Only very minor spoilers exist for major plot points, but no details about those plot points given.
Lady Death has been "on my radar" for a while, I knew it existed and I was curious, but I never got around to watching it. Knowing it was just animated "straight to video" told me it wasn't going to be that good. When I finally did watch it and realized it wasn't just animated, but it was an anime, I was a little more than disappointed. I have found that anime versions of popular properties are either really good (Witchblade) or really bad (take your pick). I feel like this is one of those situations where it falls in between, like they wanted to make a good movie, but didn't have the budget or maybe just didn't have the vision.
I think the movie's biggest problem is the lack of anything happening. There's a lot of talking. A lot of talking. Characters seem stiff and the voice acting, while not terrible, just seems like they didn't want to be there that day. A lot of the voices just don't seem to fit the characters, Lucifer is no exception. The voice actor has some kind of accent and sounds kind of slurred. Not a drunk slur, but some words just don't sound right. Imagine elves of Lord of the Rings with a slight southern accent. Lady Death has a decent voice, much better than Julie Strain of Heavy Metal FAKK2 fame, but there are times where she doesn't sound like she knows what kind of emotion she should convey.
The animation is right on par with an ok budget anime, but nothing to write home about (much better than some like Dragon Ball Z where most of the time the only animation is their mouths moving). There were definitely some corners cut to keep costs down and some of the effects animations (like Lady Death's blue energy) were lacking. There are times when it looks like there were two animation teams working on the same project, Lady Death especially would change a bit between scenes. Fight scenes are typical for this type of animation, everyone can jump over buildings and leap off walls, just like any anime. Weapon usage is also on par where nothing feels "heavy".
The plot is... ok. It's your basic, run of the mill "kill the bad guy" fluff. There is almost no character growth at all, aside from Hope becoming Lady Death and wanting more revenge. I would have at least expected her to have learned something, but it's just "more death, more killing". And the plot just skims over a lot of things, this movie could have benefited from an additional 15-20mins of time to explain things or go more in depth on some plots, but the plot can be summed easily with a few points:
Here's Hope. Hope is Lucifer's daughter. Here's Hell. Hope is Dead. Introduce Lady Death. Here's a sword. Here's a horse. Lucifer is dead. Cliffhanger ending.
They NEVER explain anything. It really leaves you wanting more story, which as I said earlier, is odd considering it's almost all talking in this movie. That being said, it doesn't mean it's a terrible plot, it just really light on details. I have seen movies where plot points literally go nowhere or they throw in a 'macguffin' or even an "deus ex machina" to solve something.
I do enjoy the fact that they stayed fairly true to Lady Death's design, something that seems lost on many directors. Witchblade can be forgiven for the way the armor in the comics looked and would probably have been a pain to animate, but Lady Death really shined, even right down to the little skulls that hold her outfit together. Other character designs were ok, but not anything spectacular. It's something to watch if you're bored and don't know what else to watch.
In the end, it's not the worst movie you'll ever see and it was an ok adaptation, at least they didn't do something like add little bears and flying cars because "the director wanted to", but it also won't keep you glued to your seat.
Lady Death has been "on my radar" for a while, I knew it existed and I was curious, but I never got around to watching it. Knowing it was just animated "straight to video" told me it wasn't going to be that good. When I finally did watch it and realized it wasn't just animated, but it was an anime, I was a little more than disappointed. I have found that anime versions of popular properties are either really good (Witchblade) or really bad (take your pick). I feel like this is one of those situations where it falls in between, like they wanted to make a good movie, but didn't have the budget or maybe just didn't have the vision.
I think the movie's biggest problem is the lack of anything happening. There's a lot of talking. A lot of talking. Characters seem stiff and the voice acting, while not terrible, just seems like they didn't want to be there that day. A lot of the voices just don't seem to fit the characters, Lucifer is no exception. The voice actor has some kind of accent and sounds kind of slurred. Not a drunk slur, but some words just don't sound right. Imagine elves of Lord of the Rings with a slight southern accent. Lady Death has a decent voice, much better than Julie Strain of Heavy Metal FAKK2 fame, but there are times where she doesn't sound like she knows what kind of emotion she should convey.
The animation is right on par with an ok budget anime, but nothing to write home about (much better than some like Dragon Ball Z where most of the time the only animation is their mouths moving). There were definitely some corners cut to keep costs down and some of the effects animations (like Lady Death's blue energy) were lacking. There are times when it looks like there were two animation teams working on the same project, Lady Death especially would change a bit between scenes. Fight scenes are typical for this type of animation, everyone can jump over buildings and leap off walls, just like any anime. Weapon usage is also on par where nothing feels "heavy".
The plot is... ok. It's your basic, run of the mill "kill the bad guy" fluff. There is almost no character growth at all, aside from Hope becoming Lady Death and wanting more revenge. I would have at least expected her to have learned something, but it's just "more death, more killing". And the plot just skims over a lot of things, this movie could have benefited from an additional 15-20mins of time to explain things or go more in depth on some plots, but the plot can be summed easily with a few points:
Here's Hope. Hope is Lucifer's daughter. Here's Hell. Hope is Dead. Introduce Lady Death. Here's a sword. Here's a horse. Lucifer is dead. Cliffhanger ending.
They NEVER explain anything. It really leaves you wanting more story, which as I said earlier, is odd considering it's almost all talking in this movie. That being said, it doesn't mean it's a terrible plot, it just really light on details. I have seen movies where plot points literally go nowhere or they throw in a 'macguffin' or even an "deus ex machina" to solve something.
I do enjoy the fact that they stayed fairly true to Lady Death's design, something that seems lost on many directors. Witchblade can be forgiven for the way the armor in the comics looked and would probably have been a pain to animate, but Lady Death really shined, even right down to the little skulls that hold her outfit together. Other character designs were ok, but not anything spectacular. It's something to watch if you're bored and don't know what else to watch.
In the end, it's not the worst movie you'll ever see and it was an ok adaptation, at least they didn't do something like add little bears and flying cars because "the director wanted to", but it also won't keep you glued to your seat.