The great video game series gets an animated series adaptation.
Resident Evil has had a few decent anime film adaptations before now and, honestly, I’m not sure why this isn’t another movie. This entire series is only 4 episodes long and, cutting the excess credits and intro sequences, would probably only be about 95 minutes total. The episodes feed pretty directly from one to the next, so it would be easy to make it into one continuous story. But, I don’t make these decisions, so a television show it is.
The series features two of the most beloved Resident Evil protagonists, cop-turned-special-agent Leon Kennedy (Toshiyuki Morikawa/Nick Apostolides) and badass-cop-turned-badass-humanitarian Claire Redfield (Yūko Kaida/Stephanie Panisello). Following a hacking incident at the White House, Leon Kennedy is brought in to help consult, only to find a staged zombie assault. At the same time, Claire, who is trying to help the third-world country of Panemstan during a civil war, finds evidence that there are bio-organic weapons within the country. It turns out that the war is being heavily influenced by both the United States and China, almost like many countries during the Cold War, and unfortunately it’s not as easy to put down a government plot as a horde of flesh-eating undead. Good news, though, there are plenty of undead and bioweapons to kill along the way.
This show isn’t going to blow a lot of minds and it really isn’t going to be great if you aren’t a fan of Resident Evil, but if you spent hours of your childhood playing these games and then more hours of your adulthood to the point that you probably could have gotten another degree or learned the Theremin, then you’ll enjoy this. The show has a complicated plot, but so does the overarching series of Resident Evil, and it’s overshadowed by the action sequences and the cool shots of Leon kicking ass. The political thriller aspect does add a layer of intrigue to the story as well as some elevated stakes, but, again, it’s mostly just a way to justify getting a bunch of zombies and mutants in fun locations to kill.
Overall, if you’re not a fan of Resident Evil, maybe skip this one. If you are, check it out.
The Joker On The Sofa 