"Madlax" (2004) TV series

User Rating:

7.6/10   

Seasons:

1

Genre:

Animation | Action | Drama | Mystery | Thriller | War

Tagline:

From the creators of Noir

Plot:

In the country of Gazth-Sonika, civil war rages. There, a mercenary called Madlax plies her trade, with almost supernatural skill...

Plot Keywords:

Mercenary | Civil War | Occult | Fictional Country | Warrior Woman

Cast

Sanae Kobayashi	...	Madlax (8 episodes, 2004)
Satsuki Yukino	...	Vanessa Rene (7 episodes, 2004)
Kelly Manison	...	Vanessa Rene (7 episodes, 2004)
Nancy Novotny	...	Madlax (7 episodes, 2004)
Jay Hickman	...	SSS / ... (7 episodes, 2004)
Ben Hamby	...	Margaret's Father / ... (6 episodes, 2004)
Lee Stringer	...	Various (6 episodes, 2004)
Houko Kuwashima	...	Margaret Burton (5 episodes, 2004)
Ai Uchikawa	...	Elenore Baker (5 episodes, 2004)
Masashi Ebara	...	Friday Monday (5 episodes, 2004)
Luci Christian	...	Margaret Burton (5 episodes, 2004)
Kira Vincent-Davis	...	Elenore Baker (5 episodes, 2004)
Mike Kleinhenz	...	Friday Monday (5 episodes, 2004)
Jin Urayama	...	SSS / ... (5 episodes, 2004)
Toshiyuki Morikawa	...	Carrossea Doon (4 episodes, 2004)
Vic Mignogna	...	Carrossea Doon (4 episodes, 2004)
David Born	...	Juan (4 episodes, 2004)
Tim Wrobel	...	Soldier / ... (4 episodes, 2004)
Tomoko Kaneda	...	Laetitia / ... (3 episodes, 2004)
Christine M. Auten	...	Limelda Jorg (3 episodes, 2004)
Allison L. Sumrall	...	Quanzitta Marison (3 episodes, 2004)
Brittney Karbowski	...	Nakhl / ... (3 episodes, 2004)
Cynthia Martinez	...	Laetitia (3 episodes, 2004)
Aya Hisakawa	...	Limelda Jorg (2 episodes, 2004)
Mako Hyôdô	...	Quanzitta Marison (2 episodes, 2004)
Chikayo Nakano	...	Nakhl (2 episodes, 2004)
Chris Ayres	...	Additional Voices (2 episodes, 2004)
Jonathan Brands	...	Various (2 episodes, 2004)
Eric Chase	...	Chief (2 episodes, 2004)
Stuart Halpryn	...	Chief (2 episodes, 2004)
Miyu Irino	...	Chris Kran / ... (2 episodes, 2004)
Jason Miesse	...	Captain (2 episodes, 2004)
Gene Tognacci	...	Newscaster (2 episodes, 2004)

(more)

Series Directed by
Kyle Jones		(26 episodes, 2004)
Kôichi Mashimo		(26 episodes, 2004)
Yuuki Arie		(6 episodes, 2004)
Shinya Kawazura		(6 episodes, 2004)
Hiroshi Morioka		(6 episodes, 2004)
Tomoyuki Kurokawa		(5 episodes, 2004)
Masayuki Kurosawa		(5 episodes, 2004)

Series Writing credits
Shigeru Kitayama		(26 episodes, 2004)
Yôsuke Kuroda		(26 episodes, 2004)
Kôichi Mashimo		(26 episodes, 2004)
Monica Rial		(26 episodes, 2004)

Series Produced by
Tatsuya Hamamoto	....	producer (26 episodes, 2004)
Shigeru Kitayama	....	producer (26 episodes, 2004)
John Ledford	....	executive producer / producer (26 episodes, 2004)
Mark Williams	....	executive producer / producer (26 episodes, 2004)
Hiroshi Yoshida	....	assistant producer (26 episodes, 2004)
Kyle Jones	....	producer (3 episodes, 2004)

Series Original Music by
Yuki Kajiura		(26 episodes, 2004)

Series Cinematography by
Koji Aoki		(26 episodes, 2004)
Hitoshi Saito		(26 episodes, 2004)

Series Film Editing by
Seiji Morita		(26 episodes, 2004)

Series Production Management
Joey Goubeaud	....	production manager (26 episodes, 2004)
Shelley Thomas	....	post-production manager (26 episodes, 2004)

Series Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Shinya Kawazura	....	director: opening and closing animation (26 episodes, 2004)
Masayuki Kurosawa	....	director: opening and closing animation (25 episodes, 2004)

Series Art Department
Makiko Kojima	....	color coordinator (26 episodes, 2004)
Kôichi Mashimo	....	storyboard artist: opening and closing animation / storyboard artist (26 episodes, 2004)
Satoko Miyashi	....	creature designer (26 episodes, 2004)
Satoshi Ohsawa	....	character designer (26 episodes, 2004)
Minako Shiba	....	character designer (26 episodes, 2004)
Koji Sawai	....	storyboard artist / storyboard artist: opening and closing animation (12 episodes, 2004)
Shinya Kawazura	....	storyboard artist / storyboard artist: opening and closing animation (5 episodes, 2004)
Hiroshi Morioka	....	storyboard artist / storyboard artist: opening and closing animation (5 episodes, 2004)
Masayuki Kurosawa	....	storyboard artist / storyboard artist: opening and closing animation (3 episodes, 2004)
Yuuki Arie	....	storyboard artist (2 episodes, 2004)

Series Sound Department
Kyle Jones	....	adr director (26 episodes, 2004)
Toru Nakano	....	sound director (26 episodes, 2004)

Series Special Effects by
Masahiro Murakami	....	special effects (26 episodes, 2004)

Series Animation Department
Tako Abo	....	animator (26 episodes, 2004)
Junji Gotô	....	animator (26 episodes, 2004)
Kaori Higuchi	....	animator (26 episodes, 2004)
Emi Honda	....	animator (26 episodes, 2004)
Tomoko Ishida	....	animator (26 episodes, 2004)
Yumiko Ishii	....	animator (26 episodes, 2004)
Tomoaki Kado	....	animator / animation director (26 episodes, 2004)
Satoshi Kitahara	....	animator (26 episodes, 2004)
Satoshi Ohsawa	....	animation director / animation director: opening and closing animation / ... (26 episodes, 2004)
Tatsuya Oka	....	animator (26 episodes, 2004)
Yasuhiro Saiki	....	animation director: mechanical animation / animator (26 episodes, 2004)
Kiyomitsu Sato	....	animator (26 episodes, 2004)
Yoshiaki Tsubata	....	animator / animation director (26 episodes, 2004)
Toshiya Washida	....	animator (26 episodes, 2004)
Yuko Iwaoka	....	animation director (5 episodes, 2004)
Satoko Miyashi	....	character designer / co-character designer (4 episodes, 2004)
Chûji Nakajima	....	animation director (3 episodes, 2004)
Minako Shiba	....	character designer (3 episodes, 2004)
Takao Takegami	....	animation director (3 episodes, 2004)
Kenji Teraoka	....	mechanical designer (3 episodes, 2004)
Yoshimitsu Yamashita	....	animation director (3 episodes, 2004)
Kumiko Katou	....	animator (2 episodes, 2004)
Mutsumi Sasaki	....	animator (2 episodes, 2004)

Series Music Department
Rie Akagi	....	musician: flute (26 episodes, 2004)
Yukako Kaida	....	chorus (26 episodes, 2004)
Yuki Kajiura	....	musician: keyboards and programming / music programmer: songs and score (26 episodes, 2004)
Ikou Kakehashi	....	musician: percussion (26 episodes, 2004)
Shigeru Kitayama	....	soundtrack supervisor (26 episodes, 2004)
Koichi Korenaga	....	musician: electric guitar (26 episodes, 2004)
Kôichi Mashimo	....	soundtrack supervisor (26 episodes, 2004)
Susumu Nishikawa	....	musician: electric guitar (26 episodes, 2004)
Shinsuke Nozaki	....	musician: drums (26 episodes, 2004)
Motofumi Ogiawara	....	musician: electric bass (26 episodes, 2004)
Keiichi Nozaki	....	music producer (3 episodes, 2004)

Series Other crew
Park Yuen Seul	....	production assistant: Pilgram Entertainment (7 episodes, 2004)
Hiroshi Yoshida	....	production assistant (3 episodes, 2004)

Production Companies

• Bee Train (animation production)
• Victor Entertainment

Distributors

• ADV Films (2005) (USA) (all media)
• Geneon Entertainment (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• TV Tokyo (2004) (Japan) (TV)

Other Companies

• Victor Entertainment  soundtrack

Runtime:

USA:30 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

English | Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Certification:

USA:TV-PG (cable rating) | Australia:PG (some episodes) | Canada:14A | UK:12 (some episodes) | UK:15 (some epiosodes) | USA:TV-14 | Australia:M (some episodes)

Company:

Bee Train

Trivia:

Writer Yôsuke Kuroda told in an interview to NewType Magazine that he and director Kôichi Mashimo the ending to the series and the connection between all the characters was conceived during an intoxicated brainstorming session.

Quotes:

Madlax: I want... Pasta

Soundtrack:

Inside your Heart

An excellent piece of Japanese animation

These last year Japan has been producing really few nice material, from 24 minutes propaganda of toys and cars to blackmail oriented themes (just for adults), it was nothing really good to see, even sagas like Gundam were suffering a "pussification" (come on guys, Kira, Athrun, Lacus. etc were freaking disappointing characters). Well, Madlax make us forgive the past, particularly in the design of the storyline and the graphics. I wont tell you the synopsis of the series, you can find it in the web, however, I want to remark the strong symbolism about this anime (just like Noir, another masterpiece of Bee Train), which bring us interesting messages about our world, our human nature , and about the eternal conflict between civilization and barbarism, at first time perhaps you couldn't see this but believe me, thinking a little about every part of the story will make as reflect about the universe and about us (just like all the good stories), of course Madlax isn't a moral tale, so don't worry, you will see urban fights, sniper missions, war battles, and freaking skirmishes. The characters are wonderful done, making excellent combinations of textures and colors without abuse of the computer generated image, it looks like Bee Train is definitely one of the best studios of Japan, in fact they have already created Noir, Hack Sign and Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles (which unfortunately results in a Today's combo of the Clamp arsenal, of course I can't denied graphics were really nice). Another thing i want to recognize of this production is it's music, Yuki Kajiura, the composer behind the tracks of the blonde agent anime bring us a unique style of exotic and delightful sounds, I enjoy particularly the use of the violin in Nowhere (track commonly used in the action scenes), the opening and the ending are wonderful too, holding the high artistic and synchronized level. Finally I only have to say Madlax is an excellent choice to see something new in our clone based TV options even if you are not a anime fan the experience will be enjoyable.