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WHITE BASE WIRES
1.03.03
by
Matt McConnel
Featuring
reviews of Devil Hunter Yoko, Pilot Candidate and Z-Mind.
Devil
Hunter Yoko-10th Anniversary Edition
More info: ADV
Rating: 
Way back
in the day, a very young company named ADV Films scored a
major coup bringing Devil Hunter Yoko to the States. Now,
ADV is one of the biggest anime companies in the United States,
rivaling even the likes of Viz and Bandai. As part of their
10th anniversary, they released all six episodes of Devil
Hunter Yoko to DVD in a two volume set. The set is a must
for any fan of the series, but is also a nice introduction
to an earlier ilk of anime that many viewers might have missed
first time round as it does border on the naughty side of
things.
First
of all, let it be said that Devil Hunter Yoko is not a class
act. In fact, the first episode is rife with sex, tentacles,
and screaming teenagers. The whole idea seems to have been
based on trying to make a soft-core henati based off of Sailor
Moon without infringing on copyright. From the bottom, there
is no place to go but up, and the subsequent episodes are
significantly better than the original. However, perhaps a
quick précis is in order: 16 year old Yoko Mano is a typical
high school girl. Her days are filled with boy chasing, hanging
out with her best friend, and living a generally care free
life. That is until strange things begin to happen. Mysterious
creature try to drown her in the pool, the new principle acts
awfully strangely, and the boy who has admired her from afar
for many year suddenly becomes very macho and comes on to
her. Enter grandma Mano with the explanation. For 108 generations,
the women of the Mano family have protected the mortal plane
from incursions of demons, they are the Devil Hunters, and
Yoko is the 108th of the line. First item up for bids, the
most popular girl in school has been possessed by a demon
queen, and is going to sacrifice Yoko's crush to open a portal
to the demon world.
Five episodes
follow, each one independent, but still in a very distinct
progression. New characters are added, and the existing ones
are developed. It should be noted that the fourth episode
is really a collection of music videos, and not really an
episode, but it is fun none the less. The real treats, story
and art wise, are the most recent two installments. Five pits
Yoko and gang against a demon with the power to alter time
and space. Yoko's grandmother is turned into a teenager again,
and Yoko encounters the first Devil Hunter. The art is markedly
improved over the first three episodes, and the story is a
little better. Six however, is the real treat: Wonderful art
that departs from the series norm, and a storyline that has
nothing to do with demons until the very end.
ADV went
all out for the anniversary edition. The first disc of volume
one is devoted entirely to the first episode. It contains
both the original subtitled version, as well as the extended
dubbed. It also has commentary from the American production
team, as well as music videos and the ubiquitous trailers.
The second volume is a bit more disappointing, as it really
only has one disc in a purported two disc set. There are some
extras, but nothing too spectacular. The second disc slot
is actually taken up with a DVD of ADV's catalogue. It contains
A LOT of trailers, as well as information on the various special
extras ADV uses from time to time (Jiggle Counter, cultural
notes, etc.). The second disc seems almost like a cast off,
like they were fishing around for something to fill the slot,
and somebody from marketing and sales suggesting putting in
one of the promotional disc from the last trade show in.
I almost
wish I never picked up this series, because against all reason
I like it. I should not like Devil Hunter Yoko, but I can't
help it. The last two episodes are really great all around,
even if the first three are a bit vacant, and that is the
real drawback, the series is stronger as it goes. What engrosses
me is the story, the art only becomes worthwhile in the third
episode or so, but the story remains fairly interesting throughout.
Even in the first one the story is, while not deep, thought
over and complete. It is not as one expects I guess, and that
has been Devil Hunter Yoko's lasting appeal.
Pilot
Candidate
More info: Bandai
Rating:
Imagine
if J. K. Rowling had just ended Harry Potter somewhere around
books three or four. Ok, the fact that it may seem like that
aside, just imagine a series like that brought to an abrupt
halt at the end of a story arc without any sort of conclusion
to the overall plot. Throw in a science fiction plot, and
the answer may look startling like Bandai's Pilot Candidate.
First
of all, the real title is not 'Pilot Candidate', but 'The
Candidates for Goddess'. The last bastion of humanity is the
planet Zion, protected by the five 'Goddesses', or space-going
robots that fight the entities known as Victim. There are
colonies of course, but Zion is the last planet that has not
yet been consumed by Victim. To pilot a Goddess, candidates
are chosen and trained at the orbiting instillation of G.O.A.,
here our protagonist Zero must prove himself worth of being
a Goddess pilot and out do his brooding and cruel rival. He
is assisted by his plucky Repairer and fellow candidate, and
when you factor in Zero's origins as a prodigy with the mysterious
EX power and the fact that the lead Goddess saved him when
he was little, you pretty much have Harry Potter in space.
The second
plot surrounds the pilots of the Goddesses themselves and
their interactions. The leader, the pilot that saved young
Zero's life, is a distant woman who at one point tells her
fellow pilots to simply "…the pilot is declared unusable.
Retrieve the former pilot…" after one of their own sacrificed
himself for another. Each of the pilots is well suited to
their Goddess, and it becomes clear than since each Goddess
performs a particular function (sensors, shields, ranged attack,
etc) that it takes a very particular personality to pilot
one Goddess rather than another.
Oh, and
has it been mentioned that all the pilots are under the age
of 18 and about as emotionally stable as a talk show guest?
The reason for this seems to be a hight burn out and attrition
rate, but we don't know because the series ends too damn soon!
There
are interesting ideas at work however. Victim is entirely
alien and entirely evil. No explanation or possible motive
is ever attributed to the creatures, and this leaves open
many questions that a deliciously left unanswered; they remain
completely alien. The Goddesses as well are not entirely machine,
displaying a distinct personality in each one. At one point
Zero falls into one and is immediately caught up in a dialogue
which is, while less fulfilling than the final two ends of
EVA, definitely more consistent. The Goddesses are very much
supporting characters, something left mostly to imagination
in many other shows, and that is refreshing, especially when
the pilot and Goddess disagree on what to do.
The disappointment
lies in the poor CG, lack of fulfillment to the plot, and
the horrific voice acting. Zero's voice is sickeningly energetic
in both Japanese and English, while the other characters meet
with more moderate success in their voices. Still, there is
no oomph, no investment on the parts of the voice actors,
they just speak the speech trippingly on the tongue, and move
on without carrying any of the character. The CG is another
matter entirely. It would not be so bad if confined to the
space battles, but instead, the development team insisted
on using it for interior backdrops and most of the action
scenes. Granted, the use of CG for the robots was a good call,
it gives them the shiny, and jerky mechanical motions that
many anime robots lack, but still, the CG is over used, and
it is not even good CG. Instead of underinvested acting, it
is over invested CG.
Candidate
for Goddess, oh wait Pilot Candidate… What the hell is this
title anyway? It is more a lesson in incongruity than anything
else. The peppy opening credits leave off into a world more
reminiscent of Ender's Game than the slightly carefree air
it puts on. It tries to be serious and epic, but never really
reaches these lofty goals, and just degrades into formulaic
derivations we have all seen six times already. It can be
pleasing, but also disappointing at the same time.
Z-Mind
More info: Bandai
Rating: 
Bandai
gives us this 'classic giant robot anime'. Classic, as in
the copy right was about to give, and the studio that owned
it was letting it go for pennies. It is vintage, estimate
late 70s, though no means of verification appear on the packaging.
This leads to the possible conclusion that it is in fact parody,
and merely in the style of a 70s giant robot genre show, but
it is very much the real deal, even if it is self effacing
in the extreme.
The general
plot is that the Earth is under attack from an alien race
that is in fact not even organic. These inorganic 'Orgapians'
naturally have giant robots because, well, does not everyone?
To combat these creatures, three sisters, but mainly the oldest,
must man (or woman) the three-robot-combo-into-one-big-robot,
Z-Mind. Built by the girl's father from blueprints discovered
on the moon, the Z-Mind, and indeed the entire Z-Project is
the only hope against the invaders. From there the plot twists
about time travel, parental love, and other matters strange,
but it never really builds up any steam. The pacing is well
done, at least in an overall regard, but the need to inject
a big robot battle into every episode gets tedious after the
first two or three times.
The animation
is deceptive. Though the time purports to be 1970, the design
is very much in the late 70's tradition that gave way to the
style of Akira. There are vestiges of the previous generation
of work, most notably in the robot and alien ship designs,
and one can very easily see the influence of Maccross, Getter
Robo, and Volton in play. The flow is smooth however, showing
a lot of time and work into the creation process. Too bad
this effort is not also reflected in the story.
The story
is weak; outright weak. The above plot summery leaves out
the time traveling Terminator-eque robot built by the Orgapians
to infiltrate mankind that turns to the side of the humans.
Similarly there are constant references that the events detailed
are taking place in a world where there have been like animated
shows. The girls are constantly making allusion to, and in
fact base their battle strategy on, the television shows.
While it is possible this is an homage it hardly helps the
plot and the viewer can do better by looking to better anime
such as Martian Successor Nasdecio which actually uses a similar
idea to much greater effect.
To be
fair, there are some truly brilliant aspects to the series.
The Orgapians are some of the creepiest aliens you will ever
encounter in anime, and by the same token, the back story
seems to be very rich, even if it is not explored. How did
the Z-Mind's blue prints end up on the moon? And furthermore,
why does the future have such a vested interest in preserving
this era of the past. What happened between human and Orgapians
that caused this apparent war? No answers. There is an epilogue
that shamelessly tacks on the 'to-be continued' sign with
some flashes of things to come, but there is not continuation.
Why is it that such potential can be ruined utterly by budgets,
ratings, and bureaucracy? Again, chalk one up for the unanswered
questions.
The voice
acting in English is sub par, and the identification of the
woman voicing the older sister as the same woman who voiced
such a high profile role as Hitomi in Escaflone denotes that
Bandai is going the ADV path and keeping in-house voice actors.
While she does a good job, on the whole, it is a little hard
to sound like a serious actor when shouting "Z-Formation".
The Japanese language track is also less than stellar, but
at least the translation is consistent.
Extras
are standard: Trailers, text less opening and closings, and
some concept art, but little else to jog excitement or interest.
All in all, the entire package is rather disappointing aside
from the slick art and interesting concepts. A good analogy
might be Disney's flop Atlantis. Great potential, less than
great execution, and really poor results. Unless you are a
devotee of the giant city smashing robot genre, this is hardly
worth the time.
Matt
is our anime guru. Email him here.
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