Summary :

Halo Legends is a collection of seven animated short films set in the Halo science-fiction universe. Financed by Halo franchise overseer 343 Industries, the stories were created by five Japanese production houses: Bones, Casio Entertainment, Production I.G., Studio 4°C, and Toei Animation. Shinji Aramaki, creator and director of Appleseed and Appleseed Ex Machina, serves as the project’s creative director. The idea for an anime compilation existed for years before there was momentum for the project. 343 Creative director Frank O’Connor produced story outlines or finished scripts that the production houses animated in a variety of styles. Warner Bros. released Legends on DVD and Blu-ray on February 16, 2010. (Wikipedia)

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Episode: “The Babysitter”
Studio: Studio 4°C

“Babysitters” follows a squad of four Orbital Drop Shock Troopers or Helljumpers. The squad is composed of Private O’Brien, Dutch (from Halo 3: ODST), Master Sergeant Cortez, and Corporal Checkman. O’Brien is being replaced as the squad’s sniper by Cal-141, a SPARTAN-II, and is now the backup. The squad is sent into a Covenant zone under the cover of a meteor shower to eliminate a Prophet. Produced by Eiko Tanaka and directed by Toshiyuki Kanno. (Wikipedia)

Episode: “The Duel”
Studio: Production I.G

Produced by Mitsuhisa Ishikawa and directed by Hiroshi Yamazaki, with creative supervision by Mamoru Oshii follows an Arbiter named Fal who does not want to follow the Covenant religion. One of the Prophets accuses 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. (Wikipedia)

Episode: “The Package”
Studio: Casio Entertainment

On board a cloaked human ship, a group of elite supersoldiers called Spartans (John-117/Master Chief, Frederic-104, Kelly-087, Arthur-079 and Solomon-069) are briefed by an intelligence officer about their mission. A Covenant fleet is momentarily trapped in the system, and is carrying an important “package” the Spartans must retrieve. The ship decloaks and deploys the Spartans in small ships called Booster Frames. Solomon detects the package on one of the ships, but discovers too late that it is a ruse; Solomon is killed when the ship is destroyed. Master Chief deduces that their target is actually in the Covenant flagship. Arthur is killed trying to cover Kelly during the battle, and the rest of the Spartans board the Covenant ship. Making their way through thick Covenant defenses, Master Chief manages to recover the package—human scientist Catherine Halsey in cryonic hibernation—and the two escape via a Covenant escape pod. The remaining Spartans are recovered by the stealth ship and leave the system. (Wikipedia)

Episode: “Origins”
Studio: Studio 4°C

On board the ship Forward Unto Dawn , the artificial intelligence Cortana and Master Chief are stranded after the events of Halo 3. Cortana muses on her existence and what she has learned about the noble and ancient race known as the Forerunners. Cortana narrates past events: thousands of years ago, the Forerunners were a great civilization, but they came under attack by the parasitic Flood. The Forerunner underestimated the Flood, by which time it had spread, gaining the knowledge of the life it consumed. Though the Forerunners fought bravely, but realized it was a futile fight. After trying other methods, they developed a weapon of last resort; an array of ringed megastructures or Halos that would destroy the Flood and their food supply—every sentient creature in the galaxy. While the Flood and Forerunner were wiped out by the Halo Array’s activation, the Forerunners reseeded catalogued life throughout the galaxy.  (Wikipedia)

Episode: “Homecoming”
Studio: Bee Train (.hack series)

Produced by Bee Train productions Inc. with Production I.G and executive produced by Koichi Mashimo, written by Hiroyuki Kawasaki and directed Koji Sawai.

Focused on the tragedies involving the SPARTAN-II recruitment in 2517, and the SPARTANs coming to terms with their origins. (Wikipedia)

Episode: “Prototype”
Studio: Studio Bones

Prototype follows a marine sergeant nicknamed Ghost who leads Hades Squad, a demolition team charged with implementing the Cole protocol – destroying sensitive information and materials during UNSC retreats to prevent them falling into covenant hands. His nickname of Ghost stems from the complete lack of emotion he shows, highlighted in particular by his last mission – in which his entire platoon was wiped out, with him being the only survivor. For this reason he is distrusted by his squad.

His squad are operating on the planet Algolis, attempting to destroy a prototype weapons facility that is about to be taken by the Covenant. Not wanting a repeat of his previous mission, he disobeys orders to destroy a prototype heavy powered armour suit – instead he commandeers it and proceeds to provide cover for his squad to allow them to evacuate. Despite dealing massive damage to Covenant forces, his ammunition and shield are soon depleted and he loses an arm to a grenade. Seeing the last evacuation ships fly away, he uses the suit’s powerful self destruct to annihilate all nearby Covenant forces – and completing his mission to destroy the suit.

Animated by Studio Bones, Directed by Tomoki Kyoda Yasushi Muraki, featuring production designs by Shinji Aramaki.  (Wikipedia)

Episode: “Odd One Out”
Studio: Toei Animation

Animated by Toei Animation Company written and directed by Daisuke Nishio, Odd One Out is a parody story of Halo universe and is not canon.^[9] It follows the adventures of Spartan 1337, a member of Master Chief’s unit who suffers both from a severe ego and horrendous bad luck, although still a fairly competant fighter in his own right. He finds himself accidently standed on a planet after falling out of his transport. The planet is inhabited by dinosaurs and a group of stranded kids, the two oldest having near superhuman strength. The covenant test their latest weapon, a beastial warrior called Pluton. 1337 and the kids fight back, but are overpowered. However, the kids’ ship (whose AI they refer to as “Mama”) launches the beast into slipspace. When Cortana senses it, she tells Master Chief to leave it, as it is happy. 1337 makes for the rendezvous point, before being carried off by a Pteradactyl.  (Wikipedia)

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Reviews:

IGN Movies

Halo Legends proves a successful – if uneven – attempt to fuse these two universes, and will certainly prove essential viewing for those with more than a passing interest in Bungie’s seminal shooters.

The HD Room

Halo Legends is not the most even journey through the Halo-verse but it is must-see entertainment for its audience: the fans.

isugoi

Overall, Halo Legends is an excellent compilation of animated shorts that really bring the Halo universe up to a whole new level. Each episode seems to complement the series in some fashion—some obviously more than others—but it’s awesome to see such imaginative interpretations of one of the most famed video games series.

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