SPOILERS FOR BOTH THIS ONA AND BITS OF HALO 1ODST IN THIS REVIEW OF COURSE The Narratives Characters: Considering this an ONA based on the franchise it bounces off of everything that was out at the time Halo 1 2 3 Wars and ODST and expands on really Of the inuniverse lore for all of the factions weve seen. The Spartans ODST Flood Covenant and Brutes all get some time in the spotlight here and its all genuinely informative as a fan and is presented excellently. Each episode focuses on something different except the first two which is a twoparter the last episode was splitoff too but not where I watched it and covers various time periods and locations throughout the series from various preestablished and original characters. The preestablished things work well with the new ones which is how it should be and the fact Japanese studios are handling a Western property like this one they do a great job in staying faithful to what may or may not be seen in the series though there are some liberties certainly taken here and there. The characters are all pretty great though some are more fleshed out than others. Its surprising to me how much I got to care for a lot of them given the episodes are so criminally short. Their designs are...definitely more animeesque than your typical characters but they work well in the context of this series. I specifically want to highlight Ghost in Prototype and the ODST group in The Babysitter theyre especially great. Theyve got signature UNSC charm that the soldiers in the actual games do and it made me really appreciate them. Its just a shame we dont get to see more of these characters because again...how short these episodes are. The Visual Sound Design: Well given this IS an anime of a Western property an adaptation I suppose? Though not a direct one I must say the art for this series is quite nice. The episodes vary in style and some pretty wellknown studios like Bones Toei and Production I.G. worked on this series so its no wonder that even now most of it still holds up super well. Episode 3 has a very interesting watercolor style that I believe is meant to reference imperial Japanesestyled art which I think is quite charming even if it may be distracting and not their cup of tea to some. I personally think the various styles help in giving each episode its own signature flare and atmosphere and I would say it works effectively in doing so. I will say that its not perfect though it has aged a little. The CGI in some places is a bit noticeable though Episode 8 I will say holds up superbly and I respect the visual style its going for in matching the CGI cutscenes scene in the Anniversary versions of 1 2 as well as Halo Wars 1 and I did find it odd in some of the places they used it where they couldve drawn things out instead and had in some episodes though then again various studios handled this series so I suppose its a perstudio basis on what they do and dont draw. The characters look slightly rough in some cases especially when a lot is going on on screen. However to give it credit for what it is a lot of it is quite nice and the characters all look onmodel to the series and the new additions dont stick out all the much visually compared to everything else. The Sound Design is stellar Bringing back the music of Martin ODonnell and Michael Salvatori who have made some of the most iconic compositions out there along with the new artists Yasuharu Takanashi Naoyuki Hiroko and Tetsuya Takahashi they all knock it out of the park. It all fits superbly well in terms of fitting with the signature sound of the series. Its mostly orchestral this time around but its all very consistently highquality works and the amount of tracks composed for such a short series is quite impressive. The voice acting is also quite solid. I watched the first episode in both English and Japanese to compare and while I personally prefer the dub for the sake of being more accurate to the games the Japanese Subs are perfectly fine too and do offer a different Halowatching experience. The Verdict: Halo Legends is certainly not for everyone and I would personally only recommend it to those who are SUPER into the series like myself and want to explore more about the series. I myself have been going through the series and have been trying to soak up as much lore on it as I can to really see how creative it can get. As a personal recommendation from me if you ARE a fan and dont mind the fact that its so short which is probably my only complaint with this series absolutely give it a watch I think its worth watching just for its novelty alone. That...and if Im not mistaken its all canon so hey if youre someone who wants to know as much canon stuff about your favorite series as I do its a mustwatch