X-Men '97: Don't Call It A Comeback

Previously on X-Men, the original animated series ran from 1992-1997 on Fox’s Saturday morning lineup. After three more animated series, including an underrated anime, a follow-up to the 90s show was finally picked up. Since the first cartoon aired, Marvel Comics and Fox had both been bought up by the unshackled juggernaut of Disney. The Witcher screenwriter Beau DeMayo mapped at a new 10-episode TV series exclusively for the Disney+ streaming service. This revival was titled X-Men ’97.

Premiering in 2024, the first season brought back the iconic theme song that had fans from all over headbanging but this time with a rotating cast during the opening credits. Like Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, the X-Men lineup for each episode matched which characters were officially on the team roster at the time. Instead of Saban Entertainment, the production is handled by Marvel Studios which doesn’t suffer from the horrid CGI that their What If show had. The actual animation is provided by Tiger Animation along with Studio Mir which was the Korean creators who did The Legend Of Korra. Ten episodes were made for the opening season with two more seasons in the works.

A large majority of the original voice actors returned including Alison Sealy-Smith as Storm, Cal Dodd as Wolverine, George Buza as Beast, Lenore Zann as Rogue, and Adrian Hough as Nightcrawler. The rest of the cast is filled out with replacements as some of the actors from the former show had either retired or passed away with the brightest example of this has Holly Chou replacing Alyson Court as Jubilee allowing an Asian American play the firework-shooting mutant even though Court did get to play an older virtual version of her.

Season One takes place about a year where X-Men: The Animated Series left off, Professor Xavier left control of the X-Men over to their old nemesis Magneto all while Jean Grey is about to give birth to her and Cyclops’ baby. It’s revealed that Jean is a clone as the original shows up after fake Jean gives birth to Nathan Summers who is immediately captured by Mr. Sinister and infected with a virus. Bishop, who had joined the X-Men since last time, takes the young Nathan to the future where he can be cured and eventually become the time travelling Cable. The clone Jean changes her name to Madeline Pryor and leaves the team. The Friends Of Humanity continue their anti-mutant terrorism, and their chief assassin X-Cutioner causes Storm to lose her powers which she regains after help from Forge. All this while the cybernetic Bastion plans on using Sinister and an entire population of human Sentinels to first wipe out the mutant island of Genosha, and then later the rest of the mutants. Gambit dies on Genosha, Rogue briefly hooks back up with Magneto, and the recruit Sunspot joins the team. Xavier returns to Earth from the Shi’ar Empire and helps the X-Men stop both Magneto and Bastion separate missions. The final battle has most of the core X-Men being split into two parts in time, some in a post-apocalyptic future while the others are sent to ancient Egypt.

X-Men ’97 was not only a return to form for the franchise, but it was also unbound by the limits of a network cartoon show intended for kids. Its new streaming run allows room for more character introspection, conflicting romances, mature themes, and dramatic reveals. Much more ground from the vast history of X-Men comics is covered in these ten episodes which is helped by the extra minutes of airtime. The core message of observing mutants as a prejudice and various forms of discrimination is still present, so nothing is lost from the huge generation gap between this and the original series. The animation goes through a major evolution with crucially upgraded battle scenes that take serious hints from numerous anime titles such as Dragonball and Evangelion. Season Two is due out in 2026 with all of the Season One cast returning, so you can bet your adamantium bones that it will be as awesome as its predecessor.

ANI-MOVIES, *Sky Blue

Originally titled Wonderful Days, the 2003 Korean animated movie Sky Blue is a mixed media project combining 2D animation, CGI, and live footage doctored to appear animated which finally got its American release in 2004, although there has never been a western release of it on Blu-Ray or DVD, or any authorized streaming in English even though there is a dub of it. Sky Blue was released in Japan after Gainax rewrote it, and in many versions of the movie there are a few minutes cut out of releases outside Korea mostly for pacing with an alternate prologue. Another change from foreign releases was having the musical score replaced with totally different songs possibly due to licensing issues, but this radically changes the context of certain scenes. It is nearly to the point where Sky Blue and Wonderful Days are mutually exclusive movies, so it depends on which copy on the film you come across. There was also a director's cut of Sky Blue came out a decade later with an additional 9 minutes added on to it, so be sure you don't overpay for a copy of it.

Taking place in 2142, the environment has broken down, and the remaining humans are surviving in the dystopian city of Ecoban powered by recycled waste, and those who live in the wastelands become scavengers in order to survive. Shua is one of the outsiders who are trying to stop Ecoban's energy production which is polluting life outside the city which blocks out the sun with stormy clouds. Shua works for Dr. Noah who was outcast after he built this poisonous ecosystem destroyer and has to see about shutting it all down. Shua is mixed with his dedication toward his allies and his feelings for one of the city's security agents, his childhood friend Jay who is now working under the thumb of the commander Cade who got Shua banished in the first place by blaming him for the death of a superior officer years ago. There's a huge clash between Ecoban's ruling class and their military which a ragtag rebellion is able to counter with their attack on the city's power complex.

This was the directorial debut of Kim Moon-Saeng who prior to Sky Blue only worked on commercials although he presents a very professional production in his first and so far only fully animated movie. Aside from being featured at several international film festivals, but despite that there wasn't an authorized physical release for English speaking audiences to enjoy. It is an amazing cyberpunk spectacle with stunning animation even though the characters fall flat and are basic action movie stereotypes.

Magic Knight Rayearth: The Original Amphibia

Magic Knight Rayearth was a game changer as well as a genre breaker. Created by the powerhouse quartet known as Clamp, the manga appeared in the monthly Nakayoshi magazine and was split up into two halves, the first from 1993-1995 and then the second immediately afterwards running until 1996. An anime TV series came out less than a year after the manga premiered that went on for two full seasons, followed by an OVA remake simply titled Rayearth, plus six different video games only one of which got released in America as the last title put out for the Sega Saturn system.

Clamp had already gained past success with Tokyo Babylon, X, and RG Veda, plus their connected series of Clamp School Detectives that is in the same universe as Duklyon and Man Of Many Faces. Magic Knight Rayearth is partially tethered to the Clamp School books but not officially a tie-in. The manga wasn’t simply another magical girl series, but also the mecha genre and as one of the first isekai titles to ever be released.

The saga begins with a trio of eight-graders each from different schools on a field trip to Tokyo Tower which is Tokyo’s answer to the Eiffel Tower. The three girls are the tomboyish Hikaru, the prideful Umi, and the rational Fuu who all get whisked away to the magical land of Cephiro and chosen to be the legendary Magic Knights by the mage Clef. The girls must journey through the land gathering weapons and learning magic to rescue the childlike Princess Emeraude from the high priest Zagato who has seemingly usurped the throne. Emeraude acts as the Pillar of Cephiro where she must constantly pray for the country’s safety and serenity, and Zagato’s actions have now filled the land with monsters and other dangers as it slowly falls apart. Hikaru, Umi, and Fuu are helped on their quest by the mysterious mascot character Mokona who looks like a bunny-eared marshmallow. Along the way, the Magic Knights acquire evolving weapons and armor as well as giant mechanical gods called Mashin each equipped with elemental powers. Zagato sends his minions one at a time who all fail to stop the Magic Knights, most of which become their allies along the way, including the vagabond Ferio who starts a romance with Fuu. The Magic Knights eventually obtain all three Mashin and movie on to their final battle with Zagato.

Now, to explain what happens at the conclusion of the first half of the series would give away one of the single biggest plot twists of all time. Seriously, you will not see this coming! The second half concludes the series in a new saga with the characters trying to save Cephiro from the aftermath of the first half. The Magic Knights are called from Earth again and this time to protect the country from three separate invaders from foreign nations. Hikaru, Umi, and Fuu gain more allies and enemies all while living up to their responsibilities as Magic Knights. There is a stark difference between the second half of the manga and Season 2 of the anime adaptation as there is a stand-in villain for the anime where the manga’s true antagonist would be revealing too much. The anime diverges in its own direction as both it and the manga’s second half were being released nearly simultaneously.

Magic Knight Rayearth was such a hit that plans were being made to bring it to America as fast as possible. The manga itself got its English release in the pages of Tokyopop’s premiere anthology magazine MixxZine at first in American left to right format and then later in the standard Japanese tradition of right to left. Dark Horse Comics eventually picked up the publishing rights and rereleased the manga in hardcover box sets. The anime was a different story as The Ocean Group put together a dubbed pilot specifically for Fox Kids that wasn’t greenlit, but Media Blasters stepped up a few years later to put the series on VHS and DVD. The OVA series titled Rayearth which was a grim reverse isekai take on the original story was released by Manga Entertainment although not as prosperous. The Sega Saturn game didn’t flourish as much in America either as it was for a dying video game system.

The impact Clamp made on anime culture with Magic Knight Rayearth can be broken down into several categories. The mecha genre is slightly touched on as the Mashin in it is magic based even though the concept came out a decade earlier in Aura Battler Dunbine. The parallel world concept also got its big start here gradually became a thriving source in the mid-90s because of Rayearth which led to similar anime titles like El-Hazard and Vision Of Escaflowne to which eventually became the isekai boom of the last few years, the difference being that Rayearth is a portal fantasy whereas modern isekai involves being reincarnated in another world. The major anime subculture to get a boost from this series though was the magical girl wave which at the time was shifting to young superheroines like Sailor Moon who used their powers to fight aliens and monsters, even though Rayearth went a step further by bringing ordinary girls from our world and having them gain magical abilities in an enchanted realm while putting them on a quest straight out of a JRPG in a standard “save the princess, save the world” scenario, despite the fact that journey turns out to be anything but typical.

Magic Knight Rayearth has left an even bigger mark on American media. The most obvious is the Disney Channel original Amphibia which creator Matt Braly admitted to, the only difference being that his show had the three girls being separated when they first came to their magical world instead of starting out their adventure together. Even Amphibia’s trio of girls powering up scene at the end of the series is straight out of Rayearth. Now with a brand-new anime remake on the horizon, Magic Knight Rayearth is a quintessential piece of anime nostalgia that is still worthy of being appreciated by modern day audiences. Clamp’s other manga-turned-anime titles like Cardcaptor Sakura, Angelic Layer, Chobits, and Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle have helped the rise of anime into a commonplace medium for English-speaking fans everywhere. Rayearth is the ultimate otaku melting pot with giant robots, high fantasy, video game logic, and cute girls conquering evil.

ANI-MOVIES, *Windaria

Windaria might be known to some older American otaku as Once Upon A Time which was released on VHS and DVD originally through Harmony Gold, the same company that put out three separate anime TV shows in English under the title Robotech. The infamous Carl Macek was behind the American transfer of the film which had to remove several minutes worth of footage to make it compatible for younger viewers, as well as having the entire script rewritten because Harmony Gold was given no scripts from the original Japanese production. In fact, there are several scenes with violence and nudity that were edited out, and the film had a happier ending glued on to it, plus an added narration done by Russell Johnson, aka: Professor from Gilligan's Island. Based on the novel by Ultraman author Keisuke Fujikawa who also adapted the script, Windaria was a 1986 film directed by Kunihiko Yuyama who went on to work on anime such as Pokemon and Slayers. The movie might seem to borrow quite a little from some of Hayao Miyazaki earlier works like Laputa and Nausicaa, however the truth is that this anime came out at the same time as both of those films which just happened to have a dieselpunk theme to them with a hint of fantasy/adventure thrown in.

The small farming community of Saki lies near a huge old tree called Windaria which lies in between the nations of Itha and Paro who for some reason after a century of peace decide to go to war. Getting caught in the middle of this is Windaria resident Izu ends up becoming a turncoat between both factions all while he ignores the love of his sweetheart Marin. Itha's Prince Jill and Paro's Princess Ahnas have been carrying on a secret romance together and hoped to create a union for both countries, but the greedy plans of their tyrannical parents force them into becoming enemies resulting in each of their deaths. Paro ends up being the victor in the war after having Itha flooded by their own aqueduct sabotaged by Izu who becomes drunk on the reward he received and totally forgets about Marin until the queen tries to have him killed for overstaying his welcome. Paro heads back home only to find that nearly everyone there has died including Marin, although her ghost appears just before she ascends to a flying ship that collects departed souls with Paro claiming he'll become the captain of the ghost ship after the current one's tern is up in a few months.

Windaria was director Kunihiko Yuyama's next film he worked on after the trippy Time Stranger, so going from one story that celebrates life through time loops to another that displays how everyone is susceptible to corruption in a fairy tale themed setting shows how diverse Yuyama is as a director. The original full-length version of Windaria has never been officially released in America and has only been put on VHS by Streamline Pictures and later on DVD by ADV Films, so you're really missing out on the superior version unless you can get a copy of the imported laser disc with subtitles as Once Upon A Time is just a pale shadow of the true edition.

ANI-MOVIES, *Metropolis

Fritz Lang's 1927 classic of Metropolis was made into a one-shot manga in 1949 by the God of Anime, aka: Osamu Tezuka. Decades later, it was turned into an epic movie at the dawn of the new millennium directed by Rintaro who had previously done the Galaxy Express 999 duology, plus written by legendary Akira creator Katsuhiro Otomo. Unfortunately, the sci-fi drama didn't leave its mark on the international market as it only made less than half the budget back, partially due to Americans unwilling to see non-Ghibli anime theatrical releases. The film was animated by Madhouse who had previously done anime adaptations of Tezuka's Unico manga. Rintaro envisioned this as a dystopian future but with Tezuka's character designs that explores the symbiotic relationship between men and robots which was the basis for the creator's later series of Astro Boy. The film models itself after the ultramodern vision of the original Metropolis film, even though you can see some major Final Fantasy VII influence from especially in the titular city's layout.

In the probably American metropolis coincidentally named Metropolis, the upper class secretly run the city with their surplus of robot workers who have replaced most humans in their everyday job. The big dog in charge is Duke Red who's not-so-secret police of the Marduks are under the command of his adopted son Rock to maintain security, but Red's master plan is a giant contraption called the Ziggurat meant to capture the power of sunspots even though he's really intending it for global domination. The Ziggurat's key part is a realistic android girl named Tima that Red ordered from the criminal scientist Dr. Laughton, but this activity has gotten the attention of a detective from Japan, Shunsaku Ban along with his nephew Kenichi who were hired to find the rogue doctor. The detectives are assigned a robot police escort that they name Pero and track Laughton to his secret laboratory where Rock decides to cancel his father's contract on his own resulting in the death of Laughton and Kenichi falling to a lower level of the city along with Tima who has no idea she's a robot. Kenichi and Tima befriend some of the garbage-collecting robots of the underground along with a human revolution planning to rally against the Marduk who in turn are hunting for Tima which Rock is targeting to keep out of Red's grasp. Despite this, Tima eventually ends up in Red's clutches as he banishes Rock, although he managed to disguise his way into the activation of the Ziggurat which causes Tima to lose control resulting in the destruction of the weapon and the end of the Marduk's reign. Kenichi manages to get one last piece of humanity from Tima before her remains fall from the Ziggurat and are picked up by the worker robots who carry on the spirit of her innocence. You will want to check out a post-credits scene what happened later after Kenichi decides to stay and side with the robots.

Metropolis was a true retrofuture production bridging the gap between Tezuka's Golden Age designs with Rintaro's cyberpunk viewpoint. The film goes in a totally separate direction from Tezuka's original manga which on its own was only partially inspired by the 1927 movie as the role of Tima was based on the androgynous robot Mitchy who was later repurposed as the main character in Princess Knight. Metropolis has several moving parts although it's not difficult to follow and the scene-transitions are deliberately inspired by those from silent movies. The movie also carries over Fritz Lang's theme of how building a Tower of Babel so mankind can stand next the gods ultimately lead to destruction. This grand movie took an entire five years to complete as at the time it was the most expensive anime film ever made since Akira, but the high production cost failed to help make this a more memorable hit as they should have put a little more money into international advertising.

MISC. MANGA, *Tales From The Age Of The Cobra

Enrique Fernandez is a Spanish artist who made his big premiere in the American comics market with an album-sized graphic novel of The Wizard Of Oz through Image Comics, then a few years later IDW decided to republish his original 2-part mini-series into a trade paperback titled Tales From The Age Of The Cobra. Fernandez's technique is old school anime similar to rough pencil-drawn animation that made up most of the 70s like Lupin and Captain Harlock, so a lively adventure inspired by the Arabian Nights was a brilliant fit for his style.

A masked storyteller relays a story set ages ago about the illusive thief Irvi who tries to free his love, the beautiful Sian, from a harem, but he has to literally sleep his way up to her room over a few nights. However, Irvi has to give up on Sian and runs across the unlucky in love thug known as the Bull who soon raises his own empire after renaming himself the Cobra with Irvi being his lucky charm that he keeps around. Irvi finally makes his escape after being the subject of several of Cobra's experiments by a quack potion maker in an attempt to make a powerful elixir. Irvi eventually befriends the performing dwarf Maluuk who arranges to finally put an end to Cobra's evil reign while reuniting to Sian for a series of selective endings that the storyteller alludes to which are up to the listener to decide on.

Tales From The Age Of Cobra has a rich story showing sympathetic for both the heroes and villain displaying how none of them are truly guilty or innocent. Enrique Fernandez's artwork thrives with eye-catching imagery that takes you back to Bronze Age of comics. This comes in an album-sized novel with tight but stunning panels that keep you reading the entire saga in one entire experience.

ANI-MOVIES, *Feast Of Amrita

Feast Of Amrita is a scarcity among other horror anime movies. For one, the entire thing was done by a single animator, Saku Sakamoto who had previously worked on Ghost In The Shell 2, and it was also a prequel to a full-length production he made a few years earlier titled Aragne: Sign of Vermilion which itself was a surrealistic horror. This slightly shorter production took him about 3 years to complete after the original and later combined both into a single compilation named Nightmare Bugs. Feast Of Amrita like its predecessor is a genuine J-horror movie which is something most anime horror tends to skip out on. There is a very real dread of the unknown and things crawling around in the dark here, plus coupling that with a cross between Hellraiser and Groundhog's Day makes for an intense ride for being an adequate 48-minutes long.

Near the end of their senior year, a trio of high school girls: Takumi, Yu, and Aki decide to spend one of their last days together riding a train all the way to the final stop. Once there, they notice someone falling from the top of an abandoned apartment complex. Takami runs in and her friends enter the inner ring of the building where Yu is killed by a man-sized insect monster. Aki eventually finds Takumi who was also being chased by big bugs, but then Takami is captured by a skeletal humanoid which she quickly dispatches with some shears, although she finds Aki has been absorbed into the body of a giant centipede. Takumi then gets flashbacks of things that had happened and glimpses of what might happen, which is followed by dozens of dead versions of herself falling out of the sky. She realizes that she is stuck in some sort of time loop where each attempt she tries to escape results in her dying hundreds of times with each try getting that much closer to escaping. Takumi believes though she would rather stay with her friends in this insect hell not knowing that their places have now been filled by three former denizens who are now free in the human world.

Feast Of Amrita goes between gore flick to sci-fi thriller during its short run time and delivers both splendidly. Saku Sakamoto blends the 2D animation with the limited frame rate used in the CGI making for an intensely creepy feature reminding some watchers of old Playstation survival games. This is a perfect movie for a Halloween party, not too long or short that delivers shocking twists and gut-wrenching terror in one insidious scare package.