The Spartans are in many ways the center of the Halo universe. Even more so then the Halo rings themselves, these genetically enhanced supersoldiers are the real epicenters of the plot, and the characters we interact with the most. However, outside of the Halo novels very little is explored about their creation and origins.

Homecoming tells the story of one Spartan, Daisy, across her career. We get a detailed depictions of her early life, training, failed escape attempt, and a pivotal battle in her career. The anime works well as short fifteen minute biopic that also details the complex morality behind the Spartan program, and aspect that is often overlooked by the testosterone filled Halo universe. Daisy's story is a captivating watch that keeps you interested throughout the entire fifteen minute run. The action is also handled well carrying the necessary emotion needed for the story.

There is also a cameo at the end of the episode that is handled surprisingly well, and delivers the right send off to the episode

If there is one major flaw in Homecoming it is the bizaare flashback driven narrative. It takes you a good five minutes to understand whats really going on, and in an anime that lasts only fifteen that is a librety that costs it dearly. The voice acting in some areas also feels flat and insincere.

Overall, Homecoming is a brilliant addition to the Halo Legends saga and will probably rank as one of the better episodes of the series with its emotional character study.

Score: -A

Wow. A Halo Legends episode that was actually really good? Somebody slap me because I must have drifted into the Negative Zone or something. No I do not lie, Prototype by Studio Bones is a damn good episode.

The story follows Ghost, a UNSC marine who several years back got most of his team killed in order to complete a mission. Now faced with an overwhelming Covenant attack, Ghost dons a protoype piece of armor in order to hold of the enemy and get his remaining team members to safety.

The story may sound simplistic, but Studio Bones manages to inject surprising personality into the character Ghost. His story of redemption and self awareness is a familiar but powerful story that is thankfully delt with in a rather subtle manner.

The action in this episode is also top notch. Drawn in an anime style more akin to Origins and The Babysitter the battle between the marines, the Covenant, and the prototype armor is exhilirating and has the necessary emotion for the story. Unlike such travesties as the Package, Prototype finds that necessary balance between action, story, and character. It is also nice to not have a single Spartan appear throghout the episode, putting the focus on the characters that are often overlooked in the Halo universe.

Overall, Halo Legends: Prototype is a wonderful piece of anime that suceeds in its mission of telling a captivating and action packed story, especially one that lasts only fifteen minutes long.

Score: A

Few can deny that for a shooter Halo has a rather indepth lore. The origins of the Covenant, the Halo rings, the flood, and even the Spartans have a surprisng originality to them. So why is it that this episode detailing the origins of the Halo universe lacks that spark?

The episode picks up following the events in Halo 3, as Cortana relates to a comatose Master Chief the origins of the rings and the flood. What could have been an interesting look at the Flood's war with the Forerunners instead becomes a standarad recounting of what we already know. Not even a look at the Forerunners themselves is truly interesting enough to save this episode.

The animation is a welcome return to a more traditional anime style, similar to The Babysitter, which is welcome after the two previous episodes bizarre design choices.

In short Halo Legends: Origins suffers for telling a story even the most minor Halo fan is familiar with, and refuses to make it interesting at that.

Score: C+

Well, that was....uh...a mess.

Halo Legends continues with its (awful) third episode, detailing the attack of a Covenant ship by Master Chief and a bunch of other Spartans with regular household names. (Fred, I mean honestly?!?)

Created by Casio Entertainment, The Package is a completely CG animated episode that is heavy on action, low on just about everything else. As you, dear reader, can probably tell, I didn't enjoy this episode, not at all. While I can say I like high octane action as much as the next guy, this episode took things to the next level. We were barely a minute into the enstallment before bullets were flying and people were dying. This itself isn't a bad thing, heck Star Wars did it, but The Package makes no attempt to explain istelf or its characters. People just exist to die and to shoot nothing more. Spartans die left in right throughout the episode and we feel nothing. In fact, their deaths feel so corny and tacked on that its actually annoying to see these characters die. It doesn't even make sense. Why would genetically enhanced superhumans die in such stupid ways? There is even an attempt to include a subplot including The Arbiter from the Halo video games, which falls flat and doesn't make sense with the chronology. The dialogue is also awful. I'm going to give an actual transcript from the end of the episode (trust me spoilers don't matter here):

Dr. Hasley: "You really are lucky. You know that?"

Master Chief: "Not lucky enough. We lost two Spartans today." (Which is completely incorrect seeing as atleast three died.)"Solomon, Arthur. And that Elite we encountered...he was strong....I have to be stronger..."

Dr. Hasley: "We all have to be stronger. Something tells me this is just the beginning."

The End

I kid you not. That's how bad it is.

The action itself is fun to watch, and there are some creative sequences, but without the emotional imput or logic it falls flat. The animation is also fairly impressive, but not for an anime. My brother happened to walk in when I was watching this episode, and he asked why I was watching game cut scenes. It doesn't look or feel like an anime, just a bunch of CG super soldiers shooting and dying.

Score: D+

Unlike its predecessor, the next episode of Halo Legends follows the Elite culture and the creation of the Arbiter in the Covenant. This episode creates possibly my favorite story out of the Halo Legends anthology, but suffers form design flaws that hamper it from being the truly great piece of entertainment it could be.

Created by Production I.G (Ghost in the Shell,Blood: The Last Vampire) The Duel follows Fal an Arbiter who is accused of heresy by one of the leading prophets of the Covenant. Fal must then struggle to protect his honor and his family, and take out the leading members of the Covenant.

The story for The Duel is well done and actually quiet emotional. Touching on the best themes of the Covenant from the Halo games (especially Halo 2), Fal's story of religious heresy is accesible and engaging. My only true complaint is the ending which is on the corny side to say the least.

The design for the Duel could be called unique to say the least. Fal's struggle is depicted as a mix between CG animation, and almost water color like backgrounds. The resutl is a visually striking perspective which can be beautiful at best, and distracting at its worst. The beautiful backgrounds and stylized character designs tend to blur together in many of the action sequences and it is often difficult to comprehend.

One design decision that bothers me particularly is the design of the elites. The overtyl Japanese culture is to be expected but feels incredibly out of place. The elites have also changed in appearance. Lacking are the four hinged jaws that set them apart from generic aliens, the elites look more like velociraptors in kimonos. Its even more distracting when other elites have this feature. It makes the design feel haphazard and bizaare.

Overall, The Duel is an enjoyable episode of Halo Legends with an engaging story, and interesting visuals if you can get past its poor design choices.

Score: -A

Halo has gathered a rather massive fan following, especially for a video game. Although a majority of these fans care little for the backstory and mythos of the Halo universe, one cannot deny that the shooter series has built a rather impressive lore behind it. So when 343 Studios and Bungie announced an anime series following Halo back at this years Comic Con, fans were pretty excited. 343 announced that five different studios would produce seven different episodes following multiple areas of the Halo backstory.

The first episode The Babysitter was released last fall in order to build off the release of Halo ODST.

The Babysitter in many ways is a study of the relation between Spartans and normal marines and soldiers for the UNSC. Following a group of ODST (Orbital Drop Shock Troopers) and one spartan on an assasination mission in enemy territory, The Babysitter relies heavily on the chemistry created between the areas of humanities forces. When rivavlry and jealousy break out among the troops, the mission is put in jeopardy and is only saved by some dire circumstances.

The Babysitter is an enjoyable piece of anime, if not perfect. Lasting only around seventeen minutes in length, it is hard for anyone to truly build a connection with any of the characters shown. While the characters, especially the ODST sharpshooter are given some good character development and interesting pathos, nothing really resonates with the watcher. Like mentioned earlier,the real strength of this story comes from the relationship presented between the ODST and Spartans. The Spartans themselves are potrayed perfectly in this episode. Shown as quiet hulking behemoths who can take down gigantic enemies with ease, but can still die and have a human soul.

The animation is crisp and true to traditional anime. It is a pleasure to watch throughout the episode. The action scenes are done perfectly and are exhilarating to watch without going over the top.

However, there are problems with this first episode as well. The dialogue is bland and uninspired, which would hamper the episode if there were more speaking scenes. Another aspect that struck out was the design for the "alien" ruins the team encountered. I understand the production team is from Japan, but do they honestly expect us to believe that an alien civilization built pagoda's and Asian style temples? The inclusion of these buildings is so jarring and out of place that it ruins the immersion.

Score: B+