambitious and well made franchises in the gaming industry. Master Chief is a badass, the story and mythos are engaging and mysterious, the characters and drama are complex, the scope is immense and Bungie creates the most addicting and creative multiplayer game modes than any other FPS franchises out there (suck it up your ass, BF3 and MW3!). So I decided to review Halo Legends and I gotta say.... Bravo, 343 Industries. This compilation of different anime stories, created by different anime studios, is a very fun and exciting treat for fans of Halo thatwant to know more about the mythos of the Halo universe and clearly it does it very well. Halo Legends did receive some mixed reception, cause they complained on adding an anime style look to the Halo franchise, just like the reviewers that bitched on the anime look of Batman Gotham Knights (I wish I can kill all anime haters B3). So I will review each different story separated and provide as much details without spoiling, so that it can be easy to read on without complications and I will rate each short with my own rating and thoughts about it.
1. Origins (Score: 10 out of 10):
Origins is basically the story on the origins of The Forerunners and their downfall during the invasion of The Flood (before Halo 1 on Xbox) and how humanity has lived on to survive: Endless war and the reason to fight for the sake of all living things. The animation was done by Studio 4C and it looks absolutely breathtaking on my HDTV. The amount of little detail references of the Halo games is excellent and it still has the same grand scope from the games, the action is rough and relentless, and it does give us some clues on who Master Chief really was during his early life on Earth. A fun story that really nails the Halo feel to it and a good start for the different stories to come.
2. The Babysitter (Score: 9 out of 10):
This one had less action, but it really didn't need that. Animated by Studio 4C and it's about a group of ODST soldiers (Orbital Drop Shock Trooper) who are giving a mission to eliminate a prophet so they can eliminate The Covenant's weapon supply and the shooter for the mission is a Spartan and so they go out to their objective to eliminate the target. This one kinda drags in the beginning, but the characters are fun to hang with and it does deliver a fun and energetic action scene with the Spartan against a hulking Brute (DAMN!). On top of that, the animation is gorgeous and it much more detailed than their other short story "Origins". Not the best one, but still great and satisfying.
3. Odd One Out (Score: 8 out of 10):
This Halo story is less dramatic and it just a hyper and action packed short story, just for some fun. The animation is done by Toei Animation, the same people that worked on the Dragon Ball franchises, and their animation in this one look surprisingly detailed in this one. The art is colorful and with some flashy colorful DBZ style visuals that fans can be happy with and the character models look very expressive and smoother. The story here is about a Spartan with an annoying attitude and huge amount of bad luck named "Spartan 1337", as he crashes on a planet and gets left behind by Master Chief. He meets some kids who live with a computer A.I. that they call "Mother" and he battles a super-soldier like Brute. The character "Spartan 1337" is annoying, with his lack of honor and with a wanna be badass attitude, but I will credit to the character cause he does have a badass and insane action fight scene with the giant Brute. Overall, this one is for the action, fun and humor.
4. The Duel (Score: 6 out of 10):
The Duel is simply about an Arbiter (not to be confused with the Keith David one) who doesn't want to follow "The Great Journey" cause it's all a lie. The Prophet then accuses Fal of heresy. Fal refuses and he sends an Elite to kill his wife so that he can fall into the trap. It's more of a simple revenge story and to be honest, this one was a disappointment for me. The character Fal was mediocre and uninteresting, he's just there to avenge his wife and to die in the end (SPOILER!). The animation by Production I.G. is decent and creative with the watercolor style effects, but the CG effects are just bad and doesn't mix very smoothly with the art. The only good thing about The Duel is the battle scene where the Arbiter fights off an army of Elites, grunts, Brutes and Hunters. For shame, Production I.G.
5. The Prototype (Score: 9 out of 10):
Prototype is about a soldier named Ghost, a warrior who has a haunting past of his old troops that died with him, due to his choices that he made during a battle, and therefore, he suits in on a badass mecha Spartan suit to sacrifice his own life to save the other survivors from The Covenant attack. The animation is done by Studio Bones (Wolf's Rain, FMA and FMA: Brotherhood) and it looks very impressive. It has a darker and more sentimental look to it and the main character Ghost is well portrayed and worthy to the cast of all Halo characters. The final climax scene with the Spartan mecha suit is exciting to watch and totally worth the time of admission.
6. Homecoming (Score: 10 out of 10):
Homecoming tells the story of Daisy, a Spartan who was taken away by her parents when she was a child and forced to be a Spartan on "The Spartan II Project". She escapes and as she returns to her childhood home, Daisy discovers that now a clone of her lives in the house and that she is now move on to be a Spartan while remembering her cruel past. I liked this story a lot, cause it really shows you the cruelness that The Spartan II Project brings to her and quite frankly, I feel incredibly sorry for her. The animation is done by Production I.G. again and it's a godsend improvement over their other work The Duel. It's much more vibrant, less grainy, detailed and colorful, and with much needed variety than The Duel. The ending of this story is depressing, but it leaves you with that Halo chill that goes through your spine. An improvement for Production I.G. and a nice story to boot for the Halo franchise.
7. The Package (Score: 8 out of 10):
The Package is the seventh and last short story of Halo Legends and I was fully satisfied through the entire time. It's all about Master Chief and other Spartan members trying to retrieve a package from Covenant forces and to bring it safely to the UNCS base pronto. The animation was done by Casio Entertainment and the CG is impressive as fuck. It really looks like I'm watching a Halo cutscene coming to life and the scope is just great on it's own. The action is relentless and the little duel with Master Chief and the Elite is short, but kinda neat. Also, be on the look out for some nice touch references on Halo gameplay (you will like it).
So there we go, I reviewed each different Halo story with my honest opinions, but what do I think as a whole? Well I would say this: Halo Legends is a fine example on how studios can be creative with the stories on the Halo mythos without doing anything offensive or nonsensical to ruin the franchise. Mixing an American product with anime style art is nothing new, but at times it can be very fun to watch cause the animators can make different and unique takes on that proper franchise and Halo Legends is no different. If you're a Halo fan or an anime fan, I recommend this to anyone who enjoys Halo a lot like me and 343 Industries clearly shows that they will take care of the Halo franchise with great honesty and respect for Bungie.
Nyren
Halo: Legends is a collection of 7 short stories set in the Halo universe. Each story is separate from the others and produced by a different anime studio. Each episode lasts approximately 15 minutes for a total run time of nearly 2 hours. Halo: Legends has a total of 7 stories, technically 8. The first story is Origins, which is a recounting of the Halo universes history from the distant past to present day. It's entertaining to watch and it can catch anyone who isn't familiar with the in-universe history up to speed in about half an hour. It also presents possible plot points for futureHalo video game titles. The second short, The Duel, is set in the distant past not long after the formation of The Covenant. It explains how the rank of Arbiter became a mark of shame. This is a critical piece of Halo lore that should not be missed, even if it can be a bit over dramatic. The third short is Homecoming. It's a side story that follows a Spartan II named Daisy. To be honest, this one, while self-explanatory, was also a bit confusing. It sheds some light on the Spartan-II project, but otherwise doesn't do much else in terms of story. Though it does have a nice bit of fan service at the end. The 4th short is known as Odd One Out. This short is the only non-canon episode of the Halo: Legends collection. It's a parody of sorts that makes Halo seem more like Dragon Ball Z. It's hilarious to say the least. It's a nice change of pace from all the seriousness I'll admit. The 5th short is Prototype. This one is one of the more serious episodes and tells a more Human story than the others, revolving around the Marine known as Ghost. The tagline BE HUMAN is constantly brought up, whether through dialogue or other means. Best to keep that in mind while watching if you want to truly understand this episodes purpose. The 6th short is The Babysitter, which follows the ODST's of the 105th on a mission to assassinate a prophet with the help of Spartan Cal-141. This episode is entertaining and at the same time serious. It shows just how dangerous the job of an ODST can be. The last short is The Package. Unlike all of the other episodes in this collection, The Package is entirely CGI rather than hand-drawn animation like the rest. It follows the series titular character Master Chief John-117 as he leads a team of Spartans to recover an important package. It's an action-packed episode and has no real meaning other than to be entertaining.
The art style varies from episode to episode due to the change in production studios. Origins has a very fluid art style and at times looks slightly reminiscent of something out of a Miyazaki film. The Duel trades in traditional animation for a cel-shaded animation style with a watercolor overlay. This gives it a distinctly unique appearance in contract to the rest of the episodes, but it is quite beautiful to look at and is by no means out of place or unwelcome. Homecoming features a simplistic art style that rarely has many details. The quality of the art increases at times for important scenes, but other than that, it looks kind of low budget. The same can be said for Odd One Out, which does not feature heavily detailed art, again having a more simplistic art style. The greatest amount of detail can be seen in the only scene where it rains, which is quite beautiful. Anyone who has watched the Dragon Ball series will instantly feel at home with this art style as it was made by the same production studio. Prototype has the highest detail out of all the hand-drawn episodes. Being more gritty and realistic in terms of art style, there is a lot of detail in the appearances of the characters, the explosions, vehicles, and environments making this possibly the most visually appealing out of all of them. It adds character to the episode and goes along quite nicely with the tagline "BE HUMAN". The Babysitter on the other hand goes back to a somewhat simplistic style. The characters are often low-quality while the backgrounds are extremely detailed, and to be quite honest, this is actually a nice trade-off as it really brings out the character of the environments. The Package is a completely CGI episode, making it appear more similar to The Duel in terms of art style, minus the watercolor effect. The models are all very highly detailed and the effects go quite nicely with the action. Though I do have to take issue with the physical depiction of one specific character who is portrayed as far younger than they actually are.
The sound design remains mostly consistent between episodes, reusing sound effects and soundtracks between each of them with some unique tracks and effects to make them stand out. This was likely a budgetary issue rather than a lack of creativity. The dub is unfortunately a Sentai dub, however, they at least did a decent job at casting characters and they don't quite feel lifeless. David Matranga plays Ghost quite well. However, it was kind of disappoint that none of the voice actors from the video games reprised their roles for these anime shorts. The actors that replaced them fit well with the characters, but it just seemed out of place.
Because all of the shorts are separate from one another, there is no lack of new characters between them and very rarely is a character shared between episodes. The physical depiction of Master Chief John-117 varies between the episodes he is featured in and he seems to display more emotion than his video game counterpart. In fact, he seems closer to the Master Chief depicted in the novels. Cortana narrates the entirety of the Origins episodes, acting as a historian of sorts. She also appears in Odd One Out albeit briefly. Ghost is perhaps the most realistic depiction of a broken soldier in the series and while many may find him bland or unlikable, I personally found him to be the opposite and easily one of my favorite characters. Spartan-1337 provides quite a bit of comic relief in the parody episode Odd One Out. Being a parody, he can get away with a lot of things that normally wouldn't happen. He is also the closest thing we'll get to a Spartan version of Goku. Dutch from ODST is also present in the episode The Babysitter, although his voice actor did not reprise the role. And just to clarify, the Arbiter seen in The Duel is not the same Arbiter as Halo 2 & 3. This Arbiters name is Fal' Chavamee, while the Arbiter in the games is named Thel' Vadamee. Or in the case of Halo Wars, Ripa' Moramee. Sorry about that quick diversion.
Overall, this series was a phenomenal collection. I thoroughly enjoyed the anime take on the Halo franchise. And as a Halo fan and an anime fan, it was a dream come true for these two to be thrown together and I honestly hope a Halo: Legends 2 is produced at some point in the future, perhaps as a full-fledged television series or feature film. If you're a fan of Halo, or looking for a good sci-fi story, Halo: Legends is a pretty good watch and I highly recommend it, though the varying tones between episodes may not be for everyone.
that_dude650
1. if you havent played any halo game, atleast download halo combat evolved, its free, it can run on almost any computer, you will understand it better if you play campaign. Ok 8 on story because, well each story is only 20 minutes long, besides Origins but its just 2 20 mins videos, And each story is different. However if you know what halo is or atleast the basis of it, you will understand every one. they also are stories basic on fans input. The art is amazing, each story might have there own design, Duel is like an old black and white animation mixed withnew, and Babysitter is like common anime, Package is 3-d animation.
Sound is perfect, mostly because Bungie, creators of Halo, probably help with all the weapon sounds and covenant sounds.
Character, for 20 minutes the development is well done, they dont go into much detail for Master Chief, Cortana, and Dr. Halsey, but you already know them.
Just saying I do have a bias, im a BIG halo fan
GABRIELGANZAGA6
if you have not gotten into the lore of halo or have not played the games at all then you will absolutely not like this show, but if you have it is an amazing watch. there are so many stories in the halo lore that are in this show which is just amazing, and personally makes me so happy, and how they executed all these stories was just amazing. if you have never heard of halo then everything makes absolutely no sense, I'm pretty sure they don't explain anything about the universe in the show so if you come in blind then you won't havea good time.
