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Fairly early in the 12 episodes which comprise the Marvel Anime: X-Men: The Complete Series set, the viewer like myself who has the kind of "deep in the weeds" knowledge of the X-Men will be struck by the sheer familiarity of it all. The story draws on everything from "Days of Future Past," to Professor Xavier's sometimes estranged son Legion, to the modern Astonishing X-Men lineup, to that series' first story arc involving Dr. Kavita Rao. The villains alternately between the mutant vivisecting U-Men to the Hellfire Club (here down a few members and simply dubbed "The Inner Circle"). The second thing that knowledgeable viewer will be struck by—right along with the casual or new fan—is how very thin the story is, stretched out over 287 minutes of TV.

It's not precisely bad (although it does rely on the X-Men to be a little more dense than one might be used to), the X-Men's first foray into anime is equal parts clever reinvention and missed opportunity.

In the mountainous countryside of Japan, young mutant Hisako Ichiki is kidnapped by a person or persons unknown. Her parents reach out to Professor Xavier (Cam Clarke) for help. He reassembles his team of mutants including Storm (Danielle Nicolette), Cyclops (Scott Porter), Beast (Fred Tatasciore), and of course, Wolverine (Steve Blum) to investigate the abduction, although they're still reeling from the death of Jean Grey in her third onscreen Phoenix death. What they find in Japan is an outbreak of sudden power surges by young mutants along with new recruit Ichiki (who takes on codename Armor) and Emma Frost (Alli Hillis). From there, the series juggles the induction of their newest team member along with the mysteries surrounding the local mutant population.
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