Stan Lee, this American superhero comic maestro was not a foreign name in Japan. First, the superhero character of his creation in Marvel melanglang buana in various forms - movies, anime, manga, and other merchandise. Second, Stan Lee once created the original manga Karakuridoji Ultimo with mangaka Shaman King. Third, Stan Lee had produced the original anime Heroman alongside Bones studio and character designer Koyama Shigeto. Fourth, the cooperation between Stan Lee and Koyama continues into the movie Big Hero 6. And fifth, Stan Lee came back with his original anime. This time it took the Mushishi anime director, Nagahama Hiroshi, both of them creating a much bigger new series of superheroes. Here's The Reflection, an anime series produced by POW! Entertainment and Studio DEEN.
The Reflection seems ready to follow the success of Karakuridoji Ultimo and Heroman, as the original IP is prepared with mature. Stressful action, unique animation style, and cool music. With those three formulas, will the goddess of fortuna smile for the third time for Stan Lee?
The Reflection is the story of a group of people affected by the Reflection event. Earth has a strange phenomenon and drastic impact for humans. The sky was filled with flickering light and dark fog simultaneously. Humans exposed to the light gain a super power, so did those affected by the fog. The difference, the dark mist also changed the physical form of a human being a monster figure. Those who experience change due to the Reflection phenomenon are called as Reflected or Ref.
Three years after the Reflection, the social situation changed drastically. Many people who admire the action of the Ref defend the truth, but many more who discriminate because of the physical differences and abilities of Ref. In New York, a Reflection warning attended by the president of the United States was plagued by a group of hard-line refs. Fortunately there are some Ref who block the loud group, and leave it to the police. But not long ago, they could run away.
Eleanor Evans is one of the Ref who was present during the New York incident. It simply collects information about the Reflection phenomenon, but gets attacked also from the Ref group. Lucky he was saved by X-On, a Ref who could steal the power of another Ref. A few days later, X-On came to visit Eleanor's residence. Both of them turn out to have the same purpose, which revolves around the case of disappearance of some of the Ref and the appearance of the mysterious Ref figure nicknamed Wraith.
The adventures of Eleanor and X-On take them around America, visiting cities like New Orleans and San Antonio. While attempting to rescue the next abduction target, they also met with new partners, such as Lisa Livingston who could turn her wheelchair into a mecha, to a pair of fiancé Michael Holden and Vy Le who were covered in thick armor.
On the other side of the American coast, singer one-hit wonder Ian Izett wore I-Guy armor and became a protector of the city of Los Angeles. Previously he became popular after appearing in New York and arresting the troublemaker Ref. In other parts of the world, precisely in Japan. Four high school girls gather together to combat crime. Satake Uki, Yoshii Kanae, Nishiwaki Sayaka, and Murata Hirona formed the 9th Wonder group and wore costumes like super sentai.
Soon the path of Eleanor's group, I-Guy and 9th Wonder will cross each other. Meanwhile, Wraith's radical group Ref continues to kidnap Ref for a mysterious purpose. What exactly are they after?
Okay, now we go to the review. Looking at the formulas of Stan Lee-Nagahama Hiroshi's combo and the first impression, The Reflection seems to be presenting a truly American superhero story. In contrast to Karakuridoji Ultimo or Heroman who put forward a typical Japanese gimmick. It is true. Throughout the story, the main setting of the story never shifts from America, though occasionally jumps to Japan for a very short time.
The aesthetics of the animation are also fully inspired from the old American comics. Although minimal screentone effect, staining and shading are very flat is enough to present the feeling of reading ala comic. Speaking of the concept is still fun, but unfortunately execution even be half hearted. The colors that appear mostly dull, plus animations are made sekenanya only. It's hard to find cool screenshots because each frame feels empty, even in intense scenes though.
The early episodes begin with a relaxed and slow, with some of the same occurrences being repeated from the point of view of different characters and compounded by awkward scene compositions. It seems that the first two episodes can be compressed into one if the frameless scenes of frames are minimized. Patterns continue where Eleanor and-the-gang moves the city to investigate and rescue the abductees (ultimately failing).
During the first six episodes, the story feels like a noir mystery series with every moment of investigation and opportunity to do world building. FYI, I love how The Reflection showcases American police brutality with all their persecution against the Ref.
Apart from the first six episodes, then The Reflection can show the action that has been felt sluggish. Stan Lee did not hesitate to kill one or two characters for the sake of character flicking so they have development. Talk about character development, quite interesting because their background is always explained via flashback three years ago when Reflection occurred.
This flashback not only explains their transformation, but also to explain why they have such a view of life. Somewhat unfortunate as some new character developments are opened at the end for some core characters so some of them glance look underdeveloped.
Speaking of Stan Lee, it's incomplete if it does not talk about a cameo. Oh yes, Stan Lee also has a cameo here, in fact he has a role as a villain named Mr. Mystique who can telepathy with the Ref. Remember the 9th Wonder Sentai Group? They were played by the J-pop 9nine group and performed as themselves. The 9nine Group is the ending filler of this anime song whose title is SunSunSunrise. What really can be said as a cameo is the appearance of producer Ian, Trevor Horn, and his son Ally Horn.
Trevor Horn is a music composer who composed the anime soundtrack of The Reflection. Trevor is not just any name because he is a popular music producer who managed to create a variety of popular music in the '80s. No wonder if he got the nickname as a man who invented the music of the 80s era. Trevor Horn handles all the music in the The Reflection anime, including producing SunSunSunrise.
I think Trevor's music has its own kharisman, because he put forward a cinematic theme so that his music always sounds magnificent and epic. Trevor also unites music as part of the narrative. The repeated song of the Sky Show I-Guy is a song that symbolizes the development of Ian's character.
In the end, The Reflection that has many advantages should be blocked by some technical problems. The Reflection seems to want to be a hipster X-Men version. Stan Lee did not want to make his own version of the Brotherhood X-Men feud, but described the fight between the two camps by a group that was not tied together. The Reflection presents a gray conflict in the middle of what appears to be black and white. Not all of Wraith's subordinates agree with his purpose, and X-On could have just used Eleanor for his personal ambition.