Based on the comic book characters created by Brian Pulido, ‘Lady Death: the Motion Picture’ is the feature-length animated adaptation produced by AD Vision. It tells the story of Hope, the daughter of Fifteenth Century mercenary Matthias who is condemned to death for the sins of her father when the people of her Swedish homeland discover that Matthias is in fact the Devil incarnate. On the verge of an agonising death at the stake she reluctantly accepts his offer of eternity in Hell to save the lives of her sweetheart Nicolo and her mother, but is abandoned by Lucifer when he realises her soul is too pure to be corrupted. While wandering alone in Hell she meets Cremator, another condemned soul who helps her in her transformation into Lady Death, before planning to reclaim the souls of her loved ones and destroy Lucifer himself.

‘Lady Death: TMP’ is the first animated film to be produced by ADV itself and being unfamiliar with the original story, I was not sure what to expect. It has the capacity to be an interesting gothic fantasy, and ADV’s involvement is quite encouraging. Sadly, the end result is disappointing to say the least. While a lot of effort has gone into adapting the original characters for film and the backgrounds are impressive, the animation quality is pretty lacklustre for a feature film produced at a time when high quality CGI is available. While the ‘good vs. evil’ theme is lifted to the level of fighting Satan himself, it comes across as an excuse for gory battle scenes and a supernatural heroine in an outfit that leaves very little to the imagination. Hope is a character whose innocence and injustice evokes sympathy in the viewer but her transition from damsel in distress to fearless warrior seems rushed and the circumstances of the loved ones she is trying to save are not really explained very fully.

To make matters worse, the script is melodramatic and only adds to the ‘Saturday morning cartoon’ feel — very far removed from the concept of a film clearly aimed at mature audiences. The things that make an adult anime film work usually include a suitably ‘grown-up’ storyline and well-developed characters, preferably with good quality animation; none of these are evident here which leaves it being too violent for younger viewers but not intelligent enough for many mature ones.

Nevertheless, this film is not without its good points. As corny as the script is, the dub is of good quality and features some of the talented ADV regulars including Christine M Auten (in the title role), Chris Patton, Andy McAvin and Mike MacCrae. The depiction of Hell as cold, grey and pitiless and in stark contrast to the mortal world is original, well executed and gives a suitably dark atmosphere. There is also a nice selection of DVD extras including a director’s commentary, image gallery of characters and backgrounds, and a ‘making of…’ featurette including interviews with the production team.

In Summary

Overall ‘Lady Death: the Motion Picture’ is not one of ADV’s best releases to date, to put it mildly. What could have been a dark and epic masterpiece instead comes across as being low-budget and heavy handed, although fans of the original comic series may get more out of it.