- - -Level E is a series comprised of short story arcs that traverse the themes of paranormal sci-fi. Secret coexistent of different cosmic entities shrouded with mystery, whether they are peace-loving or aggressive warlike species in our daily human lives. From the horrors of invasive species struggling to survive total extinction. Political issues of small scale planetary crimes and up to the massive intergalactic crisis. Prepare to be mind-blown to the sophisticated brain-numbing twist and turns for Level E has it all.
[Art & Sound 7/10]
Level E premise is easily defined by the aesthetic and audiovisual alone. Its background music will remind us of the classic boom of Scifi shows of the early '70s and up to the '90s of man fascination of over extraterrestrial beings. UFO's and Aliens that tickle our little grey cells. It gives clear signs of a captivating paranormal mystery. It set the mood at just the right time for a well crafted audio design for the genre.
Character design is noteworthy. The staff did a good job of updating the art style of a decade-old manga for the modern audience. The animation is fluent and the use of CGI is alright. Though the details for the spaceship, alien, and high tech technology design rather basic and simple. But technology wasn't the primary focus, to begin with. Being a young studio at the time, David Production did a good job animation with also some credit for Studio Pierrot collaboration.
#####[Story 8/10]
Level E is rather one of those few titles that tried the experimental approach. It combines two separate elements in a single entity that blends well with the narrative. Serious paranormal sci-fi and light-hearted comedy is something that is very hard to imagine that it could even exist. Sure we have western movies that made a parody and satire over the paranormal genre but its more comedy than a serious story. Level E manages to put an equal footing between unlikely elements. It establishes a solid paranormal story while at the same time create a fascinating built up of a comical impact. The show takes advantage of the established paranormal tropes to disguise its well-crafted humor. There is a good amount of foreshadowing in the story that justifies the means of its bizarre and unexpected plot twist. Even I was constantly fooled and trolled by the crazy solutions this show came up which was well thought out. Its comedy is a well-constructed parody and satire of the paranormal genre.
[This section might contain spoiler]
[Character Section 7/10]
When it comes to characters, there are only a few them worth mentioning in the series. Prince Baka and the Color Ranger Boys. For me, they are the most memorable in the entire cast. They have the most exposition and got some interesting development before the end of the series.
__The Prince of Dogura
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He is a smart, athletic and reliable prince but due to his impressive intellectual prowess and high-level curiosity, he tends to do the total opposite of his abilities, instead of using his brilliant mind for the better men of the universe, he uses his keen intellect to create elaborate franks and mischief to fool the people around him, for the sake of his self-enjoyment. Prince Dogura is better off being an antagonist for he was able to antagonize the majority of the characters of the show. The Prince of Dogura holds many titles because of his orthodox ways of having fun but he was well known as Prince Baka in the majority of the Outer Cosmos.
#####The Color Ranger Boys
They might be the funniest and inspiring group of characters in the entire show. They have nice synergy to each other and their bonded friendship is very remarkable. A great parody and satire of the super sentai and power ranger formula with a nice combination of JRPG for a twist of adventure even though the show is already weird anime on-premise alone.
##### __[Final Thoughts]
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Level E is an unexpected show of 2011. It’s an old manga that got modernization treatment upon its adaptation. It’s aesthetics blends well with modern audiences, it is good service to have that Death Note design. The OSTS is good, special mention how it brilliantly parodied the sentai or power ranger series. It hit me hard especially when the Baka Prince sang the Color Ranger Song. Love the voice acting by Koyasu, Takehito, very hilarious and comical in giving impact to the Baka Prince antics. It offers a nice combination of serious paranormal tropes with unpredictable humor. It doesn’t take itself too seriously. The effort place when it comes to the scientific biology of alien species is a treat. It has a solid ending that terminates the status quo of most paranormal scifi endings.
You know, if you put aside you’re human dignity a bit, the show is fun to watch even though it feels like it is made by a guy who randomly watches a few stuff in the T.V and decided hey let’s combine all this element into a story.
Togashi you Madman!
[Enjoyment 6/10]
__[Overall Score 7.3/10]
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