King of Bandit - Seventh Heaven

After patiently waiting a long freaking time for ADV to get their butts in gear and releasing the last animated form of Jing out on English dubbed DVD, I have to say for the story's sake anyway, it was well worth the wait.


The Story:

Jing and Kir are finally captured and locked up in a strange, super strong Alcatraz style prison known as "Seventh heaven". Inside prison, Jing is searching for a magical dream thief called Compari and hopes to steal his rare "dream orbs". But when Jing meets up with Compari, he learns the truth to his secret magics and more about himself then he'll ever know.


The Good:

Right off the very first swing, Jing knocks a grand slam into super weird territory. The same vivid, outrageously twisted imaginative worlds and creatures that littered the anime series are back in full force and twice as weird. The dream worlds Jing visits through and the bizarre characters he meets inside prison are incredibly creative, the originality in this anime special is outstanding and powerfully effective. The music is pretty funky too.

The new characters are interesting, especially Compari who houses most of the plot line's most intriguing elements and is quite the compelling character. Probably though one of the best aspects of this disc is some CLEAR (as clear as Jing can get) background information on Jing. We learn more about his past and where he came from, and its a delightful experience that finally gives some long overdue details to Jing and Kir's past, including how they first met. The new worlds and "dream lands" Jing visit are like a trip on acid, only its the best kind: ones that entertain and enthrall you with over the top creative visual imagery.


The Bad:

If you read my review on the King of Bandit Jing series, then you know about the whole "secret inside joke" thing I mentioned. Well unfortunately the joke is still around, Jing's super calm demeanor is impossible to break and at times, you find it upsetting Jing doesn't react to anything that seriously in here. This OVA is only 3 episodes long and unfortunately, it doesn't really look like it ties to the main series at all which bums me out because there was plenty of room to make such distinctions shown.

I would have liked to see them maybe reference a past character, town, or story arc to kind of properly tie the series together but they didn't so that definitely left a frown face on my lips.





The Conclusion:

"Seventh Heaven" is a wild, imaginative, well made return of the bandit king, Jing. You'll swear your high once you get a glimpse at the awesome imagery in this OVA, and treat yourself to some excellent long awaited background details on our infamous duo. Some continuity issues aside, this anime features an excellent story, beautiful imagery, and proves to be a more effective magic carpet ride then the series is.


Voice Acting: 7/10
Visuals & Animation: 10/10
Story: 9/10
Music & Sound: 7/10
Overall: 8/10


Tags: king of bandit, seventh heaven  (add tags)

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