X The Movie

A Parent's Guide to Anime
Rated: M
Recommended for Mature Audiences

Review by Yusura Kanzaki:

Although the manga, written by a team of shoujo manga writers known as CLAMP (famous for Rayearth, R.G. Veda, and others), contained a coherent story with good plot, this movie doesn't contain much more than a very weak, watered-down plot from the manga and extreme violence.

Additional Review by Brendan E.:

X/1999 is based on the manga by CLAMP. The animation was done by MADHOUSE, the same animators that did NINJA SCROLL. X is about a high school boy named Kamui who returns to Tokyo in 1999 to protect his friends Fuma and Kotori. He is drawn into an incredible battle between the Dragons of Earth and the Dragons of Heaven. He must choose which side to be on.

Additional Review by Michael Rice:

This is a film about a young man who must decide on fighting the dragons of heaven or earth. His decision will decide the fate of earth and humanity. This was a very violent and disturbing anime. The director was trying to fit the whole manga series into a 90 minute film which I admire. The animation was beautiful but the film had a dark gothic feel to it and doesn't leave you with a happy feeling. Sometimes the film was confusing. Still the utter idea of the film makes makes me think about life and my values. Overall I can say this was a very inventive, imaginative and overall wondrous film.

Parent's Guide Rating:

red (recommended for mature audiences)

Contains very gory scenes and some foul language.

warning: This movie contains a lot of violence, but not as much or as graphic as in NINJA SCROLL, still, nothing that children should see. It also contains a small amount of nudity at the begining, but nothing too offensive. There is one, slightly sexual part when Kanoe, sticks her hand between Kotori's shirt, but nothing that bad. Another major point is that the movie is very depressing. I won't spoil it for anyone, but many, many, people die in it. Also, the ending theme song Forever Love adds to the mood.