OBSCURE O.V.A.S, *Karas

Like most up-and-coming American comic book creators, they seriously want to get their title turned into a genuine anime series, as in actually being made in Japan and produced for the Japanese market. So Dark Horse Comics really bagged a biggie when their one-shot comic Karas was adapted into a 6-episode OVA series. The original comic written by Phil Amara(Spyboy)received moderate success in 2004, and then became a full-on superhero anime by Tatsunoko Production, who already have a history of superhero anime like Speed Racer, Gatchaman Casshern, and Teknoman. So they mixed on some flawless cel-shaded animation to create this "Batman meets The Crow" hybrid!

In modern day Japan, sections of Tokyo major city have their own guardian spirit known as a Karas guarding it. Each Karas makes a contract with a cat-like spirit called Yurine who all share a similar appearance(except in hair color), however Eko, the Karas of Shinjuku, rebels and takes over his city. Three years later, Eko has amassed a mafia of demonic "mikura" to control Shinjuku, but a new Yurine is born and contracts the comatose ex-Yakuza swordsman Otoha to be the new Karas to take Eko down. Along with this, we see how the lives of common people effected by the supernatural happenings going on, including a special two-man police investigation unit, a hapless mascot girl, and the local yokai who try to survive in the ensuing chaos. Most notable is the outcasted mikura Nue who seeks to free his brother from Eko's control, but both brothers are part Eko's scheme to separate Shinjuku into its own kingdom. When the mikuru start branching out all over the city, Otoha reemerges as Karas to fight the Eko, along with a female Karas from another part of Tokyo. Each Karas takes on the appearance of a crow-like samurai with the ability to turn into a miniature saber jet, or a juiced-up Batmobile, so the final battle between this trio of Karas makes for an incredible showdown.

The OVA series was release in English by Manga Entertainment, but as two separate compilation films, Karas: The Prophecy and Karas: The Revelation, which was probably a bit confusing for anyone who picked up one of these titles on their own without knowing it was part of a series. Karas obtained enough popularity in Japan to include the actual Karas character in Capcom Vs. Tatsunoko, but its release in America didn't have as much lasting power, slightly due to a serious lack of exposition involving the nature of these supernatural beings and how their existence is interwoven with the common human world. The dub is exceptional with Jay Hernandez and Mathew Lillard, plus Piper Perabo and Cree Summer both voicing Yurine with Summer replacing Perabo for the second film. The anime has been released in America as two DVD volumes, and a 2-disc DVD set, but so far no English Blu-Ray has been made available outside of the U.K.