As more creative types on this side of the Pacific acknowledge anime's influence on their work, studios are adapting North American properties into anime in order to make it more appealing outside the usual fanbase.
Supernatural: The Anime Series follows 2008's Batman: Gotham Knight in the Americanization of anime, handing the beloved horror TV series over to acclaimed studio Madhouse. While fans of the show will eat this up with a spoon, newcomers will be less thrilled with the hectic pacing, weaker-than-usual animation and wonky English dub.
Warner Home Video Presents Supernatural: The Anime Series, Animated by Madhouse Studios
Fans are already familiar with the story of brothers Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Andrew Farrar for the dub, original actor Jensen Ackles returns for the Season Two double-parter) Winchester investigating occult occurrences while tooling around America in their 1967 Chevrolet Impala. If this sounds like an adult version of Scooby-Doo Mystery Inc., you're right. Like that cartoon reboot, Supernatural: TAS offers recurring characters - such as their dad John Winchester, their mentor Bobby Singer and nemesis The Yellow-Eyed Demon - which gives seemingly unconnected episodes continuity.
Those familiar with Madhouse properties like Black Lagoon or the Oscar-shortlisted Summer Wars will swiftly realize that Supernatural: TAS isn't the studio's best work. Looking at the artwork, I suspect the acclaimed studio was dealing with a lower-than-usual budget since it lacks the snap and polish of their other series. That said, Madhouse and the Supernatural gang are having a lot of fun with the characters: the medium of animation allows them to indulge their imaginations, such as a shapeshifter or a gigantic monster made out of old electronics. There's also an underwater fight scene which would have been impossible to recreate within the budgets of a live-action TV show.
The most controversial aspect of the anime is the episodes' rapid-fire pace: it works for some stories but gets tiring quickly. Most of the episodes are based on stories from the live-action series, but Supernatural: TAS gets more interesting when Madhouse brings their own original scripts to the party, such as an episode when Dean finds himself playing Big Brother to an unusual boy.
The biggest problem is with the voice actors. Like many Hollywood actors, Padalecki and Ackles don't fare well in the voice booth. Andrew Farrar does his best as the replacement Dean, but sounds different enough from Ackles that it sounds strange. It also doesn't help that the English translation is a little wonky: they're grammatically correct but a genuine American wouldn't talk that way.
Supernatural: The Anime Series Blu-Ray Extras
Warner Home Video piled a lot of content into this Blu-Ray, but it's not all worth watching. Ackles and Padalecki introduce each episode, giving some idea of what to expect from the story. The 'making-of' featurette, which extends over two discs, is an absorbing look at how Madhouse put the series together. Supernatural creator Eric Kripke talks about how anime frees their imaginations in creating more interesting and creepy monsters.
Unfortunately a brace of interviews with Padalecki and Ackles is a joke, since they know nothing about anime and offer little insight into the series.
Supernatural: The Anime Series Strictly For Fans, and Anime Newcomers
If Supernatural: TAS introduces more people to anime, then more power to it. Certainly fans of the live-action show will jump on this series regardless of its strengths and weaknesses. Hopefully they'll get bitten by the anime bug and seek out stronger properties from Madhouse. Supernatural: TAS gets a 2/5.
Dominic von Riedemann - Dominic is the Animated Film Feature Writer, and winner of 11 Suite 101 Editors' Choice Awards.
Join the Conversation