Sands of Destruction - The Complete Series
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Hopefully no one here has a fear of small spaces.
Everyone loves a cute girl in bunny ears.
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January 26, 2010
by: Sommer Sherman
DVD REVIEW: We take a look at FUNimation's anime adaptation of the new Nintendo DS game.
Review Hardware Used: Acer X183H 18.5" flatpanel widescreen monitor, VLC Media Player running on Windows XP, 2 JBL DUETAL 12 Watts 2.0 Speakers
A world where the seas are filled with sand. A world where beasts rule as men. A world when men are ruled by beasts.
Disc Description:
A wandering cook looking to make a decent living, Kyrie Illinis is a young human man who disguises himself as one of the ruling race of beastmen in order to gain good employment. It is while working in a cafe that he meets Morte Urshela, who he recognizes from a wanted poster as "The World Destruction Committee." Morte possesses a strange artifact she claims is the legendary Destruct Code, a powerful item which can end the world when activated. Along with a Little Bear beastman known as Toppy, Kyrie finds himself unwittingly involved in Morte's eccentric quest to save the world by destroying it, while evading capture by the World Salvation Committee and those who would turn them in for a large reward.
Based on the Nintendo DS RPG of the same name, Sands of Destruction is a fast paced adventure in a variegated world filled with a lavish cast of characters. Packed with drama and action alike, it's a romp through a traditional RPG universe that we've ultimately been to over and over again.
Disc Features:
Character Interviews
Textless songs
Trailers
Disc Review
Content (This section may contain spoilers)
You ever sit down and think about how much the world we live in sucks? Ever wish you could just blow it up and do everyone a favor that way? Ever think destroying the world solves everything? It may sound a little psychotic to admit, but I have. But it's not like I have this little red button I can push and set off the fireworks, now is it? And besides, no one who says things like that actually means it, right?
Well, Morte Urshela certainly does. Even better, it so happens she holds an item that, according to legends widely known in her world, can do just that. In Morte's world, humans struggle for freedom from oppression from the beastmen who control every aspect of society, and the fighting has gone on for many generations with no foreseeable end in sight. She lost her family to the constant conflict, and the whole thing has left her callous and jaded. But with the Destruct Code she inherited from her dead brother, she just might be able to put a stop to the bloody power struggle between humans and beastmen by destroying them both and the rest of the rotten world they live in. Now if only she knew how to use it.
Fast forward a little bit after that point and you have the opening of the story, where young Kyrie Illinis, a human man and wandering cook, is working part time in a cafe to make some good money and a decent living for himself. It's not easy for a human to gain good employment in a beastman's world, so Kyrie disguises himself with a pair of fake cat ears and just hopes no one notices. One busy lunch rush, he pauses a moment to stare at a sign on the wall - a wanted poster for the World Destruction Committee, showing the face of some scary looking brood. Not even a minute later, he serves a plate to a mystery woman in a hooded cloak and manages enough of a glimpse of her face to recognize her as the one he just saw on the poster. Not that he's given any chance to react, because in that next instant troopers from the World Salvation Committee storm the cafe (because you can't have a World Destruction Committee and not have a World Salvation Committee after all!) They're looking for a wanted criminal, and no prizes to anyone who can guess who. Revealing herself from her hooded guise, Morte Urshela grabs first her weapon, a giant bladed axe, and then Kyrie, threatening her would-be captors that should they make one more move she'll kill the hapless young man on the spot. Unfortunately, Kyrie's disguise falls off his head revealing him to be an inconsequential human, and Morte is forced to fight her way out and escape arrest. His cover blown, Kyrie runs after Morte and the two slip out of town and into the woods.
 © 2010 SEGA/WD Project. Liscensed by FUNimation Productions, Ltd./
"What do you mean Velveeta's not real cheese?!
With the World Salvation Committee off their track for now, Kyrie and Morte sit down for some rest. Kyrie says he recognizes Morte from the wanted poster and asks why they're after her and what the World Destruction Committee is. To answer this, Morte pulls out a small black orb she carries with her and tells him it is the legendary Destruct Code, and with it she plans to end the world and all the conflict and suffering in it. She also explains she doesn't know what the World Destruction Committee is, only that the World Salvation Committee started calling her that and the name just stuck (which I find hilarious). In Kyrie's presence, however, the Destruct Code begins to glow strangely with great energy, something Morte has never seen it do before.
It is thus that Kyrie finds himself wound up into Morte's quest, whether he likes it or not, now that the World Salvation Committee has added his picture along with Morte's on the wanted posters all across the land. Also tied up into this mess is Toppy, a Little Bear beastman who, while working a contract for a boy whose sister's life is in peril, inadvertently assists Morte in a fight with the World Salvation Committee and ultimately gets his adorable teddy bear face slapped onto the posters in the process. With the three of them stuck traveling together, a party is born, and an RPG style adventure sets off from here with only a few vague legends about the Destruct Code as their guide.
Traveling across a world where the Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter continents are separated by vast seas of sand, the party quests on with no real goal in sight except only to evade the pursuit of the World Destruction Committee for the greater part of the whole series. In an episodic adventure, what we find are some of anime's oldest plot devices come back to retell their same old stories - old friends have turned to villainy, imposters masquerade as the heroes, and would-be enemies must call truce or all die together. I can't give any points for originality when it comes to this kind of storytelling. As an old school RPG fan, I have seen this kind of formula used again and again, though I wouldn't have that suggest that it can't be done well. In this case, too, while predictable and basic, the character interactions and compelling battle sequences make a rehashed concept fun and entertaining regardless. Gladiator-style combat between two sickeningly adorable teddy bear men, for example, had me laughing even long after the episode had ended. And then there's an episode where a good portion of the drama revolves around Kyrie and Toppy freaking out over a small rip in Morte's skirt, of which she has no knowledge about.
 © 2010 SEGA/WD Project. Liscensed by FUNimation Productions, Ltd./
Check out these totally convincing beastman disguises!
Still, at being only thirteen episodes, I found it rather frustrating how long it took for the story to have anything to do with what the heroes are actually after. Dropping small clues throughout each sub-story (in an RPG we call these side quests!) doesn't really strike me as story progression, and until the last few episodes we never really have any clear understanding of why the party goes to any one place except, maybe, to stay ahead of their enemies. That, and for being the main character, Kyrie has very little importance to the plot until the very end of the series. He never fights, instead he hides while Morte and Toppy wipe up the opposition and crawls out once the smoke has cleared. Apparently the boy has lost some of his memory, but we don't know anything about that until the last couple of episodes. I rather thought such a thing might have made his character a bit more compelling from the very beginning, even if it's true that "mysterious pasts" are not at all running short in anime these days.
There's plenty of things to keep one entertained despite the rudimentary story telling and vague idea of where any of it is going the whole time. Sands of Destruction boasts a wide cast of characters ranging from Agan, a smuggler who'll move anything you want for the right price, Yappy, Toppy's old friend and fellow Little Bear, Lia and Nadja, members of the World Salvation Committee who always seem to be one step behind the party, as well as more than I have room to list. The story well establishes the fact that this is a bustling world these characters live in, where a lot has happened and a lot more is happening still. The verisimilitude is strongly achieved, stirring interest in the viewer that will have him wanting to know the ending even if it is rather obvious where it's all going. After all, it's not the beginning or the end that makes a story great - it's how the characters get from one to the other that the audience really cares about.
Sands of Destruction is not without its lasting impression, either, especially in the character of Morte. What I see in her is a representation of all the disgust and frustration so many of us have felt when looking at the world we live in for what it really is sometimes - a harsh, cruel, indifferent place where nothing will ever get any better. Some people really do believe the world would be better off not existing at all. (Really! I've met some of them.) What this story wants the viewer to take from it is, I feel, the ability to accept the fact that the world is not perfect, but that we shouldn't forget what a wonderful place it can be as well. With it's fluffy, feel-good ending tinted with a note of romantic interest (which came rather out of no where) one can walk away from this one feeling a little better about life, if nothing else.
Coming in one installment of all thirteen episodes on two discs, Sands of Destruction is certainly not a very time consuming commitment from beginning to end. The English dubs, while certainly far from the worst I've ever heard, still did not seem to capture the characters the way the Japanese voices did. Especially in Kyrie's case, as the Japanese actor sounded care free and jovial just like the character, the English dub's lack of inflection made Kyrie seem more dim witted and uninterested than he really was. I was rather disappointed at the audio options, giving us a choice from English 5.1 Surround Sound or Japanese stereo. So really there isn't much of an "option" at all.
Anime extras are often times very disappointing things for me. Sands of Destruction has, just like every other DVD series I've ever had, the traditional round up of textless opening and closing segments, as well as the trailers for other shows in which obnoxiously insistent narrators tell you that "you've never seen anything like this before!" But there are some gems to be had in the character interviews. Toppy discusses with us the first stages of the show's production (or from his perspective, the days they first started "shooting") over a glass of some hard liquor on the rocks. Morte endures Lia's following her around with a handheld camera to catch her in her normal routine for the Bonus Features. Nadja answers fan letters from a live feed on his webcam, and Agan discusses his success as a male fashion model. These features also show several stills from the story boards for the show's production before they ever even started animating, a treat to anyone like me who gets absolutely starry-eyed over every little thing that goes into making an animated series.
 © 2010 SEGA/WD Project / Liscensed by FUNimation Productions, Ltd./
Oh man oh man oh man oh man oh man...
The Bottom Line:
Sands of Destruction may be a another case of the same old plot devices we've seen in anime based on or inspired by a traditional RPG quest-style adventure, but solidly good characters and humorous dramatics make up for most of that. Fans of the game especially will likely enjoy the show, even though the story is a bit different from the one told in the Nintendo DS game it was based on. And at thirteen episodes on a two disc set, it's a small investment worth the time to anyone who is a fan of the genre. In the end, the strongest feeling I had sitting with me after watching the show was the urge to run out and buy the game. This kind of story makes for a decent anime, but I feel it probably came from an even better video game.
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Content |
Over-used plot devices make the story predictable many times throughout the series, but the character interactions and intense action scenes keep the story compelling. |
7.5 |
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Video |
Clean, crisp animation all throughout but the backgrounds tend to be over simplistic compared to the lush environments from the game. |
7.0 |
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Audio |
Basic audio options but clear voice recordings don't crackle or hiss at any point throughout the series. |
9.0 |
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Menus
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Very simplistic menu organization makes it easy to navigate even on touchy players. But the still screens and looping music tracks don't seem as exciting as the show actually is. |
7.0 |
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Extras
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The character interviews are quirky and hilarious, and the story board stills are a treat for the viewers. But does anyone actually care about textless opening and closing segments? |
9.5 |
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Dialog
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Great Japanese cast really brings out the whimsy and charm of the characters main and minor alike, but the English dubs fell off a few notches on that same note. |
8.5 |
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Verdict
Fun and fast paced, full of action and a huge cast of interesting characters, it's just playing an RPG without the "Game Over" screen! But don't expect to see much of anything you haven't seen before here.
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8.5
[not an average]
+ Whimsical characters and a colorful world!
+ A nice balance of drama, humor, and action
+ Hilarious character interviews in the extras
- Commonly encountered plot devices and scenarios
- Mediocre English voice casting
- The main story doesn't come up until the very end
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