Blade of the Phantom Master follows three events in the life of Munsu, the last Amen Osa (a defender of justice), with two of the events playing off of each other. After Munsu kills a lord at the beginning of the film, he sets off for his next travel over a vast desert. He realizes that he is unprepared and is desperately in need of water until he passes out. Munsu is saved by a young man, who is tragically killed shortly after explaining his life. Munsu carries on and after defeating the beast that murdered the young man, he finds his headband. Finally, he makes it to the town on the other side of the desert. He disguises himself as the young man after hearing rumors about the lord of the town. It was said that he kidnapped the girl the young man loved. Munsu approaches the lord, saying he can defeat one hundred men by himself. The lord is excited by this challenge, until he sees the one who vowed to get him for stealing his love. Munsu flat out tells the lord that he's an Amen Osa, which scares the lord, but relieves the suppressed towns people. Then, Munsu reveals he is not the man they all think, but is still an Amen Osa. While he battles the lord's army, the towns people gain the courage to eliminate the lord themselves. After Munsu is done with the army, a new threat appears. It's the girl who was taken from the young man but she has been changed into a cold blooded killer. By now, the one controlling her has been killed by his own underlings and she has just noticed Munsu wearing the headband that she gave to her love. This breaks her from her trance making her tame and able to control herself, while not loosing her new abilities. She offers her services to Munsu, who agrees to take her as his servant/bodyguard, and changes her name to Sando (the name traditionally given to these servants).
The duo then travel to a far off shore, where they run into a boy who had washed up on the shore. He begs for help from Munsu (discovering that he is an Amen Osa). Thanks to Sando, Munsu returns to the village whence the boy came. The only problem is that the boy doesn't remember what it was he needed help with. When they finally arrive to the isolated island where the village is, they are greeted by the lord himself and the boy's physician. The lord offers Munsu a place to stay while he is at the island. During Munsu's free time he explores the island, trying to uncover what's going on behind the scenes, which brings him to a forest of hallucinogenic herbs, Mandrake. Munsu almost instantly solves the case, the only thing left is to convince the boy of the reality.
Blade of the Phantom Master was a bit disappointing, form what I heard and read about it. It could be an amazing series, but alas, it isn't suited for movie format. It's defiantly not a comedy, even though I found some parts in the beginning a bit humorous, for example; when Munsu meets the man in the desert, he gives the man his medallion as thanks for saving his life. Before you know it, Munsu changes his mind, asking for it back because he felt like something was missing without it. This scene, I felt, set a mood that was drastically changed right after he asks for it back. I had expected it to be more comedic and similar to Last Exile and Aquarion, which it was okay in a way. There are sharp twist that gives this film a sense of reality, and there is a subtle difference between humans and beasts, which I was amazed by. The characters were easily developed and I was able to relate and understand them quickly. The plot and story are wonderful, while the concepts really made you think about morals that are considered important to survival in society, such as money, power, status and overall intentions.
The whole film is relatively quiet and easygoing, which I found pleasant. It gave you time to process the themes of justice and the characters while still progressing with the story. Though it did take up time and the film was left too open ended for my taste. There's room for a sequel, but it would be more like a really long episode. There is virtually no conclusion to the story by the end of the film, and I was left hanging on too much. Basically, it just ended with a black screen followed by the credits. But, I have to say, the extras saved the film. By that, I mean there are extras, which I was excited, and they all have to do with the production of this film. The extras included behind the scenes tours of the CG animation, storyboards, and voice actor interviews. All of them were interesting and made the film more enjoyable because it revealed some Easter eggs that you wouldn't have noticed normally.
Overall, I say Blade of the Phantom Master is entertaining enough to own, especially if you're planning to go into animation fields of work, or if you're just interested in how Anime is made. If not, I suggest renting or borrowing this DVD for the experience it has to offer.
ComicsOnline gives Blade of the Phantom Master, 4 out of 5 Super Cute Desert Bats.
