Video Backlog: "Solty Rei"

Publisher: Funimation (USA)
Format: Region 1 DVD, NTSC, Japanese Dialogue with optional English dub and English Subtitles
Length: 26 episodes x 24 minutes
Production Date: 2005 - 2006
Currently in Print (as of writing): Yes

In the last few years, there has been a bit of a backlash (to say the least) against studio Gonzo. It was pretty unsurprising when they fell in a financial heap a while back. While they have made some very, very good shows, I must admit there is a lot of trash in their catalogue. “Solty Rei” is one of them. It’s like Gonzo had decided to make a show with leftovers or a series with a combination of other elements from their shows. In particular, the show stylistically feels like a mash up of mostly “Burst Angel” with elements of “Gad Guard”. Design elements from “Bubblegum Crisis” and “Last Exile” can also be seen, however with Kenichi Sonoda and Range Murata being the conceptual designers for the show, this is not surprising. Also not surprising me was the fact this show is a co-production with AIC. Otherwise how could they get away with ripping off BGC?

The initial episodes where pretty woeful. Do the writers think the audience is so stupid they gear the plots towards those who don’t wish to view entertainment as mindless fluff without any substance whatsoever? I like trash, but hey, I want the creators to treat me with a bit of respect and assume that I have a brain and can think above the level of a three year old. So after some rather implausible meetings and pairings of characters and a number of mindless adventures, we sort of get to the story of the lead male character, Roy Revant, and the implausible and rather predictable return of his long lost daughter. Then of course in place of real character development and well crafted drama (or even melodrama) “bad things happen™”. Then naturally our female Tetuswan Atom lead, Solty, wanders off and more “bad things happen™”. Really, really frustrating. The whole thing feels generic, from the designs, the backgrounds, the plot which could have come from any similar type of anime such as “GUN×SWORD”. Except here there is not much excitement at all.

The last third changes gear with a conspiracy developing (which the seeds were planted in the first episode, then forgotten about for the next two thirds) and I really think this saved the show for me, even though you have to suspend disbelief quite a lot. The lazy stupid writing doesn’t help the show. Roy spends about four episodes in a drunken depressive state and the plot didn’t really advance much. And even though he is a pivotal part of the show, not much effort seems to have gone into his design. In fact the character looks rather off model and ugly during the initial episodes. You also have Solty whom I can only assume the writers wanted to be a bit “moe”, but it just comes off rather lame, with her stupid “hair ears” and “cute” and naive personality. I must also mention the names of the four RUC Special Division girls was amusing (names of Japanese cars). Overall, it was a pretty mediocre show. It’s more than watchable, I’ll give it that, but it’s really nothing special. At all. We’ve seen this how countless times before, and most of those are highly superior when compared to this one. 6 out of 10.

Remaining Backlog: 24 months (it's much easier this way than listing the number of discs).

Video Backlog: "Kikaider 01"

Publisher: JN Productions (USA)
Format: Region 1 DVD, NTSC, Japanese Dialogue with optional English Subtitles
Length: 46 episodes x 25 minutes
Production Date: 1973 - 1974
Currently in Print (as of writing): Yes

The direct follow up to the original “Kikaider” certainly isn’t as good. I know these shows are nearing their 40th year, their primary audience is prepubescent boys and the story telling and editing can be rather schizophrenic to say the least, but I really felt let down by this show a lot. The main problem is our ne main hero, Ichiro (Kikaider 01) who is played by Shunsuke Ikeda. Unlike Jiro/Kikaider, he has absolutely no vulnerabilities. The writing makes him rather distant, uninteresting and unhuman. The writing and editing of the show are even worse than normal for a early 1970’s tokusatsu hero show. One can only assume that Dr Komyoji created 01, but this never actually explained. We also have a comedic relief guy, Gunta Momochi (Minoru Kuri), a cameraman, but there is no real link between him and the main characters and he eventually disappears after a dozen or so episodes without any explanation.

Despite this, the early plot involving the return of Hakaider (unfortunately Saburo makes no return appearance) and forming a new organisation out of the remnants of Dark is decent enough. It becomes more intriguing when rival evil organisation Shadow shows up wanting the same thing; Professor Gill’s two sons who have the schematics of a deadly giant android tattooed into their skin in invisible ink. It sort of bubbles along quite nicely (but the two boys were a bit annoying really), but then we revert back to the one rather dull organisation and their dim witted evil plans and androids every week. Combine this with the absurd cheapness of this show. Not only do we get the same transformation sequences every week, but they reuse the same shots of explosions and disposals of “faceless minion” androids over and over again. Boredom city. There was also some really weird stuff in the middle of the show. For example there were a number of episodes where androids ripped off women’s tops down to their bras. What the hell was up with that?

After frustratingly disposing of a rather pivotal main character like it was nothing, the last third introduces us to a new android called Bijinda, who in her human form is called Mari (Etsuko Shihomi, very beautiful lady who does a lot of her own stunts). She is originally an evil android sent by Shadow but becomes conflicted and turns on the organisation. Her humanity and empathy really improved the show tenfold. Add in the late inclusion of yet another conflicted Shadow android, Waruda (Takeshi Watabe), and this last arc almost saved the show for me. Pity about the first two thirds. Never have I wanted a show to end so quickly. It’s not too awful, but it ain’t very good. I was going to give it a 6, but it really doesn’t deserve it. 5.5 out of 10.

Remaining Backlog: 24 months (it's much easier this way than listing the number of discs).

Video Backlog: Retro 50's Sci-Fi and Guitar Playing Androids

Long time no post, huh? I have been watching stuff, but not much anime. First I had a bunch of stuff on my DVB recorder. Lots of bad 1970’s cinema like “The Omega Man” as well as a lot of documentaries (So these new digital channels aren’t all crap after all. Er, well very occasionally they aren’t). I’ve also been watching a couple of longer series. I have finished one as you can see below, “Kikaider”. There are also a lot of ongoing issues with Blogger (editing after posting still an issue for me). One more problem and I’m off to Wordpress.

“Project Blue Earth SOS”Publisher: ADV Films (USA)
Format: Region 1 DVD, NTSC, Japanese Dialogue with optional English dub and English Subtitles
Length: 6 episodes x 45 minutes
Production Date: 2006
Currently in Print (as of writing): Yes (Funimation re-release)

Originally aired on AT-X in 2006, this six part series consisted of 45 minute episodes. Oddly enough each episode could easily be divided into two as there is a climax mid-way through each episode as well as the end of the episode. I can only assume that somewhere along the line a 12 episode series was bundled up as a six part miniseries, or it was purposely done this way so the option to turn the show into a 12 part half hour series was possible.

Anyway, the show, it’s important to discuss that, huh? So the show is a bit of a throwback to 1950’s sci-fi, mostly western stuff, though it does also seem to be influenced somewhat by Toho sci-fi films of the period. It’s a typical alien invasion style plot which we’ve seen a million times before. To a point it is handled in a slightly different way, however this twist to the old tested and tried formula comes at the very end of the show. And it’s really implausible until it’s finally explained at the last minute. Adding to the problems in the show are the stereotypical characters taken from the genre, plus the rather silly names (Dr Brest and a young boy named Penny for starters). I think the show could have been a lot more fun, but it seems really dull for some reason. I mean if you were a writer, you could let your mind go anywhere with a show like this. But for whatever reason the show is quite dull. This extends to the animation which for some reason seems exceptionally flat and bit cheap, and the colour scheme, which is inexplicably awash with shades of green. Compare this show with the similar retro futuristic “Tetsujin 28” TV remake, made some two years before this show. Despite the fact “Tetsujin 28” got practically no love in the west, it was a far superior and much more fun show than this one.

There were a lot of good elements to the series. In particular I enjoyed the mecha and much of the unfolding story. But it just seemed to be flat over all. Not a terrible show, but rather mediocre. 6 out of 10.

“Kikaider (Jinzo Ningen Kikaida)” and “Flying At 'Ya, Android Kikaider”
Publisher: JN Productions (USA)
Format: Region 1 DVD, NTSC, Japanese Dialogue with optional English Subtitles
Length: 43 episodes x 25 minutes (TV series), 33 minutes (movie)
Production Date: 1972 - 1973 (TV series), 1973 (movie)
Currently in Print (as of writing): Yes

I originally bought this around a year ago. It had a reasonably wide release in the US (the show was broadcast on Hawaiian TV in the mid 1970’s and was very popular there), but I suspected that its deletion was imminent and snapped it up. Created by Shotaro Ishinomori, it’s probably his third most popular creation after “Kamen Rider” and “Cyborg 009”. To a fair degree the show feels like a more light hearted copy of “Kamen Rider”. There’s a transforming hero cyborg with a bike, and evil organisation that sends out a cyborg to wreak havoc on the world each week etc.

For the first 13 episodes, it’s really formulaic. Evil organisation, Dark, devise some terrible plan using one of their evil androids. This evil plot comes to the attention of brother and sister Mitsuko and Masuru and/or overacting comic relief character Hatori Hanpei (an incompetent private detective). Jiro fights the evil android and his minions. However before transforming into the titular character, Dark leader Professor Gill plays his flute which causes Jiro to writhe around in pain. But something covers up the noise (usually related to the evil android), and Jiro transforms into Kikaider then dispatches with the evil android using the same four or five moves. Naturally the android explodes after falling from the nearest disused quarry and random mechanical parts fall to the ground symbolising the remains of the android. We also have the subplot of Mitsuko and Masuru’s father, Dr Komyoji, who originally escaped Dark with Mitsuko after being forced to create the many evil androids (also creating the hero Kikaider in secret to beat Dark). Komyoji has amnesia and Mitsuko and Masuru are always two steps behind in trying to find him.

After watching a small number of tokusatsu shows, I found this series to be rather dull and repetitive. I was also surprised at how few miniature work sequences there was in the show. This is probably has more to do with the fact most of the action involves hand to hand combat. Luckily things change for the better, with a bit of a shift in plot and structure of the show. Also the budget must have been upped slightly as the android suits look a lot better from about half way through the show. The last third of the show is just brilliant. A major shift in the story line brings in the anti-hero, Saburo, another android creation by Dr Komyoji. Saburo transforms into the evil looking Hakaider, Kikaider’s nemesis. While his mission is to destroy Kikaider, he feels protective of Masuru and those around him, which eventually invokes the wrath of Professor Gill. This also changes the relationship between the young Masuru and Jiro. Masuru had always seen Jiro as a big brother figure. Saburo is probably the coolest and best character of the series. He’s always dressed in black, rides a cool bike (and no dorky sidecar like Jiro’s bike), and did I mention he’s damn cool as ice? If Jiro is meant to represent a heroic big brother figure to its prepubescent male audience, then Saburo is the big brother that’s a bad ass but loves you and protects you just as much as Jiro. Except he’s a million times cooler than Jiro.

I know this show is meant to be for children (whom are probably in their 50s now), but the first half or so is really weak when compared to similar tokusatsu shows of the period. But god, that last third makes up for all the problems. The DVDs from JN Productions are good enough. The subtitles seem a bit minimal. But they do include a good helping of extras including a five part interview with the late Ban Daisuke. The short 1973 movie is included which is obviously much higher budgeted than the TV series. It includes four short 3D sequences which look quite crappy compared with modern day 3D. 7 out of 10.

Remaining Backlog: 24 months (it's much easier this way than listing the number of discs).

Backlog has now reached 24 months... How did this happen?

So I originally got into anime around 1995 when I saw a VHS release of “Star Blazers” on the shelf at the video store. I then progressed to “Manga Videos” (as the UK division of Manga Entertainment pretty much had a stranglehold on the Australian market via Siren, that’s what everyone called them), then the following year I discovered the local anime club at the University of Canberra. Though I wasn’t a uni student, the guys running the club weren’t uni students (they just rented the small dingy theatre), the people coming to the screenings were mostly not uni students, it still had 50 to 100 or so people showing up every three weeks. Despite the utter rudeness and contempt the two guys (was three, but he got jack of them and left) had for many of those who showed up to watch stuff, I still managed to get sucked in more into the world of Japanese animation thanks to a lot of the people who showed up who were FAR more friendlier.

I bought a ton of crap, hundreds of tapes, fansubs, laserdiscs, magazines, garage kits, artbooks etc. Then for about a year and a half I ran the club as the two guys who ran it gave up after three and a half years (but hey that’s another story for another time). After helping out another university affiliated club, DVD went on the market. It was 2001 when I finally got a player. With the Australian dollar as all time lows (47 cents to the US dollar at one point) and few titles coming out in the local market, it was a fairly hard time to be a fan. I got into the habit of buying the first volume of a title and the artbox. Yeah, bought way to many titles like that. Once I resigned from my old job at the shitty old ACT government in 2005, I went on a binge using about a thousand dollars of my severance pay to get the rest of the missing volumes.

I soon discovered that the Right Stuf had tons of bargains, discs for as little as US$5.00 each, plus I was snapping up titles as they were going out of print (gotta have City Hunter and Dunbine!). Then as the oversaturated market began to fall over, I snapped up a lot of the Geneon, CPM and ADV titles I was missing. By 2008, I was having 2ft x 1ft x 1ft boxes being shipped to by my PO box on quite a regular basis. I realised I had too much stuff and began watching it in a methodical manner. In late 2009 I decided to cut back by half and only ordered once a month. In 2011 I have cut back further and only order every second month.

So now it’s down to a quarter of what I used to buy (which isn’t too hard considering the lack of releases), but I have a two year backlog. So by my estimates if I no longer bought anything, it would take my two years to watch my pile of unwatched shrink wrapped discs. This is probably a conservative estimate. I have a couple of long (50+ episode) series. I’m getting though about one and a half 26 episode series a week and the pile looks so much smaller, but geez, I look at my collection at times and say “what have I done?!”. I’m seriously thinking about pruning back further and throwing out some of the crappier titles I don’t like (second hand stores don’t care anymore about DVDs or CDs, maybe I’ll give them to the Salvos), as space is becoming a premium.

However I still enjoy anime quite a lot and I’m not bored by it. I don’t understand why. I really think one day I’m going to cut back to buying no DVDs, I mean there is only so much stuff you can store in your house.