Soul Link

Soul Link is absolute, unmitigated dross. It fails on all levels to entertain, engage, or even hold interest beyond the few minutes of morbid curiosity it takes to realise what uninspiring mediocrity it is. It has neither the aesthetics, the intelligence or the big names to let the series be even passable and each episode ends up being twenty minutes of utter drivel where one feels they've lost far more than they've gained by watching it.

overlooking the fact that a hardened terrorist organisation employs a diminutive, top-heavy girl in hot-pants

Liberally adapted from an erotic visual novel by Navel, Soul Link doesn't even have the decency to integrate fan-service or any kind of racy content; the best the bargain-basement visuals can come up with is the leather-clad dominatrix masquerading as an antagonist and a mercenary with breasts which look like they've been badly modelled after a Madonna video. With no naughtiness in sight, the series is left to scratch around in the dirt and try and come up with some kind of manufactured drama which, ultimately, the characters are too incompetent to do anything about.

Each cardboard-cutout moves from one faceless background to the next and proceeds to destroy what shred of consistency may have been built up in the preceding moments. Plot points are introduced and forgotten about in the space of only a few minutes, while ground breaking developments are under-explained and conspicuously not animated. Neither the pitiful excuse for a plot or the stoically death-proof characters is helped by the introduction of another brainless child and badly voice-acted dog half-way through the series. Character interaction is limited to protracted arguments and serving of food, both of which usually occur when someone is in peril or close to death and, despite wishful thinking, none of the cripplingly stupid cast dies before the finale. The only bearable character is the effeminate and mildly amusing Morimoto who first manages to lighten the terminally dreary mood but is quickly overused and is eventually killed off in a trite story twist.

The narrative lacks any kind of emotion or relevance despite attempts to crowbar in soliloquies about life and happiness. Revolving around a terrorist attack on an orbiting space station, it quickly dispenses with coherence and direction. Timeliness is of no importance here with both the terrorists and the protagonists idling in their respective areas until all the retarded dialogue is mechanically delivered; the passage of time is dealt with similar ineptitude with no indication of whether the entire series spans hours or years. The thirteen episode series sees fit to include flashbacks to events that happened no less than thirty seconds prior, as well as dedicating an entire episode to what little has gone before, all the while being poorly narrated by the antagonist and the overly-nasal new arrival. Not even the most ardent sci-fi or Navel fans could find anything to love here; overlooking the fact that a hardened terrorist organisation employs a diminutive, top-heavy girl in hot-pants, or even that a military academy is full of pretty-boys and mildly-gorgeous girls there is no substance to Soul Link, even the climax with the aforementioned busty dominatrix is far below lacklustre.

There is no saving-grace for the series, no possibility of redemption or even the hint of a pay-off; one would be best steering well clear of it or, if possible with such nasal voice acting, play the series while asleep as even the most nightmarish of somnambulant hallucinations would be better than wasting time trying to watch it.

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