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R2 DVD Reviews
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Friday, 03 July 2009 00:00 |
 Uh-oh. It's a videogame-to-anime conversion, something that (with only a few notable exceptions) has a really bad record with me. This one brings us angels, demons, and a thinly-veiled Flash Gordon, though, which on the face of it certainly sounds promising...
1 - The Sleeping Prince in the Garbage Dump
Angel Trainee Flonne has been sent on a mission to the Netherworld to assassinate King Krichevskoy, the overlord and ruler of the demonic kingdom. However, on arrival she finds the castle in flames and discovers her target has already been dead for two years. Her search for answers leads her to a garbage dump, and a coffin containing the sleeping Laharl, the demon king's young son, who on hearing of his father's death decides to claim his rightful place as the new ruler of the Netherworld. But with a seemingly never-ending queue of imposters and claimants to the throne lining up, the job isn't going to be easy...
2 - Scratch 1 Mid-Boss, Add 1 Vassal
Flonne pulls no punches in her attempt to assassinate Laharl, but no sooner has she summoned a dragon big enough to do the job, than she runs out of magical power - without her pendant, she's not going to last long. Long-standing thorn-in-the-side of Laharl, Etna, chooses just this moment to arrive on the scene, and is quite surprised when her boss decides not to finish Flonne himself, and the two demons head for the Overlord's Castle to plot the conquest of Earth and Celestia, leaving Flonne to deal for herself. As for her pendant... well, that's been claimed by Jennifer, and Celestia have dispatched the Archangel Vulcanus to get it back...
3 - Welcome to the Netherworld Hall of Treasures!
The problem with travelling with two women, as Laharl is finding out, is that they spend every spare moment gossiping and talking about nonsense, and having to listen to it all is driving the would-be Overlord of the Netherworld to distraction. Although Flonne's innocence isn't helping Etna's mood, either. After journeying across the wasteland, he's had enough of their tittle-tattle, and demonds they take a break at the nearest inn. What they end up at isn't an inn, exactly - welcome to the Netherworld Hall of Treasures, more museum than hotel, where Laharl soon makes himself comfortable - while Etna plots how best to do away with him, to claim the throne for herself. But staying in the Hall has some unexpected side-effects for Etna and Flonne...
4 - A Solomon-Type Judgement at the Dinero Castle?!
Something terrible has happened: Etna hasn't been paying her Prinnie Squad, and they've gone on strike, demanding back-pay and better conditions. With Laharl having kindly pointed out that, by definition, Etna's vassals are his vassals, Etna's decided he should pay them himself - a downside he hadn't considered. He's not about to pay up, either, leaving Flonne to take over their duties. For about five minutes, which is how long it takes Laharl to work out how bad a servant she is. Needs must, it seems, and so Laharl heads off to find the money he needs to pay the Prinnies - a job that involves plundering as many local castles as possible...
Some shows you put into the player with a certain sense of dread, and I have to admit that Disgaea was one of those shows. Cutesy animation style? Based on a videogame? Without having done any research into what the show was really about, the first thing that came to mind was something in the Pokemon class. Colour me pleasantly surprised, then, by the action-comedy that I got instead. I love surprises.
So. Flonne is a trainee angel - curiously one on a mission of death, which I didn't think the good guys did, but hey - who finds herself strangely tagging along with Laharl, the son of the Overlord that she's meant to kill. I'm not quite sure how that happened, but never let minor details worry you. Also travelling with them is demonic cutie Etna. With Laharl's father already dead, he's looking to inherit his throne - but first he has to deal with the string of other pretenders to the throne. What he doesn't know yet is that Etna, who presents herself as his loyal vassal, has her eyes on the prize as well.
Now, sone shows would make a storyline like that a convoluted, complicated mess of politicking and whatnot, but Disgaea keeps it simple and goes for the slapstick comedy approach. Flonne is a clumsy as they come; Laharl suffers from a bad case of overconfidence, and isn't as heartless and domineering as his PR would like you to believe; while Etna almost steals with show with her shenanigans and (doomed-to-failure) attempts to do away with Laharl without his realising what she's up to. As lead characters go, they're a great trio that play off each other really well and are very entertaining to watch.
The supporting cast is pretty good, too, featuring a shameless knock-off of the Lost in Space robot (I kept waiting for it to say "Danger, Will Robinson!"), the swashbuckling but generall hopeless Commander Gordon, Defender of the Universe (a thinly-veiled Flash Gordon reference, if ever I saw one), and his busty and attractive sidekick Jennifer. Disaster tends to follow wherever they go, and they end up filling number of jobs on the disc as they try to make ends meet. A serious threat to the lead party? Not a chance of it, but they provide another avenue for the comedy to come from and fill that role well.
In the end, Disgaea isn't a show that's asking to be taken seriously - it's something to watch when you're looking for some light-hearted fun and aren't worried about looking for fanservice or other such gimmicks that often go along with shallower shows. It's harmless, enjoyable and entertaining, even if (like me) you've never set eyes on the game it's been spun off from, and that makes it well worth a look.
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