It’s around this time that Halo really started to feel like a franchise. Sure, the games were huge, and we had all the usual swag that comes along with that: action figures, t-shirts, posters, etc. We’d also had a fair number of novels and comic books to further flesh out the Halo universe. There were even confirmed whispers of a Neill Blomkamp directed big Hollywood movie that Peter Jackson was to be heavily involved with producing circulating for a while. In terms of video games though, 2009 wasn’t only the year that gave us Halo Wars, but also the first spin-off game by Bungie themselves, Halo 3: ODST.
This was also the year that 343 Industries started releasing work related to its future takeover of the franchise (with Bungie set to leave after it fulfilled its contractual obligations with its next major title, Halo Reach.) Co-developed with long-time Halo contributors Certain Affinity, Halo Waypoint was (and despite changing a lot over the years, still is) the official community hub for the Halo franchise as a whole. While it wouldn’t immediately have all of the features we associate with it these days, like stat tracking and file sharing, it did launch with the now tradition of hosting some exclusive Halo content. In this case, some parts of the next 343 Industries project, Halo Legends, were dribbled out leading up to its home video release.
“Cal-141, always keeping an eye out…”
Halo Legends is a feature length anime anthology movie. The choice for this to be legitimate Japanese animation (produced by some very notable studios and directors) is definitely a little odd as Halo always felt very “western” to me, and, in aggregate, the Xbox has always done rather terribly in Japan. Perhaps Halo Legends was an attempt to win a few more Japanese fans, or maybe it was just aimed at the neckbeardiest of Halo fans who’d see their favorite video game franchise combined with anime as the absolute pinnacle of media. Personally, while I rarely watch any of it these days, I was a huge anime fan in the 90s, so the marriage of Halo and anime carried some appeal, even if I was already starting to tire of it by that point.
As an anthology, I think we need to look a little closer at each of the individual parts. I’ll try to make this quick and avoid any direct spoilers:
Origins I: Taking place after the events of Halo 3, Cortana tells a nice high-level summation of the background of the universe, focusing particularly on the Forerunners and the Flood. The animation of this part is some of the weakest in the entire anthology, which isn’t an amazing first impression, but as a Halo fan I really like how concisely the lore is presented here, especially considering that up until this point the Forerunners were always presented in the most enigmatic way possible. In comparison, this is practically an infodump. It was early into this episode that the music caught my attention, with some awesome use of familiar pieces from the series here and throughout the rest of Legends.
“The Duel can definitely be visually striking.”
Origins II: Cortana continues her narration, although her descent into rampancy is starting to show as she gets just a little ranty about humankind’s obsession with war as she describes it settling offworld and the colonial uprising, and its struggle against the Covenant and the Flood from the first three Halo games. Despite being by the same studio, suddenly the animation in this part is totally kicked up a notch into some beautiful old school anime goodness. In fact, I love the presentation of this entire part. That said, in a 180 from the first part, it’s the way the story is told that didn’t do as much for me, and I can’t be the only one who was caught off guard by the description of the UNSC and the Covenant making peace in order to defeat the Flood. Whaaaa…?
The Duel: The Duel tells the story of Fal, a Arbiter who rejects the Great Journey and is branded a heretic, culminating in a duel with a rival high ranking Elite. The animation style in this one is bizarre and, while not always easy to watch, is intriguing from an artistic point of view. My main beef with this part is how the Sangheili are straight-up depicted as feudal Japanese. While I’m sure it’s absolutely intentional, it’s so heavy handed that I can’t help but roll my eyes, with the portrayal of Fal’s wife being particularly cringy. As if that weren’t odd enough, the plot feels like it’s ripped straight from a classic samurai movie. Even still, the action is cool and I like the whole angle of the Prophets, dicks that they are, changing the Arbiter from a position of honor to a mark of shame just to spite the Sangheili.
“I’d definitely watch more of Spartan-1337’s antics.”
Homecoming: Spartan Daisy-023 has flashbacks to her time in the SPARTAN-II program while helping to evacuate UNSC forces from Harvest. The animation here is a bit more modern anime style; some great backgrounds while the rest is so-so. I’m not a fan of Daisy’s anime trope filled portrayal and the action scenes feel just a little generic, owing in large part to the animation, though I did find the theme of the trauma Daisy and her fellow Spartan trainees endured and its lingering connections to the present to be fairly compelling. Overall, it had potential, but ended up being kind of mediocre in execution.
Odd One Out: The only officially non-canon part of Legends, Odd One Out tells the story of Spartan-1337 getting stranded on a planet where he meets a handful of super powered children and is constantly harassed by dinosaurs, all before having to fight against The Covenant’s new secret super weapon, a giant ape creature (presumably some kind of super Brute) named Pluton. Man, this is some ridiculous anime bullshit… but wait! It’s intentionally ridiculous anime bullshit… and I love it! This episode is obviously a parody done for a bit of fun, and as such, can’t really be held to the same standards as the rest of Legends. Besides, how can you not love the braggadocious yet semi-incompetent Spartan-1337? Well, I guess some people don’t because this episode widely despised by fans who seem to be triggered by its very existence. Whatever. As a side note, I love the depiction of the use of Bubble Shields in this part.
“The Prototype: who doesn’t love some mecha action?!”
Prototype: A UNSC marine sergeant steals a heavily armed prototype armored suit to buy his men time to evacuate. This one feels very old school anime to me, from the animation and dark tone to all of the sweet mech suit action. The mech suit itself might seem a little silly, but if you think about what’s already established in lore (such as the Colossus from Halo Wars or even the Spartan’s Mjolnir power armor) and some of the things added in later games (most notably the Mantis) then I suppose it fits fine. This part is fun! Really, just an excuse to show a ton of Covenant getting mowed down. Certainly one of the most enjoyable parts of Legends, especially if you ignore the sloppy “Ghost” redemption part of the plot and focus on the action.
The Babysitter: A Spartan is attached to a group of ODST for a mission to covertly drop on a planet and assassinate a visiting Covenant Prophet. This is probably my favorite part of the bunch. Sure, I have some nitpicks, like the slow plodding movement of the Spartan when not gracefully backflipping around, and the usual anime tropes (the whiny-ass ODST O’Brien, who acts more like an angsty teenager than a professional soldier, even one with an out of check ego and a chip on his shoulder, is especially annoying) but overall, the animation and overall direction was quite good, the action was cool, the story was simple but effective, and I enjoyed its grittier elements and all of the little details. I also like that, unlike Daisy-023 in Homecoming, Cal-141 is a total brick shithouse of a badass Spartan. Oh, and yes, that is supposed to be the same Dutch from Halo 3: ODST!
“Master Chief and Kelly-087 running and gunning.”
The Package: A squad of SPARTAN-IIs is dispatched on a special mission to infiltrate a Covenant ship and retrieve “the package”. Where to start with this one? First of all, the animation style of this episode is total 2000s CGI. It’s stiff in places but, I have to say, all in all has aged pretty decently, owing largely to some extra attention to detail and polish given to it. It’s fine. The story, however, feels a bit like bad fan fiction. First, while some of the other parts included cameos from Master Chief, this is the first one to feature him. Add in that some of the action here is way over the top: Darting around space in their silly “booster frames”, rockets snaking all over the place Macross style, successfully infiltrating multiple Covenant ships, backflipping around while dual wielding SMGs, etc. A squad of 5 Spartans is nothing to sneeze at, I grant you, but taking on an entire fleet? It’s a total power fantasy, although I will at least grant them that it wasn’t done without sustaining a cost which, speaking of power fantasies, is one of the main reasons I’ve seen online that other Halo fans bash this part. Come on guys, Spartans aren’t supposed to be invincible! Oh, and Dr. Halsey’s depiction is eye rolling too. That said, while this part isn’t my favorite, it’s plenty of fun if you don’t think about it too hard.
There were no doubt some good parts and amazing moments in Halo Legends. Overall though, Legends doesn’t quite impress me as a single, cohesive package. I get the impression that a lot of fans and critics alike felt the same way. It wasn’t some massive flop, but it also isn’t widely considered an essential piece of the franchise either. I think it being such an overt “anthology” with relatively little connecting each part outside of the general theme of “Halo” has a lot to do with that. That is, the topic of which parts are best and worst and why is incredibly divisive across the fanbase. Some people hate anything that deviates from the headcanon they’ve assembled while others nitpick specific scenes and portrayals, just as I’ve done here. Regardless of how it ultimately sits with you, I have little doubt that it’s worth watching if you’re a Halo fan who hasn’t seen it, and sadly, I get the impression that a lot of the younger Halo fans around these days have never even heard of Halo Legends.
For completion’s sake I also wanted to quickly mentioned “Apt. 117” which was a comedic animated series released on Waypoint later on in 2010 and cancelled after only one episode. It has nothing to do with the Halo canon but is instead about a Halo obsessed gamer and his perpetually annoyed roommate. Bizarre!