3x3 Eyes Review

3x3 Eyes is an older anime than ran in the 1990s. This anime is just a 7 episode OVA series but the first four are 30 minutes and last three are 45 minutes so it fills up pretty well. In my opinion, 3x3 Eyes is a good romance, adventure, action, and fantasy series but not great of course. It is very comparable with other fantasy like Inuyasha and Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles two series than inspired me to write my own story. The content can be rather graphic at times with quite a bit of blood, about as much as Akira but this anime does give you the emotional feels.

Summary
The anime follows the adventures of Pai, the last remaining Sanjiyan Unkara, and her new Wu and partner Yakumo Fujii. They both want to find a way to make Pai human. Yakumo was made immortal when he was wounded and Pai opened her third eye to absorb his soul. This restored his body but also tied him to her as an undead servent. If Pai dies then Yakumo will die as well. Along their journey they will encounter many allies and enemies. Pai also has a split personality, Sanjiyan. Sanjiyan is distinguishable by her visible third eye and cold, serious, rigid, stoic state. As Pai and Yakumo spend more time together anyone can guess what happens next.

Comparison to other Anime
3x3 Eyes shares many similarities with other fantasy romance anime like Inuyasha and Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles. For one Pai wants to become human while Inuyasha wants to become full demon though remember's he wanted to become human in the end. Pai and Yakumo set out to search for a stolen artifact, while Inuyasha and his gang search for the fragments of the Shikon Jewel, and the Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles gang search for feathers in order to restore princess Sakura's memory. Yakumo in the last 3 episodes also plans to restore Pai's memory too. The main difference between 3x3 eyes and the other two series is that 3x3 Eyes ran for just 7 episodes compared to 52 that Tsubasa ran for and 193 with Inuyasha.

How it Could be Better
There's not much I could say that could make this anime better because that would just spoil and ruin the whole point of the series. I really wish the series had run longer too. This really seemed like an interesting anime that I was getting into and it was rather compelling to watch. With a 40 volume manga I kind of expected more to be released. I think if it were made longer it would be up with anime like Inuyasha and Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles in popularity. I will probably read the manga to see what happens next and can only wish Pai and Yakumo luck and hope for the happy ending they deserve.

My Conclusion
I'd actually give this OVA series 4/5 stars or 8/10 which is pretty high considering it is just 7 episodes. 3x3 Eyes has the rather compelling nature of Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles and Inuyasha and the action and adventure of those two as well. Not only that the romance is clearly visible to the viewers but like in most series the characters themselves may not know their own feelings. On the other hand 7 episodes is not a good amount of time to fit the content into. The character design of Yakumo kind of got to me. While this is a little flaw I will talk about it. Yakumo was designed with closed eyes kind of like Brock from Pokemon. Why this bothered me? I'd like to know a characters eye color and see it and I think closed eyes are great for comedic relief characters but not so much for main characters.