Sunday, August 20, 2023

OBSCURE O.V.A.S, *Iczer 3

Also known as Iczer Reborn and Adventures With Iczer 3, this OVA took the original Fight! Iczer One anime and continued the story, this time however it was more of a tokusatsu theme with superheroes and giant monsters. The prior anime director Toshiki Hirano returned to do this sequel which was twice as long as the original as a 6-episode series. The anime has been released on subtitled VHS and DVD through Central Park Media, and a special dub for Manga Entertainment's DVD release. This also leaded to an American comic book adaptation of the anime that only lasted two issues, as well as a 3-part visual novel and a Japanese manga.

Set decades after the original, Iczer-1(now spelled with the number instead of the word "one")is out in deep space hunting down Neos Gold, a cybernetic entity claiming to be the daughter of past villain Big Gold. The two heads clash leaving both damaged, but Neos Gold sets her sights on Earth as her next target. While the evil cyborg recovers, Neos Gold sends her four henchwomen to conquer the planet resulting in two-fifths of the world's population getting killed when Neos takes control of Earth's defense systems. One of the survivors is Nagisa Kasumi, the granddaughter of the prior anime series' Nagisa. She and a few other officers launch the Queen Fuji battle aircraft to go and defeat the alien invaders, which gets the attention of Iczer-1's younger sister Iczer-3 who rushes to protect earth while her sister is recovering with the Cthulhu race. Iczer-3 bonds with the second Nagisa to summon Iczer-Robo, complete with a new paint job. Neos Gold appears to steal the special Iczelio energy that powers the mecha and utilizes the strange source to create a brunette clone of Iczer-3 named Atros, as well as resurrect Iczer-2. Neos' generals are taken down one after the other, one even by Atros who snubbed her sympathy for a deceased pet. Iczer-1 eventually arrives leading to duel between her and Iczer-2 who is talked into helping all three Iczer sisters defeat Neos. Apparently, Iczer-1 doesn't have the power to manipulate time again as Earth is left in shambles by the alien attack, and the Iczers warp back into space leaving humanity to clean up after the mess they caused in the first place.

Iczer-3 removes the shoujo-ai and horror elements from Fight! Iczer-One to create a bigger emphasis on sci-fi action. There is also significantly less giant robot action as Iczer-Robo only shows up twice during the entire OVA. Iczer-3 is a more lighthearted story despite the foreboding apocalypse as the title character acts more like an innocent child despite her destructive powers. In comparison to the previous installment in the Iczer saga, this was extended possibly at least an episode or more longer than was necessary.

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