Madlax Volume 1: Connections - Eclipse Magazine
- Eclipse Magazine
- Sheldon A.Wiebe
- 06/02/05
- click here
Madlax, Vol.1
There two, maybe three protagonists in ?Madlax:? a preteen girl; a high school schoolgirl, and a young woman who just happens to be the world?s best assassin. Somehow, the three are connected ? though it?s almost impossible to say for sure how that works.
The schoolgirl, Margaret Burton, is an orphan with issues, as the slipcase copy reads, and is ?haunted by bizarre and cloudy dreams,? and ?must not only endure the horrifying images, but traverse the treacherous path of high school.? Margaret frequently goes away, mentally, and is often out of step with both her memories and reality.
Madlax is pure poison with a sugar coating ? her skill in killing is only surpassed by her ability to charm. When she gets a particularly strange assignment, in one episode, she visits her prey and spends the evening talking with him. In another, she saves the life of Pete, a man who was betrayed by his partner ? but still tries to save him.
The nameless third girl looks to be about five and carries a doll. She seems to be one of the other two as a child ? but which one, if in fact either? She appears very seldom, and only long enough to add a beat or two to the ongoing drama.
Although the mysterious connection between these three is at the heart of the series, there are other connections ? the maid, Eleanor, who cares for Margaret is connected to a woman who works for a firm that has connections to a country that has suffered an ongoing civil war for over a decade; the prey whom Madlax visits, is a highly placed minister in that same country?s government; the murder of a man by his daughter [who commits suicide immediately afterward] ? who is school friend of Margaret?s ? the web widens with every passing second.
?Madlax, Vol.1? has a lot of action and suspense, but works extremely well on an emotional level, too. Whether it?s Pete?s fate, Margaret?s attempt to deliver flowers to her friend, or the confounding of the police officer investigating the murder/suicide, nothing is quite as it seems ? and before long we genuinely care for these characters.
And I haven?t even mentioned the vast underground conspiracy, or the haunting opening theme music [or the incredible score, for that matter]?
Features for ?Madlax, Vol. 1? include: a production insert that tells a bit about what the series was originally about, and the way it was changed, as well as how those changes were developed; clean versions of the opening and closing credit sequences; an unused opening sequence; several Japanese TV spots; and a gallery of production sketches.
Grade: Madlax ? A
Grade: Features ? B-
Final Grade: B+
Posted on Thursday, June 02, 2005 (Archive on Saturday, July 02, 2005)