OBSCURE O.V.A.S, *Appleseed

Although most people might be familiar with the 2004 CGI movie, Masamune Shirow's manga series was turned into this feature-length OVA one-shot from 1988. The original comic was similar to Shirow's later work of Ghost In The Shell dealing with special police forces in a high-tech future and was one of the founding Japanese contributions to the cyberpunk genre. The OVA, along with several other anime adaptations of Shiro's titles, the director took a sci-fi cop story and turned it into a stage for social or political commentary. Kazuyoshi Katayama director had previously worked on 80s hit movies like Space Adventure Cobra and Nausicaa, but the 1988 OVA does lack the financial backing and high quality of his former productions, but this nostalgic gem by the legendary Gainax studio still maintains a place in anime history.

After the third World War, a good portion of the Earth lay in ruins, with the metropolis of Olympus acts as a shining beacon for refugees. Most of the citizens are either cyborgs, or bioroids, artificial humans. There is also a large population of regular humans, alot of which were former wastelanders. Two of these former road warriors are the sexy blonde SWAT team member Charon, and her cybernetic partner Briareos who has most of his outside replaced with mechanical parts, including a noticeable pair of antennae which makes him look like a big metal bunny. The city is being targeted by a terrorist cell set on bringing Olympus' down because they believe the utopian lifestyle is inhuman, and they kidnap the bioroid Hitomi whose DNA can bring down the entire computer network. This allows the terrorists to pull a grand theft mecha with one of Olympus' giant mobile battle towers to wreck the city, all while Charon and Briareos try to figure out the traitor in their midst in their mission to rescue their friend Hitomi.

The Appleseed OVA does steer slightly of the manga plot from a cyberpunk crime story to more one of soapbox for mankind's struggle between elitism and basic survival. The quality is above the norm as far as other OVAs from the time, but you can still see where alot of corners were cut, infamously with examples of Engrish like "Red Alart". There's alot of inconsistencies between the cybernetics lore from the OVA and the original source material including other cyberpunk titles, like having the entire city's defense being carried around in the DNA of a random girl, or the huge cyborg Briareos being able to consume human food which is never used in any of the other Appleseed adaptations. It's a token in the library of standard anime viewings, but still a great look into the 80s era.

Beachcomber is a Disney Princess

 

I HAVE THE POWER DROID!

 

OBSCURE O.V.A.S, *El-Hazard: The Magnificent World

One of Pioneer's earlier OVA series they produced before they changed their name to Geneon was one of the first pinpoint isekai titles, El-Hazard: The Magnificent World was a 7-episode done anime through AIC, similar to Tenchi Muyo, as it spawned several sequels and spinoffs. The first self-contained OVA was an otherworldly anime inspired by the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs, with another OVA continuing the plot in a separate series. Hiroki Hayashi gave this anime a similar treatment he directed in the original Tenchi series, and liked one of the character designs so much that he reused it for his TV remake of Bubblegum Crisis. The first and last episodes of the initial OVA were twice as long as the middle episodes making for a progressive opening and finale.

Ancient ruins are mysteriously discovered on the campus of a Japanese high school, and a strange girl emerges from the tomb to send a quartet of the after hours residents to the Arabesque world of El-Hazard. Once there, each of them realizes that their journey resulted in gaining superpowers. The main character Makoto can use technopathy to synchronize with ancient El-Hazard machinations, alcoholic teacher Fujisawa now has super-strength when he is sober, the business minded Namami can see through magical illusions, and her maniacal brother Jinnai has the ability to communicate with the strong hordes of the insectoid Bugrom. Jinnai leads the Bugrom as they invade the human kingdoms of El-Hazard, led by Princess Rune, whose sister Fatora has been kidnapped. Makoto happens to look exactly like the missing princess, so he masquerades in drag to replace her as he recruits a trio of priestesses to help them unseal the deadly weapon known as The Eye Of God, a miniature satellite that can open holes in dimensions. Acting as the true masterminds are the deceptive Phantom Tribe, refugees from another dimension who can create mental illusions to hide their true forms, and they kidnapped Fatora so they can use The Eye to take revenge against El-Hazard for getting yanked from their home the last time The Eye was activated centuries ago. Jinnai further ups the ante by becoming master of the deadly android Ifurita, who Makoto recognizes as the one that sent them to El-Hazard in the first place. This makes for a surprising but memorable ending that is somewhat undermined by the OVAs continued adventures.

The first regular sequel, El-Hazard 2, continues the Earthlings' adventures in the magnificent world as they encounter a different Ifurita and another ultimate weapon. This continuity was carried on to the second TV series, El-Hazard: The Alternate World, where the cast gets transported to a completely different dimension with its own Eye Of God. The first TV series, El-Hazard: The Wanderers was an extended remake of the initial 7-episode OVA, but with some characters getting shuffled around, or completely removed altogether. The original OVA was a groundbreaker in its early set up of what would eventually be labeled as a "harem" anime with the main male character becoming the source of several female characters' intentions. The animation quality begins a little rough in the first episode, but by the time the mail plot gets going in the following episodes, the animation gets a noticeable upgrade. The character designs a bright and eye-catching, with some sprawling landscapes and backgrounds. The soundtrack is quite exceptional, with both the English and Japanese lyrics simultaneously added to the original dub, which on its own is stellar, especially Jinnai's madcapped laughter. The original OVA was first released on VHS through Pioneer and combined El-Hazard 2 in a DVD collection from Geneon. It only recently finally got Blu-Ray release by Nozomi Entertainment, with a crisp new restoration making for a rich viewing experience. Unless you grew up on anime in the 90s, El-Hazard might get on some people's nerves with the several tropes that largely sprung from its first outing, but is still the groundbreaking isekai of which has influenced numerous current anime.

DOCTOR OCTAGONAPUS: NO WAY HOME! BLARGH!

R.I.P., Sonny Chiba.

ANI-MOVIES, *Black Jack: The Movie

Osamu Tezuka, the Walt Disney of Anime, has created numerous titles released in English such as Astro Boy and Kimba The White Lion, one of his most enduring manga titles, Black Jack hadn't seen much exposure in the Western Hemisphere. The story of a scarred rogue doctor has been transferred to several TV shows, OVAs, ONAs, and a least one prior live-action film, Black Jack: The Movie was the first of three feature length animated motion pictures to highlight the bizarre world that the enigmatic surgeon saves life in.

During the 1996 Olympics in "Atlantis", several American athletes begin breaking records, which leads everyone to believe this is a new breed of superhuman with increased physical and mental capacities. The unlicensed medical genius known as Black Jack is called into investigate a former patient suffering from some of these superhumans who are now becoming burned out and dying. Black Jack's mission leads him to working for the evil conglomorate Brane Industries, lead by the CEO's mad genius daughter who actually created the extraordinary medical condition which is now a full blown disease. The story strays a little saying it all leads to a special fungus in the Afrcan desert, from which a cure is eventually found, but at the cost of mankind needing to clean up its act as far as the enviroment is concerned.

This was a phenomenally visual production, with stunning animation, but the main fault takes the premise for what should have been a single episode into a full length feature. The characters can appear to be pointlessly mysterious, and gives the viewer frustrated as to what their prime motivations are. The first OVA series and original TV anime of Black Jack are available for American otaku to view, and are a better representation of Tezuka's crossover characters.

Plundor RULES!

ANI-MOVIES, *The Sea Prince And The Fire Child

Before they started making busloads full of cash from making Hello Kitty merchandise, Sanrio created several animated productions concieved international projects with other animation studios to do projects lile Unico and The Mouse And His Child, similar to a Disney-type company that leases the services of other countries to handle the actual production. Originally titled The Legend Of Syrius, this was intended to be a family picture despite involving nudity, incest, and tragic deaths. As it was inspired by Romeo And Juliet, this is a fairy tale of divine proportions, but gushing with whimsy.

Possible happening far before the dawn of man, the lord of the sea who shared a romance with his sister, the goddess of fire. The two were cunningly seperated by a jealous wind god, and the realms of Fire and Sea were blocked off from an area called the Forbidden Zone. Each godlike sibling had their own child, the Sea Prince Syrius who is immedieately promoted to king at the beginning of the movie, and the soon to be queen Malta of the Fire Kingdom. The two end up meeting each other as Malta is tasked with guarding an eternal flame at the edge of the Forbidden Zone, and they of course fall in love as two fiesty teenagers would, and even learning that their parents were siblings doesn't deter their romance. The young lovers are divided by their parents, but Syrius and Malta escape on their own, and search for a special kind of flower which blooms every few decades that allows them to travel to a star where fire and water live in harmony. Their quest leaves the best friends of each title character loosing their lives by sacrificing their love, making for possibly one of the first lesbian characters in an anime movie. After the flowers bloom in front of Malta leaving her heartbroken, the fire princess then acends into the Fire Queen, just as Syrius finally escapes his father's prison, but goes blind looking at the sun just after Malta's transformation, and eventually the young king dies from sunshine exposure. Malta snaps out of her evolution lag and tries to return Syrius to the sea, which would mean her own death. Syrius's father intercedes, and helps the two rise up to their own heavenly star where its mostly hinted that the young lovers are in fact alive in their own idealic paradise.

Sea Prince And The Fire Child can be viewed as being highly influenced by the early Walt Disney movies, with a large portion of its runtime being dedicated to the comical secondary characters, plus some stunning background animations. The main couple leaves you wondering if Peter Pan tried to woo Sleeping Beauty, which makes for another Disney comparison. However the feature does make for a fine fantasy romance, although not really for all ages despite its target audience.