WHITE BASE WIRES
10.21.02
by
Matt McConnel
Dragon Half
Rating: 
More Info: ADV
Films
The back
of Dragon Half's new DVD proclaims: "The funniest anime ever
made."-Just about everybody; while this may not be entirely
true, the fact that it is a riotous convolution of insanity,
manic voice acting, and absolute rejection of plot. Dragon
Half, while older, is one of the foundations to that peculiar
form of anime that posits the chibi and weird over story,
plot, and other nessundry concerns. Those Who Hunt Elves and
Excel Saga both can trace their roots to this sort of base.
The story
(nominally) follows our heroine Mink as she tries to obtain
the legendary People Potion in order to make herself fully
human as to obtain the love of her singer idol Dick Saucer.
She is impeded by the machinations of the king, his daughter
Vima, Saucer himself, and the knight errant Damaramu. The
cast is wired for sound, and flying twice as fast in both
languages, although the original Japanese tends to flow a
little better. The animation jumps between the traditional
and chibi style adding to the positively frenetic pace.
Dragon
Half is hard to describe, save for the fact that it is delightfully
deranged. Suffice it to say that you will either like it or
not, and I have yet to meet anyone who likes anime who does
not like this one. For that matter, it has even made a few
converts, yours truly included, including my sister, father,
and not a few friends. I will not say that Dragon Half is
a barometer of any sort, but it is a good introduction to
the humorous side of anime just as Princess Mononoke is a
good introduction to the more dramatic and artistic end. Like
any anime, there are flaws (gah, the pace is sometimes atrocious),
but on the whole Dragon Half does not exceed the mandate it
sets for itself, fast, funny, and frivolous. Enjoy.
Silent
Mobius
Rating:
More Info: Bandai
I wanted
so much to love this one. Instead, I begin to see why Kia
Asamiya is now working for Marvel Comics here in the states.
If, as I suspect, this is the result of what happens when
a studio wrests a creative work away from the original writer
and artist, then it is no surprise that Mr. Asamiya decided
to come to the lad of opportunity.
This is
not to say that the anime version of Silent Mobius is bad,
it is a good anime, but it is a decent anime of a fantastic
manga series. The story remains more or less the same; the
incursion of so-called Lucifer Hawks from the dark world of
Nemesis into the real world prompts the police to form the
AMP, a special branch devoted to combating these extra-dimensional
beasts. The characters are all named the same, but Katsumi,
Nami, and Yuki are the only ones that are really the same;
several of the characters are in fact quite different. These
differences are in one part attributed to some changes made
for dramatic expedience, and in another to the fact that the
story itself has been changed.
The beginning
is not, as in the manga, the middle. The introduction is the
initial spell by Katsumi's father Gigulf, and Katsumi's introduction
into the AMP. From there Roy is introduced, as well as the
Spirias, and at least one of the named Lucifer Hawks that
did not appear until late in the manga. While this approach
makes sense for an anime, the fact that it parts so drastically
from the manga is unsettling. Even more disturbing is the
addition of plot points such as a disaster, the 'Silent Crisis'
in 1999 that killed off a third of the earth's population
(gasp, it was Gigulf's spell to seal Nemesis). These details
were not present in the original story, and serve no real
purpose here, save to tack on some extra angst to Katsumi.
While
the changes to the story, and some of the characters is acceptable
to a point, the butchering of some of the character is not.
Isozaki is made into a soft spined secretary and all of her
hardness goes to Rally, who it may be noted is made even harder
by the subtraction of any sympathy to her character. Kiddy
is seemingly heartless, and Lebia comes across as colder than
she does in the manga. It seems as if instead of sympathizing
with all the women, the viewer is hammered into only identifying
with Katsumi, and since the anime takes the same route as
the manga, this is not an investment that will pay off. Without
dropping more spoilers, let it be said that the anime does
no good job prepping for the plot twist laid out for it. While
Nemesis' desire to obtain Katsumi is made apparent in the
first few episodes, all the deeper characterization of the
others is toss to the wayside.
There
are good points however. For one, Bandai has packed the DVDs
with all sorts of goodies. Nine episodes in one box is nothing
to sneeze at, especially when there are extras, and all sorts
of little paper goodies to boot. The music fits well, and
the character designs for the Lucifer Hawks are very original.
Regardless, these really good points do not hold up against
the butchering of the story and characters, not to mention
the bad CG and some pretty poor scripts. The voice acting
is average, some good, some bad, but a lot of the melodrama
involved can be laid at the feet of the writers and translators.
It really
is a pity that Silent Mobius turned out so badly; manga to
anime has been proven to be successful even when story changes
are involved. I so very much wanted to like this, but especially
up against the manga it is based on, it is just too damn hard.
Sorcerer on the Rocks
More Info: ADV
Films
In the
far away land of the Spooner Continent, there live a heroic
band of Sorcerer Hunters who battle against evil for the freedom
of the people. This follow up/spin off of Sorcerer Hunters
however, follows the travels and travails of some less than
heroic characters. The strengths of Sorcerer on the Rocks
are simple yet elegant, while the weaknesses are the very
same ones that plagued its predecessor.
Supposedly
the hero is the sorcerer bounty hunter Shibas Scotch (yes,
the bad food and drink names are still there), and he is a
right bastard. He is accompanied on his adventures with a
werewolf (who just wants to have fun), a swordsman (who wants
to get Shibas in bed), and a cleric (who is trying to reform
Shibas). This motley crew really seems superfluous most of
the time, their only function seems to be to provide Shibas
amusement and cash flow until something bad happens. Shibas'
battle form unfortunately leaves his body in a crystalline
form that has a habit of breaking if it gets hit. When that
happens, the magical soul of Shibas inhabits the poor cleric,
Fizz, then things get really weird.
Sorcerer
on the Rocks is one in the same very different from Sorcerer
Hunters, yet cannot pull itself away from it. The same setting,
and the same ilk of character leave one with the feeling of
slipping into an old pair of shoes, but by the same token,
someone has redone those shoes in black leather with a ball-gag
motif. The sexual aspect of Sorcerer Hunters was always lighthearted,
and while not necessarily sweet, nevertheless maintained an
almost innocence about it, even if it was dealing with bondage.
In Sorcerer on the Rocks, Shibas has the other three, including
the cleric, wear studded leather collars with chains, and
refer to him as 'master'. He forces the cleric and werewolf,
(only one of who is willing) to perform go-go shoes at the
local bars for cash. He double crosses his guild mates, and
generally makes one hate him. Only at the end of the first
disc is there a hint of why he is such a right ass, and even
then the fact that he is simply a sorcerer with a chip on
his shoulder is hardly an excuse, and much less of one for
why Fizz sees any good in him at all.
The tone
is darker and more adult, more of an Escaflone than the original
Sorcerer Hunters, and it is good to see the creators branching
out a bit, and really exploring new aspects of their world.
The vice factor was present in Sorcerer Hunters, but never
this explicit. Unfortunately, the weaknesses of the original
series persist in the rather weak dialogue, and less than
stellar pacing. Too much expectation is placed on the voice
actors to bring the characters to life with the rather poor
writing provided, and the problem is actually compounded in
the original Japanese, as the person voicing Shibas is not
the sort of voice one would attribute to such a character.
By the same token, the voice of Fizz in the dub is equally
just not right. ADV is to be commended however, for plumbing
the depths of their stock voice actors to only use one recognizable
voice from their dub of Sorcerer Hunters. On that token, ADV
is to be scolded for only putting two episodes onto one DVD
and practically no extras besides a rather lame DVD game titled
'the Hunt'. The only real other failing of Sorcerer on the
Rocks is more of a comparison to Sorcerer Hunters, while the
original used quirky and bizarre j-pop, Sorcerer on the Rocks
relies on more macabre orchestrations. While this may lend
itself more to the adult tone, the fact that the closing credits'
music is right back to j-pop land, destroys this.
While
I liked the excursion into a more adult and less frivolous
aspect of the world of Sorcerer Hunters, Sorcerer on the Rocks
still leaves something to be desired story wise. Naturally
it is hard to tell GIVEN ONLY TWO EPISODES; oh I'm sorry,
was that out loud? Regardless, there is little evidence to
place Sorcerer on the Rocks in time relation to Sorcerer Hunters.
I bring this up only because I will be sincerely pissed off
if Carrot and the gang show up to come after Shibas; I do
not think that will happen, as the indication is that the
events of Sorcerer on the Rocks are in fact placed before
or after the events of Sorcerer Hunters. I know that I have
been making reference to the first offering here a lot, and
while it is unfortunate that a spin off is being judged against
its parent, the comparisons I think only strengthen the case.
Sorcerer on the Rocks has quite a bit of potential, and it
has a very good chance of being realized.
Tekkaman
Blade II
Rating:
for pretty space battles
 for
the rest, plus the needless inclusion of teen courtesy brestage.
More Info: Urban
Vision
Perhaps
some may remember a short lived series on the fledgling UPN
network called 'Teknoman'. The basis for the re-dub was of
course Tekkaman Blade, which lasted a full season longer than
Teknoman. Unfortunately, Teknoman was ahead of its time, not
two or three years after its demise we had the rise of Sailor
Moon, Dragonball Z, and Pokemon. While the full series of
Tekkaman Blade has never surface in the United States, Urban
Vision imported the sequel, and has now packaged the entire
six episode series on one DVD.
The disc
contains an enjoyable watch, but little else. The lack of
any extras is horrifically apparent; in fact, it is safe to
say that the relatively small addition of a synopsis of the
original series would have gone a long way towards making
the release of the sequel more coherent. This is not to say
that Tekkaman Blade II does not do its own fair share of incoherence;
the main character of Yumi is so vapid and utterly addled
that her only purpose seems to be to be pointless and cute.
The story
more or less follows the arc behind Tekkaman Blade, and then
adds some. The evil alien forces that are attacking the Earth
have been held off for ten years by the military and the Space
Knights. While the military has Sol-Tekkamen, basically powered
armor that is similar to a Tekkaman, the Space Knights are
the sole proprietor of the true Tekkamen, the bio-technic
man/machine battle suit. In order to be a Tekkaman, one must
first be a 'primary body', or have the basic capability to
transform. This ability has been creeping into the human race
over the course of the past few decades by encounters with
the aliens; the irony is supposed to be that while the aliens
created the Tekkaman technology, it is the human race that
uses it against them. In any event, Yumi becomes the third
member of the newly formed Tekkaman group. She is fixated
on Blade, the original human Tekkaman, and believes she loves
him.
This is
one of the two huge problems with the series. All the main
characters, with three possible exceptions are either one
sided, or so utterly childish as to be laughable. While Yumi
is fixated on Blade, her teammate is obsessed with the Chief
(Star in the Teknoman series). While these new characters,
in addition to one bad guy, are thrown in, the real story
still seems to be with the old guard. The back-story that
sets up the second story arc is entirely comprised of the
Space Knights' from the old show. The only effort made to
connect the old and the new generations is to try and make
two enemies friends in their secret identities. Such tricks
have not worked in better comic books, and do not work here.
Speaking
of, the second story arc is in fact the other frailty to Tekkaman
Blade II. The fact that there is still an alien invasion on
gets sidelined for about four of the six total episodes to
focus on the emergence of a new human Tekkaman that the Space
Knights did not make. He beats up Blade, and starts just generally
making a nuisance of himself. Little is done to advance the
battle in space, and all efforts are focused on, not taking
him out as one might expect, but in bringing him back into
the fold. Yes kiddies, friendship, light, and a good heart
will make our enemies our friends… Now let's go kill the aliens
from four episodes ago that we couldn't bring ourselves to
kill in the first show because they were too human. Whaaa?
As with
the original series, Tekkaman Blade II's strength is in the
slick animation, spectacular space battles, and gorgeous character/mecha
design. While Teknoman was hardly Emmy material, it was at
least better than this. The sequel lacks the epic storyline,
witch I might add several American fans are still waiting
for the completion of this one included, the blunt and brutal
nature of battle, it gets glossed over here, and the designs
for the new Tekkaman suits look like Willy Wonka had a hand
in them. While I desperately wanted to love this, I can only
end up likening it. The space battles are worth checking out,
and the music is well chosen to accompany it. However, be
warned that without any context from the previous series,
and Urban Vision has seen fit not to provide it, Tekkaman
Blade II falls quite flat. No extras to speak of, less than
stellar voice cast, although who can blame them with this
script, and to top it all off, pastel Tekkamen. I'll be back
in 1995 if anyone needs me.
Matt
is our anime guru. Email him here.
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