Twilight of the Dark Master

Ah, the good old days of renting anime OVA from your local video store, back when you just picked up something because the cover looked appealing, and you were young and didn't care how good or bad it was, as long as it was anime. That's pretty much how I ended up watching Twilight of the Dark Master. I was but a young lass, and for weeks I stared at the front cover of the VHS (the older one with the main characters profile gazing at the grimace of a very discontented looking woman), and just knew that my mom wasn't going tolet me take this one home. So, I asked my grandma. Success! So is Twilight of the Dark Master worth watching. Well, if you like older 90's anime and don't need an in-depth backstory to fill in the gaps, then yes. Although, I honestly think that anyone who watches anime could enjoy this. It isn't the best OVA, but it's entertaining. So let's break this down, shall we? Starting off with the story. In a nutshell, the story is about a woman, Shizuka, who's fiance, Eiji, turns into a demon and she seeks the assistance of a Guardian, or demon hunter, named Tsunami, to find and kill it. It's not a very original story, and even as things are gradually explained throughout Tsunami's investigation, there were still some loose ends, or just very vague ideas. Like, why and how was Eiji turned into a demon in the first place? How much time had passed since he turned into a demon? Who exactly is this mysterious antagonist, Takamiya? Is that a clitoris?!?! Whoah.....did a head just pop out of that clitoris?? Seriously, this OVA is 45 minutes long and there is so much information packed into it, but it wasn't long enough to explain everything. I'm going on 30 and I'm still wondering about the clitoris. And we have our characters. Throughout the OVA a lot of different names will be dropped frequently, and you might be trying to remember who these names belong to. Except for Huang and Chen Long, because even if we never learned their names, we would still remember the borderline incestuous relationship between these twins. But everyone else is just a face. There isn't much characterization or development, and everyone seems pretty bland. The art, however, is pretty good. I'm very fond of this style of anime character design, it's very nostalgic for me and reminds me of why anime was so captivating for me as a kid. The animation is decent, a tad bit jerky or stiff at times, but nothing worth complaining about. The soundtrack was interesting. It had so many different tones and vibes that I think this, alone, was the highlight of this OVA. I found myself focusing on the background music quite a bit, and each track fit nicely with it's corresponding scene. Some may consider this gory and sexual. While there is nudity, fan service, and....a clitoris...?....I'd say the gore is sub-par, and would tone it down to just bloody and violent. Perhaps in 1998 this was considered gory? But all in all, Shihaisha no Tasogare, or Twilight of the Master, is an enjoyable watch. So, I give it a 7/10.

Honestly, this OVA felt pretty mediocre. It is a very beautiful looking piece of work, nicely animated, elegant with pretty colours, giving it a cool atmosphere. The music is also nice, which further contributes to the atmosphere. Cool looking action scenes as well. The story was honestly not very engaging, and confusing. This seems like it was was rather meant for people who had already read the manga/source material and not really to stand on it's own, which is a bit fair. The side characters were meh, and the whole OVA honestly felt more like a chance for Tsunami to show off. If you want tosee it for the pretty animation, you like the vibe of of retro animes with demons in it, or you just want to see the pretty male MC, then you'll probally be fine watching it. But if you are looking for something rich and engaging, this is not the OVA to watch because it is really not that creative, you don't feel any attachment to any of the characters, and the plot is really generic.

This is a very atmospheric 1990s anime with monsters, superpowered people, cyberpunk-ish atmosphere. In a sense, it is somewhat similar - in atmosphere - to Wicked City. With less sexual content, however. The main reason to watch it is 1990s atmosphere - with hand-drawn everything, specific old-style music, and atmosphere of the city which feels vaguely cyberpunk in nature. Breakdown below: Story: 6/10: There's a shot timeframe for the movie, but it does decent job presenting the storyline, characters, and showing you how the event unfolds. The events are presented in sort of indifferent way, so you sorta get glimpses and hints of what the people there are,what events happened in the past, etc. Narration style is similar to, for example, "the humanoid". They just show you the story unfold from start to finish and that is it. Art: 6/10: I liked it, due to 1990s aeshtetic. However, good portion of the anime is horribly dark, and, say Magic M-66 had more fluid animation than this. You get a couple of old-style monsters that are drawin in a way t hat doesn't happen often anymore. Those are interesting to watch/see. The style of characters/faces is also older one - with triangular "tall" faces with "thin" eyes. Then there are hand-drawn explosions. Sound: 6/10: It is pleasant and matches the atmosphere, but that's it. It doesn't reall ystandout. Character: 5/10: The anime doesn't go out of its way with character portrayal. The characters are shown one after another, you have glimpses of their personality and they look believable. However, characters don't really like talking much, so their characters don't even matter too much, and aren't that memorable. They are pieces of the story and tha'ts about it. Enjoyment: 7/10: I liked it, mostly for the old-style 1990s aesthetic and atmosphere (demons, cyberpunk, night high-tech cities, etc). As I said it reminded me heavily of Wicked City and older movies in general. Overall: 7/10: This is a good anime, but it is mostly worth checking out if you're into 1990s style anime. It is similar to Wicked City, maybe Devilman Lady, has similar palette/art, and similar older style music. No annoying teenagers in school anywhere in it, just showing you the world in the movie. I found it to be enjoyable. So, it is worth checking out.