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Review

by Rebecca Silverman,

Ixion Saga DT

Episodes 1-6 Streaming

Synopsis:
Ixion Saga DT 1-6 Streaming
Regular teenager Kon likes to play his RPG, where he stars as a buff warrior. One day he meets a new sexy lady character who asks for his help. Not willing to turn down the possibilities that come with helping a sexy ladies, Kon agrees. The next thing he knows, he and his desk chair have been transported into a magical RPG-style world where he needs to help the pint-sized princess, her trap maid, and her burly bodyguard to triumph over the evil Erecpyle Dukakis, otherwise known as ED. A few swift, emasculating kicks to ED's groin with some pointy boots later, we're starting to wonder – are we maybe following the bad guy?
Review:
What does potty humor become when it grows up? Sex humor, of course, and Ixion Saga DT has a lot of fun with it in its capacity as a Saturday morning cartoon for grown-ups, or at least people over the age of twelve. From the title - “DT” ostensibly means “dimension transfer” but also stands in for a slang term meaning “male virgin” - to Kon's nemesis' nickname, Ixion Saga DT is filled with raunchy tidbits and lowbrow humor. There is a nominal plot as well, but for the most part, this is a show about getting giggles and poking fun at the recent slew of titles about people getting pulled into video game worlds.

Our story begins with Kon, a basic teenage gamer, playing his RPG on his home computer. Before he knows it, Kon has agreed to help a Mysterious Sexy Lady with a quest, resulting in him plummeting from the sky on his desk chair and landing on one of a group of warriors attacking a small party. While it at first seems as if he has been pulled into the game, the fact that he doesn't recognize the landscape or the names of cities and important people soon tells us that this is a real bona-fide fantasy land, and Kon has been deposited in it for some unspecified purpose. The group that he has saved, as it turns out, is that of Princess Eclarte (grumpily voiced to a T by Shiori Mikami) and her bodyguards/personal servants, Sanglain and Mariandale. The three are trying to reach the capital and Kon quickly finds himself conscripted into the princess' service. Trying to stop the group is Erecpyle Dukakis, whose name you should say out loud if you don't get the joke. Erec, or ED, can control a weapon known as “Alma Gear,” which makes him the pride and joy of his loyal followers, not to mention a respected warrior in his own right. Unfortunately he is no match for Kon's less than orthodox battle tactics, and ED soon finds himself unmanned thanks to some pointy dragon boots and Kon's willingness to employ BTB tactics. After an episode focusing on him and his attempts to cope with his new state, we as viewers start to wonder – is Kon the bad guy and Erec the hero?

Ultimately these kinds of weighty questions don't matter. Ixion Saga DT is first and foremost a comedy series, and it doesn't bother wasting time with serious issues when it could be giving us a new joke about testicles. Really this is where your enjoyment of the show will be determined – how funny you find jokes about balls. That is Ixion Saga DT's stock-in-trade, from castration jokes to trap jokes to the now-infamous “fullmetal ballchemist” line, this show has a serious testicular obsession. If that's not your bag, turn back now. But if you don't mind indulging your inner immature self, this is without a doubt one of the funnier anime series to come out in recent memory.

While the animation is pleasant enough without a whole lot of standout moments but also lacking in horrible glitches, the voice cast does a bang-up job here, with their timing, delivery, and, in the case of Jun Fukuyama, vocal manipulations, making jokes that much funnier. The character of Pet, a furry marsupial who looks like a reject from “Chip and Dale's Rescue Rangers,” provides some unusual voice opportunities for Yoshimasa Hosoya, and his bird impression in episode six is hilarious. The ending theme also deserves mention, as it is an ode to ED performed by his followers in the best THTC-style (for those who don't recall, that was a “group” formed by four of the male characters in Fushigi Yugi largely intended as a joke) over beefcake shots of them lounging around in various states of undress.

What Ixion Saga DT lacks in substance or spectacular innovation it makes up for with sheer lunacy and entertaining testicle jokes. Your enjoyment of it will be best determined by your tolerance for crude humor and silliness, but for those who are looking for a little something to brighten your week with nothing more than out-and-out stupidity, lunacy, and fantasy send-ups, this is a good choice. Mostly devoid of serious moments, Ixion Saga DT is at heart a Saturday morning show for nominal grown-ups, and at that it is a roaring success.
Grade:
Overall (sub) : B+
Story : B+
Animation : B
Art : B
Music : B-

+ Very funny, particularly the characters of ED and Marian. Bright colors and capable animation with some good creative touches, such as the bad guy who looks like a kappa/elf hybrid.
The ball jokes wear thin in places, not enough ED. A few odd subtitle choices with episode six, such as “sorority” for a group of males.

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Production Info:
Director: Shinji Takamatsu
Series Composition: Akatsuki Yamatoya
Script:
Katsuhiko Chiba
Akatsuki Yamatoya
Michiko Yokote
Storyboard:
Royden B
Pyeon-Gang Ho
Keiichi Honda
Tomoyuki Kawamura
Kiyoshi Matsuda
Hazuki Mizumoto
Hideaki Nakano
Yūichi Nihei
Susumu Nishizawa
Yasushi Shibaku
Hideya Takahashi
Shinji Takamatsu
Ryō Tanaka
Shinsuke Terasawa
Takashi Yamamoto
Episode Director:
Matsuo Asami
Yuji Himaki
Masahisa Koyata
Kiyoshi Matsuda
Hazuki Mizumoto
Hideaki Nakano
Fumitoshi Oizaki
Yūsuke Onoda
Sekijuu Sekino
Hideya Takahashi
Shinji Takamatsu
Shinsuke Terasawa
Ai Yoshimura
Shunichi Yoshizawa
Music:
Hitoshi Fujima
Junpei Fujita
Character Design: Shinji Takeuchi
Art Director:
Ryouka Kinoshita
Toshihiro Kohama
Chief Animation Director: Shinji Takeuchi
Animation Director:
Toyoaki Fukushima
Keiichi Honda
Dai Imaoka
Shinichiro Minami
Minoru Morita
Hideyuki Motohashi
Keiya Nakano
Hiroyuki Ogura
Yoshinari Saito
Hiromi Sakamoto
Shinji Takeuchi
Goro Taki
Shinsuke Terasawa
Yumenosuke Tokuda
Yukiko Watabe
Shunryō Yamamura
Mechanical design: Hiroshi Ogawa
Sound Director: Shinji Takamatsu
Director of Photography: Yoshiaki Ōkuma
Executive producer:
Shinsaku Hatta
Atsushi Isoyama
Tomohito Nagase
Hideyuki Namba
Kazunori Sugiura
Yoshihisa Tsuda
Producer:
Yasuhiko Hayakawa
Yoko Kawahara
Kazuaki Morijiri
Ryōsuke Ōno
Mika Shimizu

Full encyclopedia details about
Ixion Saga DT (TV)

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