OBCURE O.V.A.S, *Puppet Princess

Don’t let the title fool you! This isn’t some sugary “magical girl” anime. This ninja anime from Case Closed writer Junichi Miyashita has some bloodgushing fun to it.

After a failed ninja recon mission on the lair of the evil warlord, General Karimata, the sole survivor of the group, Yasaburo, runs into the strange girl Rangiku who carries an extra-large box on her back. Rangiku is the long lost daughter of the lord who used to rule Karimata’s land. Her father was also an expert at making puppets, and even made ones that could move on their own like robots. Karimata took control of this art and made his own invincible army of puppet ninjas to take over the kingdom. Now, Rangiku seeks to use the remaining puppets her father left her to stop Karimata and his horde. With the illusionary tactics of Yasaburo, the two of them team-up to destroy the evil puppets.

This feature is a little short, but hot-dang it rocks! Sort of like a mini-Ninja Scroll. The action is fresh and quick and the animation is riveting. For a one-shot OVA, this is great!!!!!!!

ANI-MOVIES, *The Hobbit

Ahead of Peter Jackson by at least two decades, the crew of Rankin/Bass decided to take a break from holiday specials or tokusatsu movies and put together this, the first ever animated production based on the works of J.R.R. Tolkien. The Hobbit was a prelude to The Lord Of The Rings trilogy, and Rankin/Bass created this made-for-TV movie which aired a year prior to Ralph Bakshi’s Rings theatrical animated feature(which only covered most of the first two books). Rankin/Bass later went on to do another TV movie based on Return Of The King, which alot of rumors state was done to finish up where Bakshi’s film left off, but according to R/B was really intended as a followup to their version of The Hobbit. Like some of their other productions, Rankin/Bass did this in association with a Japanese studio, in this case Topcraft(aka: Studio Ghibli).

The movie is a pretty faithful adaptation of the original novel. Bilbo Baggins is an average Hobbit, a race of short humanoids that live in the quiet area of Hobbiton(or “Shire”)in the mythical land of Middle Earth. He gets drafted into a quest with the drifter wizard Gandalf and thirteen dwarves to be their lucky number as a burglar. Thorin is their leader, and is taking them to Lonely Mountain in order to reclaim their treasure stolen generations ago by the evil dragon, Smaug. Along the way, they run afoul of trolls, but Gandalf(on one of his many coffee breaks away from the party)saves them, and leads them to Rivendell to meet up with the elf lord Elrond. Bilbo and the dwarves are later on captured by goblins(or “orcs”), but Bilbo falls down a whole into a dark underground cavern where he runs across the froglike creature Gollum. Bilbo happens upon a magic ring that makes him invisible when he wears it, and uses it to follow Gollum to an exit. He rejoins his friends and frees them, but only for them to be captured again by giant spiders. Bilbo liberates them again, but they are in turn caught again by wood-elves(or “silvan elves”). Invinsibly, the phantom Hobbit manages to get the dwarves to the lake town near Lonely Mountain. The treasure hunters then go to Smaug’s pad, and Bilbo is elected to go burgal something out of there. Using his inviso-power, Bilbo manages to gander at the overgrown reptile to find he has a small patch in his scaly armor, but his presence ticks Smaug off, and he heads to the lake town for some serious Godzilla-on-Tokyo action. Bilbo sends a bird to give the head of the lake town Smaug’s design flaw, and the big lizard gets arrow’d once and for all. The story concludes with an epic battle of five armies feuding over the treasure, which with Gandalf’s help ends about as peaceably as at could. Bilbo heads back to Hobbiton/Shire unaware that this part of the story is only the beginning.

This TV movie has become the stuff of legend, winning the Christopher Award, a Peabody, and was nominated for a Hugo Award. It features some of the amazing character designs Rankin/Bass has used in both its 2D and 3D productions, most of which for this film were inspired by the illustrations of Arthur Rackham. The best is the all star cast employed for this, including Orson Bean as Bilbo, John Huston as Gandalf, and Richard Boone completely dominates his role as Smaug. For a 70s TV production, there is some breathtaking animation, far beyond what you would’ve seen in even a Disney movie. The Hobbit is available on VHS and DVD, plus a special films set with The Lord Of The Rings and Return Of The King animated movies.

OBSCURE O.V.A.S, *Tekken

“You’ve played the game, now see the….” How often have you heard those words used to plug an video game-based anime? Based on the first two Tekken games, this 2-episode OVA combines some elements of the Mortal Kombat movie with Jurassic Park.

The Mishima Corp. plots to take over the world with its hybrid invisible dinosaurs and robot troopers. The main story involves Kazuya vs. Heihachi with Jun trying to lead Kazuya away from the dark side.

Like alot of ADV Films releases, this “movie” is really a 2-episode OVA spliced into a single feature. The dub of Tekken features music by the Offspring and Stabbing Westward, plus the DVD has a rarity in English dubs: a French track. The action’s okay. This anime also follows in the the Tekken 3 video game with the appearance of a very young Jin. Too bad most of the other fighters barely even get any speaking parts!

MISC. MANGA, *Dirty Pair: Biohazard

Adam Warren’s first Dirty Pair comic probably stuck to the way the Lovely Angels were originally concieved based on the novels of Haruka Takachiho. Up until now there has never been a DP manga, and still isn’t. This is an American comic book mini-series done by Dark Horse Comics. Actually, this story was first printed by the now defunct Eternity Comics. It was available in graphic novel format before, but this time with a special back-up comic feature with Kei having a simulated fantasy about killing Yuri.

In the main story, Kei and Yuri have to protect a genetics expert who’s rival has been after him for years and planted his body inside a small rodent. After busting into the bad guy’s compound and rescuing him, they help him get a new robotic body while then trying to retrieve his stolen tissue samples so he can clone a new body for himself.

This one was alot like the way the Dirty Pair were portrayed back in their old anime series. Biohazard is also one of the only ones of Warren’s version that you’ll ever see either the Pair’s assistant Muhgi who in this one looks more like a large panther than a grizzly bear, and its about the only one that Yuri uses her special “Bloody Card” weapon. It’s alot of fun, but they only keep getting better from here on in!

OBSCURE O.V.A.S, *Samurai: Hunt For The Sword

Originally titled Kai Toh Ran Ma: The Animation, Samurai: Hunt For The Sword is a 2-episode OVA based on a Japanese video game. This basically seems like its “Tenchi Muyo meets Rurouni Kenshin”.

It takes place during the shogun days of Japan. A young swordsman named Shinjuro, who is the heir to a prestigous dojo, takes charge of his father’s duties while he is off on a mysterious mission. But the quiet place soons turns into an episode of Tenchi with two cute girls quarreling over him. Then, it is revealed that some ninjas are causing mayhem in the city, but its a cover up for their attempt to start a revolution against the government by stealing a magical sword. The leader of the revolution challenges Shinjiro to a fight with the opposing magical sword that his father is searching for. All this while the true identity of one of the ninjas is really a shrine maiden that Shinjiro has the hots for.

There are some funny moments in this and some decent action. Check it out!

MISC. MANGA, *Bubblegum Crisis: Grand Mal

Gen 13 writer and creator of the English Dirty Pair comics Adam Warren gave of us this sweet slice of colorized manga heaven in this U.S. interpetation of Keichi Sodana’s “babes in armour”. This 4-part mini-series is actually a prequal to the original Bubblegum Crisis OVA series, but taking place after A.D. Police Files.

A runaway Boomer threatens to destroy Megatokyo, and the Knight Sabers assemble to take care of him. This has a much more agressive Priss still wearing her trademark blonde wigs and punkish attitude. Alot of the story seems to revolves around the rouge Boomer set out to cause chaotic destruction, with the GENOM corporation out to get him and cover their asses.

This was one of Warren’s best anime off-shoots and he did a brilliant job of colorizing it. The action is hot hot hot, and Priss is even hotter than that. If you liked either the BGC OVA or the BGC: 2040 remake, then you must try this out for size!

*JESI THE GENIE, Part 4: Page 6

Story by Jer Alford, art by E. Aedo.