One thing I will say about the Karas movies is that they really should be seen together. While each has its own story, complete with three-act structure, both Prophecy and Revelation tell a single story. To really get the most out this anime masterpiece, they should really both be seen. That being said, Revelation is very well written and, even without having seen Prophecy, the movie is fully understandable. As with most well-written sequels, less time is spent on character development in order to allow greater development of plot details. So without knowledge of the previous movie, attachment to the main characters is lacking, and that is a shame because all hell breaks lose in Revelation and there is so much emotional content. However, the additional plot development comes in really handy in this second movie because there is so much going on that it would be easy to get lost if the story weren't laid out so well.

The animation in Karas: The Revelation is some of the very best, with an awesome combination of 2D and 3D elements.

The animation is some of the very best I have seen. There is an awesome combination of 2D and 3D elements used throughout the movie. Honestly, without the use of 3D, some of the more incredible elements would have either been left out or would have had been far less impressive. For instance, there are these mechanical tentacles that violently weave themselves throughout Shinjuku, forming a massive imprisoning wall. When those tentacles start ripping through buildings and people, it is one of those scenes that deserves a rewind when it is over. Then there is the 3D Karas and Demons. The outstanding character models are perfectly complemented by the equally impressive animations and particle effects. Typically, 3D characters move in a very marionette-like fashion, clumsily flailing about in some totally unnatural way. Somehow the animators found a way around this in this movie. While the Karas movies are technologically very well done, a new way of rigging hasn't been created to solve this issue. I think it's a combination of clever use of camera angles, masking with particle effects, and strategically chosen ranges of motion that make the movement so believable. Whatever tricks they used, the 3D animation is spot-on and any blemishes would only be noticed by nerds like me that pick movies apart for fun.

Sound in Karas is second-to-none. The music, sound effects and voice talent match the epic scale of the visual elements. There is a wonderful combination of orchestral and electronic elements that forms leitmotifs for the main characters. Sound effects and Foley are right on. As soon as the city starts to explode, those out there with good home theater systems will find it hard to keep from smiling. It is literally deafening, and anyone in an apartment should remember to keep the volume down. Both the English and Japanese language tracks are great. The subtitling for the Japanese language track is a little off, as parts of it read like a bootleg out of China. Following the story would be a little difficult for the newbies out there, so it is good that the dub is such high quality. There is a pretty significant change between the two language versions. In the Japanese, Eko speaks in an older tongue that is translated into Old English. Eko's speech in the English version has been updated into modern English. And I have to say that I actually agree with this change because Eko has been watching the development of man since the Edo period. And if Eko has been learning from humans all this time, I am quite certain that his speech would have changed as well. Heck, I can't spend more than two weeks visiting friends down south without coming home and using "y'all." So I think it is less believable for Eko to have not changed the way that he speaks. Other than this discrepancy, everything is right on.

Special features on Karas: The Revelation are a real treat, with a great segment on voice acting. Anyone interested in fansubing or pursuing a voice-acting career should check it out.

Special features on this disk are a real treat. There is a rather lengthy segment showing the English actors in the voiceover booth, and a great interview with the voice actress for Yurine. Anyone who is interested in fansubing or even possibly pursuing a voice-acting career should check this out because it is shot in a way that shows exactly how the voice-over recording process is done. There is a lame stills gallery. I never understand these galleries because, if I wanted to look at a still frame of the movie, I would just pause the disk. The DVD also includes the trailer for Karas: The Revelation, which isn't groundbreaking, but trailers are nice to watch every now and again. The bread and butter of the special features is the rough cut excerpt section. This little gem shows scenes from the movie in various stages of completion. There are animatics, animatics with 3D elements in them, 2D and 3D test animations; all kinds of stuff are in this section. An appreciation for the amount of work it takes to create one shot can be gleaned from watching this very cool extra. Anyone out there who wants to become an animator and is having difficulty persuading the folks that being an animator is real work should use this extra feature as evidence.

Both of the Karas movies are awesome. They are a visual tour de force that doesn't let up for a second. Action, drama, and eye candy are all in abundance in this title. This second movie really completes the story of Karas and it's well worth the price of admission to pick it up. In all seriousness, both of these movies should be in any serious anime collector's library because they will be the movies that will be copied for the next 20 years.