Halo Legends (Video 2010)

The universe of the Halo video game series is expanded in seven short animated films from Japan's greatest anime directors and studios.

Directors:

Shinji Aramaki, Hideki Futamura,

Writers:

Joseph Staten (game), Frank O'Connor (screenplay),

Stars:

James Faulkner, Luci Christian, Greg Ayres

Cast

Credited cast:
James Faulkner	...	ONI officer (segment "The Babysitter") (voice)
Luci Christian	...	Female soldier (segment "Prototype") (voice)
Greg Ayres	...	Kid A (segment "Odd One Out") (voice)
Brittney Karbowski	...	Sister (segment "Odd One Out") (voice)
Akio Ôtsuka	...	ONI Commander (segment "Prototype") (voice)
John Swasey	...	Captain (segment "Odd One Out") (voice)
Shelley Calene-Black	...	Cortana / Dr. Halsey (segments "Origins" "The Package and "Homecomming") (voice)
David Matranga	...	Sarge (segment "Prototype") (voice)
Kenta Miyake	...	Sergeant Hauser (segment "Homecoming") (voice)
Kazuhiko Inoue	...	The Prophet (segment "The Duel") (voice)
Chris Patton	...	Big Brother (segment "Odd One Out") (voice)
Houko Kuwashima	...	Daisy (segment "Homecoming") (voice)
Tomokazu Seki	...	Brother (segment "Odd One Out") (voice)
Atsuko Tanaka	...	Dr. Halsey (segment "The Package") (voice)
Deke Anderson	...	1337 (segment "Odd One Out") (voice)

Storyline

A collection of seven stories from the Halo Universe created by Japan's most creative minds. First up is "Origins" a two part episode showing the expansive history of the Halo Universe and the history of the 100,000 year long franchise timeline, told through the eyes of Cortana. Second comes "The Duel" Taking place long before the Human-Covenant War, it tells the story of an Arbiter, Fal 'Chavamee, who refuses to accept the Covenant Religion. Taking a turn to the Spartan side of the story "Homecoming" focuses on the tragedies involving the Spartan-II recruitment in 2517, and the Spartans coming to terms with their origins. Taking a turn in tone comes "Odd One Out" a non-cannon parody of the Halo storyline. "Prototype" tells the story of a Marine who goes against his orders to destroy an advanced prototype armor and uses the suit to buy time for civilians evacuating from the planet. "The Babysitter" tales of the the rivalry between the Spartan-II Commandos and the Orbital Drop Shock ...

---

Plot Keywords:

halo | spartan | anime | mecha | female soldier | 

---

Genres:

Animation | Action | Sci-Fi

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for violent content throughout

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA Japan

Language:

English Japanese

Release Date:

16 February 2010 (USA)

Also Known As:

Halo: Legendy

Company Credits

Production Co:

Microsoft, J-Spec Pictures, Studio 4°C

Technical Specs

Runtime:

120 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital (Dolby 5.1)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

"The Duel" took a great amount of themes from the life of historical Samurai, Miyamoto Musashi (1584-1645. Much of his art and philosophy was a great influence to creative director Mamoru Oshii. Interestingly, Oshii was also working on an animated chronicle of the life of Musashi with Production I.G at the same time as he was working on Halo Legends; titled: Musashi: The Dream of the Last Samurai.

---

Quotes

1337: Well... I'm one heck of a mama myself!

---

Connections

Spun-off from Halo (2001)

User Reviews

I would've given it and 8 if it wasn't for Dual and Homecoming.

The water colour style was just the wrong style for Dual, and both Dual and Homcoming were pretty boring. Oh sure they had their moments, but only one or two. Dual focused on one of the Prophets who accuses an Elite called Fal of heresy. Fal will not yield and the Prophet is forced to send another Elite to kill his wife in order to drag him to a trap. Homecoming focused on a Spartan girl who ran away at first but came back for some reason to fight for the UNSC. The flash backs, although interesting, became too much and confusing. All the other episodes ranged from decent to great. Orgins I and II answered questions about the forerunners, FINALLY we get to see those guys, but didn't answer much about the origins of the Covenent. How'd they meet each other? How did they develop a common interest of going on the Great Journey? Where did they get the technology to be one of the galaxy's most dangerous of threats? Anyway, Odd One Out was actually pretty funny, as it was supposed to parody the Halo series (I knew someone from Dragon Ball was involved!)

As for the rest, I won't summarize them now, you can search for them, but, The Package, Prototype and Babysitter, were actually good, even great. If they had done Dual and Homecoming differently, or even left them out, I probably would have given this movie an 8. Nonetheless, I give it a strong 7; I liked it and am glad I bought it out of impulse rather than rented it. It's a fair substitute to a true Halo film that we were promised for 2008, but that won't hold up for long. We will need a Halo movie.

PS: I'm not a hardcore gamer, but a casual one. Halo is cool, but it's only one of my favourite video game series, so this review is not biased to what I think of the series. I'm not a Twilight equivalent of a Halo fan (I know I keep using that, and I mean no offense, but it's the easiest example to use).