Seis Manos: Season 1 Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.5

Seis Manos: Season 1 Blu-ray Movie Review

An action-packed martial arts animated series.

Seis Manos is an animated action-packed Netflix series which takes place in the fictional universe of San Simon, located in Mexico circa the 1970s. The adult animated series comes from creators Brad Graeber (Castlevania, True Terrors with George Takei) and Alvaro Rodriguez (The Last Rampage, Machete). Fans of classic animation in the style of the beloved 1990's DCAU and early 2000's cell based hand-drawn animation should consider taking a look at this action-packed martial arts series. Executive produced by the team of Brad Graeber, Alvaro Rodriguez, Daniel Dominguez, Rob Pereyda, Ken Sasaki, and Brad Woods, Seis Manos is a powerhouse of martial arts adventure.

The story of Seis Manos revolves around a group of kick-ass martial artists: Isabela (Aislinn Derbez), the tough leader of the group, Jesus (Jonny Cruz), the goofball eternal, and Silencio, who is a mute. The trio is comprised of orphans with a thirst for adventure. Under the guidance of the martial arts master Chiu (Vic Chao), Seis Manos learn to enhance their skills at every turn.

Seis Manos go on to form a badass alliance by joining forces with a super tough policewoman, Garcia (Angelica Vale), and a slick DEA agent, Brister (Mike Colter). The team take on the main villain of the series: the ruthless El Balde (Danny Trejo). With dangerous threats involving the drug cartel underway and a demonic ritual involving blood sacrifice, the Seis Manos team find that their journey is only just beginning. Can martial arts be the pathway to protecting the town of San Simon?

The animation is one of the central components of the production that makes a big impression: the art style is reminiscent of classic DCAU series from the 1990's and early 2000's. The art style looks so much more organic than a typical modern animated series. While still completed using computers, everything appears reminiscent of hand-drawn animation and there is something beautiful about that. Seis Manos is certainly not your average animation production – and the team of animators seemed to create something that feels authentic at every turn of the story.

Time for battle!

The action scenes are impressive and make the series worth checking out. There are so many scenes which showcase the martial arts style of Seis Manos that the experience is a lot more fun to have. A number of fight scenes are downright gripping. The style is often brutally violent and graphic though, which makes the series one that is aimed squarely at adults (and not at the kiddos). If it were not on the Netflix platform, it would seem as though Seis Manos fit right-at-home on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim programming block.

The music composed by Carl Thiel (Frank Miller's Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, Spy Kids 4-D: All the Time in the World) is one of the best elements of the series. Thiel is most well-known for his music in Robert Rodriguez's productions. Thiel's efforts scoring for Alvaro Rodriguez's animated series are commendable and feel larger-in-scope and scale than a typical animated series. The score swells triumphantly during action sequences and finds moments of grace during the character-driven sequences.

The screenplays by Alvaro Rodriguez (Machete, The Last Rampage) and Daniel Dominguez (SpongeBob SquarePants, The Epic Tales of Captain Underpants) are entertaining (and often feature snappy dialogue that gives the production some nice energy). Seis Manos might not be the most well-written series around (and it has plenty of over-the-top moments that are more-silly than amusing) but the series is undeniably fun. Much of this “fun factor” comes from the well written scripts and the way in which the characters are brought to life.

Directed by Willis Bulliner, Seis Manos excels best as an action-packed adventure. The martial arts scenes are terrific and are worth the price of admission alone. The series has a flair for adventure throughout. Netflix found success with this under-the-radar adult animation series and fans of entertaining television series will find it has enough merit to check it out. Give it a spin.

Seis Manos: Season 1 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Arriving on Blu-ray from VIZ Media, Seis Manos is presented in 1080p MPEG-4 AVC encoded high definition in the original television aspect ratio of 1.78:1 widescreen. The presentation is exceptional overall and the aesthetic of the series is downright superb. Color reproduction is stunning and this is certainly a bright looking animated creation that showcases the vistas of the background art and character designs well.

The encoding is top-notch. The effort by VIZ helps Seis Manos to look its absolute best – easily besting any streaming option. The picture-quality has no jarring issues of compression artifacts or the like and that is something to appreciate about the entire visual element. The action scenes are extremely fluid and never fail to look impressively presented. The martial arts component is extremely enticing and VIZ captures the essence of the animators efforts with ease. An outstanding presentation – with the only major "draw-back" being some fake burn-marks and reel damage in the vein of Grindhouse filmmaking from the 1970's. (Which aren't too bad and add to the experience.)

Seis Manos: Season 1 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The release comes with several audio options: English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio, Spanish 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, and Spanish 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio. It certainly is a nice selection of lossless audio options to appease fans with a variety of sound system setups. The release has exceptional sound quality that reproduces the sound design of the series with ease. Dialogue is consistently crisp and clear throughout the presentation.

The sound effects are well immersed in to the soundstage and help to make the action sequences more enveloping. The track may be a bit light on LFE content but the crystal clear dynamics of the sound mix are greatly appreciated. It certainly is nice that VIZ has provided multiple options in English and Spanish language options too.

Optional subtitles are provided in English, Spanish, and Songs & Signs.

Seis Manos: Season 1 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Disc One:

Music of Seis Manos: Composing the Opening Theme with Carl Thiel (HD, 3:35)

An Interview with Director Willis Bulliner (HD, 2:14)

More From Viz Media (HD, 4:59)

Disc Two:

An Interview with the Creators of Seis Manos (HD, 21:08)

An Interview with Fight Choreographer Thomas Leverett (HD, 2:32)

More From Viz Media (HD, 4:59)

Seis Manos: Season 1 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Seis Manos is an action-packed martial arts adventure. The animation is terrific (and brings to mind classic animated series from the 1990's) while the fight-scenes will often have viewers on the edge of their seat. Created by Brad Graeber (Castlevania) and Alvaro Rodriguez (Machete), Seis Manos is full of adventure for fans of animation. Though Seis Manos is for adults only, there is a lot here that makes it worthwhile. VIZ presents the series with excellent video-audio and a nice selection of extras. Worth a watch.