Common Name: The Reflection
Score: 5/10, 3/5
Length: 12 Episodes
Genre: Action, Super Powers
Summary: Ever since that fateful night waves of greenish lights and smokey darkness cascaded across the sky, humanity has never been the same. As the waves of energy crossed the sky, small motes of light and dark fell to Earth, came into contact with contact with humanity, and granted superhuman abilities to any who survived that initial contact with the phenomenon later called "The Reflection." Cursed with abilities that separated themselves from the common man, the Reflected, people who were gifted powers by The Reflection, have become something to be simultaneously feared and admired--reminding people of the comic book heroes they used to revere. After an attack in the heart of New York City though, it is clear that one particular group of Reflected who obey the will of the enigmatic Wraith are not content with the current world order. Caught up in this battle during an attempt to gain intel on other Reflected, Eleanor Evens is saved by X-On, a man who has the power to steal the powers of other Reflected. Impressed by her sleuthing skills, X-On tasks Eleanor with helping him track down Wraith, ending in a cautious partnership that sets them on a cross-country trip to find Wraith and save any Reflected that has been targeted by Wraith's organization.
Review: I'm always a little surprised when I learn that an American celebrity has even a minor interest in the anime world. While it might be naive to assume that only people in my generation and younger like these typically foreign cartoons, I simply can't help being surprised when I hear celebrities like Samuel L. Jackson state matter-of-factly that he likes anime, hentai too. So, imagine my surprise when I learn that The Reflection isn't Stan Lee's first romp into the world of anime. On top of several Marvel property adaptations, he's also had his hand in a mildly well-received anime called Heroman. Just because this isn't his first rodeo doesn't guarantee his second attempt will automatically be his best yet; that's just the gambler's fallacy talking. If anything, The Reflection lends credence to the idea that Mr. Lee is losing his touch. Leaning on a lot of the ideas that founded the Marvel Universe: a society of mutants, an ability-stealer, a rich man in an iron suit, a league of villains serving some unknowable, cosmic power, The Reflection seems to be little more than a repackaged collection of everything that made Stan Lee who he is today.
And before you ask, yes, that statement does include him getting a cameo in the show itself.
While a large portion of my disgust toward this show might be attributed to its, shall we say, unique art style, the simple fact of the matter is that I most of my dislike for The Reflection stems from the fact that it's just not a good hero show. Due to the characters' insistence on being needlessly enigmatic and doing the very Japanese problem of characters never talking about what's bugging them, I have little reason to get invested in this show's cast of characters. Perhaps a good portion of that is because I've seen these characters before, I have little interest in the illegitimate lovechild of Rogue and Spiderman (X-On), discount country singer Tony Stark (Ian Izzet, aka I-Guy), or the female Nightcrawler who wants to be a journalist (Eleanor Evans). Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not arguing that their abilities aren't cool. It's just that, since I've seen all these ideas done before and done better, it becomes difficult to not see this as little more than a cheap, Chinese knock-off of the Marvel Universe--a notion wholeheartedly aided by the art and animation offered by Haoliners Animation League, aka the kings of knock-off anime.
I want to meet the man who though THIS aesthetic was a good choice and tell him his talents
would be better served on the sequel to XIII, that comic book shooter game from 2003.
My inability to see this show as anything but a derivative aside though, there really just isn't much sense to everything that happens in this show. I mean, I get why Mr. Lee would want to reuse these old ideas, but they just don't fit well in this show. Neither the characters, their decisions, or the plot as a whole seem to make much sense. I like X-On, as a character, but it makes no sense why he lets Eleanor drag him around so she can play superhero when he doesn't seem to care for her in the slightest and would, legitimately, be better off on his own. Sure, that could just be boiled down to him being a tsundere or something, but he's just way too blunt and defeatist for that to actually be the case. Similarly, I can't fathom why Eleanor puts herself in so much danger just so she can be part of X-On's investigation into Wraith. Sure, I get that she's lonely and wants to actually do something with her life but leaning on X-On doesn't satisfy any of those things. If anything, it feels like an absurdly petty, if not outright sexist, decision on the creator's part given the fact that X-On doesn't seem to think of her as anything more than an obnoxious burden he's forced to rescue every time she gets kidnapped (which is at least once an arc). Frankly, the only interesting and active character is Ian Izzet, aka discount Tony Stark, since he actually sees some solid character development. While his evolution from one-hit-wonder country singer who can't sing anymore to knock-off Iron Man doesn't make much sense, it is infinitely more interesting watching him play up the role of superhero in a way that both idolizes him and deescalates public panic, making people think its all a show. Unfortunately, his character doesn't really show up all that much outside of the moments when the X-On and Eleanor's Fun Time Road Trip needs some padding.
I guess I shouldn't complain though. We could have gotten more of the insert idol sentai team.
From the main cast to the blatant insert characters (namely Stan Lee and the idol group who sing the show's end theme), very little The Reflection's story makes any solid sense. Traveling cross-country to find more Reflected makes sense if you want to stop the big bad, but makes no sense when you consider how many Reflected there are across the US. It makes even less sense when they magically come into conflict with Team Darkness every step of the way. All this contrivance is simply explained away with Eleanor using her leet hacking skills and ability to read new articles to determine where the big bads might strike next. Wraith's plan and identity are even more stupid by comparison once they're finally revealed. Making a world for the Reflected, free of prejudice? Yeah, I could get that. Creating a world where people are more honest with their darker natures? Eh, a little weak as supervillain plans go but I can see why that might be desirable. Assuming the cosmic being of Darkness will offer those things after you worship it like some cult leader? Yeah, not so much. Had this been the plot of a comic book, I'm sure this kind of nonsense would have been fine since comics have seen so much worse, but none of these half-hearted and half-baked ideas just won't work if the author wants to make a good anime.
To claim it wouldn't be akin to most anime today would be an outright lie though.
Had this show put a little more effort into its characters, plot, and pacing I'm sure it would have been fine. Had that been the case, I'm certain the show's strange aesthetic choice would have made it novel and interesting in some capacity, or at least be more forgivable. Yet, as I said already, all this show really seems to want to do is rehash old American ideas in a format the Japanese or Chinese might appreciate more. From what I've been reading though, it doesn't look like the global audience liked this show any more than I did. I'll admit there was some solid potential here, but relying on Stan Lee to crank out another heroic masterpiece was probably a mistake, even with the help of Hiroshi Nagahama, creator of Mushi-shi. So would I recommend this title? Obviously not. But, hey, at least this show opened my eyes to the existence of Stan Lee's Heroman. I hear that's pretty good.