R.I.P.: Alan Arkin

 

OBSCURE O.V.A.S, *Fire Emblem

The 1990s were lousy with OVAs based on video games, most of which never even got an English release like Sakura Wars and Galaxy Fraulein Yuna. Being cautious to allow their titles to be turned into animated productions after the fiasco that was The Legend Of Zelda American series, Nintendo somehow got motivated to have its Fire Emblem RPG formatted into a 2-episode OVA based on the third chapter in the series, Fire Emblem: Mystery Of The Emblem. The anime came out two years after the initial game's release with the possibility of extending it based on its sales, so how well it did in comparison to the video game it is based on is hard to say, but the OVA got gobbled up by ADV Films in their crusade to get nearly any anime they could get released on the American market. The anime got both episodes released on a single dubbed and subtitled VHS with most of the ADV regulars as the cast, so there's a number of people on the original Evangelion dub that will sound familiar upon watching. Despite having five studios behind this brief anime romp, the animation itself is largely basic which might be due to Nintendo not wanting to get their feet too wet in their first major anime-related release just prior to them launching the unstoppable juggernaut that is Pokemon.

The anime opens with a bewildering ton of narration asking you to digest an entire Silmarillion's worth of backstory involving several different kingdoms bickering with each other leading to the nobler house of Aritia getting invaded with its Prince Marth and his knights obtaining sanctuary in the nearby land of Talys whose Princess Caeda has a major crush the outcasted prince. Talys gets invaded by pirates, so Marth and his posse ride into town to rescue the city. Afterwards, Marth decides to take Caeda and his buds on a crusade to reclaim their homeland. Along the way the help a rogue swordsman they free a priestess from a band of slave traders as they begin their long journey which never got a continuation after low sales.

The problem with the Fire Emblem's anime adaptation is that it expects you to already know a bunch of lore prior to seeing it of which was completely lost on American viewers who never even knew what Fire Emblem was until some of their characters were featured in the Super Smash Bros. franchise. For a fantasy-based RPG, there are incredibly few fantasy elements involved in it aside from a random evil wizard and the Princess' Pegasus, leaving most of the story leaning towards the video game's tactics angle. The OVA has never been released on DVD or Blu-Ray in America, and isn't regularly on streaming either, so this may pique your interest if you became a fan of the game series after they became available in the West, but you are not really missing out on anything by avoiding it.

Gosh, Thanks For Inviting Us.

 

MISC. MANGA, *Tomorrow Girl

With superhero movies being the biggest thing in theaters over the last decade, Antarctic Press thought it was time to revitalize their pretend legacy character of Tomorrow Girl. Originally featured in the pages of Ninja High School(specifically Version 2), the series itself was one of the first manga-inspired comic books in America, Tomorrow Girl was the prodigy of reocurring Superman parody, Tomorrow Man. She became the love interest of NHSV2 main character Ricky Feeple, a ginger ninja in training years before Naruto was even made, although she had a secret identity of Heidi Yfory where she blended into the other average students at Quagmire High filled with other ninjas, aliens, robots, mad scientists, witches, and sentai heroes. Although this particular storyline starts off in a completely different timeline.

The first issue begins with Tomorrow Girl trying to rescue her friend Professor Steamhead in a dystopian world only to run into the villain Tomorrow Lord under the control of evil entity known as D-Ky. The superpowered duel is cut short with the arrival of the Peeper, a parody on Marvel's The Watcher who is a cosmic being that pulls TG back in time to stop D-Kay's initial conquest of Earth as the wicked spirit takes over the body of what is this universe's version of Mary Marvel from Shazam who here is known as Mary Miracle. Peeper assembles a team of public domain superheroes like the original incarnations of Black Cat, Daredevil, and Blue Beetle, along with Antarctic Press' Blue Beetle homage of Crimson Scorpion and drops them all off in the 1940s where D-Kay is rampaging through Washington DC in Mary Miracle's body. Thanks to Crimson Scorpion's energy stinger, Tomorrow Girl manages to free Mary from D-Kay's control, leading the Peeper to send everyone back to their original realities where our heroine finds the timeline has been slightly altered to a less-dystopian present day.

This series was the result of a Kickstarter project of a large Tomorrow Girl anthology trade paperback with an additional short appearing in the first mainstream issue which is supposed to be released on a bi-monthly basis. Another project reprinted most of the characters' previous appearances in other Antarctic Press titles. The manga-style varies from each story's artist, even though a diverse selection of takes on a single character does provide an interesting experience for otaku.

OBSCURE O.V.A.S: Raven Tengu Kabuto

Buichi Terasawa is the mastermind by such outrageous manga like Space Adventure Cobra and Goku: Midnight Eye continued this in the short 2-volume series Kabuto, a sci-fi samurai epic where heroes struggle against demonic horrors in feudal Japan, or at least an alternative history version of Japan. The manga was adapted into a TV anime that ran in the early 90s, and a year later was given a one-shot OVA that was released in America by the long extinct Dark Image Entertainment under U.S. Renditions. As one of the few anime titles available at Blockbuster Video during their heydays, this one was probably rented frequently along with Black Magic M66 or Outlanders as part of their library. Buichi Terasawa directed the OVA out here sold as Raven Tengu Kabuto which was considered a retelling or reboot of the original manga shrunk down to a 45-minute feature.

A solo swordsman named Kabuto enters a kingdom taken over Snow White-style by the deceased emperor's wife Tamamushi who has imprisoned the only heir, Princess Ran. Tamamushi feeds off the beauty of young women captured by her mechanical soldiers designed by the pervy genius Jinnai and lead by his robot commander that looks like a rejected He-Man figure. Ran is rescued from her loyal friend Kazuma of the royal guard who are both helped by Kabuto, but only for the two to get recaptured by Jinnai. Kabuto manages to take on Tamamushi's forces with his magic sword and ability to sprout wings as he assists Ran and Kazuma with their rebellion against the false queen who is revealed to be even more false as she is really also one of Jinnai's robots that the crafty creep arranged all so he could make off with Ran. Kabuto apparently had a prior history with the Princess which acts as the sole reasoning behind his bloody campaign.

In spite of the clumsy pacing and a plotline that keeps tripping over its own feet, the Kabuto OVA did set the stage for several genre-bending titles like Ninja Scroll where it is a lone warrior who wanders around from town to town, taking down the resident baddies, and then walking off into the sunset. Some of these cowboy movies were inspired by samurai epics, but Kabuto does stand out as it is a magical flying ninja duking it out with mechanized minions. The entire episode does play out similar to an 80s sidescrolling video game complete with boss levels, and with it being animated by Nakamura Production later took some ideas from this when they did the original Berserk anime. There are plentiful amounts of superfluous nudity and violent gore which were standard for a 90s anime, even though Kabuto did manage to make a small bit of nostalgia in the early days of American anime fandom.

Chuck Woolery is Superman! Your argument is invalid!

R.I.P.: John Romita Sr.

 

OBSCURE O.V.A.S, *Sol Bianca

Studio AIC started what was supposed to be a multi-episode OVA series titled Sol Bianca in 1990 which was another one of the staples "chicks in space" anime. This was only followed up with a second episode that ended on a continuation for an implied third episode, but because of low sales, the original series never concluded. AIC instead crafted a complete 6-episode remake OVA in 1999 titled Sol Bianca: The Legacy which was one of their first productions to mix in 3D and 2D animation. The remake was fortunate enough to get all the episodes dubbed into English from Geneon as well as a DVD/VHS release, whereas the original OVA received VHS releases from ADV Films with only the first episode getting a dub. ADV did however manage to produce a line of American-created comics based on their existing anime catalog under their Graphic Visions label, even though that was for a single issue that ended on a cliffhanger. Katsuhito Akiyama of Armitage III and Hiroki Hayashi of Tenchi Muyo both directed the initial Sol Bianca OVA that offered plenty of outer space action and fan service.

Set several centuries in the future, a band of all female space pirates set several centuries in the future use their advanced starship called the Sol Bianca to plunder space truckers of their latest haul. The crew consists of Jan, Feb, April, May, and June who use their ship's ability to hide in subspace like a submarine appearing under the waves in their endeavors. The girls find a stowaway upon their first chapter who leads them to an adventure freeing twin planets from the tyrannical grip of an evil emperor. The second chapter highlights more on June's relationship with Sol Bianca's main computer who shares an empathic link to the ship while a hidden enemy of April appears with his own claims on the titular ship. A third chapter was hinted, but never materialized in this run.

The original OVA had potential that was frustratingly cut short despite the numerous made-for-video productions of the time that managed to get a complete series. AIC had a brilliant idea for its original take on it, but their unwillingness to see it all the way through forced them to restart it years later. Only the first episode was available in dubbed and subtitled VHS, with the second getting a subtitled-only release under ADV, so you will have to fasten your pith helmet when you go hunting for a hard copy of this hidden gem.

ANI-MOVIES, *The Red Turtle

Those who frequently favor the works of Studio Ghibli were probably unaware of this joint project between them and several French production companies. The Red Turtle is almost completely void of any dialogue making it appear like an animated short stretched out to feature length which does work against it as some points do appear strung out. Former Disney animator Michael Dudok De Wit had directed this with Ghibl productions headed by their regular member Toshio Suzuki. Considering the talent behind this, you might envision the film as being a detailed epic but instead is a extended approach to minimalistic storytelling.

An unnamed man is treading water in the middle of the ocean with no given reason as to how he got there. The man washes up on a tropical island where all his attempts to build a raft and escape are thwarted by a large red sea turtle. The turtle shows up on shore and turns itself over supposedly to end its life, but the man builds a shelter for the dying creature which eventually transforms into a human woman. The man and woman mate and have a son together who grows up with his parents, but still feels a kinship to the sea, and when he grows older, he migrates off the island with some other red turtles. The boy's parents stay on the island and live out their lives until the man dies of old age with the woman turning back into a turtle and returning to the water.

The Red Turtle might seem like one of those old silent films that makes modern viewers want to fast forward through parts where it just shows characters walking around the island. This isn't accurate though as its a visually pleasant film that manages to hold your interest upon first watch. French company Wild Bunch handled a large portion of the production along with what Ghibli contributed, but this is considered a Studio Ghibli film as it bares their Totoro logo at the beginning. The story itself is similar to plenty of Japanese folklore where animals take on the form of a human woman to express their love for a human which is normally highlighted in English-speaking countries in tales like The Little Mermaid. It is good enough for children to watch since the plot is easy to follow even though there is an absence of narration, plus otaku and animation fans alike should partake in this rich dreamlike experience.

R.I.P.: Joshua Quagmire, Creator Of Cutey Bunny

 

ANI-MOVIES, *Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse

Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse set up its own franchise separate from the MCU in 2018, so five years later this sequel exploded onto the screen getting more praise than the former film. Where several other Marvel properties have been dipping into parallel universes as part of larger storyline, Across The Spider-Verse goes the extra few light years while plunging into hundreds of alternate realities. This works as a great premise for a movie, although the drawback is that it is written to be the first of a two-part story, meaning that there is a noticeable amount of padding in it to fill out its 140 minute runtime. There is more focus on the primary characters' everyday lives which could work if they didn't insist on ramming a bunch of Star Trek technobabble down your throat even if you are a longtime comics fan.

Taking place over a year after the first movie, Miles Morales is fitting into his role as his universe's friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, even though a villain from his reality called the Spot is trying to use his ability to create holes in space so he can get revenge on Miles as he gained his power due to the battle at Alchemax in the previous film. Spot boosts his strength to where he can now make portals to other realities which gets the attention of a newly formed militia of Spider-Man heroes called the Spider-Society lead by the futuristic Miguel O'Hara, a hardcore leader who caused a universe to disappear after he filled in the place of his deceased counterpart. Gwen Stacy is part of the Spider-Society after being tutored by a race swapped Jessica Drew, both of which are the Spider-Woman of their own universes, and Gwen checks in on Miles trying to convince his parents that he is living up to his potential without revealing his secret identity. Gwen is actually in Miles' world to hunt down the Spot whose potential could cause a major cosmic disturbance. Miles is introduced to some of Gwen's fellow Spiders including Pavitir in India and the rowdy Spider-Punk as Spot causes the collapse of a bridge. That incident was an unavoidable point in time called a canon event that dramatically shapes that Spider-Man's destiny, but Miles prevented an event from happening by helping save Pavitir's girlfriend and family. This gets Miles in trouble with Miguel who warns him of the passing of his own father which is supposed to happen as avoiding it could cause its own dimensional distortion. Even getting this news from his mentor Peter B. Parker doesn't help Miles accept this and he goes on the run with most of the Spider-Society chasing after him from their citadel which acts as an access point to all other universes. Miles thinks he escaped back to his own world but was instead sent to the world the spider that bit him originated from where he is confronted by his equivalent who here is the Prowler, the supervillian identity used by the deceased uncle in his reality. The film ends on a big "to be continued" with Gwen assembling her own team of Spiders to save Miles and prevent Miguel's army from getting in the way.

Across The Spider-Verse does have in insane multitude of Marvel easter eggs with a nearly flawless blending of each reality's style including live-action and Lego figures, plus almost every previously animated version of Spider-Man. The mixed designs do not clash as they might in other animated productions and make it seem like a flowing comic book brought to life. As is this is the middle chapter of a planned trilogy, it somewhat struggles to bridge out its premise by giving more time to the Miles' personal relationships as some of their scenes go on longer than necessary no matter which reality it takes place in. Sony Animation has come a long way from when they were making Smurf movies, and this recent installment shows how far that is with this visually trippy experience which shines through brilliantly in a theatrical viewing.

ANI-MOVIES, *Venus Wars

Mobile Suit Gundam director Yoshikazu Yasuhiko went on to direct the anime movie based on his own manga series, Venus Wars. Unlike numerous other anime with the word "Wars" in it, this one does focus on the genuine war aspect of the story despite the fact that it takes place on another planet in the future. This title caters considerably to the military otaku that were numerous in the 80's and for once not cluttering it up with giant robots making it another mecha anime.

The planet Venus was made habitable for humans after getting struck by a celestial body, so mankind zips over to our sister planet to set up two separate nations, Ishtar in the north and Aphrodia in the south. Since both continents have plenty of unclaimed territory, Ishtar decides to launch an invasion of Aphrodia in a bid for power just as Earthling reporter Susan Sommers arrives to cover the beginning hostilities. As Ishtar attacks, a team of one-wheeled bike riders called the Killer Commandos have their lives as professional drivers put on hold as they are now under enemy occupation. Team player Hiro and his mates decide to help the Aphrodia forces by using their new souped-up battle cycles, even though there is much animosity between Hiro's team and the ranking military. The rest of the movie has the bikers leading a charge against the Ishtar army to free their homeland.

Venus Wars was one of the few anime designed specifically for gunji-ota, even though it does make for a decent coming of age epic with young people rebelling against oppression. The production value truly shines in the futuristic vehicle designs and smashing battle sequences, with the only low point being when they showed animation over live-action footage to simulate the motorbikes tearing up the landscape. The anime has been dubbed twice, once by Manga Entertainment through U.S. Manga Corps, and again by Sentai Filmworks for their Blu-ray release. If you are interested in the manga it was made available translated by Dark Horse Comics.