Video Backlog: "Stratos 4: Return to Base"

Publisher: Bandai Entertainment (USA)
Format: Region 1 DVD, NTSC, Japanese Dialogue with optional English Dub and English Subtitles
Length: 2 Episodes x 30 minutes
Production Date: 2004
Currently in Print (as of writing): No

Story Outline: A direct follow up OVA to the TV series which (while not trying to spoil the TV series) has a couple of the Comet Blasters visiting the Meteor Sweepers on Shimoji island. A disaster strikes when one of the orbiting Comet Blasters stations damaged in battle is hit by debris and begins freefall to Earth. A rescue mission between the Comet Blasters and the Meteor Sweepers to save those still on board the orbiting station.

Mini Review: A fun, but not as good follow up to the rather surprising original TV series. The enemy of the original series is gone, and a number of minor plot points brought up in this two part OVA are never touched on again or resolved which is quite disappointing. Bandai seems to have no plans to release the final two OVA series of Stratos 4 (a total of 8 episodes) which is highly disappointing. This disc also comes with a short parody piece which is pretty cool. Seriously, why did Bandai delete this and the TV series? 7 out of 10.

Remaining Backlog: 19 months (it's much easier this way than listing the number of discs).

Video Backlog: "Stratos 4"

Publisher: Bandai Entertainment (USA)
Format: Region 1 DVD, NTSC, Japanese Dialogue with optional English Dub and English Subtitles
Length: 13 Episodes x 24 minutes
Production Date: 2003
Currently in Print (as of writing): No

Story Outline: The Earth is being bombarded by a cluster of meteorites, some of which are sizable enough to cause extinction of all species on Earth. The solution is two fold; have a team of Comet Blasters orbiting in space as a first line of defence, and a secondary aircraft based defence on the ground, called Meteor Sweepers. 50 years after the beginning of the threat, a new wave of comets is headed towards Earth. One of the Meteor Sweepers’ bases is on the small island Shimoji off the coast of Okinawa. A number of trainees including a young Mikaze Honjo prepare to become Meteor Sweepers. Though being a Meteor Sweeper is seen as a second class job and most of them want to become Comet Blasters. Mikaze feels the weight of being forced to become a Comet Blaster due to her coming from a family of ace pilots, she soon snaps out of her lethargicness after unexpectantly being chosen for a mission and having shot down a meteor that slipped through the first line of defence. However an incident on a latter mission has her doubting what the comets are and the private company they work for.

Mini Review: The show was an absolute surprise. When I saw the Studio Fantasia credit, I suspected that there would be panty shots galore and not much else. This is the studio that bought us “Aika”, “Najica” and “Megami Paradise”. However there while there is a bit of fanservice, there is hardly a panty shot to be seen. The plot is excellent too. While mostly revolving around Mikaze, the focus soon shifts to the quite Karin with an amazing conspiracy plot. The four main girls of the show are all good with fleshed out personalities, even though they boarder slightly on stereotypes. The supporting cast is really good too. Studio Fantasia does mecha well, and always has. The rocket powered planes, though meant to be technology in the middle of the 21st century, are all reminiscent of experimental craft from the middle of the 20th century. As I said before, I totally expected nothing from this show and was really surprised at how well it was written. It does dip for an episode or so in the middle, but soon returns to a rather strong plot. 7.5 out of 10.

Remaining Backlog: 19 months (it's much easier this way than listing the number of discs).

Video Backlog: "Tetsujin 28"

Publisher: Geneon USA
Format: Region 1 DVD, NTSC, Japanese Dialogue with optional English Dub and English Subtitles
Length: 26 Episodes x 25 minutes
Production Date: 2004
Currently in Print (as of writing): No

Story Outline: In Tokyo in the mid 1950’s, boy detective Shoutarou Kaneda is hunting down a pair of criminals when a large missile hits the base of the incomplete Tokyo Tower, destroying it. Out of the giant missile comes a one armed giant robot who is headed towards Shikishima Industries. The robot is after his left arm which is in the factory. Professor Shikishima had actually worked with Shoutarou’s father during the war on the Tetsujin project, to create an army of giant robots to win the war. However Shoutarou is able to take control of the giant robot, named Tetsujin 28, via a remote control box in the robot’s left hand. He fights crime and becomes an ally of justice. However the deeds of Shoutarou’s father during the war come back to haunt both him and Tetsujin 28.

Mini Review: Geneon snuck this one out in 2005 and it was practically ignored by everyone. That’s a real shame because it’s an excellent series. Unlike the two previous Tetsujin remakes, this one is set in an alternate 1950’s where super technology like advanced robots exist (also taking a decidedly 1950’s retro look in the designs as well). World War II isn’t shied away from either, with more than few characters voicing their unhappiness at the occupation and how the war ended. Despite the source material being over 50 years old, the stories are extremely well written and engaging. The episode that really got me hooked was one were a zookeeper who had to euthanise all of the animals during war befriends a alien blob like creature (similar to the one in “The Blob”). It had all the elements of 1950’s sci-fi, but with a very modern and very poignant twist to the story. If you’ve seen the 1990’s OVA version of “Giant Robo”, you’ll enjoy this series. Not only do we get to see the some of the characters which made appearances in that OVA in their original context in this show, the same director, Yasuhiro Imagawa, has directed this one as well. It certainly takes a somewhat different route than one would expect for such a show. There are couple of negatives with this show, mostly to do with Shoutarou. For example it is never fully explained that he is a boy detective until the third episode. People unfamiliar with the souce material would question what a kid would be doing chasing criminals all day. Shouldn’t he be at school and why the hell is he driving a car? Despite that minor niggling stuff, the show is great fun. I wish fans in the west paid more attention to Mitsuteru Yokoyama’s works. Fantasic, underrated little show. 7.5 out of 10.

Remaining Backlog: 19 months (it's much easier this way than listing the number of discs).

Video Backlog: "Gravion Zwei"

Publisher: ADV Films (USA)
Format: Region 1 DVD, NTSC, Japanese Dialogue with optional English Dub and English Subtitles
Length: 12 Episodes x 25 minutes
Production Date: 2004
Currently in Print (as of writing): Yes

Story Outline: In the last series, Gravion used its ultimate attack and it seems the threat is over. However the Zeravire threat returns, but Earth government anti-Zeravire unit EFA brings out its own Gravion robot team called the Grand Troopers. Is Gravion no longer needed?

Mini Review: A far better sequel than the original, Gravion Zwei is still superficial fluff for most of its length. However it does manage to tie up all of the hanging story threads from the previous series and answer all of the questions left hanging in the previous series. There’s still maids galore and big breasted women who becomes tiresome, however everything is nicely animated this time around (thank god!). The new Earth government robot team is a nice addition with a young woman named Faye as their leader. In fact the first line of dialogue in the series is from her after a demonstration of her team’s power; “Jack off”. Unsure if that’s an order to the audience or what. Certainly made me laugh out loud. Big dumb fun, 6 out of 10.

Remaining Backlog: 19 months (it's much easier this way than listing the number of discs).

Video Backlog: "Gravion"

Publisher: ADV Films (USA)
Format: Region 1 DVD, NTSC, Japanese Dialogue with optional English Dub and English Subtitles
Length: 13 Episodes x 25 minutes
Production Date: 2002
Currently in Print (as of writing): Yes

Story Outline: In trying to search out his sister Eiji Shigure has infiltrated Saint-Germain Castle owned by the mysterious billionaire Klein Sandman. He is caught out and attempts to hide in a hanger, but eventually ends up as a pilot as part of a team for a robot named Gravion (created by Sandman) to fight against mechanised aliens called Zeravire.

Mini Review: There is a lot more to this show than what I have written; maids, lost and lots of maids women with huge breasts, some limp mecha action. OK, there’s not a lot to the show really. It’s pretty superficial. The animation is quite woeful. It's like the Japanese producers just sent out the character designs and a very brief outline of the show to some Korean animators and just overdubbed the results with whatever story they saw fit. Truly this is stunningly awful. A number of storylines are begun, but just forgotten in later episodes. Horrible, annoying, ugly off model animation, awful. I find most of Masami Obari's post early 1990’s works mediocre at best, but this is clearly the worst thing he's done. I give it 3 out of 10 only for some of the better mecha sequences.

Remaining Backlog: 19 months (it's much easier this way than listing the number of discs).

Video Backlog: "Peach Girl"

Publisher: Funimation (USA)
Format: Region 1 DVD, NTSC, Japanese Dialogue with optional English Dub and English Subtitles
Length: 25 Episodes x 25 minutes
Production Date: 2005
Currently in Print (as of writing): Yes

Story Outline: High school girl Momo Adachi is unfortunately perceived as being promiscuous because of her ganguro or kogal like looks. However her tanned skin and light hair are due to the fact she is on the school swim team. However she has quit the team and is in the process of trying to become lighter skinned in the hops of catching the attention of Toji, the boy whom she secretly loves. Eventually she confesses and Toji feels the same, however not everything goes according to plan. Mono's "best friend" Sae hatches a plan to take Toji away from her and even turns the entire class against Momo. Momo also has to contend with Kairi Okayasu, a boy which saved from drowning many years ago and is now vying for her love. She has mixed feeling for him, but comes to like him after comforting her after one of Sae's plans to break up her and Toji works. But after Sae's plot is exposed, she is caught between the two men, not knowing whom to choose.

Mini Review: I found this show to be a really frustrating experience. Nearly the first half is taken up with Sae conjuring up schemes to take Toji away from Momo and then to force Toji to date Sae against his will. And also she makes up plans just to make Momo miserable. Sae is truly a sociopath. Some of the schemes are so incredibly cruel and vicious that you would expect both Momo and Toji to have breakdowns and be put on medication. Some of the schemes could have been easily remedied by the obvious fact that Sae is the cause of the problems, or that a simple explanation or discussion would have solved everything. Annoyingly once Sae has been caught out, not only does she not learn anything from it, neither do her victims who are tricked again by her. This, the thick headedness of Toji and the constant bullying of Momo by her classmates really shat me. The animation character designs, like Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge (The Wallflower) are butt ugly (although look OK on the DVD cover art), especially the men, which also had me disliking the show a lot.

However the second half of the show was much better as we delve into the history behind Kairi and his past and his previous dealings and current relationship with Momo. With Toji coming back into the picture, there's a lot of fireworks as well, which makes it quite interesting and enjoyable. There is a bit of focus, probably too much, on Sae as she is painted as a victim. I really had no sympathy for her at this point. But in the end the Momo/Toji/Kairi love triangle was excellent, and the show had more than won me over. Pity about the first half. I give it 6.5 out of 10.

Remaining Backlog: 18 months (it's much easier this way than listing the number of discs).

Dub Fans, Give It a Flipping Rest Already (Also Anime Lechers; FOAD)

ADV is completely severing it's disastrous partnership with Sojitz by killing off themselves and resurrecting the company as a legal labyrinth of limited liability companies and creating much confusion all 'round. They've also announced a slew of new titles including the second season of "You're Under Arrest", "Blue Drop", "Tears to Tiara", "Polyphonica" and "Special A". While you'd assume there would be a lot of rejoicing, there isn't. Instead we've been treated to the normal whinging from fans about the lack of dubs. One wonders if these people have been living in some sort of vacuum in the last year and a half. ADV has been doing this for some time. The subtitle only release plan has been the same during this period.

Kids, really, it's no longer 2003. I know that not having a dub causes less sales. I think in the long term it's not a good strategy. How are you going to build up any sort of mainstream fanbase. I know that there are a bunch of new fans who since the introduction of DVD have become fans because of dubs. And because companies have (deliberately) built up this fan base (see the amount of dub actors at any convention, see how ADV promoted its actors), now they're going ignore what they've built up. I understand what the problem is for the dub fan.

But look, US companies are sort of caught in a Catch 22 situation; do they spend around US$7,000 to 10,000 per episode to dub a title and potentially get a larger audience, or just release it sub only? They've got to at least make some sort of profit or break even. Either way they could end up with a loss. That's hard in this financial climate, especially for a company trying to escape it's overbearing Japanese partner. They're trying to get back in the red, not dick dub fans over.

First, I think too many anime fans got used to having the artboxes and other trash during the peak of 2002 to 2006. This was never going to last. The industry as it stood was never in a sustainable position. You can't keep expanding like there was no tomorrow. Something had to break, and it did. Quite badly at that.

Now kids, you're going to have to ask yourself; are you a fan of Japanese animation, which is a product in a foreign language made for a foreign audience, or are you a fan of English dub actors? Seriously, fans of French or Asian cinema don't act this way. And please don't give me that crap that animation is somehow different (because it's not) or that all anime is "dubbed" (i.e. they voice the Japanese version after the animation) unless you're going to tell me the original language of anime is dead silence. It's a Japanese medium. Get over it. Either be a fan of Japanese animation or be a fan of some American voice over artist. Either buy the anime you like or bugger off and do something else rather than whining.

Also to those so called fans filling up forums full of crap saying that sub only releases are nothing more than "fansubs on DVD", fuck off you lechers. You aren't going to buy the DVDs anyway, so why do I care about your opinion? I'm also quite sick of paying for your supposed right to download. Fans don't rip off the thing they love. They don't kill it. Have a think about what you're doing.

Video Backlog: "Gundam 0083: The Afterglow of Zeon"

Publisher: Beez Entertainment (UK)
Format: Region 2 DVD, PAL, Japanese Dialogue and English, French, German, Dutch and Polish Subtitles
Length: 119 minutes
Production Date: 1992
Currently in Print (as of writing): Yes

Story Outline: Anaheim Electronics systems engineer Nina Purpleton, recalls the last couple of days events at the Federation's Torrington base in Australia. Zeon ace pilot Anavel Gato has stolen the prototype Gundam GP02A which is equipped with a nuclear warhead. Currently the Federation's mobile suit carrier Albion has been assigned to find the stolen Gundam. While Nina and rookie pilot Kou Uraki fight together and rather slowly and awkwardly develop a relationship, Zeon forces put their Operation Stardust into effect which the Federation believes involves dropping a colony on the moon base. However the true objective is something else entirely.

Mini Review: Seriously, what is up with all of these Gundam series where they have a Gundam being stolen (or an attempt to) and the threat of colonies being dropped on Earth? That's like the plot for half a dozen Gundam series. However I keep watching them. I first watched the OVA series (of which this movie is edited from) from borrowed tapes from the local anime club library some 13 years ago. It was my first introduction to Gundam along with 0080 and F91. I still love the show. Nina and Kou's awkwardness still crap me to this day. This movie was released about a month before the final OVA was released. The ending of the film doesn't have the epilogue. And as you can imagine there's a lot of stuff cut out and at times a lack of character development. Monsha and Mora hardly get a look in. There was only one point at which I felt a bit confused, but then I knew the OVA series quite well. Newcomers to the series might feel a bit more puzzled. A number of key battle scenes are kept intact and are really intense (especially the scenes between Kou and Gato). They've also kept all the important Cima scenes which is great. I love her character. She's one of my favourites in the UC universe.

I wonder why the UK got this instead of the OVA series? Even here in Australia we're getting the OVA series on DVD. I actually a got a bad quality VHS fansub of this movie 11 or so years ago and wasn't impressed. However I was presently surprised by it this time around. Didn't notice the new animation of the colonies and Nina in the Albion leaving Australia at the start until now. It is heavily truncated which is to be expected and confuses some things. If you're going to watch 0083, the OVA series is the obvious choice, not this film. Overall, better than I remembered. I give it 7 out of 10.

Remaining Backlog: 18 months (it's much easier this way than listing the number of discs).