*JESI THE GENIE, Part 4: Page 6

Story by Jer Alford, art by E. Aedo.

OBSCURE O.V.A.S, *Tokyo Babylon

Before their appearance in the CLAMP motion picture/anime series/manga X, Subaru(one of the Seven Dragons of Heaven) and Seichiro(one of the Seven Dragons of Earth) had the earlier years of their lives shown in this occult 2-part OVA series.

Here, Subaru is a psychic from a long line of spiritualists who professionally help safeguard people from supernatural occurances. His sister is also a spiritualist of sorts and has a crush on their family’s longtime friend, the vet Seichiro. The fate surrounding them in X is not truly given away in the anime, and only breifly mentioned in the X movie. But Tokyo Babylon is still a great look at mysticism in modern-day Japan. The two episodes are totally seperate from each other. The first one had Subaru being called in to investigate a possible murder involving a man with extremely good luck who seems to be the only one surviving all the tragic accidents happening at his company’s construction site. The second episode is much longer dealing with a psychopath on a subway, and a woman with post-cognitive powers that allow her to see into the past.

The animation is great with theatrical quality and sceneric imagery. This is one of the better of CLAMP’s pre-Cardcaptors stories to be done as an anime. Look it up!

MISC. MANGA, *Video Girl Ai

This is one truly masterful blend of comedy and romantic fantasy! Masakazu Kastura(creator of Iria and DNA 2)truly peaked with his title: Video Girl Ai.

Lonely heartbroken Yota learns the girl he had a crush on is really in love with his friend. On his way home from this revelation, he sees a video store that he never noticed before, and decides to take home a “video girl”. In Japan, a video girl is a video-recorded date for men. But this one is a real Video Girl, and comes right out of the TV into Yota’s living room. Now, he’s got Ai, his own little genie-like playmate for three months. It’s her job to comfort him and make him feel secure, but because Ai’s tape was played on a VCR, her program becomes different and she starts to fall in love with Yota. While at the same time Yota is trying to get over his feelings for his unrequited love, Moemi, who on her own seems to have a thing for Yota too even though she’s now dating his friend Takashi. Then, Ai gets sent away by her creator, and redone with a new mission, to just root for Yota. But their love for each other prooves too strong, which causes Ai to be sent away again. When she returns, she has no memory of Yota or the love she had for him. This while Yota has gotten a new girlfriend in the cute Nobuko.

Does Yota pick the right girl in the end? Will the Video Girl god ever leave Ai alone and let her get a normal life? All the questions and more are in the manga. Also try to track down out the cool anime on DVD or video also from Viz!

JESI THE GENIE, *Part 4: Page 5

Story by Jer Alford, art by E. Aedo.

OBSCURE O.V.A.S, *Devadasy

Yet one of several rips of Neon Genesis Evangelion, this 3-episode OVA throws in some Ranma 1/2 tropes to fill it out. This mecha series was based on a video game of the same name.

Taking place after an alien attack on the Earth in 2012, a teenage boy named Kei and his girlfriend Naoki are recruited by a government organization called Spirits to operate the Evangelon-looking mecha, Devadasy. It takes a male and female pilot to operate it, and lucky Kei has his pick from several sexy candidates to choose from as his partner since he’s the only male pilot. He has a strong attraction toward the silent Amala who shares a secret link to his late father. Devadasy works on the sexual energy between its two pilots, which almost sounds like its a hentai video, but it isn't. They must use Devadasy to cleanse the Earth of the alien infestation which are like huge bacteria monsters, because an even larger force the size of a solar system is heading towards Earth!

This OVA series has some decent animation and unique storytelling. I’d check it out if Eva was too preachy for you.

MISC. MANGA, *Super Street Fighter II: Cammy

You might’ve seen one or two Street Fighter comic book series over the years, but this one is pretty much the original actual Japanese manga to have been done in English. Originally run in Viz’s Game On! magazine, Super Street Fighter II: Cammy is mainly centered around the title character. This is pretty good cause we’re always being told about Chunli, Ken, Ryu, and the others. Don’t worry though, a few of the regulars like Dhalsim, Guile, and even the rarely seen Deejay show up, though Cammy is really the star.

Cammy is an agent for Britain’s MI6 which is like the U.K. version of the FBI. She is highly trained in martial arts, although she has no real memory of her past. We learn that Cammy was first captured by Shadaloo to be part of a secret team of sleeper agents and given treatments to make her into a living killing machine. But Cammy rebels against her former masters and goes for Shadaloo’s grand poobah, M. Bison.

Masahiko Nakahira’s artwork is really boss in this and make it the best non-animated Street Fighter story so far(OF COURSE!)

JESI THE GENIE, *Part 4: Page 4

Story by Jer Alford, art by E. Aedo.