Shadow Skill Volume 1: Fight for the Ones You Love (DVD) - Anime Reviews


	Number of Episodes 4 Language Options English/Japanese/English Subtitles Released by ADV Films
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Shadow Skill Volume 1: Fight for the Ones You Love (DVD)

The kingdom of Karuda has known many warriors, none greater than the Sevalle, an elite breed whose mastery of martial arts has made them legendary. But for the 59^th Sevalle, Elle Ragu, a.k.a. Shadow Skill, being a legend is shaping up to be something of a drag. After all, adventure alone doesn’t pay the rent, and living check to check takes its toll on even the fiercest warrior. Strong as an ox and stubborn as a mule she may be, but it’s drinking like a fish that usually gets Elle in trouble. And as she travels alongside her brother Gau, leaving property damage and unpaid bar-tabs in their wake, a new threat looms on the horizon: spies from the kingdom of Solfan have entered the picture, and Kuruda seems to be headed for war…

Come, enter a world of demon beasts and magical talismans, as our hot-tempered redhead takes on legions of foes foolish enough to cross her, in this, the first installment of Shadow Skill, from the makers of Amazing Nurse Nanako and Tenchi Muyo!

Well, the description certainly looks interesting… but I personally wouldn’t have listed credits of Amazing Nurse Nanako before Tenchi. That’s like putting – Little League Champion before World Series MVP. Anyways, Shadow Skill can be described as an “older” anime (having come out all the way back in 1998… damn, we sure dressed funny back in those days) and so it lacks the shine and sheen that we’ve started to be spoiled by.

Episode 01: The Power of My Blow Has No Equal

Brother and sister team of Gau and Elle are making their way towards the Kuruda, and along the way the come across a caravan that is being attacked by bandits. The peasants are going to fight it out, but they send the women and children ahead to relative safety. Unfortunately, some of the bandits target the would-be escapers and are now in trouble – Elle charges into the fray with Gau trying to keep up, but he can not do much but watch his sister take out the enemy without too much effort. She brings back her saved charges back to the rest of the caravan, and ends up joining them towards Kuruda. As they sit and enjoy dinner, Elle recognizes Faurink Maya (nicknamed Folli by Elle), who is surprised to see Elle, but is otherwise occupied in tailing a blonde man. The caravan then makes it into the city, and both Gau and Elle have taken jobs as laborers for the caravan while visiting – one of their jobs involves feeding a captured demon beast for the impending competition.

As we get to experience a bit of the city, we meet Iba Sutra, King of Kurada and the 58^th Sevalle who is currently worrying about reprisals after a recent battle and we learn the revered status of the Sevalles – even the perpetually broke Elle who hasn’t built a statue celebrating her new status. Elle isn’t generally known yet, so her title proceeds her name for the time being. Folli finally catches her target doing something wrong – he’s interacting with the captured demon beast, so she springs to action. The man reveals himself as Hulem, the beast master and frees the beast and lets it rampage. Gau and Elle arrive just as the fight is getting started and the pair dive right in – Gau replaces Folli and Elle tries to stop the beast. Gau is able to defeat Hulem quite easily, and he tries to get the beastmaster to calm the rampaging beast, but he refuses. So Elle finally reveals her entire strength and drops the monster with one blow.

Episode 02: Duelists

Elle has entered herself into a tournament (the tournament is a celebration of one of the more prolific Sevalle – Scarface, whose strength is legendary) to raise some much needed funds, and almost immediately she’s making new friends: another martial artist who doesn’t smell of battle named Kor Icks has stated that he will kill her. Elle is unfazed by his claim, and heads out for her semi-final match against a demon beast. The beast is a giant berserker, and although she isn’t hit during the battle, she manages to pull a stomach muscle during bringing down the monster. Gau and Folli watch the battle from box seats and they are joined by a mysterious stranger who not only reads Elle’s fighting style but notices her injury as it happens. Gau ends up talking to the stranger as he goes to fetch food for his sister, and he

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reveals that his goal is to become a Sevalle like his sister. As they get back to the locker room area, Kor Icks attacks the siblings. Elle manages to evade the attack, but Gau is caught in a talisman trap. Kor threatens to kill Gau if Elle doesn’t throw the upcoming fight against him (which will mean her death) and leaves a re-animated berserker to guard him.

As Elle starts the fight, she’s allowing herself to be hit by the enemy’s attacks but she will not

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counter-attack. The stranger appears in the locker-room area and asks Gau if he’s serious about becoming a Sevalle – he frees him and tells him to show him his skills. The stranger reveals himself as Scarface, and wants to see Gau’s fighting potential. Gau then attacks the Berserker and breaks through a wall into the main stadium. Now the Elle can see that Gau is no longer trapped, she freely attacks Kor and kills him.

Episode 03: Phantom’s Keepsake

The winnings from the tournament have already been spent paying off debtors, but they still owe some money. Folli has gotten work for the team assisting with some demon trapping, but Elle doesn’t want to do that kind of “soft work”. As the trio continues to argue over drinks, a young girl is trying to finalize a contract with some toughs, but they instead take all of her money and are looking to take advantage of the girl. Gau won’t have this and he jumps to her aid immediately; Elle recovers her money and makes a contract to defeat those men for the money that they stole. She wipes the floor with the thugs, and take the girl back to their hotel. The girl offers the trio the same mission that she offered the roughs, she wants a specific demon killed in revenge for her deceased grandfather (they were members of a demon hunting squad named Phantom, and she has since worked with Septia, the demon hunters). Elle agrees but insists on knowing her name - Kyuo Lyu, and she was a junior member of the hunting teams, having not perfected the skills and equipment yet. She agrees to pay what she can, and if they are successful, she will work to pay off a larger amount.

Elle and company travel to the village of the most recent sighting, and the village leaders state that tonight will not be a good night to hunt it – the full moon is tonight, and this is when the beast is most aggressive. Elle decides that she doesn’t want to wait and will draw it out tonight with a picnic in the woods. Kyuo seems to be getting along well with everyone, but especially Gau who she seems to be attracted to. As the two walk to fetch water, Gau reveals that Elle is not his actual sister – his family died in a bandit raid, and as he fought back, Elle saved him and named him her brother and trained him. While alone and talking, the demon attacks and captures Kyuo. The noise brings Elle and Folli, and they begin attacking the demon, but it is able to regenerate damage while under the full moon – so they are going to have to damage it critically in one shot. Both Gau and Elle deliver extreme damage while Folli tries to contain it, but it starts to run away with Kyuo. She yells for everyone to stay back, saying that she doesn’t want any of them to be killed saving her; Elle is furious that she would give up and chastises her for surrendering without getting any measure of revenge. Kyuo then uses her weapons and is able to trap the beast long enough for Elle to deliver the finishing blow; as the group prepares to leave the area, Elle tells Kyuo that she still owes them money and is going to have to join them until she pays off her debts.

Episode 04: What My Father Left Me

Elle and company have managed to get themselves evicted from the previous hotel, and so they are now staying at a country inn that’s on an isolated island. Through the course of their chores, Elle manages to cause a significant amount of property damage and so the foursome is going to have to work off their new debt at the hotel – 3 are going to go into town to buy supplies while the 4^th is going to remain to work as a server in the restaurant… and Elle draws server. The owner of the hotel is a young girl of only 10 years, Feolina, who has lost both of her parents and keeps the hotel running for the memory of her father. Her only ally has been an older patron, a friend of her father, who visits everyday. Elle manages to get a handle on working as a server (without breaking too much stuff) and notices that the owner becomes upset as a man comes by to buy the hotel. She steadfastly refuses, but begins crying about the emotions the place holds. Elle tries to comfort her, but is thankful when the old man comes to help.

That night, Feolina’s room is ransacked – the thief was looking for something but did not steal any money. Elle is drawn to the yells, and she ends up chasing after a shadow. The weather is strong, and so the culprit must be one of the guests as no one could have come in through the current storm. She visits the old man’s room and finds that his cloak and boots are wet, so he confronts the man in Feolina’s room. He denies being the intruder, but slips up when comforting Feolina (he stated that thankfully no money was taken, when no one else had revealed that information). Elle charges him, but he takes the youth as a hostage, and tells her that her father was in fact a former researcher for the nation of Solfan and was making a super weapon when he disappeared. He tries to pry information about it, but she does not know anything – Elle is able to finally get a hand on the man, and he runs away with Elle giving chase. She eventually defeats the man, and Feolina is able to find the last will and testament that her father left, explaining who he was and that no copies of his research exist. In thanks for her help, Elle and company are told that they may remain at the hotel as long as they want and can consider it their new home.

Shadow Skill reminds me greatly of Fist of the North Star with the katakana naming each power move. As a martial arts show, it trails behind many better done shows but does bring some interesting characters which make the fighting more palatable. If you are into that sort of fantasy/martial arts genre, you may like the show but otherwise probably not.

- Tazman

(December 5, 2005)

"Can't you do anything?"

"Well, I can get my feelings hurt and throw a world class hissy fit."

"I wish he'd get sick like ET."

- Steve, Roger, and Klaus (American Dad)

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