Video Backlog: "Chrono Crusade"

Publisher: ADV Films (USA)
Format: Region 1 DVD, NTSC, Japanese Dialogue with optional English dub and English Subtitles
Length: 24 episodes x 23 minutes
Production Date: 2003 - 2004
Currently in Print (as of writing): Yes (Funimation re-release)

There are a number of TV shows and movies which depict the church, more specifically the Catholic church, and their fight against literal evil such as demons and vampires. One would think that it would have been better to fight against the internal problems of the church as such as paedophiliac priests and the associated cover ups, forced adoptions and of course the Magdalene Asylums... But really, criticising the Catholic church is like shooting fish in barrel. This TV series by Gonzo (which seems to have the same basic core idea as “Trinity Blood”) is set in late 1920’s New York, where the Magdalene Order fight demons. And judging by their name, they also make young women who have become pregnant out of wedlock or who have been raped or are plain just a pain the arse and not being docile and submitting to men, do laundry at slave labour rates for the remainder of their life. Oh sorry, there I go again with the Catholic bashing....

Sister Rosette and devil Chrono are the two main characters in the show. Because you know that the Catholic church would approve of a woman exorcising demons. Sorry... Anyway the story revolves around these two. Naturally the church is a little bit displeased that Sister Rosette is working with a demon that she has a contract with, but still they allow the partnership to keep going. One can only wonder why as Rosette can be a one woman “Dirty Pair” most of the time. While the first half is all about killing off demons supposedly summoned by bored rich white folk (however this is frustratingly never shown), the second half delves into Rosette’s search for her long lost brother and Chrono’s dealings with Aion, a devil that wishes to destroy the balance between the demon and human world. Naturally both threads are interlinked.

Look, it’s not a bad show by any stretch of the imagination. It’s just a little tedious and generic, mostly in terms of storytelling, designs and the way it’s animated (looks so early 00’s). It really takes a lot suspension of disbelief to believe that it is set in the 1920’s. None of the designs or characters or their personalities help in this regard. Nor does a lot of the technology, which is way beyond any technology of the day. Gonzo certainly plopped out a lot of similar looking and fan pandering material in the last decade. I suppose you could call them the 00’s version of late 90’s AIC, but that’s maybe being a bit cruel. Despite this, I was mostly entertained by the show. It is all rather clichéd and rather confused at times, the character Azmaria Hendrich is such a fan pandering anime caricature, the climax was such a fizzer and the finale was emotionally manipulative piece of stupidly. Add in the final scene, set some 52 years latter with a rather dishevelled, most likely homeless secondary character that has seemingly not aged at all during that time. Oh, and the Japanese screenwriter have absolutely no idea about Catholicism.

So despite my complaining, it wasn’t bad. It wasn’t all that great either. Mildly entertaining is how I’d describe it. That’ll teach me to buy up random discs from the Right Stuf’s bargain bin. I was going to give this one a higher score, but upon some more thought have decide I can only give it 5.5 out of 10.

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

Video Backlog: "Aika R-16"

Publisher: Bandai Entertainment (USA)
Format: Region 1 DVD, NTSC, Japanese Dialogue with optional English dub and English Subtitles
Length: 3 Episodes x 25 minutes
Production Date: 2007
Currently in Print (as of writing): Yes

A decade after the original “Aika” OVA series, somebody in Studio Fantasia or Bandai Visual had the bright idea of resurrecting the franchise. I always thought it was odd that this show was never made into a TV series, though I guess “Najica” was the “Aika” TV series as such. Look, I completely understand why the panty shot had become a rather “normal” part of sexuality within anime and manga (why don’t the fundies realise that censorship has many unintended consequences?). But fuck me, it’s all rather infantile isn’t it? Looking up girls’ skirts is something that primary school boys do. While the panty flashing overkill nonsense was rather, uh, novel when the original series was released, now it’s dime a dozen and it looks really, really tired.

Add in a really, really lame story and plot. When I saw that this OVA was a prequel to the original, I had visions of Aika’s early adventures. That’d be cool I thought. However the reality was very different. The possibilities for this show are endless, but instead of a high octane adventure by salvagers on the high seas, we are treated to a tepid, clichéd high school comedy with club day trip. It’s the same old tired shit; Aika doesn’t get along with the rich girl, they fight, there’s a teacher who despises Aika, there’s an assortment of tropes as the other girls etc. There’s not one ounce of originality anywhere in the screen play. It’s just dull, dull, dull from start to finish.

The only think positive I can say about this OVA series is that it is competently and slickly animated and produced. Noticed I said competent, not well animated. Sure it doesn’t look awful and surprisingly is always on model, but it is just bland. I think this mostly due to the very, very dull cinematography. Other problems with the show including the gaping holes in the plot and just the stupid nonsensical nature of the story. The “evil” female teacher from the school whom I’m assuming is meant to be chaperoning the girls on their trip, walks around in lingerie while executing her plan to abduct one of the students. And then she returns to school at the end of the series like nothing happened. It’s like the screenwriters assumed the audience had no ability to critically think and had the IQ of a walnut. There is a follow up OVA series called “Aika Zero” which Bandai didn’t acquire for R1 release. Seriously I don’t give a shit if I never see it. Well the series may explain some of the (lame) unanswered questions in this OVA but, whatever. I’d prefer Bandai release the couple of “Stratos 4” OVAs that haven’t got an English release yet. 4 out of 10.

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

Video Backlog: "Aika"

Publisher: Bandai Entertainment (USA)
Format: Region 1 DVD, NTSC, Japanese Dialogue with optional English dub and English Subtitles
Length: 7 Episodes x 29 minutes, 1 Episode x 25 minutes (Special Trial)
Production Date: 1997 – 1999
Currently in Print (as of writing): Yes

Nearly 15 years ago, I came across Studio Fantasia’s “Megami Paradise”. This was a short two part OVA series which had a bunch of young ladies in fantasy setting showing off their panties. OK, there was some sort of plot in there as well, but it was pretty hard to concentrate on it when panty shot after panty shot mindlessly happened. I really thought nothing all could top this absurd show. Boy, was I ever wrong. A year or so later and I stupidly decided to take over the local anime club because the guys running it had given up. I was collecting and trading fansubs at an incredible rate (this was the late 1990’s, so no downloading) so I could fill the monthly screening schedule. I happened to acquire “Aika” somehow, and really gasped with disbelief that Studio Fantasia had outdone themselves.

Watching the show again after so long, I’m going to have to admit that this show is really well put together and produced. When you take away the absurd amount of fan service, not limited to but including copious amounts of panty shots, upskirts, nudity, implied lesbianism, S&M and incest, you actually have a decent story. Coupled with the other kind of fan service (i.e. the mecha fetish stuff) is what seems to be a love of old Toho sci fi films of the 1950’s and 1960’s. Though it does seem to me that final episode is ripping off the core plot “Moonraker” just a tad. The animation and designs are gorgeous. The animation certainly looks a lot better than most animation found in modern anime. It’s so crisp and everything is on model all the time.

Of course the elephant in the room which distracts from anything substantial in this show are those damn panties. It wouldn’t be much of a stretch to blame this show, at least in part, for all those dreadful fan service based shows which followed. But at least you could say that “Aika” had a decent plot. Well the first OVA series did. With the departure of the megalomaniac villain, the second three part OVA uses his leggy female corps, Delmo, as the new villains. Except they have no real ambition except to kill the titular character via a very lame and uninteresting story. The addition of pretty boy Michikusa Shuntaro adds absolutely nothing to the series. He ends up as a punching bag for Aika’s offsider, Rion.

Bandai’s re-release has much, much better video than the original CPM release. It also has an uncut up version of “Special Trial” which is nothing but a collection of clean openings and closings, a music video and some adverts wrapped around a short and crappy little story when Aika’s company moves into a new office. The weird one extra here is the live action Aika, which is a 10 minute Japanese promo for the then upcoming “Aika R-16” OVA series. While you may think animated shapely girls falling over and exposing their panties may be funny, in live action it’s not. It’s as creepy as fuck. It’s like watching some low budget niche porn you’d find in the back of some dingy adult shop in Sydney (kids, those hentai and celebrity DVDs they sell are illegal you know. And those X rated DVDs they are illegal too in NSW and everywhere outside Canberra and NT).

“Aika” is like a prime example of what eventuates in a country where you get censorship of certain things such as genitalia. Fetishes become mainstream, like panty shots, because you can’t show a part of the female anatomy uncensored (you taking note of this shit Melinda Tankard Reist?). Not only that, we get to see the outline of the women’s vulvas through the panties. Yup, the show is woefully sexist and a sexploitation piece through and through. However I have to admit at least the first series (first four OVAs) is quite entertaining. The Toho sci-fi and mecha fetishes like the old MiGs I really like. Those damn panites on the other hand... The second series and everything else is burnable trash. 6 out of 10.

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

Video Backlog: "Genius Party Beyond"

Publisher: Siren Visual (Australia)
Format: Region 4 DVD, PAL, Japanese Dialogue with optional English Subtitles
Length: 81 minutes
Production Date: 2008
Currently in Print (as of writing): Yes

Studio 4°C’s second omnibus film is probably better overall than its predecessor. However this time there are only five shorts instead of seven. However most of them are more involved and a touch longer. This first film is “Gala" by Mahiro Maeda. It’s set in what is seemingly a fantasy world where a giant rock-like thing drops out of the sky. The oni-like creatures which inhabit the world attack the rock, but a small group with the help of their master plays giant musical instruments to reveal it’s true nature. This one is probably the most commercial of the five films here. It’s rather magical and probably a little too fluffy in terms of substance. Still, I thought it was a great looking film with very nice twist at the end. A great way to start the movie. Kazuto Nakazawa’s "Moondrive" tells the story of a bunch of inept and fun loving criminals who live on the moon which is inhabited by a large population. The gang come across a map that supposedly shows a vast fortune. Unfortunately their attempts to reach the treasure are unsuccessful and expensive. This short was a little mediocre I thought. The script felt like it was almost like a rather conservative outtake from “FLCL”. Unfortunately the art style, while really interesting, was a bit too much for Siren’s authoring team with tight lines looking a complete mess. The use of animation layout paper for the backgrounds. Overall fun, but not all that brilliant.

Things go from mediocre to just plain annoying with “Wanwa (The Doggy)" by Shinya Ohira. The film peers though into the imagination of a small child, who is being chanced by Oni (traditional Japanese demons) while his mother ill. Apparently a dog helps him, but I couldn’t see that in the film all. Technicolour cutesy headache is how I’d describe the film. Things look up with "Toujin Kit" by Tatsuyuki Tanaka. In a dystopian big brother style world, a young woman uses some sort of creature and a special process to give some sort of life to her collection of soft toys. That is until the secret police show up at her door. This one is very Film Noir, almost “Blade Runner” like in its use of 1930’s style clothes and set design colliding with futuristic elements. Very downbeat and a washed out looking film, but highly interesting as well. The final piece is Koji Morimoto’s "Dimension Bomb". I think this is probably the best film out of the 12 films. The majority of it has no real story. The core story is supposedly about a boy in pupa who meets a girl, and you can probably decipher that from the film. However it’s mostly a montage of rather hypnotic music video like scenes around a town. Very surreal and enjoyable.

The video on this set is actually significantly worse than the first film. This is most obvious in "Moondrive”. I’m really unsure if this is Siren’s fault though. Other sections of the film look brilliant. This film comes with a bonus disc like the first, but again I haven’t watched it. Think I’ll watch both on the weekend. Overall, quite a good film, perhaps a bit better than the first. 7.5 out of 10.

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

Video Backlog: "Genius Party"

Publisher: Siren Visual (Australia)
Format: Region 4 DVD, PAL, Japanese and some Cantonese and pidgin Swedish Dialogue with optional English Subtitles
Length: 98 minutes
Production Date: 2007
Currently in Print (as of writing): Yes

The boom economy of the 1980’s coupled with the OVA format produced some interesting pieces of animation in Japan. Films like “Manie Manie (Neo Tokyo)” and “Robot Carnival” stared to become more prevalent. However it was a short lived trend. Hardly any alterative or experimental animation is produced in Japan. However Studio 4°C is the exception to the rule. They’ve produced a great number of experimental works, mostly shorts, which must be pretty tough for them. I can’t imagine they’ve made much money outside of contract work for other studios. “Tekkon Kinkreet” seems to be the only real hit for them, besides the mild success of “Detroit Metal City”. Harking back to the mid 1980’s, the Genius Party project (two films in total) takes a couple well known directors and a host of lesser known animators and churns out a film full of shorts. The end result is a little bit of mixed bag as you might expect.

The first film is the titular "Genius Party" by Atsuko Fukushima. There are so very few women in the industry and it’s great she’s given a chance to shine here. She is a full time staff member of Studio 4°C as I understand it. Her film is rather abstract, focusing on some sort of fantasy/alien world and the habbit of what seems to be a race of ball-like stone animals. I really liked this film. It’s what I’d expect from an omnibus film like this one. Next is Shoji Kawamori’s "Shanghai Dragon" where a snotty nosed Chinese child ends up living out his daydreams of being a Kamen Rider-esque hero when he acquires an alien piece of technology that falls from the sky. I really liked the concept that the “wand” could crate anything that you drew. However Kawamori seems intent on making almost the entire film a mindless action piece. Next up is "Deathtic 4" by Shinji Kimura. This is a surreal and a hilarious short where in an alternate universe a bunch of zombie children attempt to return a from to the land of the living. They are chased by the zombie police who are dressed all in red and ride tricycles. Totally bizarre and fun.

Yoji Fukuyama’s "Doorbell" is a “Twilight Zone” like piece where a high school student finds his life being taken over by a doppelgänger. It’s a really fun film and also quite a bit unsettling. "Limit Cycle" by Hideki Futamura is initially quite interesting, but probably goes on for too long. It is heavy on philosophical babble, but the visuals are quite nice. In the end it’s all a bit too much and I was hoping it would end sooner than later. It feels like a bit of the mess when it’s over. Masaaki Yuasa’s "Happy Machine" is much like “Kaiba” in a way. It’s almost like a pilot film a bit due to its style. Like “Kaiba”, I didn’t take to this much at all. The whole childhood coupled with the beauty and horrors of the world thing wasn't exactly subtle. The ending really left a bad taste in my mouth as well for some reason. Didn’t like this one at all. The final film is "Baby Blue" by Shinichiro Watanabe. This is probably the least experimental film of the lot. It’s about two high school students who wag school for a day, which is highly unusual for them. It’s very melancholic and perhaps a bit too sentimental, but it is a great little film. You probably could have easily made a live action piece with the script.

So overall this omnibus film is pretty damn good. There’s only one film I really didn’t like, the rest were good. It’s a real shame that so very few films or any type of anime like the ones here get made, outside of Studio 4°C. It’s mostly all fan pandering stuff or anime for kids now days. This was the first Siren disc I had bought for a number of years. I can’t believe the change in the company in that time. First of all, the video looks just as good at NTSC releases which blew my mind. The packaging is also pretty damn good (digipak with removable slip with the ratings make and synopsis), and dare I say it better than anything Madman put out. The disc also comes with a bonus disc, but I haven’t watched it yet. 7 out of 10.

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

Video Backlog: "Peacock King/True Peacock King (Spirit Warrior)"

Publisher: U.S. Manga Corps (Central Park Media, USA)
Format: Region Free DVD, NTSC, Japanese Dialogue with optional English Dub and English Subtitles
Length: 56 mins (OVA 1), 60 mins (Movie), 50 mins (OVA 2), 2 Episodes x 50 mins (Second Series OVAs)
Production Date: 1988 – 1989, 1991 (first series OVAs/Movie), 1994 (Second Series OVAs)
Currently in Print (as of writing): No

Yes, I still have unwatched CPM discs (three single OVA discs, one 52 episode series left after this show). Like a lot of the material they released, this one is an oddity. Now I’ve said this a million times before, but I’ll state it again; anime is good at two specific things; genre stuff and exploitation material. This series is most definitely more the latter than the former. But first in an attempt make things a little less confused (that they already are), I’ll talk about the daft way this series was released in the US. The latter 1994 series was released first, then the three part series which begin in the late 1980’s. This was pretty silly on CPM’s part as the second series seems to be a reimagining of the original manga the anime was based off and incudes the death of two characters. I’m sure this would have confused the hell out of anyone who viewed the series in the sequence of the US release order.

The series focuses on a young Buddhist monk named Kujaku, who specialises on exorcising demons. Latched on to him is the somewhat love sick Ashura, who doesn’t seem to do a lot except be girly. Another major character is Onimaru, who looks like an extra from “Fist of the North Star”. So essentially both series are demon killing spectacles with plots that make little sense. However I don’t deny the fact that they are damn fun and great to watch. The only problem with the first three in the series is the lack of consistency of the character designs and animation. Having three different directors probably didn’t help. The first really looks like it was made in 1988. The style is SO late 1980’s OVA animation. The second is theatrical feature (strangely enough it played in cinemas with one of the “Ariel” OVAs) directed by Ichiro Itano. The animation is really fluid but looks really shite and wrong like the first episode of Itano’s “Angel Cop” OVA. The third is a really good classic looking OVA for the early 1990’s. All contain fairly high levels of gory violence (especially with Itano’s movie as you’d expect) and lot of nudity. The third in the series is even more exploitative with sexual violence; an invisible demon rapes a woman. This is the kind of exploitative trash that a 1990’s Manga Entertainment UK would salivate over and release, but oddly they never acquired it (to the best of my knowledge).

For the 1994 reboot Rin Taro was director. Talk about absurdity. Putting aside the usual style over substance we often see in this work, the plot is all over the place. The opening scene includes a bunch of Nazis stealing an artefact for a store owner in San Francisco’s Chinatown. With the Hindenburg flying overhead, naturally you’d assume this was the early 1930’s, right? Wrong. They’re robot neo Nazis and use their facsimile Hindenburg as their transport. Hmm, not exactly inconspicuous or something that would make a fast getaway. And yes, it does suffer the same fate as its namesake. Oh the humanity! The first OVA in this series contains a good deal of backstory which brings everything to a grinding halt. The plot with robotic neo Nazis attempting take over world kind of did my head in. It was too stupid to suspend any disbelief.

While I enjoyed a lot of the action and the exploitative nature of the first series (coupled with the late 1980’s era animation style and designs), the second series annoyed me a fair bit. Both series are far better than what I expected, but they’re still disposable trash. But it is really entering disposable trash. While the Madhouse animated second series was better in terms of animation quality, the rather ugly designs and garbled plot made it a real let down. CPM’s DVD release was unnecessarily confusing. Couldn’t they have at least numbered the discs? And why change the name when it was already previously released as "Peacock King" on VHS? 6 out of 10.

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

Video Backlog: "Our Home's Fox Deity (Wagaya no Oinari-sama)"

Publisher: NIS America (USA)
Format: Region 1 DVD, NTSC, Japanese Dialogue with optional English Subtitles
Length: 24 Episodes x 24 minutes
Production Date: 2008
Currently in Print (as of writing): Yes

This show was (like a lot of discs I purchase) a blind buy. Afterwards I had read in a couple of forums that the show wasn’t all that great. Luckily I generally ignore fandom now days. This show was a big surprise. I was expecting it to be rather lacklustre and full of the usual tropes. Yes, it does have a lot of clichéd characters and situations, however the show is (almost) never dull. The setup is that primary school aged boy, Toru, begins to be targeted by yokai (monsters) because of the Yin in his blood. To combat this, his grandmother, who seems to be a sort of priestess, awakens a sealed fox deity called Kugen Tenko (or just plain Ku as Toru calls him) to defend Toru and the family. The family’s ancestors sealed the deity many centuries ago because he played tricks on the humans. It takes a while to convince the deity to help, however it is reminded of its friendship with Toru’s deceased mother many years ago.

The family guardian who has trained with grandma, a young woman named Ko who looks a lot like a Shinto priestess, is also sent to look after Toru and his elder brother Noboru. From there it becomes part slice of life show and part super natural action show, though it is more heavily weighted towards the former. Most of the yokai are benign or have no real malicious intent even though their actions could harm or kill people. The fox deity can transform into either a good looking blonde woman or man and naturally the deity turns heads where ever he goes. There was the usual trope of both Ku and Ko not knowing how modern devices or modern day Japanese society works, however this was dealt with in a gentle manner. It wasn’t forced or felt terribly clichéd or groan worthy like a lot of anime series make this situation.

Most of the characters, both primary and secondary, are well fleshed out and were very likable. In particular I liked Misaki Sakura, Noboru’s female friend at high school. She has a crush on him but has an overactive imagination and dreams up scenarios where Ku and Ko are his lovers and she feels threated by this. Of course Misaki wears her feelings on her sleeve, but Noboru never notices. Her love sick paranoid delusions are just hilarious to watch. Toru and Noboru’s father was also quite interesting for me. While he is probably the least developed character in the show, I found it rather amusing that he never blinked an eyelid at any of the supernatural beings which live in the house or show up on his doorstep. Maybe this has to do with deceased wife being a priestess like her mother. Ku has to be the best character in the show. While he/she is very laid back to the point of being lazy, the fox deity truly cares for the two brothers and the family, despite being sealed away centuries ago by the family’s ancestors. She (well it’s a female most of the time) has a fantastic personality that is upbeat and with an undertone of sarcasm underneath.

Overall this series was pretty damn good. It is quite funny in many parts (a really underplayed kind of humour a lot of the time) and almost obligatory action sequences that crop up once an episode are great. The action and character designs are really good too. While most of the episodes are self-contained, a few towards the end of the series are double or triple parters. The series sort of loses focus at the end with a couple of stories being a little substandard (or to be more frank, crappy) compared to earlier ones. The final episode didn’t have much punch and was frankly anticlimactic when compared to the two mini arcs which preceded it. The show is based on a still ongoing light novel series, so that may explain the somewhat lacklustre ending. Also disappointing was the underutilisation of Gyokuyo (Tama), Ku’s “brethren”, another fox deity with silver fur. More could have been made of this and I think the screenwriters could have made a really exciting conclusion exploiting the somewhat uneasy relationship between the two. Alas this was not to be. NIS’ release of this show was up to their usual standards; by far the best packaging of any anime currently in the US market. The hardcover artbooks are just beautiful, even though they aren’t filled with liner note or interviews like Nozomi sets. It’s all about pretty pictures I guess and not information. I’m cool with that though. This series gets a solid 7 out of 10 from me.

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

Video Backlog: "The Mars Daybreak (Kenran Butohsai)"

Publisher: Bandai Entertainment (USA)
Format: Region 1 DVD, NTSC, Japanese Dialogue with optional English dub and English Subtitles
Length: 26 Episodes x 23 minutes
Production Date: 2004
Currently in Print (as of writing): Yes

A couple of years ago, I decided to buy up the Bandai Entertainment titles that I didn’t own as a lot of their stuff was going out of print. It was mostly the stuff I was mildly interested in and stuff I had half bought (curse you volume one + box era!). Sometimes I wish I had been a bit more selective with the stuff I bought. This is one such occasion.

It’s not a bad show by any means, but it is rather mediocre. It’s almost what I’d describe as a “paint by numbers” show. The basic premise is interesting enough. The show is set on Mars several centuries in the future, where a severe economic downturn has taken place. You have the main character, Gram, who ends up being an accomplice to smugglers when he tries to stop a boy under his care from helping them. In the meantime a pirate ship, the Ship of Aurora, invades the port and Gram ends up in the ocean. Here he manages to find a Round Buckler, a robot designed to operate in Mars’ oceans. He soon finds himself joining the crew of the Ship of Aurora after a battle with the military who are attempting to capture the pirate ship.

In addition to this, Vess, Gram’s old childhood friend, is now a member of the military and is determined to set him on the right path. Naturally a romance blossoms between the two. We also have the sub plot where Gram is linked to the aboriginal tribes of Mars through a pendant he wears. So, there are a number of problems with this show. First problem is the characters, in particular, Vess. There isn’t much history between Vess and Gram shown to the audience. Vess is a military woman through and through, but also very self-centred and thoughtless. It was pretty much impossible to sympathise with her. There was also Enora Taft, a teenage rich girl whom the pirates inadvertently save from a group of inept kidnappers. Her inclusion in the show was rather pointless and added nothing to the show at all nor added tension to Vess and Gram’s relationship, which I think was the point of her inclusion. The character designs where quite bland and some of the secondary designs where just plain awful, especially in the hands of bad animators. A lot of the characters where just plain caricatures and had no depth or were developed at all.

The mecha too wasn’t all that spectacular. Adequate is how I’d describe the designs. The show was animated by Bones and I noticed that the robots looked awfully similar to those in “RahXephon”. I could not believe the amount of filler episodes in the show, probably about half a dozen. Yet another major problem with the show is the lack of explanation of many of the aspects to Mars’ culture. Yeah we have talking cats and porpoises as well as “Naval Witches”, but what the fuck are they and where did they come from? At least the ancestors of Mars’ first inhabitants are explained, but they neglect to explain Gram’s connection with them or his Round Buckler. The show was the product of a computer game company, so I probably shouldn’t have expected too much. On the positive side, some of the animation was rather exceptional and the plot wasn’t too bad. It was fairly engaging and I do like strong non-stereotypical female characters which had in the form of the pirate ship’s captain. But in the end it was kind of mediocre, 6 out of 10.

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

Video Backlog: "Kaiba"

Publisher: Siren Visual (Australia)
Format: Region 4 DVD, PAL, Japanese Dialogue with optional English Subtitles
Length: 12 Episodes x 23 minutes
Production Date: 2008
Currently in Print (as of writing): Yes

This is another recent and odd release from Siren. As with about half of their anime releases, this one hasn’t had an English language release anywhere else on home video. It’s also a rather left of centre show. Directed by Masaaki Yuasa of “Mind Game”, “The Tatami Galaxy” and “Welcome to the Space Show” fame, the basic story idea seems to be similar to “Ghost in the Shell”, in that memories can be data and that you can literally swap bodies. The story is set on a planet where the rich live above a city of the poor. They take and trade their bodies and can remove bad memories and insert new ones. Though body theft is illegal, it still happens. The story begins with a young man who wakes up with no memories discovering he has a hole in his chest, a strange symbol on his abdomen and a necklace with a picture of a girl inside. After being chased down by a strange creature which seemingly eats people and their memories, he befriends a young man named Popo who gives him the temporary name “Warp” and smuggles him aboard a ship leaving the planet.

Warp then has a number of adventures on a number of planets before the plot relating to the mysterious One Mind Society rears its head. OK, I am going to go against the grain here in my views on this show. All most all the reviews of this show have been all positive. I just didn’t get the show. There are some really great concepts and ideas in the show as well as the design and animation which are literally nothing like anything else on TV. The problem for me is how the show was structured. The first half of the show introduces “Warp” and a few of the main characters rather quickly, but then goes off on some rather pointless adventure story. Sure, I get that it’s meant to show what the world of Kaiba is like and how society treats people. But the show is was just too abstract, obtuse and surreal for my tastes. I really do like surreal material, but not as it is presented in this show. The first half isn’t much fun at all. Warp ends up in several bodies with a horny security guard after him. He meets several innocent strangers who end up being abused by a society a system where life is cheap. The 1950’s styled designs and cuteness coupled with the horrible world they inhabit made for rather depressing viewing.

The second half is much, much better with the introduction of the One Mind Society who opposes the technology that allows people to transfer memories into other bodies and therefore virtually become immortal. This section was quite good with a lot of plot relating to the history of the main characters and the organisation which opposes the memory chips and theft of the poor’s bodies for the rich. Still I had a number of problems with this part of the show. The big one was to do with the death of certain characters and their revival later on in the show. It didn’t quite make a lot of sense, especially when the body has been completely destroyed. The planet/memory eating plant was also a bit too much for me. Couldn’t suspend disbelief for that one.

In the end I really respect what has been done with the show. With many TV series looking like they’ve spat out of a factory and having passed through several otaku focus groups, this show is really something different. Pity that the narrative is really hard to follow at times and that it is really hard to identify or sympathise with any of the characters, especially when the main character changes his body and sex many times during the first few episodes. The surrealism is almost to the point of Dadaism, and mixed in with the cuteness of the design style and horror and grotesqueness of some of the situations, I was really put off by the show especially in the first half. I dig surrealism and avant-garde stuff like Terry Gilliam or Alejandro Jodorowsky’s films. However I had really bad reaction to this show. You can have something that is surreal with a coherent narrative and isn’t depressing. This show doesn’t do that. I found it to be a very frustrating experience. I can only give this one 5 out of 10.

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

Video Backlog: "House of the Five Leaves"

Publisher: Siren Visual (Australia)
Format: Region 4 DVD, PAL, Japanese Dialogue with optional English Subtitles
Length: 12 Episodes x 24 minutes
Production Date: 2010
Currently in Print (as of writing): Yes

This is the third release in Siren’s noitaminA series. While you might think a lot of the better material in the noitaminA block may have gone to their competitor, I must admit most of Siren’s acquisitions have been very interesting. If not, really nice, possibly uncommercial and financially unsound. While Funimation may have streamed this title in the US, they have to date not announced a home video release, and they probably won’t either. Though the show is getting a UK release via Beez later this year. The Siren release is the first time this show has appeared on home video in English.

This show is very different from a lot of the more recent anime I’ve seen. The noitaminA stuff is aimed at an older audience and “House of the Five Leaves” is no exception. It looks like a standard samurai drama from the outset, albeit with very distinctive character designs. However unlike the majority of samurai drama (both animated and live action), the focus here is more on the interactions and histories of the characters. In particular the focus is squarely on the meek ronin Akisu and his friendship (if you could call it that) and dealings with Yaichi, an underground figure. Akisu gets sucked into the world of a small time criminal gang called the House of the Five Leaves who kidnap the rich to make some money on the side. Though the group could hardly be called criminal masterminds, they are shrewd and very clever at what they do.

The series is less about the kidnappings and more about the characters themselves. All five personalities of members of the group are explored in the series. The series is also told in a deliberately slow manner, though there’s never a dull moment, though the show might be slow for some. Those expecting samurai action throughout will be disappointed. The show has more in common with “To Heart” than it does with “Rurouni Kenshin”. Not a great deal of stuff happens. Most of the story revolves around Akisu, who at first seems to be an incompetent samurai, but is incredibly skilled. Some of the material revolving around this character wasn’t all that interesting and I sort of wished the focus had been on others, or there was a bit more action or plot. It does get a bit tense towards the end, but the show ends without any over the top incidents or major revelations really. Siren’s set is like their others; pretty damn good. The artwork is nice the vide looks really good for a PAL transfer and the audio sounds a lot better than the slightly weird compressed stuff I’ve heard on the other shows in this series. Certainly not the best show I’ve seen recently, but it’s one of the more interesting ones and the staff have made a real effort to give the audience something different. I’ll give it 7 out of 10.

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

Video Backlog: "DNA²"

Publisher: U.S. Manga Corps (Central Park Media, USA)
Format: Region 1 DVD, NTSC, Japanese Dialogue with optional English Dub and English Subtitles
Length: 15 Episodes x 24 minutes
Production Date: 1994 – 1995
Currently in Print (as of writing): No

Masakazu Katsura was probably one of the biggest mangaka amongst Western anime and manga fans back min the 1990’s. Admittedly I didn’t get into his work. I did watch the OVA series of “Video Girl Ai”, which didn’t impress me much at all initially, but egged on by a member of my local anime club who was very enthusiastic about his work, I searched out the manga which was being serialised in Animerica Extra at the time. It was pretty damn good and I read the manga until it reached where the OVA finished. After that I felt the story was less interesting and kind of gave up reading it at that stage.

The only reason I got a hold of the “DNA²” anime was that Viz had licenced “Video Girl Ai”, so I got the VHS fansubs of the show. Don’t know why I bothered really as I now have the DVD versions of both shows… I can’t exactly remember what I thought about “DNA²” initially as it has been so long since I first watched it (more than a decade). I remember an interview with Katsura who said that he took Junta’s hair style from “Dragonball Z” and kids love vomit jokes, so he stuck that in there. Kind of an absurd show really. It’s pretty much the same old shonen romantic comedy with a male “loser” lead (who has a female allergy and vomits when he is sexually aroused) who in the future will become the “mega playboy” and father 100 “mega playboys” which causes a massive problem in overpopulation (is there no contraception in the future?). Junta gets shot by Aoi, a DNA Operator from the future, in an attempt to alter his DNA to stop him from becoming the “mega playboy”, but it seems she is the cause of him becoming the “mega playboy” as she has used the wrong DNA changing bullet.

Yeah, it’s pretty much juvenile sexual fantasy as about four women end up throwing themselves at him, including one who farts every time she gets nervous, the hottest girl in the school and the childhood friend and literal girl next door who is immune to the “mega playboy“ but likes the normal Junta. This could all be a really tired show, but I found it quite entertaining for the majority of its length, despite the clichés. It’s also very funny most of the time. There are some moments which are completely over the top and spoil things. The inclusion of the possessive Ryuji who decides to fight Junta and the absurd climatic fight put me off. The three part OVA which ends the TV series (it was pretty unusual to have such a short TV series on air, and in such an early time slot, 5:30pm) was pretty pointless and poorly animated to boot. The designs are pretty damn good and animation is by Madhouse so its quality stuff. Being a 1990’s anime, naturally Megumi Hayashibara makes an appearance (as the alpha female Tomoko Saeki). Miina Tominaga also appears as the slightly ditzy DNA operator Karin Aoi.

In conclusion it’s not a bad show. It’s fun but does have a lot of the typical shonen comedy romance clichés, but there are a lot of surprising twists and turns. The writing isn’t as lazy as you might expect it to be for the genre. The final three OVA episodes spoil the show for me. There’re completely unnecessary. The CPM discs are quite good. The video is unusually excellent. The DVD extras are mostly made up ones and are pretty dreadful. One is “What is DNA?”. I’m assuming this was made for viewers who failed science at high school. The series was released on five discs, which I think was two too many, but it was released in 2002, which was typical back then. 6.5 out of 10.

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

Video Backlog: (Artificial) Life on Mars

“Armitage III”
Publisher: Geneon (USA)
Format: Region 1 and 4 DVD, NTSC, Japanese Dialogue with optional English Dub and English Subtitles
Length: 47 mins (OVA 1), 28 mins x 3 Episodes (OVAs 2 to 4)
Production Date: 1995
Currently in Print (as of writing): No

I originally bought the subtitled tapes for this show in the late 1990’s. Pioneer released them in black clamshell cases with the translated LD insert folded up inside. It looked so damn good. Bizarrely the dub tapes just got the usual cardboard slip over the tape. Unsure why Pioneer did this. Anyway, as Geneon was breathing its last breaths, I decided I should probably rebuy this show on DVD (and keep the covers and inserts from the VHS tapes, which I always regretted not doing for the “Tenchi Muyo!” OVAs). Strangely the DVD versions lack the inserts and extras found in their LD and VHS counterparts.

This show is certainly cyberpunk to the core. The city on Mars looks so much like Los Angeles in “Blade Runner”. We also have “replicants” (the Thirds) and a Roy Batty lookalike (D’anclaude). I think this one of the last true cyberpunk anime made, discounting the woeful remakes and spinoffs of “Bubblegum Crisis”. “Armitage III” is also yet another great example of the great stuff that was being produced in the 1990’s OVAs market. While the first episode is pretty sketchy at times with some really absurd scenes, rather crappy and clichéd dialogue and some dodgy animation, overall it’s really well done and quite fun. The plot over the four OVAs is pretty entertaining. The action sequences are pretty damn good too. Despite the fact this is an AIC anime, the designs are pretty damn good. This was just before AIC decided they only needed a handful of character designs for every single anime they produced (come on, it’s true!).

Overall, this is one really fun OVA series. If only the format would rise up again. The big negatives here are there is a plot hole or two and the fact parts of the OVA show that it was done on a tight budget. When the Geneon logo came up, I was tricked into thinking that this disc was a remaster. It’s not. The video is quite watchable, but looks shoddy in numerous spots. 7 out of 10.

“Armitage III: Poly-Matrix”
Publisher: Geneon (USA)
Format: Region 1 and 4 DVD, NTSC, English Dialogue with optional Japanese Subtitles
Length: 92 mins
Production Date: 1996
Currently in Print (as of writing): No

The mid 1990’s was a period where a lot of OVAs were given runs in cinemas with additional material. Stuff like “Macross Plus” as well as a lot of Gundam stuff (0083, Wing: Endless Waltz, 08th MS team etc). I’m unsure why the decision was made to release this series as a film. Even more strange was the fact that in Japan it was released in English only (with Japanese subtitles). Weirder was the fact they used to slightly washed up Hollywood stars, a pre “24” Kiefer Sutherland and Elizabeth Berkley (who only has the cinematic masterpiece “Showgirls” as her only claim to fame). Somehow I managed to get the Japanese VHS. I loaned it to the local anime club (according to flyer, it was late 1997) because they were playing shit. For two years they had played imported commercial subbed tapes and LDs as well as fansubs. But they were lazy pricks and weren’t getting anything new (one of the members who was supplying them stuff got shitty with them and left). So rather than watching dubbed “Fatal Fury” and “Toshiden” I decided to help them, for the sake of the sanity of those who came. I remember people laughing at the line “If you don’t leave, I’ll call the security gadget” in this film. Well, it was pretty stupid and 14 or so years on it still sounds dumb.

The reason for getting this film is three new major animated sequences. The first is the opening credits which introduce us to Armitage as she dispatches an assassin android with a bike. It’s pretty cool. The second is a hospital sequence where Eddie discusses the Thirds with Ross. The third is a postscript to the battle at the end of the film. I don’t think this last sequence is as good as the OVA ending. There’s also a number of minor new scenes and redone animation added to the film. Most of this was done for continuity purposes. The bulk of the film is made up of the first and last episodes. There still is a lot of rather dodgy and cheap animation left in, which makes the film not really look like a theatrical feature. With the exception of the two leads, I think the dub cast is identical and they mostly do a good job. Berkley is really good as Armitage, and at times is better actor than her Japanese counterpart (who sounded really flat in some parts of the first episode). I’ve heard people criticise Sutherland’s performance, but I think he’s pretty good. He underplays the part which I think suits Ross.


While the film is in widescreen, the disc itself is 4:3 letterbox which is highly disappointing. Oddly the film also comes with Japanese subtitles. Naturally there is no Japanese language track as none exists. The audio including sound effects were completely redone. Most of it works well, however some of it seems really out of place. The mecha sounds really weird and pieces of some action sequences don’t seem right. Luckily the music was kept the same, however there is a new end credit theme which is brilliant. Overall, surprisingly good, but several elements, mostly to do with the cheapness of the original production, let it down a bit. 7 out of 10.

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