Madlax Volume 2: The Red Book - Active Anime.com
- Active Anime.com
- Rommel Saladanan
- 06/16/05
- click here
Madlax: The Red Book (Vol. 2)
OFFICIAL DESCRIPTION
The Gazth-Sonika Civil War ? As the death toll mounts, so do questions about both the conflict?s purpose and its highly secretive facilitators. Even the ruling power?s Army Commander hired mercenary Madlax to carry out his own assassination in the hopes of putting an end to the madness. Meanwhile, the quest for answers continues. Before being murdered by his bizarrely entranced daughter, resistance operative Piederica Morey sent a young boy named Chris deep into Gazth-Sonika in order to find the truth ? and turn the tide of the war.
REVIEW
After a slow start, this second volume of Madlax has picked up the pace.
The second volume delved with Margaret?s past and hinted on how she might have met Madlax after a plane crash that took the life of her father. If you have paid attention in the first DVD, the word ?Pasta? also has a correlation between the two. For now it is still a mystery, but the connections between the two characters are starting to fall in place.
I also like the extra characters that were introduced in this volume, Chris and Eric Gillian. Chris was sent to Gazth-Sonika to find the truth on why the civil war started (episode five). Eric Gillian, a bibliographer (episode seven and eight), was hired by Margaret to find another copy of her picture book since her copy was missing a page.
With the Eric Gillian story arc, this is where the story set its tone on how the two main characters might meet each other. Eric went deep to Gazth-Sonika in search for another copy of the book and to learn more about the Elies script - the Holy Word of Saruon while being protected by Madlax. At the end, Eric decided to stop the investigation and requested Madlax to mail his letter to Margaret. Both main characters are in two different worlds, which eventually will collide.
The story also gave a hint on how Margaret might regain her memories since Eric managed to remember what he did in the past while studying the Elias script in a cave.
On another note, the soundtrack for Madlax is also now apparent, and it comes with the similar musical overtures of Noir - its predecessor.
EXTRAS
The DVD comes with Conversation with SSS. This feature just shows you in just what state of mind the writers of ADV are in ? which is very weird and funny. Clean opening and closing credit, original Japanese TV spot, Design Sketch, ADV Previews (Chrono Crusade, Gravion Zwei, Area 88, RahXephon, Gilgamesh, Yugo the Negotiator), and DVD Credits makes up the extra feature of the DVD.
SUMMARY
If you picked up a copy of the first volume of Madlax and found it slow in pace, you will not be disappointed with this volume. Having to pick up the pace on these episodes has set the tone for Madlax and Margaret to reunite. With its character driven stories, and some of the pieces are now starting to fall in place, I can?t wait for the next volume to arrive. Madlax is one intelligent series shrouded with mysteries.
Posted on Thursday, June 16, 2005 (Archive on Saturday, July 16, 2005)