Video Backlog: "Planetes"

Publisher: Bandai Entertainment (USA)
Format: Region 1 DVD, NTSC, Japanese Dialogue with optional English Dub and English Subtitles
Length: 26 episodes x 25 mins
Production Date: 2003 - 2004
Currently in Print (as of writing): Yes

Story Outline: 106 years after man first set foot on the moon, humankind has finally made a permanent home in space. However with nearly 120 years of human spaceflight, the earth is surrounded debris of pieces of spacecraft. Even something as small as a nut can do damage, especially when it’s flying as 8 metres per second. To combat this problem, teams of debris are employed to clean up areas and salvage anything which is useful. The Technora Corporation, like other private institutions, have their own team to remove space junk. However like in most corporations, they’re at the bottom of the food chain. Other sections refer to them as the “half section”, as they have only half the number of staff they should (the other half not being granted due to budgetary concerns). Ai Tanabe, a female trainee in her early 20’s, is the newest member of the debris section, but finds her expectations don’t meet the reality of the job. The managers are somewhat incompetent and other staff are rather odd ball to say the least. Their ship, the Toy Box, is a rickety old piece of junk. Tanabe clashes head on with Hachirota Hoshino (nicknamed Hachimaki due to his ever present headband). Tanabe is an idealist and lacks experience with Extra Vehicular Activities (EVA for short, meaning working outside a spaceship). However due to many circumstances, both of them become attracted to each other. But their budding relationship will be tested on many levels due to numerous incidents, some which could lead to a temporary end to manned space exploration.

Mini Review: I pretty much ignored this show when it first came out on DVD. I’m not sure why as I love hard sci-fi. This show has that in spades. Everything to do with space flight is very realistically represented. External shots of space vehicles and the lunar surface are only accompanied by silence. The show also depicts the difficulty of humans living in space with radiation and muscle loss due to zero gravity. While the initial episodes give the impression that the show would only focus on the debris collection, it soon shifts into other bigger storylines such as the activities of the Space Defense Front terrorist group and a planned mission to Jupiter. This also leads to some very interesting issues and concepts being raised such as how the first world treats developing nations, the huge sums of money spent on space exploration while major social problems such as starvation are still unsolved on Earth. Tied up in this is Hachimaki and Tanabe rather platonic relationship. Tanabe is such a likeable character, but highly idealistic. I found Hachimaki to quite unlikeable initially, but as we delve deeper into his psyche, I came to sympathise and like him. The majority of the cast are really quite well fleshed out and often there are entire episodes dedicated to their backstories. In particular Fee, Claire, Yuri, Hakim and Cheng-Shin are really developed well. There are a few secondary characters which are nothing but caricatures, but generally they aren’t too distracting.

On the minus side, there are a couple of early episodes that are just plain silly such as the Ninja one, but I soon forgave that as the show headed into more serious drama territory. However these couple of episodes do let down the show, especially as at the core of the show, such high emphasis is placed on realism. But when viewed as whole, the show is pretty amazing. There are so many ideas and concepts here such as politics within a large corporate organisation, relationships in a high pressure workplace, terrorism, politics between the first and third worlds, personal ambition over everything else, corporate responsibility, self-doubt, grief and psychological drama. Instead of being a complete mess, all of these elements work in harmony with each other. It makes for some rather tense viewing at times. Bandai Entertainment’s complete collection is missing the bonus DVDs for the first three singe DVD releases (they shifted to single disc releases from volume 4). This means all of special features from the first three volumes aren’t here, including the first five audio dramas and most of the interviews at NASA's Orbital Debris Program which detail what happens in real world scenarios with space junk. However the core elements are here such clean openings, so I don’t mind missing out too much. Overall this was such a great show. I didn’t have much in the way of expectations for it. Easily this is one of the best shows I’ve watched in a long time 8.5 out 10.

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

Video Backlog: "SOS! Tokyo Metro Explorers: The Next"

Publisher: Honneamise (Bandai Visual USA)
Format: Region 1 and 2 DVD, NTSC, Japanese Dialogue with optional English Subtitles
Length: 40 mins
Production Date: 2006
Currently in Print (as of writing): Yes (Subtitled Japanese Blu-ray and DVDs)

Story Outline: After his parents split up, 11 year old Ryuhei Ozaki discovers a note book titled “Tokyo Exploring Records” written by his father when he was Ryuhei’s age. With his friends Yoshio and Shun, they decide to explore Tokyo’s sewer system using the map inside his father’s note book. However Ryuhei’s younger brother Satoshi manages to tag along. Unbeknownst to the group of explorers is Yoshio’s nosy younger cousin, Momoyo who plans to look out for them so they don’t get into trouble. After some initial difficulties, the small group of explorers discover an amazing underground world and it’s strange inhabitants, unknown to those above ground.

Mini Review: Another weird arse Bandai Visual USA title. It seems that right from the start that this title was to have a dual Japanese/US release. The disc is identical to the Japanese release, except for the different screen printing on the disc and the booklet and packaging. As always, it’s really good, except it’s a bloody expensive release. The content itself doesn’t fare as well. The short movie is based upon an almost unknown Katsuhiro Otomo one shot manga originally released in 1980. The reason such an old manga was resurrected some 26 years later? Well believe it or not Sunrise was actually thinking about making “Steamboy 2”, but it got canned and in its place we have this weird short. It’s sort of like a demonstration film to show off cel shaded CG, sort of like those terribly mediocre “Appleseed” movies, except more “anime” like and hell of a lot more distracting. It’s the key problem with this film. The animation is really off putting. I don’t know what it is, but it just looks like something isn’t right and I can’t put my finger on it. I want to get involved with the story, but I’m too distracted by the character animation. Second problem with this film is there is way, way too much going on. There’s some great stuff here for a film (it’s sort of like a more down to Earth and realistic Japanese take on “The Goonies”), but there is just too much happening. A full length film would have been much better. I note that Sunrise really hasn’t made another film with cel shaded characters like this, though the awful “King of Thorn” uses CG cel shaded characters for a lot of long shots. And it still looks out of place and shoddy in 2010. Unfortunately I can only give this film 5 out of 10.

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

Video Backlog: "Sea Prince and the Fire Child (The Legend of Sirius)"

Publisher: Eastern Star (Discotek, USA)
Format: Region 1 DVD, NTSC, Japanese Dialogue with optional English Dub and English Subtitles
Length: 108 mins
Production Date: 1981
Currently in Print (as of writing): Yes

Story Outline: The goddess of fire and the god of water were a brother and sister living happily together creating warm mist. However Algorac, god of the winds grew jealous of their relationship and began spreading rumours in order to split them apart. His tactic works, and both are separated. A civil war soon breaks out, but cool heads prevail, but brother and sister live separately from each other, with their subjects barred from entering the enemy’s kingdom. Some years later, Prince Sirius becomes heir to the Sea Kingdom on his sixteenth birthday. After venturing into the forbidden Fire Kingdom, he meets Princess Malta, heir to the Fire Kingdom. Malta is intrigued with Sirius, and soon love blossoms between the two. Inevitability they are found out and are both punished by their parents. However there is a glimmer of hope for the couple as a once in 90 year event is about to take place.

Mini Review: A lot of children’s animated Japanese films are a cut above what is produced in the west. Here’s another example. While very little of note was being produced in Hollywood in terms of animated films in the early 1980’s, this film really stands out. Produced by Sanrio, who are most famous for Hello Kitty and the animated versions of Tezuka’s “Unico”, this film is clearly heavily influenced by Disney. The animation and attention to detail almost surpasses a lot of Disney’s animation of the time period. The key difference however is how the realities of life, in particular death, is portrayed. Whereas a typical western children’s film often treats it’s intended audience as drooling idiots, Japanese film makers generally don’t talk down to their audience. As I was watching the film I really wondered why this and similar films weren’t given more attention in the west. When I saw the fate of some of the characters, I then realised why. The major downside to this film is its length. I think maybe 10 minutes could have been trimmed. Also some of the secondary and background characters seem really out of place and way too childish compared to others in the film (a lot seemed there for one off gags). However the story (yeah, it’s “Romeo and Juliet”, but it exceptionally well done), the characters and beautifully choreographed animation won me over. That was something I didn’t really expect. This film deserves a respectable 7.5 out of 10.

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

Video Backlog: "Gunbuster vs Diebuster - Aim for the Top! The GATTAI!! Movie"

Publisher: Honneamise (Bandai Visual USA)
Format: Region 1 DVD Box Set, NTSC, Japanese Dialogue with optional English Subtitles
Length: 195 mins (total time)
Production Date: 2006 (1988 - 1989, 2004 - 2006)
Currently in Print (as of writing): Yes (Subtitled Japanese Blu-rays)

Story Outline: 2023 AD. Teenage girl Noriko Takaya has entered a robot training school on Okinawa, but her skills as a pilot are rather bad. Even so she idolises the talented Kazumi Amano, by far the best pilot in the school. However with the arrival of the new coach, Kouichirou Ohta, decides that both Amano and Noriko are to be chosen for mission into outer space. This of course ruffles quite a few feathers with both Amano and Noriko questioning Coach Ohta’s decision to pick Noriko. Especially when you consider Noriko is the daughter of a captain who was lost in a space battle, and Coach Ohta was on board the captain’s last mission. However though a lot of trial and error, Noriko becomes equal to Amano and both eventually pilot the super robot Gunbuster to defend the Earth against as huge army of aliens called space monsters.

Several thousands of years later, a young pink haired country girl named Nono, decides to become a space pilot after idolising Noriko. Though she doesn’t really get all that far and becomes a waitress as diner near the space port. After being saved by a woman named Lal'C Melk Mark from a couple of rough customers, Nono begins follow her, much to Lal'C’s annoyance. However an attack from a space monster shows that Nono isn’t an ordinary girl and she drafted into the elite band of pilots called the Topless, of which Lal'C is a member. The Topless continue the fight against the space monsters using their Buster Machines to defend the Solar System.

Mini Review: As I’ve said before, I’m not a fan of compilation movies. The first movie here, “Gunbuster”, is severely truncated from its original 6 part OVA format. The material concerting Noriko’s struggles has been removed almost in its entirety. The moments with Smith Torren, Jung Freud and Reiko Kashiwara important to the plot are gone, which makes interaction between the characters seem strange (when viewing the movie in isolation the OVA series). But episodes to 4 to 6 are mostly left intact, and you really get a feel of how great this OVA series is. However the film is still highly inferior to the OVA series. There’s no added material except a remixed soundtrack, so I think the film is pretty much worthless.

The “Diebuster” movie on the other hand is excellent. First of all it can be viewed in isolation to the OVA series and is really well paced and flows naturally. There are also a couple of redone or new sequences which make the film really worthwhile. “Diebuster” contains a five minute “countdown” intermission before the feature starts. While this would have worked well in the cinema where both films were played back to back, it seems to be a really stupid to leave it in here and would have been better as a bonus feature. This box set reminded me how good “Gunbuster” was considering it was initially a robot parody of a 1970’s shoujo tennis drama, and that I should re-watch the OVA (especially to pick up more of the sci-fi references, like the posters of “War in Space” and “Message from Space” in Noriko’s room), but also that generally compilation movies blow. One can only wonder why Gainax felt it necessary to add the original OVA series in a truncated form to the “Diebuster” movie. “Diebuster” stands up on its own without any help at all. Though that final scene in the OVA and movie might not make any sense unless you hadn’t seen “Gunbuster” (I give full points for Gainax for that clever and amazing ending). Overall, it’s a decent package together, but the “Diebuster” film is a far better film, even though I really prefer the “Gunbuster” OVA over the “Diebuster” OVA (though the latter is an excellent OVA in its own right, just not a classic like “Gunbuster”). The “Gunbuster” movie really dragged the final overall score down for this one. 6.5 out of 10.

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

Video Backlog: "Overman King Gainer"

Publisher: Bandai Entertainment (USA)
Format: Region 1 DVD, NTSC, Japanese Dialogue with optional English Dub and English Subtitles
Length: 26 episodes x 25 mins
Production Date: 2002 - 2003
Currently in Print (as of writing): No

Story Outline: Due to ecological disasters, mankind has imposed himself in a self exiled state in regions previously considered uninhabitable while the rest of the planet recovers. People live in large domed cities called Domepolis with private companies such as the Siberian Railroad Company providing links between factories that produce goods and food and the Domepolis. Over the years people have become weary of the life lead in the domes and believe that the Earth has recovered enough to return to their homelands. These are called Exoduses and are illegal under current laws. Highschooler and video game champ Gainer Sanga is falsely arrested by is Siberian Railroad officer Adette Kistler on suspicion of being a member of Exodus. In an overcrowded cell, he meets fellow inmate Gain Bijou. Gain tricks the guard and manages to knock him out enabling his escape. He asks the prisoners to follow him, but only Gainer decides to follow.

Gain is in fact a hired hand by the people of Yapan who live in dome. They want to initiate an Exodus and Gain is to defend them as they flee. Gain infiltrates local monarch Duke Medaiyu’s secret collection of biomechanical robots called Overman in order to steal one of them to use for defence purposes. However Gainer boards the Overman and due to his video game skills manages to easily pilot the robot. Gainer names the Overman as King Gainer, and proceeds to escape, with Gain managing to abduct and take hostage Princess Anna, the Duke's daughter during the chaos (though she’s a very willing hostage). Under the cover of an annual festival featuring idol singer Meeya Laujin (also a major player in the secret Exodus), large multi house “blocks” are hauled from the dome, beginning their 3,000 km journey across the Siberian tundra to Yapan. However the Siberian Railroad will stop at nothing to halt the Exodus.

Mini Review: OK, it’s confession time. Apart from stuff like “Clannad”, “Haruhi Suzumiya”, “High School of the Dead” and other popular stuff in fandom, I don’t “get” Yoshiyuki Tomino. I readily admit that a lot of his stories, including this one, are really intriguing and high concept. However a lot of them are really quite poor in terms of dialogue and reaction of the characters. Add in the stupid, stupid names (see Dunbine’s Keen Keats, Marvel Frozen and Shot Weapon) and casts of hundreds, I really find his works a bit of a chore to get through. However when that mad bald headed fucker Tomino gets it right, it’s really good. Admittedly for me, things did just not click for the first third of “Overman King Gainer” (despite the action packed first episode). This was probably due the fact there were way too many concepts being introduced. However things settle down and it becomes quite enjoyable. Still silly stuff like Adette’s dreadful uniform in the first episode, the overly big cast, typically stupid Tomino names like Kids Munt (even more confusing as early on the name isn’t really attached to physical person when mentioned) and the bizarre claymation eyecatch don’t really help the show. In a TV “making of“ special that appears as a bonus on the third or so disc, the crazy bald headed fucker says the world of “Gainer” is set in the near future Earth. This is an outright lie as it is clearly stated in the show that several generation have passed and there are friggin’ mammoths roaming the land. Mammoths. Stupid loony bald headed git...

Despite my grumbles the strangeness of the mecha and basic story outline as well as the way the show progresses and the character interactions and development make up for a lot of the show’s shortcomings. Add in the delightfully loopy opening animation with dancing characters and mecha and even some ice skating thrown in to the tune of a retro-esque song. I think a lot of Tomino’s anime to a degree still feels like it’s stuck in the 1970’s or 1980’s, “Gainer” more so than others. But this is probably Tomino’s style more than anything else. Unfortunately the show (like a lot of Bandai Entertainment’s titles) is out of print, and is absurdly selling for nearly double the original suggested retail price in the second hand market on Amazon. I’m unsure if I’d buy this show for nearly $100, especially when I only paid about $30 (love the space saving six disc pack which is the same size as a normal DVD case, BTW). Overall it’s quite a fun show, but I think a lot of the first third of the show, plus some horrible Tomino-esque clichés pop up towards the end, so I can only give it 6.5 out of 10.

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

Video Backlog: "Ghost in the Shell"

Publisher: Honneamise (Bandai Visual, Japan)
Format: Region 2 DVD and Code Free Blu-ray Box Set, NTSC, Japanese Dialogue with optional English Dub and Japanese and English Subtitles
Length: 82 mins
Production Date: 1995
Currently in Print (as of writing): Yes (Numerous formats just about everywhere)

Story Outline: 2029 AD, Newport City. The world is now connected by a global electronic network and most people cybernised to some degree such as their entire bodies being mechanised. Naturally this leads to crimes being committed. Section 9, a near secret government organisation which deals with cyber terrorism warfare and major crime, are working on a new case involving an elite hacker called the Puppet Master. The Puppet Master hacks into people’s cyber brains and re-writes them to make the victims do his/her bidding. Section 9 manages to thwart one of the Puppet Master’s plots which has him/her hacking the brain of politician’s secretary, but the Puppet Master still remains at large. Major Motoko Kusanagi, the leader of Section 9‘s team, begins to question her own existence as the case drags on. The case becomes stranger when a cyborg body is illegally created at the Megatech company, creator of all Section 9’s prosthetic bodies, and ends up in Section 9‘s hands after it escaped and was hit by a truck. Section 6, an Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance unit, comes to claim the body. They claim that they have been chasing the Puppet Master and he has copied his “ghost” into the cyborg’s body.

Mini Review: So, it’s been over a decade since I last saw this film (my guess is 12 years). It’s only now that I’ve decided to buy the DVD. This was due to horrible history and problem this film has had on the format. Bad subtitles (dubtitles), the Japanese language version had the Brian Eno/U2 song tacked onto the end of one DVD version rather than the original choral choir etc. A dog’s breakfast of releases really. However I heard the Japanese Honneamise Blu-ray/DVD combo pack version had proper subs and was rather good, so I decided to buy that, only problem was I only got around to buying it about a year after it was out of print. Regardless, I got a searched around and found an unopened new copy and for almost a third of the original price.

Anyway, let’s talk about the film. 15 years on and what surprises me most is how well the film stands up to today’s anime. Some of the animation looks rather dated, and the cel animation isn’t as bright as today’s computer coloured digital work, but gee, to looks damn good. I don’t know if it was the subs on the disc (different to my old Manga subbed VHS tape), but I really enjoyed the story a lot more this time around. Yes it is an action movie, but it’s also a philosophical one in regards to what is human. Like an extension of “Blade Runner” except maybe more direct and less abstract than that film. The thing which got me in this film however was how bloody good of director Mamoru Oshii is. The ambience and framing of the shots is just about perfect. Though a big part of this is Kenji Kawai’s soundtrack which is perfect.

The original manga by Masamune Shirow was full of tons of little notes explaining in great detail what the hell was going on, especially in the latter stages. I always found it a bit of a chore to read. Oshii seems to have simplified the manga a lot. And although the Oshii trademark of pages of superfluous philosophical moments is there, I don’t think it’s to the point of being overwhelming or self indulgent like a lot of his other films. It fact it seems rather reasonable especially compared to something like “Patlabor 2” (one of my favourite anime films) or the impenetrable borefest that was “Innocence (Ghost in the Shell 2)”. Even his trademark Basset Hound motif seems to blend in nicely. The major problem though is with Motoko, or more accurately the way she is portrayed. I know it was intentional, but there seems to be no humanity in her, unlike the way she is portrayed in “Stand Alone Complex”. Also her nudity (she has to nude up EVERY time she uses the thermo optics camouflage? What the hell...?) and the absurd conclusion to the tank fight scene really spoils the film for me. Regardless the film is mostly an excellent piece of celluloid. 9 out of 10.

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

Video Backlog: "Key the Metal Idol"

Publisher: Viz Video (USA)
Format: Region 1 DVD, NTSC, Japanese Dialogue with optional English Dub and English Subtitles
Length: 13 episodes x 25 mins (OVA 1 - 13), 98 mins (OVA 14), 100 mins (OVA 15)
Production Date: 1994 - 1997
Currently in Print (as of writing): No

Story Outline: Teenage high schooler Mima Tokiko, known as Key, believes she is a robot. Her somewhat idyllic life in the rural Mamio Valley comes to an abrupt end when her grandfather Dr Murao Mima, Key’s sole carer, dies. Dr Mima’s assistant, Tomoyo Wakagi, plays Key a message recorded by Dr Mima on his deathbed. In it he explains to her that she must obtain 30,000 friends in order to become human. Key takes this message literally and decides to head to Tokyo due to the greater population than her small hometown. Once there, she is hustled into the offices of V&A Productions, a seedy video company that produces softcore porn. However the pizza girl, Sakura Kuriyagawa, who comes to deliver dinner to the company, is in fact Key’s childhood friend. Upon realising that her childhood friend is about to make the biggest mistake in her life, she high tails it out of there with Key. Sakura decides to let Key stay with her, however at Sakura’s second job, a clerk at a video store, she is harassed by couple of men from V&A. However she is saved by Shuichi Tataki, a regular customer of the video store. Shuichi is also the president of the fan club of the mysterious idol Miho Utase.

Key becomes intrigued with Miho and decides to become an idol. After some trials and tribulations which test their relationship, Sakura decides to help her. However mysterious events swirl around Key, mostly having to do with the idol Miho and the company who back her, run by an elderly man named Jinsaku Ajo. Humanoid robots attack the employees of V&A and latter a leader of a religious cult, Prince Snake-Eye, takes an interest in Key and proclaims her as some sort of saviour. Meanwhile Wakagi strangely always comes to Key’s aid whenever she’s in trouble, as if he is continually tailing her.

Mini Review: I remember collecting this series as it originally came out in the late 1990’s on VHS. In fact we began playing it at the club I was running. Well we played the first 13 episodes. While quite low budget, in terms of film stock at least, this OVA was one of the surprises of the 1990’s. Predating “Evangelion” by almost a year, I would say this series is almost as obtuse and mystery filled as Eva. However the mysteries are revealed in this series. Though that makes the show come to crashing halt for a while. The 14th episode is probably a bit too long, as is the final 15th. Though both are a lot better than I remembered them. After watching the show more than a decade after I first saw it, one thing stands out the most on this show; the madness and insanity. Mostly Jinsaku Ajo’s. It’s really quite creepy. But that’s the fun of the show. You have Key’s innocence intercut with the cruelty, hardness, perverseness and lunacy of real life. Add in the robots (the PPORs or Sipes), the cold Sergei (codenamed “D”), an evil corporation, mistreatment of idols (with some well-produced pop music), supernatural elements and a great cast of characters. With the mystery and drama, it’s a fantastic mix.

Occasionally I found some situations to be a bit silly and overdone, especially in the last episode. And it’s a bit of a stretch to believe the handsome, muscly Shuichi to be an idol otaku with no girlfriend. However if you can suspend disbelief over a couple of minor plot points, the show is extremely entertaining. Most of the time I was thinking; “Key is a human”, then in the next moment; “No wait, she is a robot!”. It’s kind of amazing such an OVA exists, as it’s not something which you would think was overly commercial. Apparently the concept came from a dumped video game and was picked up as the 10th anniversary project of Pony Canyon. The OVA release itself in Japan was also pretty unusual with the first VHS retailing for ¥1,000 and subsequent volumes for ¥2,000. Most tapes sold for ¥9,800 or more at the time. I also liked how the “30,000 friends” angle was played up in the marketing of the series in Japan. Very cute. For some reason, this OVA has been forgotten by a lot of today’s anime fans. Bit of a shame because it’s a really good show. It has aged a bit, but it’s still really entertaining. Really glad I decided to rebuy this on DVD. 8 out of 10.

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

Video Backlog: "Kazemakase Tsukikage Ran (Carried by the Wind: Tsukikage Ran)"

Publisher: Bandai Entertainment (USA)
Format: Region 1 DVD, NTSC, Japanese Dialogue with optional English Dub and English Subtitles
Length: 13 Episodes x 25 mins
Production Date: 2000
Currently in Print (as of writing): No

Story Outline: Sometime towards the late Edo era, a female ronin (masterless samurai) called Ran, wanders the countryside righting wrongs and forever in the search of her next bottle of sake. Howeber one day she is brought together accidently with a young female Chinese martial artist called Myao (Meow in the subtitled version). Though Meow is a practitioner of the Iron Cat Fist style of martial arts, she isn’t all that bright. While they free one small town from a criminal group extorting money from businesses, they soon find themselves working together, often much to each other’s annoyance (though Ran is always happy to see Meow to pay for her sake fix). However the reluctant duo always leaves a wake of justice peace in their wake.

Mini Review: Though “Jubei-chan: The Secret of the Lovely Eyepatch” is the Akitaro Daichi samurai show that people always remember, personally I think this one is superior. The main problem that “Tsukikage Ran” had against it was it began screening at the tail end of Jubei-chan’s initial broadcast and was seemingly ignored to a degree. Unlike the complete silliness of Jubei-chan, “Ran” is played a lot straighter and more realistically. In fact the show is based on a 1965 jidaigeki (Edo period drama) TV series called “Su-ronin Tsukikage Hyogo”, with the two male leads swapped out for females. While “Ran” is considered by some as a parody, I think it’s more of a homage. It’s played relatively close to genre type right down to the situations and episode titles. Even the opening theme is an enka song. I think having female leads was a genius move on Daichi’s part. It gives a whole new twist on the very well-worn genre. Plus the women have flaws with Ran being a lush and Meow being a gullible but kind hearted fool. In way I think the show is a very feminist one in a lot of ways. Sure they may be flawed, but Daichi treats them with respect and there is no exploitation. Plus hardly anyone questions that Ran is a female samurai. It really is just a jidaigeki show with the roles reversed.

The show is also episodic, which may not sit well with some. However I think this works very well in this type of show. Plus with only 13 episodes, there’s more than enough variation in the show. While there is quite a lot of comedy in the show, there are also quite a lot of dramatic moments; however unlike the live action drama genre it borrows from, there really aren’t any overwrought sentimental mushy moments. One thing which got me was how consistently well produced the show was. The animation (by Madhouse), writing, fight choreography and comedy never dip at any stage. I recall getting fansubs of this how, but for some reason never watched the last tape. It was only in 2008 I decided to get the DVDs, which by that time were out of print for a couple of years and a little hard to acquire on the second hand market. Thank god I did. I really, really enjoyed this show. Probably the most fun I’ve had watching an anime in quite a few months. 8 out of 10.

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

Video Backlog: "Yawara!"

Publisher: Animeigo (USA)
Format: Region 1 DVD, NTSC, Japanese Dialogue with optional English Subtitles
Length: 40 Episodes x 25 mins
Production Date: 1989 - 1990
Currently in Print (as of writing): Yes

Story Outline: Yawara Inokuma may seem like an ordinary girl, but since she was a toddler she has been trained to be a judo champion by her grandfather. Her grandfather, Jigoro, was a famous judo champion in his heyday, and works Yawara hard in order for her to win an Olympic gold medal and the prestigious National Merit Award, much to her annoyance. While Yawara tried to keep her judo practice a secret, she apprehends a purse snatcher and the event is captured by a small time sports newspaper journalist, Matsuda, and his photographer. Though Yawara’s face isn’t in shot in the picture in the newspaper, Jigoro is horrified as her wants his granddaughter to have a grand debut with a well-respected newspaper and other media. Regardless he continues on with his plan and sniffs out Sayaka Honami, a pampered princess who excels at all sports, to be Yawara’s rival. Things are complicated further with Sayaka’s judo coach, Kazamatsuri. Though brilliant at judo, he has stage fright. And he’s a ladies man and takes an immediate interest in Yawara, both at a professional and personal level, much to the disgust of the possessive Sayaka. Though Yawara plans to deliberately fail her first real judo match, she wins and is an overnight sensation with a lot of potential to live up to. But Yawara just wants to be a normal girl. Not only does she find herself seemingly forced into becoming a judo champion, she has two suitors fighting over her, Matsuda and Kazamatsuri.

Mini Review: Those with long memories may recall the petition to get “Yawara!” on DVD in the early 00’s. Well in 2006 Animeigo announced they had the licence, but this set came out in 2008. And only in the last few months has Animeigo fessed up that there will be no more box sets coming supposedly due to a rights issue (but I’m sure the sets didn’t sell like hotcakes). Anyway there’s no chance we’ll see the remaining 84 episodes ever in English. Still, I’m amazed we got these 40. The Animeigo set is pretty amazing, especially when you consider it was made post US anime bubble. Apart from their almost overdone subtitles which included notes at appropriate times, we have an amazing 72 page booklet which tells you just about everything you need to know about the series and about judo. The slicks on the DVD cases actually make up a picture when you put them together; which is Jigaro throwing Yawara.

The anime itself (maybe I should mention it, huh?) is very shoujo in appearance, even though I believe the original manga was published in a shonen magazine (the manga was by Naoki Urasawa who is more famous in the west for “Monster”, “20th Century Boys”, “Pluto” and even “Master Keaton” than this show). Yawara herself is probably one of the most likeable characters I have come across in a long time. But the real star of the show is Jigoro (as evidenced by the show’s eyecatches), but toward the end of the episodes in this set, he becomes a real tyrant, but he does redeem himself. For the most part the humour of this show does come from Jigoro. Towards the end of this set of episodes, Yawara moves from high school to college and the light hearted tone does change to a slightly more serious one. The judo battles become a bit more intense and so does Yawara’s love life. The addition of a ditzy photographer to put a spanner in the works of her relationship with Matsuda was bit ham-fisted I thought and there are some really silly unrealistic moments which don’t fit in with the story, however in the end I could mostly suspend disbelief. Also don’t let the judo aspect put you off. This isn’t really a sports anime. Surprisingly there’s very, very little in the way of actual judo in the anime. Yawara defeats most of her opponents in a few seconds and I can only recall one episode where a match went on for more than 10 minutes. Instead the focus here is on the development and relationships of the characters. The show has aged a bit, but it’s a lot better than the fansub I recall seeing some 12 or so years ago. I’ll give it a respectable 7.5 out of 10.

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