2/5 If you're not already a fan of the manga...
  by Ana Mardoll (United States)
Twilight of the Dark Master / B00005BCKE

*Spoilers*

I understand that "Twilight of the Dark Master" is a movie based on an existing manga series - one that I haven't really been exposed to up until this point. From my outsider's experience, I think it's safe to say that non-fans probably won't be won over by this movie.

I have no doubt that a lot of effort went into the making of "Twilight of the Dark Master". The animation is lovely, the English voice dubbing is decently done, and the plot - what little there is - does try to keep the viewer in the loop as much as possible. Unfortunately, the final effort just comes off as deeply shallow, as though this were the basic framework of a movie, rather than an actual, complete movie in its own right.

The basic story arc is that here are demons and angels/guardians living amongst humans, striving against each other in a silent warfare. A recent experimental drug, however, has been used to turn a human into a demon and his tattered and emotionally scarred fiance sets out in a determined (and rather shell-shocked) quest for vengeance. About five feet from her apartment, though, she rather procipitously rus into a man who just happens to know a demon-hunter (lucky!) and they tromp off to talk to the guardian and explain their troubles.

The local guardian seems to work as a sort of paranormal consultant to the police - a kind of cross between Sherlock Holes and Blade, if I may be forgiven the analogy. And here is where the story is the most interesting. The guardian sleuths about a little bit ham-handedly, but the character has such a soothingly competant voice that it's easy to immerse yourself anyway, and try to enjoy the trail of clues. Unfortunately, the guardian turns out to be a little *too* competent - to the detriment of the movie - as his one and only clue is the only one he needs to solve the case, and the villains who try to murder him along the way are so massively out-classed by his magical guardian powers that there's just no tension. And this failing sort of surprises me - it's not rocket science to understand that a threat must be credible or else the drama is undermined. But it would seem that someone on the writing staff was so committed to the idea that humans are weak and guardians are unstoppable gods that they refused to be budged on ideology for the sake of a good movie.

Several other reviews have already noted that "Twilight of the Dark Master" is unpleasingly short, and while the sequences described above are far too rushed, the main reason for "Twilight"'s short length seems to be its almost complete lack of a proper ending. When a major demon turns up for a climactic end battle, it would appear that the developers realized that they had run out of budget and just rushed through a dialogue-laden alternative ending that performs several major artistic offenses, including the shoe-horning in of a previously unmentioned relationship between the guardian and the demon and - worst of all - just completely fails to make any sense.

Honestly, "Twilight" isn't bad, if you're just looking at anime as a genre to explore, but there are much better out there and it's ridiculously over-priced considering the short length, rushed content, and lack of drama. Check it out as a rental if you must, but if you're not already a fan you probably won't want to see it twice.

This movie provides English subtitles for the hearing impaired, however, the English subtitles almost never match the English spoken dialogue, which can be very annoying at times.

3/5 Uh...uh...uh...um...uh...uh...uh...
  by TrezKu13 (Norfolk, VA)
When I first saw this, I think I was thinking the exact same thing that every one else was once the 53 minute mark went by:

...What?

So I popped it in a second time to see if I could understand better.

OK, OK, yes, yes, there's this Tsunami guy, (I think that's his name) and some evil demon running an organization, yeah, and there's this guy who got turned into a monster and his girlfriend is caught in the middle and the 53 minutes are up...

...What?

Let's try this a third time. All right, so there are these two vampire or something siblings and one of them might kind of like Tsunami...or wait, they like each other. Huh? And there's this scientist and his assistant for about two minutes and then they get killed...and the 53 minutes are up...

...What?

All right, fourth time's a charm. There's a machine-woman orgie, followed by two topless hookers hugging and then getting killed.

...What?

Try as I might, I don't understand what the heck is going on. Sure, it has a nice style to it. Sure, there are a lot of cool characters, like Tsunami. But, ultimately, you got something that probably should have been two hours scrunched into 53 minutes. Imagine taking "Akira" and pinching it into a half-hour movie. It just don't work that way folks. It is a slightly entertaining 53 minute excursion, but I'd rent before buying, because you'll find yourself totally lost amidst the violence and random character deaths. However, I did learn one thing from this film, as quoted by the hero himself, "You know those drugs will kill you."

Right on, Tsunami. Knowing is half the battle.

5/5 A character and plot driven
  by Ronnie Clay (Winnsboro, Louisiana)
Twlight is an extremly well draw anime. It features great artwork and scenary (very reminscent of Blade Runner). Twlight does well with character development and plot advancement, even though it clocks in at only 53 mins. All in all a good solid anime.

3/5 i pray this is a condensed version of an upcoming series
  by kuroneko sama (New England, USA)
this movie had multitudes of potential it had a great sotry and visually was excellent, but it felt rushed, and i feel that took alot from it. similar to "X" where the movie was basically a summary of the series and didnt go at all in depth to the charicters involved, but in "X" the series took the time to get to know the charicters and let everything sink in and basically absorb you into the series

if this is turned into a series it could easily be a sleeper favorite, but as far as the movie itself goes, i felt like i was watching a preview for a much more involved project.

it had everything i find good in an anime, deep story, a bit of tragedy, visualy appealing and alot of explosions. but i feel it was rushed in the delivery and the "finale" had little to no impact. if there had been some background and charicter focus the ending would have had more of an effect.

as i said an excellent anime... if it were designed to be the prieview of a great series

4/5 A good standard for anime
  by C. Fretwell (eva, tn United States)
A little on the short side BUT to say this movie was bad is being ultra picky .It had great gorey bloody scenes brought to you by the evil ones .The movie gore and fighting was sacrificed for sake of story line but that isn't a bad thing .I agree that this movie with some added work from the creaters could have put this flick among the top .Great animation work ,story work ,vocals as well .