“Supernatural The Animation” Review and First Episode Recap
Change of scene. We see the Impala which seems to be driving from the right to the left of our screen during night time. And then we are looking at Dean through the windshield. “You sure it is a shape shifter?” And we look over at Sam who holds a book in his hand “Positive. It is written here in Dad’s diary.” He starts reading to us. “Shape shifters can shape shift or form into practically anything and they been written about in folk lore all over the world.” We actually get a look into the diary her. “Well I guess we just got a bit of good news than.” Dean says smiling. “How do you figure?” Sam wants to know. Dean turns and looks at Sam “Shape shifters aren’t that hard to get rid off. Not like vampires or anything. All it takes is this. A silver bullet to get the job done” During those last words we see how he is holding said silver bullet in his fingers. Finally they reach Catherine’s house. We are actually looking at it while Sam says “Here we are” “All right I better get in there. I just hope we’re not too late.
Once again a change of scene. We see Dean standing outside Catherine’s apartment door ringing the door bell. Once. Twice. And then Dean is losing his patience. He bends toward the door and yells, “Catherine open the door.” Suddenly the door opens. Seems like we are looking over Catherine’s shoulder through a chained door at Dean. “Thank god, you’re alright,” He says in relief. “I am fine now. What can I do for you at this time?” His answer comes once we see his mirrored image in the living room sitting on her couch. “I am just relieved. That’s all.” Our gaze shifts over to her once more. She is leaning against the wall holding a beer bottle in her hand. “Wait let me get this straight. You’re telling me that one of these creatures was the real corporate. These shape … what did you call them?” “Shape shifters.” We get a look from the ceiling down at them. “From what I gather shape shifters have been known as sub creatures. They deviated from humans. That’s why they have been prosecuted by men. I know it sounds crazy but they survived to this day by assuming the form of those around them.” “You aren’t seriously expecting me to believe any of this crap, were you?” Dean looks down he says defiantly “Yeah I was. You have to believe me!” and then we hear how a bottle drops down. Dean raises his head in surprise. Next thing we see is a beer bottle lying on the floor spilling its contents. “Wow wait a sec!” we hear him say while we watch the bottle still rolling on the floor. And then we see Catherine’s hands pointing a gun at Dean. “What the hell is this?” “I checked with the US marshal services. There is no marshal Davis. Start talking. Who the hell are you?” Dean raises his eyes wide looking at Catherine zooming in on the gun in her hands. And then he remembers how she cut her finger in the door frame earlier. He grabs a handful of hydroponics from the plant standing next to the couch and throws it into her face. He jumps up gaining some momentum by holding himself up at the back of the couch and he kicks the gun out of her hands. Now it is his turn to pull his gun and point it at her. “Who the hell are you? Remember when we first went to see the crime scene? You sliced open your finger. Let me see it!” then he starts to think while he has sweat drops on his face “Or maybe you just heal fast.” Suddenly we see some armoured guys outside in the hallway. Next we get a look at Dean and Catherine from the ceiling again. Blazing white light is coming in through the window. We hear a voice from outside yelling “You are completely surrounded! Drop your weapon and come out now! You have 30 seconds!” Then we get a look at Catherine who has her head bend down and hear Dean saying “You gonna pay for everything you’ve done.” She raises her head and laughs a quick hard laugh. Suddenly we see the house from the outside. Lots of police cars parked in front of it. Beaming lights going up to a window at the top floor and we hear a woman screaming. We are back in the living room looking over Catherine’s shoulder onto Dean. Suddenly she jumps up. Dean has a very surprised look on his face. Next image is Dean looking up to an air vent through which she disappeared. “What the hell?” We hear a voice yelling “Going in! Move!” Someone kicks the door in. Blazing light shines now through his legs into the apartment. Two guys are running in. “Damn it! What am I gonna do now?” Dean wonders. Image changes again. Once more we are outside. Looks like we are standing in a corridor, between some houses, looking at the scene with the police cars in front of the house. Suddenly Sam runs by us and stops just before that corridor ends. “Damn!” And then there is a voice behind him “Freeze!” We see a gun pointed at him. “Heee?” he looks over his left shoulder at a swat team member all dressed up including the face mask. “Wait! Ok, ok” he raises his hands and turns around to face the guy. “Don’t shoot” he asks. Then the masked man answers “Got you!” and he reaches up to take off his mask and Dean’s face appears. He his laughing showing his teeth. “Dean?” and Sam smacks the gun down Dean still points at him. For a quick explanation we get to see Dean dressed up as swat team member in the living room checking on a tied up guy lying on the floor. Mouth covered with tape. Next thing we see the house from the outside again and a voice going “Damn it! Search the house! Come on! Move!” And then we see the Impala moving fast in front of us from the right to the left again.
Change of scene. Again we are looking at the guys through the wind shield. Sam: “I hope Catherine is safe.” Dean: “All I can think is what that shape shifter might have done to her.” “I know me either” Sam sighs. Dean: “We got to find her!” Sam turns towards Dean “What do you think we should do?” “Best guess: We got to find his nesting area and search it with a fine tooth comb.” “Damn it.! That’ll take for ever” “Alright. Quit your whining. That’s enough. All you have to do is find the closest entrance to the sewer line Sammy.” “I am working on it.” Sam answers while we hear him type on his lap top. “Then what?” Dean with a surprised look in his eyes: “Hmm?” Gaze shifting over to Sam “We may just be the ones ending up on the wanted list.” Suddenly we see a gun next to Sam’s face. Dean is pointing it at him. “What the hell are you doing? This is no time to fool around Dean” “Shut up! You are not fooling me. Alright? You think I don’t know my own brother?” This time Sam has the sweat drops on his face. “Oh my god! You’re not …. You’re not Dean, are you?” “Took the words right out of my mouth. Because I know you’re not Sam!” “What did you do with Dean? You think you could fool me with your pathetic attempt at being my brother?” (Do you actually know who is real and who is a shape shifter?) We are treated to a close look of Dean’s face while Sam grabs the gun. A bullet gets shot and hits the roof of the Impala (poor Baby). Thanks to that action Dean turns the steering wheel and we see the Impala from the outside how it nearly causes an accident. Inside the car Sam is still trying to get hold of the gun. Another shot. This time it hits the window in Sam’s door. Finally Sam smacks Dean. He drops the gun. Dean steps on the brake and Sam as usual doesn’t wear the seat belt therefore he is thrown around in his seat and hits his head. Again we watch the Impala barely escaping another accident. This time with a truck no doubt. In the car again Sam is lying on his seat holding the back of his head while Dean turns towards him and kicks him in the face. Blood splashing up. Another bare escape of an accident. And then Dean looks at Sam who is covering his face with both hands now. Dean’s gaze shifts down to see the gun lying on the seat between them. He starts to smile “Yeah! Looks like you’re the one with the cheap disguise. Reminds me of the old days.” Looking at the traffic for a change he starts to reach blindly for the gun. When suddenly Sam slams his foot on Dean’s hand. Once again we see Dean’s face in agony. Afterwards we get a look at Sam who is leaning against his door now pointing the gun at Dean “Oh Yeah? Well I’ve grown.” Next we know we are standing a few feet away from a very busy highway. When Sam suddenly walks by us “Come on! Let’s finish this! I want my brother back!” He says while walking by us towards the highway. His right hand at his forehead. We hear Dean’s voice “Wait Sam! Don’t shoot! I really am Dean!” “Yeah and I really am Sam! I am sorry you don’t believe me big brother.” While listening in on this conversation we see Sam who starts to run towards the highway. Suddenly he stops and points the gun at … the Impala. As the Impala moves towards us we hear a shot. Baby comes to a halt only inches form Sam’s legs. Now we see an image of a cracked wind shield. Bullet whole in the middle of it and we hear someone breathing heavily. Next image is a dead person in the car. We get a closer look at some dead eyes. And then our gaze shifts over to the driver side and we find out that it is Dean who is breathing that hard. Dean looks outside over his steering wheel through the cracked window shield with the bullet whole at a Sam standing outside in front of the Impala still pointing the gun at the car. Eyes and mouth wide open. Cars driving by fast that whole scene on the left and the right of them. Now we get a close look at the shocked face of Sam who is breathing hard too. Next we are standing at the side of the highway looking in on the scene. Sam just standing inches away from the Impala while cars run by them fast and we hear Dean: “Thanks. I owe you one.”
Change of scenes again. We see two pairs of legs walking towards us down in the sewage again and we hear Dean going “So how did you like shooting yourself?” “I probably have nightmares about it” Sam answers. “Can’t say I blame you.” Then we first get a look at Sam’s face and then at Dean’s face and we find out that he is carrying Catherine on his back. Her arms are hanging loosely over his shoulder. We zoom in on the faces of those two from their left side. And while we hear Wayward son starting Catherine opens her eyes and says “Hey thanks a lot for saving my life.” Dean answers casually, “No prob. Just doing my job.” Now we see the shadow images of those three walking towards a bright light. “Your job? Right! So have you two always been monster hunters then?” “Yeah! Pretty much.” Dean says. “How did you get into that?” That is when the boys answer in unison “Family business.” “Of course it is,” Catherine remarks smiling. “And you are a cop. Aren’t you going to take us into a dingy room and interrogate us?” Dean wants to know. “No, I always play the good cop.” “Got you,” Dean states.
That is when the music turns up a notch and we see a picture of Dean sitting on the Impala doing his thing like he did with Eye of the Tiger. On the right of the screen the credits start to run. All in Japanese so. Then the picture changes. We see a parked Impala on the side of a mountain road. A tarp coming from the passenger side, held up by some poles, acting as a makeshift tent. A deck chair below it. Dean lying in it while Sam stands next to the makeshift tent. Credits still running. Last picture we get during the end of the song is a look over the hood of the Impala at the backs of the boys. Facing the sunset. And if you think it is over you are wrong. We get the final scene.
“Though what’s going to happen to the suspects you have in custody.” We hear Dean asking while we look at the house where Catherine lives, gaze slowly shifting from the top floor downwards. We hear her answering “We have to look at their alibis again. But in light of what happened I am sure they will be released pretty soon.” By now our gaze reached street level and we see a well done picture of the Impala all shiny in the sun light. “That’s good” we hear Dean say. Next it seems we are looking through Dean’s eyes again. Our view going by Sam in the passenger seat and we see Catherine standing outside bending down in order to look through the open window. “Yeah take care of yourselves now.C And then we are looking throw her eyes at the boys in the car. “We will. Don’t worry about us” Dean says and Sam goes “Well, see you around Catherine.” Now we look over the car at her and see how she straightens herself up and raises her left hand to wave good bye while the Impala starts to drive away. Finally we get the last image of the show. A look from afar down the road towards the Impala which is driving towards us and then passes us.
I do have to say I enjoyed watching it somehow. I was impressed by some little details. For example in Catherine’s living room there was a dart board hanging at the wall and when ever our gaze shifted the dart board was where it really is supposed to be. Although liked the images of the Impala. Don’t think you could draw it any better for a cartoon. The love for the car comes through those pictures. I wasn’t very impressed by the story line it was too much like “Skin” but not really the same. That somehow irritated me slightly. I didn’t like it that they seemed to have a thing for green eyes but painted Dean’s eyes brown – that’s just wrong!!!! I also didn’t like the jacket Dean was wearing when acting as a federal marshal. Don’t think that the real Dean would get anywhere near such a jacket.
In case I got you interested in the animes. Only the next two episodes mix up with some episodes we already saw during season 1. But it starts to get really interesting with a complete new story for episode 4. Let me tell you the boys run into a homosexual cop. Just imagine the fun with that. I would also like to hear some comments from people who already seen it.
I enjoyed that. I was curious to see how well the writers would be able to craft a story in 20 mi utes that delivered the same kind of emotional content as the original series, but they captured the essence of the early tension between Sam and Dean fairly well actually. I dig the artwork. And in a way the gore at the beginning was even more graphic than the action series. I the series yo might see blood spurt on a window once, but not over and over again.
It was a bit jarring hearing Jared’s voice but not Jensen’s. The adjustment would have been easier if they had found substitute voices for both characters.
One other complaint … was that a cheap cover of Kansas at the end? It didn’t sound like the original. Couldn’t they have just ponied up the royalty fee and put the real song in there?
All in all, though, this looks like yet another set of DVDs to add to my want list on Amazon or my viewing queue on Netflix. 🙂
Thanks ChristopherH
I was surprised at the artwork too and Eric Kripke mentioned once that he especially liked it that they are able to show so much more (like you put it) gore into the anime than the real show. I will try to find that video again.
About hearing Jared’s voice but not Jensen’s. Yes it is more than just a bit jarring but after watching a few eps it is not as bad as it is when you first discover that it is not Jensen talking. And I most definatly prefer Jared’s voice to the voice of a substitute. Can’t wait to hear Jensen’s voice in there too. He is doing the Dean voice in episode 11 and 12. Haven’t gotten around to watch those yet. Only made it up to episode 6 so far. But maybe I will have time over the weekend.
I totally agree Wayward son without Kansas just doesn’t seem right for anything Supernatural.
P.S. Dadgummit! I’m still getting used to the IPad keyboard. Sorry about all the typos.
P.S.S. Agreed … Jared and Jensen both look quite yummy in those clips.
Personally, I’m not a big fan of anime style animation. It’s just not as visually appealing to me as other types of animation. But, of course, I had to check this one out! I think the new story episodes are really pretty good. I would kind of like to see them with the ‘real’ actors. ‘Ghost on the Highway’ was a pretty good MOTW. I liked the twist with Sam in ‘The Alter Ego.’ I thought it was new and interesting.
Great recap, Yirabah! I agree with a lot of what you said! I totally get what you mean about seeing Jared’s face when he’s talking! I too can picture the exact facial expression. Not having Jensen’s voice playing opposite Jared’s really threw me off, especially at first. I got used to it after a while. I think that Anime Sam is a better interpretation of Sam, especially season 1 Sam, than Anime Dean is of Dean. He’s not as cute as he should be (and that jacket is awful!). Maybe that’s just me. I like my Dean as cute as possible!
Overall, pretty good. Maybe they should do more new story episodes than redoing existing ones. It’s hard to live up to the awesomeness of live action Supernatural. I do like the idea of seeing the cases they worked between the cases we’ve already seen on the show. I love more background and new insight to our boys’ past!
And, yeah, the cheap cover of Wayward Son just doesn’t do it for me!
Thank you Morgan.
Sam in the Alter Ego was a nice twist. I also enjoyed that I was not able to figure out immediatly who is in the alter ego in the car, Sam or Dean, or maybe even none of them.
You are right about anime Sam coming closer to Sam than anime Dean to Dean (head starts to spin here). First Dean having brown eyes, than that hankerchief and that awful jacket – nope – I prefer the real Dean too.
As I mentioned in the article, there are new stories and they are written extremly well. In one ep we will also see how Sam mets Jess.
Apparently these DVDs aren’t yet available in the U.S.? I’m curious to know whether it is possible to get the Japanese versions with English subtitles. Are the formats even compatible?
[quote]It’s definitely possible to watch the original Japanese voice track with English subtitles. WB would be stupid to not include them …[/quote]
Silly me! Why didn’t I think of that … duh … haha! 🙂
Thanks cassi for your explanation.
The anime was cut to the Japanese voice track so that’s why Jared voice doesn’t match the images. The translation and the voice actors try to make it fit but sometimes it simply doesn’t work.
I don’t think that this can be the only explanation since it is basically only Jared’s voice that is off sometimes.
Either the translation is too bad or the voice actor.[/quote]
Don’t know about the translations since I am unfortunatly not able to talk Japanese. And about the bad voice actor statement. This was Jared first voice-only-job so if it would be his fault I would definatly excuse it but I still can’t/won’t believe that it is his fault. I actually think that he is doing the best voice job in the whole anime. Since I’ve been listening to the same scenes over and over again for the recap I discovered that he is putting as much feeling in his voice as he would for the real show unlike all the other voice actors. The reason for this very likely is that he knows by now what Sam’s feelings would be.
Something I did forget to mention in my article is that the youtube videos are the ones from SPNtheAnimationEps. She lives in Japan and I do thank her for putting those vids up. According to her she is ok but my heart still goes out to her and I hope that nothing will happen to her.
Thanks Yume, I did enjoy the first original episode. It made me laugh as well as cry.
We Supernatural fans are all crazy somehow. Read a few comments who stated the same, that they watch just because it is Supernatural.
Something that makes me sad, even a little mad, is that a lot of stuff gets blocked because (like the CW side) we don’t live in the states and now the animations getting blocked on youtube since we can’t buy them yet. Something they don’t seem to understand at Warner Bros. is that SPN fans are crazy. We here in Europe watch the eps on the internet shortly after they aired in the states but that doesn’t mean that we don’t watch them once they are aired in our local TV on the contrary we do (even if it is not as good as the english original version). Plus show me the fan that doesn’t have the dvds at home. So why do they block the animes. Those ones who are into animes will still buy the DVDs even if we seen it before – after all – we are SPN fans and we are crazy about our show.
So I don’t watch a lot of anime but I’ve seen my fair share. I liked these a lot and was kind of disappointed to find episode 5 blocked. But hey, I got to watch the first 4 for free, so I guess I shouldn’t complain.
I would almost think this is kind of AU from the TV series since there are some things that seem to be happening differently. I look forward to seeing what else is different and what other little twists they throw out there.
Hi there Jeannine, thanks for commenting. If you check Dark Austral comment there is help for you.
Hello Dark_Austral, thank you for your input.
I would be interested what your friend thinks about it too since I can’t believe that the SPN anime makes any scenes to someone who doesn’t now the real show.
Missouri sure was a disappointment thanks for letting us know that there is a reason for that.
About that sidenote. I was fighting with myself if I should put that info up or not. Warner Bros. already blocked to many of her videos. Didn’t want to help them find those links.
There used to be links on various anime sites. I even sent one link to Alice. She had it posted on the crossroads. But that link, like all the others we found, never lasted for more than 2 to 4 days before they were blocked.
I also believe that we here in Europe can keep dreaming about being able to access the same stuff as the people in America. It is slightly frustrating if you chat with a world wide group and want to show them e.g. fan made vids and talk about those and then they are blogged in some countries. I for example can’t watch approx. half the vids of the week Alice puts up. Though I keep dreaming that one day I will be able to watch them too.
re blocked content …
I’m pretty sure that the copyright laws of various countries have something to do with it. It may be true that we in America have access to more cntent … but I often find things that I’m trying to watch blocked for copyright reasons, especially content generated in Canada (don’t know why Canada and not other places though) …
Hi Yirabah
When my daughter was young, she also liked watching Pokeman, Yu-gi-oh and her favourite Sailor Moon.
I managed to watch up to episode 3. It’s no way comparable to watching the live version of Supernatural, but I still found it enjoyable.
I liked how they altered the original scripts that little bit, giving it a different twist to the story. I would like to seen the ones where both Jared and Jensen do the voice’s, however I didn’t mind the guy that did Dean’s voice, I think he did an ok job.
Anyways…Thank you for putting this together.
Hi Karen,
you are right that it is not comparible to the real thing but still I found it fun to watch. Since you already made it up to three episodes just watch one more and let me know what you think of the complet new story line.
So far,I’ve seen SPN The Animation up to episode 9 and it’s really fun to watch.
It’s okay as a substitute for the real thing during spring hellatus.
I think Jared is doing a good job with his first voice over gig.
I agree it’s really strange not to hear Jensen as Dean, but the voice actor is really doing best he can to sound like Dean Winchester Season 1 and I think he improving with every episode.
Can’t wait for the complete box, it’s not the real Supernatural but hey diversity is everything these days.
And how many of those “big network shows” made it from real life action show to animation?
Hello Dana,
so I am not the only one who uses the anime during this hellatus. Thanks for telling me that.
And yes I do love it, that our “little show” was thought interesting enough to become an anime (unlike some of those shows that millions watch each week)
I beg to differ. It is “real” Supernatural … in the same way that the prequel comic books are “real” … and in the same way that all the prose fiction novels are “real” Supernatural.
I think it is really cool that the television show is apparently spawning a host of cross-media cultural production … REALLY cool. Whether one likes the variations is a totally subjective thing. But to say that the anime version isn’t “real” is like saying the sixties Batman TV show wasn’t “real” Batman because it was too campy.
Oh come on ChristopherH, you have to understand us girls, that we prefer to watch the “real thing”. Jared and Jensen are just to beautiful and the anime characters (as well as they were drawn) just can’t match those two.
LOL …
Oh trust me … I hear ya! Jensen and Jared are both quite yummy to look at. 😉 I was only “begging to differ” in a constructive way.
About a year ago, I wrote a paper on Batman and discovered that one of the subthreads in cultural criticism is concerned with the role of the reader/viewer in interpretation. I just think that observing the ways cultural product can be expanded, adapted and re-created is very interesting.
It’s funny. I didn’t used to appreciate anime at all, but it has been growing on me. And now that one of my favorite shows is being adapted to the medium, I have another excuse to watch it. 🙂
I think over all are good show i finish all 22 episode in 2 days, and i really enjoy it how the story goes and really love how the way it end hopefully there will be a seasons 2 for it 😆
It was painful to watch the first two episodes english dubbed, lacking emotion and starting way out of order. Im going to try it in japanese and see how it goes, but not a big fan of the animation style they used. Overall, I would never pay to see this crap! Save all yourselves a headache and see the real show, hell alot better.
The anime is now available in DVD and Blueray!
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=supernatural+anime&x=0&y=0
[url]http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=supernatural+anime&x=0&y=0[/url]
I didn’t line the anime around all. To me it being anime anime it should have been way better w/ alot more action. It was more talk than anything. Deans character was all wrong the way he brushes everything off. The live action show is a way better. I think it has potential but they should get new writers and study the show a little bit more.
Update … seven episodes in … the knock-off episodes were OK, but the original episodes are quite good actually.
I love Supernatural. There’s a great post here comparing the TV series to the anime – http://www.mangauk.com/?p=supernatural-versus-supernatural