Video Backlog: Week 1, 2011

Been watched a load of stuff, but seemingly I have had very little time to write about it. So I’m changing the format a little and will write up on the titles I watch once a week. They’re going to be a whole lot shorter too with the synopsis removed. Sometimes I may still do longer reviews on individual titles.

“Galaxy Express 999” and “Adieu Galaxy Express 999” (DVD Box Set)
Publisher: DVD Ani (Korea)
Format: Region 3 DVD, NTSC, Japanese Dialogue with optional Korean Dub and English and Korean Subtitles
Length: 128 minutes, 130 minutes
Production Date: 1979, 1981
Currently in Print (as of writing): No (licenced by Discotek)

I bought this box set a long, long time ago. The DVD Ani release for Korea has been the subject of scrutiny over its legality. A number of the company’s titles have been found to have English language materials which weren’t exactly legal, but it seems that the licence for the original anime was. Unfortunately this applies for these movies as well. Which is a damn shame as these films are crying out for an English language release on DVD (Discotek has the rights, but haven’t solicited a release yet). While the films are in a cropped vista form at as seen in cinemas rather than the original open matte format as seen on video, they still look rather good. The Three-Nine story is essentially Leji Masumoto’s take on Kenji Miyazawa’s “Night on the Galactic Railroad”. I was really impressed by the first film this time around compared to earlier viewings. It is truly a classic anime film, despite the silliness of some of it. The second film is also very good, but director Rin Taro seems to have opted for spectacle over story. The film looks fantastic and there is a really beautiful semi-psychedelic sequence mid-way through. The problem is the story never quite engages the viewer. I was amused to discover that the first film was released part way through the TV broadcast of the original 999 TV series, which led to TV viewers having the end of the TV show spoilt for them (well, only if they went to the cinema). The first film is a classic, 9 out of 10. Adieu is quite strong visually but is a little week in the story department, 7.5 out of 10.

“Innocent Venus”
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: 2006
Currently in Print (as of writing): Yes (Funimation Re-release)

This TV series verges from intriguing to plain rubbish. It’s always teetering on the edge of crapness. The concepts of the robots and Sana herself are quite good, but I think we’ve seen this story a million times before. The two leads were a bit clichéd and the “comic relief character” was rather annoying. Admittedly I couldn’t really see where elements of this show were going, which was a little bit surprising. The initial episodes were unnecessarily confusing and cloaked in mystery. A peek into what the characters were up would have been nice. The first thing I notice with this show is how is sort of didn’t look “right”. There was something I couldn’t put my finger on; it almost looked like someone was copying an “anime style”. Though ADV hid it (by removing the names of all the animators and background artists), practically all non-creative aspects of the production are Korean. It really does look like a very good Korean animated TV series, not a Japanese one. Some of the animation looks a bit crap and a number of times the character are a bit off model. While quite intriguing, especially in the early stages, it fails to engage a number of times, however the ending was rather good I thought. I’m going to give it 6 out of 10.

“Iria - Zeiram the Animation”
Publisher: Anime Works (Media Blasters, USA)
Format: Region 1 DVD, NTSC, Japanese Dialogue with optional English Dub and English and Spanish Subtitles
Length: 6 Episodes x 30 minutes
Production Date: 1994
Currently in Print (as of writing): Yes

There were some great OVAs for the 1990’s, and this probably one of the better ones. It’s a prequel to Keita Amemiya’s “Zeiram” films. I liked the first film a lot, but felt the second lacked a lot in the story department. Either way both films had that distinct Keita Amemiya look with lots of Asian influences in the designs. This anime version has that bizarre retro futuristic Asian look as well. Though it’s more on an epic scale here as Ameniya doesn’t have to worry about costs of special effects or sets. I remember watching a fansub of this I borrowed from the local anime club, and later got the CPM tapes. The CPM DVD was awful, so I’m glad I waited. The Media Blasters three disc set is fantastic. The show is a lot better than I remembered. Lots of little details of life on the alien planets and lots of cute moments like where Iria frees a couple of female hostages from a criminal, and both head straight to the toilet. Masakazu Katsura’s character designs are just fantastic. Iria in particular looks gorgeous. It’s great to see his designs working outside his usual genre of shonen romance. Usually anime is turned into live action. It’s great to see it the other way around and for it actually work and actually be occasionally better than it’s live action counterpart. The only downsides are that none of the original cast voice the anime characters and that sometimes the story can lag. However I’m still going to give it 7.5 out of 10.

Remaining Backlog: 20 months (it's much easier this way than listing the number of discs).