Sadly Over-hyped

Great visuals, story delivers no surprises

Absolutely brilliant

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

(Don't be surprised if you doze off while watching this)Having seen some of the best anime of all time I can safely say Karas is no where near any. All that raving by the others on the first few reviews is correct to some part but extremely misleading otherwise.Karas excels in its visuals no doubt with an equally rapturous soundtrack combination to create thrill where none exists. I gave this movie 3/10 only for that. That's all I'll agree about it. But that itself is achieved by someone behind a computer with a degree in animation, what makes a movie is its ideas, story and characters, and all of these are missing.The story is extremely dull and in a word murderous to an individual's imagination. Let us just put aside its broken up abrupt style, sudden endings and beginnings in its collection of short incidents, shallow characters which don't even translate as characters because there is so little known about them and aimless fights which portray anime stereotypes like a 'tough guy', 'a disconnected hero', 'some evil baddies', 'a villain' and look at the immense failure at its very core. Mind you many anime excel with these stereotypes and I hold nothing against that but it simply doesn't work here. There is no one in particular to follow through its mess of violent and mind numbing overly dramatic scenes. The director is trying hard to make the audience feel some empathy towards a story that is incredibly torpid at times. Torpid, not because of slow-mo scenes, but because there is simply nothing happening. Quite frankly you will find it difficult to make any sense out its randomness. There is nothing interesting about its central concept about its fantasy world, which seems to have ripped some visual motifs off Spirited Away or perhaps old Japanese art. Not to mention being underdeveloped, which could have been interesting with at least some work.If you have been tempted by its screenshots, positive responses, trailer whatever the case skip this one if you wish to not waste your time.Trust me, I was shocked when I saw so many positive reviews about it. This is no more than a pointless long torture of meaningless visuals and sounds. Something like a child filming using the best camera available, the technology doesn't help what is already hopeless.Someone even called it 'The Matrix of anime', and he/she is so grossly mistaken to compare such an epic with this sort of a sham.

This explanation is my culmination based on my 3 viewings of "Karas: the Prophecy", and four website explanations: Netflix, IMDb.com, and a quoted DVD text, and the official (English) website. Please note that this explanation is based on the English texts I have read and the English translation of the movie. It may not be 100% accurate, which if I have done this correctly, a more accurate explanation would really require knowing Japanese. E.g. "Eko" is actually Eku, and Yurine, is really "Yuri" and from the little Japanese I know, a single letter can drastically change the entire meaning of a word. OK, enough said.= THE PROPHECY = It was once foretold, that the battle for the future world will start and end - with Karas.= THE PLOT = The worlds of humans and demons have overlapped since time immemorial, and a spirit named Yurine (who represents the will of the people in the city) and her servant, Karas, have long maintained order and balance between the worlds. But humans have finally lost their beliefs of the demons and spirits. Disgusted by human arrogance, Karas turns his back on his role as guardian of the city, taking the name Eko, and plans an attack against the humans in the city. His goal is to have the humans once again believe in, and fear, demons.Eko and his followers live in the material realm in human form, but to continue doing so they must feed on the fluids of human bodies. Their periodic feasts result in massacres that leave only a single traumatized survivor. (There is no explanation given for this - it might be part of Eko's plan to re-instill fear into the hearts of humans.)Opposing Eko is the once demon Nue, who also lives in the material world in human form but refuses to drink blood. He wants to kill Eko b/c Eko trapped Nue's younger brother to help complete his evil plan. Also opposing Eko is Otoha, a human, who called out from his heart to Yurine - while he lies in a hospital bed in a coma. They make a contract and he becomes the new Karas.= THE KARAS = The "Karas", which means "crow" in Japanese, is their nom de plume as well as their title. There are others called Karas as well, Eko and Otoha are just the two most current and powerful. They can transform into any of various heavily armed vehicles. (There is much about "crows" but a lesson in ancient Japanese culture may explain that thread.)= The Humans = These "inexplicable" tragedies are the obsession of a marginalized police inspector whose daughter was the survivor of one such massacre. A young Leutenant is assigned to this "department". Beyond this simple role, they hardly have anything to do with the plot.Final comment: the first one is: "Karas: the Prohpecy" which has phenomenal CGI and action. 5/5* the second one is: "Karas: the Revelation" which has a cheaper version of the first CGI and typical anime action. 3/5*-LD______________________my faith: http://www.angelfire.com/ny5/jbc33/

Although it seems as somewhat incomplete and definitely leaves you wanting more, the story was great and the visuals were incredible. Karas is a mythical figure out of a world running parallel to our own. Karas uses a combination of his own powers, as well as some cool technology to combat evil beings living among us. But, in the end it seems Karas is just another pawn used by others to seek conquest over evil. This DVD really pushed the limits of my TV and my head with the speed and style of the animation and I find myself popping this in often just to enjoy the eye candy. I really hope they're working on more Karas!! I'll be first in line for the new one!

After being rushed to an emergency ward in a hospital, a man is called to protect the spirit world by becoming both a doctor and a guardian. By battling a man who once had his job in the past and the spirits whom he took under his wing and turned them into machines that feed on human blood, Otoha has to preserve the balance of the human world and the nether world by using his power as a Karas.Guaranteed that if you love action, you will be drawn into the movie by the first 10 minutes of this film. The story strikes as odd but the action completely makes up for it, for every minute of boring talk and calm scene, there is an equal minute of hardcore fighting. Combining both CG and Japanese animation, this is truly a masterpiece of anime. If you're a first timer, I would highly recommend this film.