OBSCURE O.V.A.S, *Cyber City Oedo 808

Being the third in a series of titles Yoshiaki Kawajiri worked on that had the word "city" in it, Cyber City Oedo 808 is a cyberpunk story that commits the sin that numerous futuristic tales commit by taking place too far in the actual future. Happening in the year 2808, this world of tomorrow still has grounded cars and outdated robotics that were retro even at the time this 3-episode OVA came out in 1990. Kawajiri brought his brand of lightning animation of which he would soon use in his cult classic Ninja Scroll. Speaking of cult, the British dub for this is one of the more infamous English dubs of an anime as it is peppered with pointlessly misplaced cursing which makes it a chuckle-fest for pre-teen boys.

In the far-flung future of the early 29th Century where the city of Oedo has been constructed with a history of deep underground crime still holding power. The combat this, police chief Hasegawa takes a page out of Escape From New York and lassos a trio of convicts all serving out life sentences consisting of the loudmouthed Sengoku, the effeminate Benten, and Gogul who looks like Bebop from TMNT. All three of these prisoners are given exploding collars and are forced to help out the police on special cases in order to take time off from their sentences. Each of the episodes deals with a separate case spotlighting one of the members of this sci-fi suicide squad in which the first one has Sengoku trying to stop a skyscraper so stupidly tall that it requires its own gravity-controlled generated to keep it balanced from collapsing on the city after the building is taken over by the spirit of a deceased architect. The next chapter sees Gogul being manipulated in a convoluted caper to fight a new psychic-powered cyborg created by the military to control the police. Finally, Benten investigates a series a murders to which all evidence points to the killer being a vampire, most of the ideas from this episode helped inspire Kawajiri's work on Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust.

Cyber City Oedo 808 is similar to numerous cyberpunk titles as it is set in a dystopian future which seems to be set in a version of the world after more than one apocalypse has taken place as most of the robots seem like something out of Star Wars instead of artificial humans like in Blade Runner. The English dialogue is cliche of early 90's dubs filled with cursing just for the case of cursing despite that it makes it one of the better anime titles to watch for an evening at home getting drunk. The OVA is a must for die-hard fans of old school but fluid animation. It is one of Kawajiri's most recognized works, even though usually overlooked by non-otaku who have only watched his more mainstream releases.

Stop starting at Ultraman's butt!

 

MISC. MANGA, *Lucky Penny

What most might dismiss as a gender flipped Scott Pilgrim, they would be surprised to discover it is a fresh take on the idea of a hapless loser in love. Lucky Penny by Yuko Ota and Ananth Hirsch is a gaggle of geek references and realistic shenanigans presented in a manga-styled graphic novel. The major difference between this and Scott Pilgrim is being a more tangible story showing the struggles of a youngster just trying to make a living despite their meager skills and education.

Penny is a lackadaisical young woman who gets fired from her failing retail job and loses her apartment at the exact same time. Her friend Helen helps her out by letting her live in her storage facility as well as getting a job at her family's laundromat singularly managed by her moody younger brother David. Penny charms a gym employee Walter so she can use the showers for free, but the two of them begin to bond over their love of tabletop games. Penny's notices their seems to be a conspiracy going on with a gang of wandering pre-teens grifting the neighborhood which leads to a seriously secret ending culminating into the comic's equivalent of a boss fight from a video game.

Lucky Penny isn't specifically geared towards otaku, but it is drawn and executed in the manner of mange storytelling. It's a straightforward slice of life comedy with larger than life characters and how embarrassing a budding young romance can be.

ANI-MOVIES, *Sailor Moon Eternal

Sailor Moon Crystal was a retelling of the original manga without all the monster-of-the-week fillers that padded out each season of the 90s series adapted into five separate story arcs. However, the TV remake only covered the first three arcs, leaving room for Sailor Moon Eternal to do the Dream saga, otherwise labeled as Sailor Moon SS(or "Super S"). This was produced by Toei Animation as a two-part theatrical release which is supposed to be followed up by simliar production covering the Sailor Moon Stars saga.

Picking up where Sailor Moon Crystal left off, Chibiusa's trip back to the future is cut short by the arrival of a new enemy, the Dead Moon Circus. These mirthful monsters are from the literal dark side of the moon where the original Queen Serenity banished them to and finally broken free during an eclipse. Lead by the lethal Queen Nehelenia, the DMC send out their agents of the Amazoness Quartet who in turn dispatch their minions, the Amazon Trio, to give each of the Sailor Guardians their own evolution and power up. Chibiusa learns that Nehelenia has captured a pegasus called Helios who guards the Earth's inner realm of Elysion. This causes Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask to become ill as this invasion blocks the connection to each of their respected magic crystals. The outer guard of the Sailor Guardians along with a rejuvenated Sailor Saturn who has grown back into her prior age arrive to help the rescue the other Sailors from the Amazoness Quartet, each of whom are revealed to be Sailor Guardians in the future acting as Chibiusa's personal guard. All the planetary protectors eventually combine their powers to smite Nehelenia's plans to take over the world by freeing her grip on Elysion.

The animation done for this massive production was a step above what was done in the Sailor Moon Crystal series, although not substantially as it was filled with stock footage of transformations and special attack sequences. This could have easily been released as a single TV season instead of breaking it up into two movies. The major draw for it is the superior retelling of the manga bringing in obscure characters like Mars' companions Phobos and Deimos, or Artemis finally in his human form. Sailor Moon Eternal makes for a spectacular watch for 90s Moonies completionists, but anyone going strait into the Sailor Senshi story will probably end up being lost.