Summary: >

Tiara is a girl with a fiery temper sent to Earth from the Guardian world in order to find the Throne of Yourdo, which wears the guise of a simple painting. The throne was recently stolen, and is essential to the existence of the guardian world. Retrieving the throne would be tricky enough in itself, but adding even more complexity is the fact that the Throne was stolen by her former lover Kagetsu, who has the ability to nullify her power. Not to mention Kagetsu has allied himself with Tiara's rival since childhood: Leana. But everything is not quite so clear cut once Tiara learns the truth: that Kagetsu's sister (and one of Tiara's dearest friends) is trapped within the Throne of Yourdo. Should Tiara simply take the Throne back, or should she try to help rescue Sara? Could she save Sara even if she wanted too? Either way, time is running out for both Sara and the Guardian World.

Thoughts: >

If one word fits this title, it would be 'abstract'. The character designs at first look exceptionally cute upon first glance, but once you see deeper into this anime you end up captivated by the tendril like animation. Unfortunately the story is somewhat hard to follow, and somewhat flat in certain places. The confusion is only compounded by the fact that the story starts in the middle; ends, then begins again and ends where it started (eh.. that sounds a bit more confusing than it is). If you pay very close attention, there is a bit of this anime that comes across in what is unsaid... which again doesn't help a viewer follow what's going on. With very nice animation, this might be a good title for those who like abstract stories. If you like everything plainly laid out for you, I'd advise staying away from this title. Overall: pretty cool.

Well having finally found out what they did with the dubbing (2 years after I first saw this title) I guess I have to point out some bad points. The subtitles were okay, but could have been stronger (i.e. - better worded) in places. I wasn't overly impressed by the dubbing, but it wasn't as horrid as some stuff I've seen. Actually it was fairly decent, but of course I'm rather picky. My main beef with the dubbing was the voice of Sara. Sara is supposed to be a kind hearted, soft spoken sickly girl, but her English voice was much too deep. In Japanese you easily got the impression of the strong spirit of the girl, but could sense her physical weakness. That was pretty much lost in the English version (as much as I saw - I can only tolerate a few minutes being an anime purist and all =P ). Oh, and the DVD menu's are fairly nice too - nice little dressings and such.

My recommendations would have to go towards watching it if you like an abstract story and interesting animation. The character designs are also top notch and possibly makes it worth watching on that merit alone. Still a lot of people have problems with the story and such, so keep that in mind. Personally I rather like this series, but I'm sort of at a loss to explain exactly why.

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