ExoSquad (1993)

ExoSquad was a 1993 to 1994 animated series, produced by Universal cartoon studios as a response to the growing popularity of redubbed Japanese anime.

The series was notable as being one of the few "western amine" type shows to be successful, as the problem with western attitudes towards animated media tend to pigeonhole it firmly into the "kids stuff" category, thus meaning that plots tend to be uncoordinated and somewhat farcical, with the characters lacking any depth.

ExoSquad completely bucked this trend and, combined with its use of a "realistic" animation style, it is essentially a science fiction space opera.

Two series were made, with a third planned to debut in 1995, however, due to networks treating the series as a disposable "Saturday morning cartoon" and not airing the series in the correct order etc, viewing figures for series 2 plummeted and thus the ok was not given to proceed to the third, and possibly more ambitious, series.

Unusually for a western cartoon, the series explored some very adult topics, such as racism, love, honour, betrayal, military tactics and the consequences of infighting which have disastrous outcomes, which, being as the series was aimed at the teen/young adult demographic, was unsurprising.

The series has received limited releases on both VHS and DVD, but has mostly been released via streaming media in recent years, which has allowed the full series to be seen properly for the first time by people who weren't around for its original airing.

Series 1 begins in the year 2119 with series 2 concluding in the year 2121. Mankind has begun exploring the solar system, and has managed to colonise the Moon, Mars and Venus, with tentative exploratory missions making headway to colonising the outer planets.
Extensive terraforming work has been done, but not fully completed, on both Mars and Venus, making their atmospheres more hospitable to human life, but still somewhat dangerous.
In order to complete the extensive mining work required to access the rich mineral deposits on other planets, in the mid 21st century, Human scientists perfected the art of genetic recombination, and thus created a worker race named the "Neo-Sapiens".
Originally it was thought that these creatures were only capable of simple tasks, and were not sentient at all, however some time in the 2070s, the Neo-Sapiens working on Mars staged a violent revolt.
The revolution, although unsuccessful, did lead to the recognition of Neo-Sapiens as being a sentient species, and their status as a "slave race" was cast off. The Neo-Sapiens were given custodianship over Mars, and at the time of the series beginning, the Neo-Sapien leader, Phaeton, has spent years planning another revolt, however this time his aim is not merely to secure Neo-Sapien freedom (which they already have) instead, his plan is to assure Neo-Sapien dominance over the solar system, with the long term goal of completely eradicating Homo Sapiens.

While the ExoFleet (the name given to the armed forces of this future time because of their use of "ExoFrame" technology to fight with) are distracted by the perceived threat of space pirates, who are themselves descendants of people transported to penal colonies on the outer planets and then subsequently abandoned, the Neo-Sapiens conquer the inner planets in a lightning fast assault.

The series itself follows the exploits of "Able Squad", a unit of ExoTroopers whose role in the war is pivotal in the goal of liberating the inner worlds and stopping the Neo-Sapiens from committing mass genocide.

The main characters are as follows:-

Lt./Cmdr J.T Marsh - Commands Able squad, but is later promoted to be commander of a full platoon. Marsh is a fair man, but does not tolerate members of his squad going against orders. He is fiercely loyal to Admiral Winfield and is a skilled ExoFrame pilot. Marsh usually pilots an aerial assault E-Frame.

Lt./Lt.Cmdr Nara Walsh - Initially Nara is Able squads tactical officer, but gets promoted to squad leader after Marsh's promotion. A native of Venus, her parents were killed in the first days of the Neo-Sapien war, and he younger brother leads the human resistance on the planet. Nara usually Co-pilots the squads ground attack E-Frame with Marsala, but wears a suit of powered armour when working alone.

Lt. Maggie Wilson - Able squads technical expert and field engineer. Maggie is responsible for field maintenance of the squads ExoFrames, and her skills come in handy whenever the squad need to infiltrate buildings or spacecraft without blowing things up, or need some assistance with unfamiliar technology. During the later series, she is often seen helping Professor Algernon. Maggie usually pilots an armed Engineers E-Frame.

Sgt. Rita Torres - Able squads 2iC who harbours an intense hatred of pirates due to an incident in the past where her entire squad was killed in an ambush except her. She was left to die a slow death from suffocation by the pirate Jubail, whom she later encounters when the ExoFleet allies with the pirates.
Torres is a perfect soldier and is very loyal to Marsh. Rita usually pilots a heavily armed assault E-Frame.

Alec DeLeon - Able squads communications and intelligence expert. His skill with computers and technology rivals that of Maggie, but his preference is for active combat as opposed to research. He is eventually killed in the closing days of the war but is resurrected thanks to Neo-Sapien cloning technology, where he begins an oft hinted to romance with Maggie. Alec usually pilots a C3i E-Frame.

Wolf Bronsky - Wolf is the squads heavy weapons trooper. Loud mouthed, rude and gluttonous, but also extremely dependable, Wolf prefers action over stealth and intrigue. When not on mission, Wolf likes to spend most of his time eating, so much so that his speech is often punctuated by a series of loud burps. Wolf usually pilots a heavy assault E-Frame.

Kaz Takagi - The youngest and newest member of Able squad. Kaz is the squads aerial support trooper. As Kaz is fairly young and impressionable, he is often easily swayed into going "off mission", especially so whenever the opportunity is presented for him to prove himself in the eyes of the other squad members, although this brings him into conflict with his superiors and lands him in trouble more often than not. Kaz usually pilots an Exo-Fighter, an light fighter air/space craft equipped with lasers and missiles, and he is regarded as one of the best fighter pilots in the fleet.

Marsala - One of the few Neo-Sapiens that remained loyal to the ExoFleet, Marsala faces considerable opposition in the face of human prejudice against his kind. As he is a Neo-Sapien, Marsala is considerably stronger and more resilient than his human comrades, and is able to easilly infiltrate Neo-Sapien bases. Later in the series it is revealed that Marsala and Phaeton are genetic twins, the closest the sterile Neo-Sapiens can get to being "brothers" (Neo-Sapiens reproduce via being grown in laboratories, with "spawnings" of new Neo-Sapiens numbering from small groups to theoretically hundreds of thousands). It is also revealed that Marsala was one of the instigators of the original Martian Neo-Sapien revolt. Marsala usually pilots the ground attack E-Frame with Nara, whom he shares an emotional bond with, but is unable to express due to his concern for the prejudice that comes with him being a Neo-Sapien.

Phaeton - Marsalas twin and eventual leader/tyrant of the Neo-Sapien order. Phaeton is originally the governor of Mars, however he instigates a plot to secretly build weapons to overthrow homo sapien dominance. Later in the series, it is revealed that Phaeton suffers from a debilitating genetic condition which is causing his body to randomly mutate and degrade, requiring that he use a life support E-Frame at all times. Phaeton was originally Marsalas second in command during the Martian revolt, however his capture by a young Admiral Winfield and subsequent betrayal led to a humiliating defeat for the Neo-Sapien cause. Due to his disease, Phaeton gradually becomes insane, and towards the end of the war decides that if he cannot control the solar system, then no one will, and has an anti-matter bomb built on Earth with which he intends to use to destroy the inner planets.

Admiral Winfield - A veteran of the Martian revolt, Winfield rose through the ranks to become supreme commander of the ExoFleet. An extremely capable wartime commander, it is his strategies that prove to be successful in eventually liberating the inner worlds from Neo-Sapien rule.
Along the way, Winfield overcomes a mutiny instigated by his second in command and is instrumental in negotiating an alliance with the pirate clans of the outer planets. Winfields flagship is the ExoCarrier Resolute, which ends up getting destroyed during the mutiny, he later takes command of the Resolute II, an ExoCarrier constructed by rogue elements within the pirate clans which is equipped with a pirate cloaking device.

Professor Algernon - A human scientist who eventually becomes the ExoFleets chief scientific officer.
At the beginning of the war, Algernon is trapped on Earth, but has no interest in whose side he is on as he has previously been belittled by the military, his only interest is his pursuit of scientific research. To this end, he strikes a bargain with the Neo-Sapien scientist Xenobius, where he will be allowed to carry on his work as Xenobius's "assistant", while Xenobius claims any credit for Algernons discoveries.
While Xenobius is a scientist, the Neo-Sapiens lack of any sense of imagination or curiosity seriously hampers his ability to actually make any new discoveries, therefore he is completely reliant on Algernon to produce results, and claims credit for them despite not actually understanding any of the devices.
Algernon invents the GraF (Gravitational Focus) shield, a devastating directed energy weapon which the Neo-Sapiens use in the early days of the war, however after he is captured by Able squad he is convinced to work for the humans, where his discoveries are finally recognised.

Jonas Simbacca - The gruff leader of the pirate clans. Jonas was one of the people originally abandoned on the outer planets when he was just a boy. Over time he rose in the pirate ranks to become their leader, mainly through a combination of political savvy and martial prowess.
Simbacca, as with many of the pirates, is initially an enemy of the ExoFleet, however after the Neo-Sapiens try to assassinate him (his life is saved by J.T Marsh) he orders the pirate clans to join with the ExoFleet to put a stop to Phaetons plans.

The series 2 ended with a major cliffhanger, involving the possibility of series 3 being centred around the ExoFleet and the Neo-Sapiens being forced to join forces in order to combat an alien threat, however due to the series' cancellation, this was never resolved.

The ExoFleet brand was expanded to include a toy line, a video game and a short print comic series,  however the declining popularity of the TV series meant that the periphery stuff outlived the series itself (Later releases of ExoSquad 6" action figures included some repaints of "Robotech" mechs, released under the "ExoSquad : Robotech" sub line), but did nothing to improve the shows fanbase.

The series itself treads some very familiar territory, and has many tropes taken from series such as the Gundam series, Robotech, Battletech, and it draws inspiration from sci-fi sources such as BladeRunner and Starship Troopers, but even with all these familiar bits of background fluff, the series still manages to be entertaining.

The series has never been released in full on DVD, however streaming sources such as Amazon Prime, Netflix and Hulu have featured the series in full on numerous occasions.
"Other" online sources tend to be very poor quality VHS rips, so it is in viewers best interests to try and watch the series via "official" channels as opposed to "by other means".


I love this series, as it was, along with shows such as "The Pirates of Dark Water", "Bots Master" and "Phantom 2040", a good indicator that western animation studios were perfectly capable of providing well thought out and well animated shows which weren't afraid to step outside of the "Looney Toons" pigeonhole, and compete directly with Japanese imports.





 

Battletech: The Animated Series

Battletech: The Animated Series was a 1994 cartoon series created by Saban entertainment.

Consisting of a single series of 13 episodes (not including episode 5a, which was a clip show), the series tells the story of the 1st Somerset Strikers, a combined arms unit which fought in the early days of the Clan Invasion period.

Although foreknowledge of the Battletech universe is not required to watch the show, it does help as the show makes little to no attempt to explain much of the fictional universes background.

Synopsis:-

In the year 3050, Major Adam Steiner, an officer cadet training on the planet Tharkad, Is informed that his home planet of Somerset has been invaded and conquered by a mysterious enemy known as "Clan Jade Falcon". Within days of this news, other worlds in the Innersphere (the name given to the known planets colonised by mankind, all of which fall under the control of one of five noble houses) also report attacks by these mysterious invaders.
Major Steiner finds that his brother Andrew has been captured by the Jade Falcons, and decides to attempt to mount a rescue operation, however, being a low ranking officer, he lacks the authority required to rally a large military force from within House Steiners armed forces.
Starting with a few loyal colleagues, bolstered by his requisitioning of a space craft belonging to the rival house Kurita (which is eventually signed over to his command officially by a mutual defence agreement between the two noble houses) Major Steiner and his multi national strike team are given the task of intelligence gathering, as no one in the Innersphere has any idea about who the Clans are or what their capabilities may be, except that Clan Battlemech technology seems to be far superior to their own.


The series itself was not well received by Battletech fans, many citing that the show was poorly made and not keeping within the spirit of the war games universe, as numerous bits of artistic licence used to flesh the series out were in direct contradiction to established "in universe" canon.
The animation quality at the time of release was fairly average, as was the voice acting, however as the series has never really been fully officially released on video or DVD, whenever you encounter it now it will more than likely be in the form of low quality VHS rips, all of which suffer from poor video rendering and dodgy sound quality.
Storywise though, the series attempts to follow in the vein of other animated series' of the time, such as the renowned "Exo-Squad", by having a single series long story arc and dealing with much more mature themes than what is commonly associated with so called "Saturday morning cartoons".
People in the show are actually killed off (except for main characters of course), and both sides Battlemechs are shown to shoot lasers, machine guns and missiles at each other, buildings and fleeing unarmed humans without resorting to dialogue saying that they were using "stun lasers" or something along those lines.
Alas, although the final episode sets up a storyline for a second series, it never materialised due to the shows poor reception amongst viewers, and FASA, the then owners of the Battletech brand, received considerable negative feedback for their decision to "sell out" by allowing a cartoon to be made of the franchise (with an accompanying toy line to boot!).

In the years that followed, the series itself has actually entered into the Battletech canon, being described in a sourcebook dedicated to the 1st Somerset Strikers as being "a poorly made and inaccurate holovid detailing the campaign by the 1st Somerset Strikers to liberate Adam Steiners home world" , with the sourcebook itself containing game rules to use the legendary unit within the game and correcting the "inaccuracies" as depicted in the show.

The series is by no means the worst cartoon to have come out of the early/mid 1990s, but it isn't one of the best either, instead, it is a bit of a curiosity which may or may not appeal to fans of the Battletech/Mechwarrior series of tabletop and video games.

Cardfight!! Vanguard - The Movie: Stand up!, Vanguard! (2012)

So, feeling a little drained after watching the "Asia Circuit" series in the space of 3 days, I decided that the best way of having a rest from watching Cardfight!! Vanguard was to..... watch a movie based on the same thing.....

Just a warning before you read on, this review/recap contains spoilers, so if you haven't seen the film and don't want the storyline completely ruined, go watch it first.



Ready?, Ok....

This 2012 "Movie" (although like many Japanese movies based on popular TV shows, it is actually more of a TV special than a cinema piece) was made following the success of the first TV anime series.
Unlike the anime series however, this is a live action presentation, and, oddly, the actual card game is simply used as a springboard to tell a story, rather than being a critical part of the storyline overall.
That's not to say this is a bad film, but it certainly isn't a good one either.

The storyline goes as follows:
Hiroki is a shy young boy who is bullied a lot at school. One day, he is attacked by a gang of bullies and attracts the attention of a mysterious stranger called "Daigo" (translates roughly as "great power", played by the Japanese musician/voice actor of the same name, who is playing an exaggerated version of himself). Daigo, in an attempt to save the boy, and impress an attractive teacher from Hirokis school, ends up getting himself beaten up by the kids, however, after the bullies run away, he finds out that Hirokis teacher, Maria, is worried about him, so Daigo takes it upon himself to help the boy come out of his shell.
Daigo gets himself appointed as a "Special teacher" at the school Hiroki attends, by saying he is a "Genius" and a graduate of Harvard University (although the diploma/certificate he shows to prove his credentials is from the "HarvardA university", and is obviously fake), and embarks on a campaign to cheer Hiroki up and get him to do something other than sulk.
As it turns out, Hiroki is a fairly depressed kid, as he is regularly left home alone by his workaholic father, and his mother died some years previously, which deeply affected Hiroki emotionally. To make matters worse, Hirokis father, on the rare occasion when he does actually see and speak to him, is very dismissive of Hiroki's hobby, which is playing the CCG "Cardfight!! Vanguard", dismissing it as a stupid waste of time and not the activity of a man.
Daigo finds that Hirokis passion for Vanguard helps him gain confidence, and that Hiroki is pretty good at the game, so he encourages him to challenge the lead bully, Teru, to a game, Hiroki reluctantly does, and suffers a humiliating defeat.
Daigo however, doesn't give up, he learns as much as he can about the game and then offers Hiroki encouragement in pursuing his hobby, even though Hirokis father is still disinterested and abusive to his son about it.
Daigo, along with Maria, encourage Hiroki to enter a Vanguard team tournament, in order to prove his worth and get revenge on Teru for his bullying by beating him in fair competition. The first few rounds go well, and "Team Hiroki" manage to get through to the finals against "Team Teru", which will be held the following day, however disaster strikes when Maria (who is also pretty good at the game herself) is injured in an accident, and is left unable to play in the finals. Daigo approaches Hirokis father to replace her, but again he is dismissive, and Hiroki is angered by his fathers uncaring attitude. Via a flashback sequence, we learn that Hirokis mother was the one who bought Hiroki his first Vanguard starter deck, and regularly played the game with him, even when she was in hospital dying from some unspecified illness. Hiroki says that his father was never there for him, or his mother, and that he has never once shown any emotion over the mothers death.
The tournament comes, and Hirokis father attends, at first though pleading that he cannot participate because he is busy with work, but is eventually persuaded to put work second, just for once.
The final gets underway, with Hirokis father going first, using the deck that Hirokis mother built, he is defeated.
Daigo goes next, and manages to beat Terus "Special Teacher", who throughout the film has shown himself to be a bit of a sadist and spent his time teaching Teru to be the same, which causes the teacher to make a childish outburst before fleeing the building screaming like a child because he lost.
Finally, Hiroki plays against Teru, and, after a very tense match, Hiroki again loses, meaning Teru is awarded the prize for overall winner, however, Hiroki earns Terus respect and friendship by showing he can stand up for himself, Hiroki also learns that unlike what he had previously thought, his father did visit his mother shortly before she died, where they discussed Hiroki and how his mothers illness was affecting him, but he was unable to show his emotion because he dealt with his wife's death by throwing himself into his work rather than confront what had happened.

After father and son are reconciled, Daigo announces that Hiroki no longer needs him, as he has learned everything he needs to, but just as he leaves, Hiroki challenges him to a game of Vanguard....







This film is very, very Japanese, and was never really intended for consumption by non-Japanese audiences, so is somewhat difficult to watch in places unless you at least have a basic understanding of Japanese custom and culture.

I do like that the film takes place in the "real world", and not the "Anime world", with the characters being believable and not over the top anime stereotypes, and quite simply, the story boils down to one of an emotionally scarred boy reconnecting with his cold and distant father over a shared interest.
The fact that this interest is Cardfight!! Vanguard is purely incidental and only included for marketing reasons, hell, Hirokis passion could have been for playing chess, creative writing or even freestyle disco dancing, it wouldn't have mattered in the slightest.
I also like how during the scenes where the game is being played it is portrayed as the game would be played in real life, without all of the anime trappings of holographic characters, burning justice backgrounds and so on, and I also like how the game play scenes are kept brief, showing only "important" parts of play and the match outcomes.Similarly, I also like how they didn't go down the route of portraying the game as a worldwide phenomenon, with thousands of fans watching games in ridiculously oversized stadiums, instead portraying the game as it really is, namely small groups of people getting together to play a game as a hobby, and not as a lifestyle choice. Finally, I like how the film is expressly NOT used as a marketing vehicle for selling cards to viewers, as although cardfight cards are shown, very few of them are specifically named, and none are really described as being "ultimate awesome unbeatable" etc etc.

The film does not benefit from its short run time of 80 minutes, as the scenes in which Hirokis back story are filled in are somewhat rushed, and in some cases a little bit non-sequitur, also, Daigos being there and backstory isnt explored at all, but that can be excused being as that he plays the role of "mysterious stranger/mentor", as explaining his background would remove some of his mystery.
On the subject of Daigo, it is rather strange by western cultural standards for a strange man to take such an interest in the life of a child he barely knows, however this is a fairly standard trope in Japanese entertainment (hence "mysterious stranger/mentor") but it is not without any kind of equivalent in western fiction, Doctor Who being the first one that springs to mind.
I think this film suffers badly from the limited budget and poor writing imposed on it by being a niche TV special.

So all in all, "Stand up!, Vanguard!" isn't a bad film, it isn't a good one either, and certainly wouldn't be recommended to those who are looking to get a taster of the Cardfight universe.

Anime Review - Cardfight!! Vanguard - Asia Circuit (Eps 66-104) 2012

So, following on the heels of the first series, "Cardfight!! Vanguard - Asia Circuit" forms the second series of the Cardfight!! franchise. At only 39 episodes in length (probably because by this point there was no need to spend many episodes explaining game rules and card types) the series is shorter and much more to the point than the original series.
Again, this series is Available to watch for free on Youtube

The series begins a couple of weeks after Team Q4 is declared victorious in the national Vanguard tournament. Aichi, Kai, Kamui and Misaki have all gone their separate ways, in order to have some "time off" from the game.
One day, Aichi goes to Card Capital to find the shop deserted apart form a mysterious boy whom says he has an interest in playing Vanguard, so Aichi plays a game with him to teach him the basic rules. Throughout their battle, the boy keeps making cryptic statements about Aichis cards being "retro", and that Aichi needs to find his "Limit Break". Then during one turn, the boy speaks Aichis name, despite Aichi never actually telling him it, the next thing, Aichi wakes up and finds himself standing alone in the shop. He also finds that his deck, containing both Royal and Shadow paladin type cards has been replaced by a new deck containing cards from the new "Gold Paladin" clan, and the mystery gets stranger when his friends insist that he has always used a Gold paladin deck
Aichi seeks out Kai and tells him about the mysterious boy, and finds that Kai's Kagero deck has also been replaced by a new deck themed around the Narukami clan, and he too doesn't remember Aichi's old deck, or his own. Kai challenges Aichi to a game there and then, saying that if Aichis story is true, then he will need to practice with his new deck. During play he stumbles over what to do with the unfamiliar cards, however Kai points out that Aichi needs to stop behaving like a spoilt child and open himself up to new gameplay strategies, and with that, Kai demonstrates the new game mechanic of the "Limit Break", which utterly defeats Aichi in a single move.
Later, Aichi finds out that Team Q4 have been invited to participate in the VF Circuit (Vanguard Fighter) , an international level competition with teams from all over Asia meeting to play Vanguard to decide which team is the best.
He initially has some trouble forming a team, as Kai has completely disappeared, Misaki is indifferent towards playing, and Kamui has joined Team Handsome instead. Aichi however is successful and manages to take Team Q4 initially to the Singapore leg of the championships, then on to the Korean leg, Hong Kong leg, and then finally to the Japanese leg.
During the tournaments, Aichi makes it his goal to find the mysterious boy who swapped his deck and find out just what is going off, both here on Earth and on the planet Cray, along the way meeting up with old friends and making some new enemies. The battles they participate in are also made difficult by the addition of random game conditions, such as limiting the time that can be taken over turns, randomising attack targets etc.
Eventually, the mystery is solved, although the story of the battle for planet Cray is far from over....




This series is much better than the first series, as it benefits from actually having a decent and coherent story arc that stretches over the run.
In a brilliant marketing move, the series not only both makes sure it maximises sales of cards by prominently featuring a new card set with a new game play mechanic, but also encourages RL players to buy more cards by having Aichi face a problem encountered by most CCG players, namely having to change their play style to accommodate changes in game play and learning to adopt different play styles as opposed to just building and playing the same deck all the time.
That said though, once again, most of the on screen action takes place at the gaming tables of the tournament, however unlike the previous series, effort is made to make the games, and the characters dialogue whilst playing, interesting to watch and listen to.

So, I'd rate this series "quite good"

Anime Review - Cardfight!! Vanguard Series 1 (eps 1-65) 2011

Been a while since I indulged in my weeaboo leanings and watched any anime (YuGiOh! Arc-V doesn't count) so after seeing loads of people spunking off over it down at the local games shops, and finding out that the entire series is available to watch for free on Youtube, I thought I'd give Cardfight a try.

Now, I mostly don't watch modern animes (YuGiOh! Arc-V doesn't count) simply because I don't like the way that most modern animes have gone down the route of being all emo to make them more down with the kids at the expense of sex demons and lots of gratuitous violence and swearing, however I must admit a slight fondness for animes based on gaming, so, therefore, I should like Cardfight....hmmmm.

 So, the story arc of the first series, and what a series it is too coming in at a whopping 65 episodes, revolves around, as many of these types of show do, the card game "Cardfight!! Vanguard", which is said to be the most popular card game in the world.

Aichi Sendo is a teenaged boy who is a bit of a loner and gets bullied a lot, however one day his favourite trading card, "Blaster Blade", which was given to him as a gift (even though at the beginning of the series he has no interest in playing CCGs) is stolen by two bullies who plan to use it to beat the local Cardfight champion, Kai (who originally gave Aichi the Blaster Blade card).
Aichi races to the games shop "Card Capital" to beg for his favourite card back, however Kai has already beaten the bullies and taken "Blaster Blade" for himself, so Aichi challenges this as yet unbeaten "Cardfighter" to a game with the prize for winning being that Aichi gets his card back.
Aichi, despite never having played Cardfight!! before manages to win and finds that he rather enjoys the game, so he becomes a regular visitor to Card Capital, eventually becoming one of the stores top 4 players, earnig himself a place on the store team in the national Cardfight tournaments.
Through paying the game, Aichi gains a lot of self confidence, as well as making new friends, however, as always, he makes enemies in the form of another Cardfighter called Ren, who has the mysterious power to be able to see the outcome of games before they have been played, and thus remains the worlds unbeaten Cardfight Champion, as he basically abuses his power to cheat.
Aichi finds out that he too shares Rens power, and it begins to corrupt him, however through various struggles, Aichi and his team mates emerge victorious at the Cardfight national championships on their second attempt....

Phew!, 65 episodes....yeahhhhh.
First off its worth stating the obvious that the series exists purely as an advertisment designed to sell Cardfight game cards to viewers, however, unlike YuGiOh!, the series does NOT misrepresent card powers, what cards you see on screen would be exactly the same as they would be if you bought a pack or sealed deck of them in real life, so that is a bonus right there.

The first 20 or so episodes make sure that the viewer understands the games rules of play, which is a good thing being as that having watched loads of games of Vanguard in real life, up until I watched this series I had absolutely no idea what was going on, so at the very least, I could now play a game of Vanguard without having to refer to rulebooks or ask my opponent what to do (I will also state that despite asking several Vanguard players how you play in RL, none of them could be arsed showing me...tight arsed bastards!, probably didn't want me to crush them or something...grr).


So, did I enjoy this series?, well,t he answer to that question is a simple "meh".
While I liked the overall premise of the series, and the fact that the show teaches you how to play the game and presents you with varying styles and strategies of play, I did not like how for the vast majority of the time, the show consists of two people playing a game of cards whilst making snidy comments to each other.
Even the overall story arc of series 1 was pretty boring, and went on waaaaayyyy too long to hold much interest to anyone who isn't interested in the game. Yes, yes, I realise that YuGiOh! does exactly the same sort of thing, however the "game playing" portions of that show are interesting to watch because they genuinely do add something to the story, whereas Cardfights in game dialogue simply consists of the players trading thinly veiled insults whilst playing the same cards over and over and over again and then waiting until either one of them fucks up or one of them gets lucky and manages to pull the right card during their drive trigger phase so that they annihilate the other player (this is probably a harsh observation being as that the RL CCGs game mechanics are at fault here, however devoting a whole 65 episodes to seeing the same people play the same game over and over again gets a bit tiresome).
Yeah, Team Q4, as Aichi and his mates are called, literally play the same opponents over and over again and its dead obvious what they are going to play and whether they will win or lose before they have even started trading insults.

There are 3 (at time of writing) follow up series, "Asia Circuit" , "Link joker" and "Legion Mate", I haven't watched any of the others yet but I'm going to give them a chance, as hopefully story will take precedence over scenes of people standing at gaming tables.

EPis0dIC! - Ulysses 31 - "Strange Meeting" (S01E24) - 1981

Ulysses is conducting mining operations on an asteroid, Shirka warns him that the materials contained within the rocks he is drilling may be dangerous, so he warns Telemachus, Umi and Nono to keep away.
The children move away from the area and find some caves they decide to explore, however Telemachus runs afoul of a trap set by the Gods and falls into a portal after spotting a statue of Poseidon.
Ulysses runs to Telemachus' aid, and is told by Zeus that Telemachus has committed a grievous sin by falling into a time portal, and Ulysses 31 must travel back in time 5000 years to the time of his distant ancestor, the original Ulysses, and set the time lines back on their original course.

Telemachus 31 emerges from the portal and is immediately captured by a trio of Ithacan warriors and brought before Penelope, wife of Ulysses, who is the ruler of the kingdom of Ithaca.
The original Ulysses has been gone for nearly 20 years, firstly leaving to fight in the Trojan war, and then taking 10 years to return home (as detailed in Homers epic poem "the Odyssey"), and under the Greek tradition, as Ulysses has deemed to have deserted his wife, she must choose a new husband to take over as king of Ithaca.
Telemachus 31 recognises Penelope as looking like his mother, and she recognises him as looking like her son, the original Telemachus, however both of them know they are not who they appear to be. One of Penelopes many suitors, of whom 108 have gathered within the palace to demand Penelope choose a new husband from their number, demands that Penelope choose now, otherwise he will take the boy as his slave, Penelope at first refuses, but as Telemachus 31 is hauled away, she relents and offers a challenge to any would be suitor.
The challenge is simple, whomever can string a bow that once belonged to Ulysses, and then fire an arrow through 12 crossed axes at a target will be chosen as her new husband (knowing full well that none of the assembled suitors will be able to manage it, as they all lack Ulysses' great strength and skill). The assembled suitors relish the thought of finally making a grab for power, but Telemachus 31 is still placed in a cage until the morning.

During the night, Telemachus 31 is freed by his opposite number and doppelganger, the original Telemachus, the two then lead the palace guards on a merry chase as they become confused and try to recapture "Telemachus", eventually though the boys manage to outwit the guards and escape, but in doing so they run  into Antinous, chief amongst Penelopes suitors and the man responsible for Telemachus 31s incarceration. He demands that the real Telemachus identify himself, when the boys refuse, he says that he will now kill them both, as Ulysses heir cannot be allowed to live and contest his claim to the throne. The boys fight with Antinous' men, but the fight goes badly, however, the boys are saved by a mysterious stranger who looks like an old beggar.
After the trio escape, the beggar reveals himself to be the real Ulysses, finally returned to Greece.
Telemachus informs Ulysses of the situation with Penelope, and Ulysses says he will put things right.
The group are then approached by Ulysses 31, Umi and Nono, who have finally arrived in ancient Greece, Telemachus 31 is overjoyed to see his father again.
The two men discuss the situation, and hatch a plot to put Ulysses back on the throne, however the original Ulysses doesn't think he will be able to complete the challenge as he received a wound in the fight with Antinious' men which would prevent him from being able to use the bow.
The following morning, a sage warns the suitors that Ulysses will return, and will punish those who would stand against him, but his warnings are rebuffed. The beggar man joins the assembled suitors at the palace and the trial commences.
One after another, the suitors fail to string the bow, even Antinous fails despite coming close. A pause is requested, with anyone else wanting to try doing so the following day, but the beggar man speaks and says he wishes to attempt the challenge. Antinous mocks the beggar but allows him to attempt it anyway, simply so he can insult him.
To every ones surprise, the beggar not only manages to string the bow, he also fires the arrow through the crossed axes, and thus proves himself as being the best choice to marry Penelope and become king of Ithaca. Penelope asks that the man reveal his face, which he does, the beggar is Ulysses 31, standing in for his injured ancestor. Penelope realises the deception, but Ulysses 31 states that the actual Ulysses is also present, Aninous calls for them both to be killed, however only he carries a sword, as the two Telemachus' hid all of the palaces weapons earlier that day.
Ulysses 31 and Antinous fight, Ulysses easily beats the clumsy and overconfident Antinous through a combination of his skill and his 31st century weapons. Antinous declares Ulysses 31 to be a God, and the suitors bow down before him, Ulysses 31 declares that the days should be one of celebration, as their true king has finally returned.
With the time line fixed, the travellers are taken back to the 31st century, where they return to the Odyssey and leave the area, with all memory of their adventure into the past wiped from their memories.


I like this episode as it is a pretty good retelling of one of the parts of the classic myth from the Odyssey. Although it takes some artistic licence with the events as portrayed in the original poem, as sci-fi retellings of Greek myths go, this one isnt half bad.

Anime Review:- Yu Gi Oh! Zexal

Yu gi Oh! Zexal (pronounced "ZECK-sul" in the English dub, and "ZAY-al" in the Japanese version) was a 2011-2012 anime series based on the ongoing manga series, and forms the fourth entry in the Yu Gi Oh anime franchise.

Set many years after the events of 5Ds, the series makes a shift back to the more fun orientated days of GX, but still retains some serious overtones, although not half as grim as some sections of 5Ds were.

In this series, Duel Monsters is still a popular game, however by this time, the 3d holograms and duel discs of previous eras have been replaced by an augmented reality system, controlled and viewed via a system known as the "Duel Gazer", which superimposes creatures and battlefields over existing terrain.
Most of the series' action takes place in Heartland City, home to Yuma Tsukumo, a teenage boy who lives with his grandfather after his parents vanished in mysterious circumstances (this is one of many parallels between Yuma and Yugi Moto).
One of the recent crazes in the Duel monsters game is the introduction of XYZ (pronounced "ECK-seez") monsters, a new game mechanic which allows players to fuse their existing monsters to summon a special, and usually very powerful, creature from their extra deck, however, at the beginning of the series, Yuma has still to obtain any XYZ monster cards, never mind play them, which puts a bit of a damper on his ambition to become the worlds number one duellist.
During one duel though, Yuma finds that the pendant given to him years ago by his father contains a secret, it is actually a mystical key which allows him to travel into another plane of existence, which in turn frees a being named "Astral". Astral came to Earth many centuries before but was involved in an accident which erased his memory, and the only way he can regain his memories is by helping Yuma collect the "numbers", a series of 101 XYZ monster cards, each of which contain some of his memories. Matters are made more difficult due to the fact that only Yuma and a handful of other people can actually see Astral, so many people assume Yuma is crazy when he starts talking, and sometimes arguing, with himself during duels. However, Astral and Yuma find that they can combine their bodies and fight as one, which makes defeating some of their more powerful opponents much simpler, as Astrals duelling skill can combine with Yumas enthusiasm and resourcefulness.

Zexals original run of 73 episodes was followed up by Zexal II (Zexal second) which ran for another 73 episodes from 2012 to 2014.
Zexal II continued Yuma and Astrals adventures as they struggle to save Earth from invasion by a race of aliens called the Barian, who are enemies of Astrals people and agents of chaos.

Zexal isn't a bad series, its much more fun than 5Ds but still struggles to recapture the fun atmosphere of GX. The series introduces (and grossly exaggerates) the XYZ mechanic to the game, and as such most of the series' storylines revolve around the search for and use of XYZ related cards, at the expense of many much more popular cards that are/were being used in the real world game, but that is to be expected as the series was basically a long advertisement intended to sell game cards to the viewer.
I don't mind this series, but its certainly not the best one, with over the top characters and sometimes difficult to follow plots (probably something lost in translation), although I must say that the animation quality of the show is spectacular, with some of the duels being fairly exciting to watch.
I think that what they were trying to do with this series was essentially a reboot to the franchise, hence why there are so many similarities between Yuma and Yugi, but it just didn't seem to work terribly well.

Anime Review:- Yu Gi Oh! 5D's

Yu Gi Oh! 5Ds (meaning "5 Dragons") was the 2008 follow up to Yu Gi Oh! GX, and was based on the manga of the same name.
Running for 154 episodes (although not all of them were dubbed for western release), 5Ds marked an, albeit unsuccessful, attempt to make the series take on a more serious tone, this time round being aimed at the older teen/young adult market, this is fairly evident throughout the first three series (episodes #1 to #65), however the "seriousness" was toned down somewhat afterwards.

Set roughly 10 to 20 years after the events of Yu Gi Oh! GX, most of the series' action takes place in and around "New Domino City", a new technologically advanced utopia built on the remains of the original Domino city (as seen in the original Yu Gi Oh! anime) which is powered by a mysterious power source known as "Ener-D". However, all is not good in paradise, as for the most part, the society of New Domino City is a very elitist one, with "undesirables" being banished to a run down area of the city named "satellite", which is located on an island in New Domino's bay, and once you set foot there, you arent legally allowed to leave (although on rare occasions, exceptions to this rule are made, so long as the rich people see some advantage in it for themselves,which doesnt happen often).
In this future time, the power source "Ener-D", or "Duel energy" as it is sometimes called, has been discovered to be a plentiful source of clean, cheap energy, so much so that it literally powers everything in both New Domino and Satellite. Ener-D is is produced by collecting and harnessing the power generated by people both watching and participating in Duel monsters competition, the more exciting the duel, the more Ener-D is created.
This has led to the invention of a new and more risky type of dueling known as the "Turbo Duel", in which participants ride on Ener-D powered motorcycles (called "Duel Runners") around increasingly dangerous courses, all whilst playing a game of Duel Monsters.

Yuusei Fudo is a resident of Satellite, and the son of one of the scientists who first discovered the properties of Ener-D. Yuusei is a tough street smart kid, and a fairly good duelist, who aspires to leave Satellite behind and make a life for himself in New Domino, however circumstances conspire against him, most notably the fact that residents of Satellite are not allowed to leave the island.
Yuusei manages to get off the island, and eventually runs across a former friend turned enemy, but he also learns that he is one of the fabled "Dark Signers", five individuals descended from an ancient people who are destined to use the five sacred dragons to save the world from evil.

Initially the series is a very dry watch, with the overall message highlighting the every day struggles of the disadvantaged to overcome their lot in life and make something better for themselves, but from about series 2 onwards, the tone of the series returns to the fantasy/adventure type storytelling commonly associated with the previous series, with bad guys showing up and trying to take over/destroy the world with their various evil plans etc.

The series was heavily critisised for the invention of "Turbo Duels", which make very little sense, however the series did see the introduction of the "Synchro summon" game mechanic, which changed the strategic options available to players in the real life card game as well as characters within the series (although like previous series, many cards shown on screen and their effects are somewhat exaggerated, or just completely different to how they behave in real life)

I didn't enjoy the series that much, its attempt to darken the storylines spectacularly backfired as storylines became difficult to follow, or just plain boring. None of the characters were particularly interesting, in fact, other than Yuusei himself, I couldnt tell you any of the other characters names, simply because none of them really mattered much.

I would have to say that of all the five (at the time of writing anyway) Yu Gi Oh anime series', 5Ds is most definitely the weakest and least memorable, lacking the epic storyline of the original series, or the fun factor of GX.

Anime Review:- Yu Gi Oh! Arc-V

Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V (Pronounced "Arc-Five", the V is intended to be the roman numeral) is the fifth series and fourth spin off of the ongoing Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise.
At the time of writing (July 2014), there have only been 13 episodes aired in Japan and it has yet to be dubbed into English.
Debuting on the Japanese TV Tokyo network on April 6th 2014, the series follows the adventures of Yuya Sakaki.
Yuya is a second year student at the "You Show" Duel school, who wants to follow in his fathers footsteps by becoming an "Entertainment Duellist", a form of professional duelling in which thanks to the invention of the "Solid mass" holographic system (basically a machine which creates solid light holograms), allows duellists to put on a show for spectators by physically interacting with the creatures they summon in a realistic 3D environment.
Yuya is a fairly optimistic lad, a lesson imparted on him by his father, however he is also sad as his father vanished for no apparent reason on the eve of one of his most important duels 3 years before the start of the series, so all Yuya has left to remember him by are his memories of spending time with him, and a mystical pendant, and the pendant is where Yuya derives his special powers.

During a duel in the first episode of the series, Yuya discovers that his pendant can unlock a hitherto unknown game mechanic for Duel monsters, namely, the pendulum summon. During the duel with the man whom his father was supposed to duel 3 years previously, Yuya is being beaten quite badly, however he takes solace from his fathers advice to "smile through adversity", and the pendants power transforms the effect monster cards in his hand into a new type of card, the Pendulum monster, which allows him to rapidly summon several powerful creatures in a single turn, winning him the duel. At first he is accused of cheating, however the Duel management system which is running the duel recognises the new game mechanic as legitimate, and pretty soon Yuya becomes something of a celebrity, however, even though he enjoys his new found fame somewhat, it also draws the attention of the "Leo Duel School", a rival duelling academy that is owned and run by the insidious Akaba family.

Although only 13 episodes have aired thus far, I've quite enjoyed the series, as it manages to blend the action of the original series with the fun factor of GX, and unlike 5Ds it doesn't take itself too seriously. Im looking forward to watching the remainder of the series as there have been the starts of what could be some interesting storylines.

Anime Review - Yu-Gi-Oh!

Based on the original Manga by Kazuki Takahashi, Yu-Gi-Oh! was a 2000 - 2005 anime which consisted of 5 complete series, 1 sub series and 1 movie.

The series is a fairly faithful translation of the original manga, however obviously some changes had to be made due to violent, sexual and religious content, changes which also included new characters and story arcs being created to replace unfilmable ones from the manga series.

The series focuses on Yugi Moto, a young man who has a particular knack for puzzles and gaming.
at some point prior to the series' beginning, he manages to solve a puzzle given to him by his grandfather, who in turn found it during his time at an archaeological dig in Egypt.
As it turns out, the puzzle is one of the millennium items, a series of seven magical artifacts created 5000 years ago by the nameless pharaoh to trap an ancient and dark magic which very nearly destroyed the world.
Although he doesn't realise it at first, Yugi's completed puzzle contains the spirit of the nameless pharaoh, in whom he finds a kindred spirit, as both of them have a skill for gaming and puzzles, and Yugi can call on the pharaohs skill during his favourite game, "Duel Monsters".

The series itself consists of five story arcs, all of them revolving around Yugi and his friends battling against evil forces who use dark magic in an effort to conquer or destroy the world by various means, and these schemes are usually thwarted by the playing out of various games which have some sort of connection to the ancient world.

To people who are familiar with the card game, the first series may seem strange as the depiction of gameplay on screen is not the same as how the game is played in real life, this is due to the 1st series using the games original Japanese rules, which bore more resemblance to the "Top trumps" card game, albeit with a slightly altered game mechanics to make it more "tactical". This discontinuity was addressed during the second series (aka - the "Battle city" story arc) when the "Battle City" rules were used in a competition organised by Seto Kaiba, which were pretty much identical to the rules of play for the real life CCG, with slight discrepancies to allow for better on screen action (for example, certain cards and/or their in game effects were misrepresented, and cards were used that still don't exist to this day as plot devices) 

As the series went on, the story lines became more fantastical, and eventually Yugi and the Pharaoh learned the truth that the Pharaoh had locked away within his own mind, which drew the series to its final conclusion.

All in all, the series was very good, albeit being a bit of a niche interest one. I first discovered the series being shown on Sky one on a saturday mornings and found it to be quite interesting when I gave it a chance, despite having no interest in it prior to this. I liked the way how the characters developed over time to become more than the simple archetypes they were initially presented as, and it also helped generate my interest in the real life card game and video game series.

Yu-Gi-Oh! has since gone on to have spin off series' in the forms of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds and currently Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal, all of which have their own plot lines but all of which have their core focus on using the card game as a plot point, so its obvious that the series is stil as popular now and will continue to be popular for some time to come.

 

Anime Review - Mysterious Cities of Gold - Series 2

So, 29 years after the original series ended, the new series is finally here..finally, I mean, its not like there haven't been numerous announcements that the series would return before, but this time round, something has actually materialised.

Although "series 2" of MCoG was first officially shown in France during Christmas 2012, its only now, near Christmas 2013, that the English dub has finally surfaced, and, unusually for a series which has been so eagerly anticipated, it is being shown on an obscure satellite TV channel called "Kix!".

Contrary to what people were saying prior to its release, this series is NOT a reboot or a redo of the original, but is instead a fully fledged sequel, using the same characters, and chronicles their further adventures after the ending of the first series.

Thus far, five episodes have aired on Kix!, and, at the time of writing this, the first two episodes are available to view on their website (HERE ), but the entire series is planned to have 26 episodes.

The storyline takes place roughly one year after the original series ended. Esteban, Tao and Zia took off in the Great Golden Condor in search of the remaining six cities of gold, while Mendoza, Sancho and Pedro decided to return to Spain, having salvaged a fortune in gold from the city they found (which was subsequently destroyed).

The series prologue however shows that when Mendoza et al returned home, they had their fortunes confiscated and were thrown in prison by a mysterious robed and hooded man, who is also seeking the location of the remaining cities of gold.
The robed man sets an elaborate trap to lure Esteban and Zia back to Spain, using Mendoza as bait, after he discovers that they have come into possession of an ancient map which shows the location of the remaining cities.
After mounting a daring rescue, Esteban and company manage to decode the map, and set course for China.

As it stands, the series looks set to take place entirely in China, other than for the first two episodes which serve to move the story on from where it originally finished.
Stylistically, there series has not changed, even though the animators are now using cel-shaded animation in place of traditional (and more expensive) ink and paint, they still manage to recreate the characters exactly how they looked back in 1983.
That said, the use of computer aided animation has allowed some of the on screen effects to be updated, for example, the Great Golden Condor now looks more realistic (or as realistic as a giant flying machine made of gold and shaped like a condor can look), as the animators have included moving feathers to the wingtips, and a pair of jet exhausts to the tail.
One notable but odd change is made in the form of close ups of swords showing they have rounded, non lethal tips, but yet spears, arrowheads and knives are shown still with nice pointy stabby ends, and even at one point a man shoots at Esteban with a musket but misses, so the original series' "peril" is still present in this series, although they seem to be attempting to sanitise it.

Some slight changes in dialogue have occurred as well, for example, in the first series, Tao would refer to his people as "the people of Hiva", whereas now their original name of "the people of Mu" is used instead.

So, thus far, im quite impressed with the series, and am looking forward to the remaining episodes. It still, well, thus far anyways, manages to keep the blend of historical, sci-fi, fantasy and adventure without allowing one aspect to overpower the rest, like the original did....keep it up!

Anime Review - Diatron 5 (Korea, 1985)

Yeahhh.....

During the late 70s and early 80s the South Korean animation industry regarded the Japanese animation industry with somewhat envious eyes. While the Japanese were pouring out success stories like the Gundam series, Mazinger-Z, Getta robo etc, the Koreans only managed to either do the animations for western cartoon companies, or create poor quality pseudo-anime features.

Diatron 5 is one of these attempts at doing an anime-esque film.

Released in South Korea in 1985, Diatron 5 made its way westward not once, but twice during the late 1980s, firstly under the name "Space Transformers" (a horribly dubbed version originating from Hong Kong which made an attempt to cash in on the craze for Transformer toys in the west) and then again in the same year under the more suitable and less suck ass name of "Micro commando Diatron 5" (another fairly badly dubbed US release, which has to be said is superior to "Space Transformers" simply by virtue of the fact that the animation doesnt look like it was taken from a copied VHS video tape)


Diatron 5 is the name of a "super robot", the character model of which is a direct rip off of the "Machine Buffalo" toy from Takaras "Diaclone" toy line, (which also gave use the ultra awesome "Transformers" toy line...yeah baby!) , in fact, all the mecha in this film are direct rip offs of Diaclone toys, which is something these Korean attempts at anime like to do, a lot.

The storyline is thus....*face/palms* at the ready....

In the future, the Earth defence space station (called "Space Station Star Wars" in Space Transformers...*sigh*) monitors the passage of Halleys Comet as it passes near Earth.
Meanwhile, a mysterious assassin breaks into the home of "Ivy" (referred to simply as "Girl Genius" in Micro Commando, and said to be "the most talented girl in the world" in Space Transformers...what is never explained though in the horrid hack job redubs, is that "Ivy" has an amazingly developed sense of precognitism, meaning that she can sense telepathically if the Earth is in danger from attack..etc etc etc *face/palm*) and shoots her several times, but fails to kill her.
Meanwhile in space, the Earth defence command comes under attack by a gang of bad guys (I dunno, space pirates or something, its never really made clear..*face/palm*), who demand Earths immediate and unconditional surrender, taken totally by surprise, the Earth defence command gets its backside thrashed royally by the bad guys super robots (basically, Diaclone "Waruder" combiner robots).

Enter our hero, I forget his name (yes, it really doesnt matter one bit what he is called, this film is that shit) who is exceptionally concerned about Ivy's well being (he wants to fuck her) , however conventional medical help will do no good, as "Professor Ting" states, the bullets she was shot with were filled with some sort of bacteria which is now invading her body and heading towards her heart, and that giving her a massive dose of anti biotics to combat the infection at this stage would actually kill her instead. (What i really dont get about this plot development is, why bother with the bacteriological infection?, why not just use normal bullets, after all, the assassin did shoot her like five times, more than enough to kill the silly bint!... *face/palm*)

HOWEVER!, all hope is not lost, as Professer Ting has a new invention, a shrinking machine!!. He says the best way to fight the infection would be to miniaturise the "Diatron3" (Diaclones "Big Powered" toy) combat robot and sent it in to destroy the infection directly!!!1!!11!one!!!!...(so...definitely NOT a rip off of 1966s "Fantastic Voyage", starring Donald Pleasence and Raquel Welch then?...*face/palm*)

Yeah, so anyways, this plan goes to shit because the robot pilot of Diatron 3 is inept as fuck, so our hero volunteers to have himself shrunk down to micro size and go in for another go himself.

This is where the story gets proper fucked up, because inside Ivy's body, or at least how it is shown on screen, looks NOTHING like the internal organs of the human body.
As it turns out, the "bacteria" are nothing of the sort, and instead our hero finds himself confronted by an army consisting of the main bad guys sister, backed  up, rather oddly by a load of their "not-waruder" robots, green skinned horned demons with spears and a guy who looks like a green skinned Mr. Spock.
Needless to say, hero guy manages to defeat the bad guys in Ivy's body using the Diatron 5 robot, before then re-enlarging himself and heading into space to blow up the main bad guys ship as they run away in terror (wow, what an asshole, nothing like shooting someone in the back eh?).

Seriously, this film is awful, in fact, it goes so beyond awful there quite simply arent enough words contained within the sum total of human language to adaquately describe just how fucking bad this film is, and thats saying something.

Firstly, the animation is just SHIT, with heavy reuses of animation its almost like they made about 15 minutes worth of footage and then just recycled it over and over to create the illusion they had made a full movie, hoping that folk wouldnt notice. Also, you get a hell of a lot of bizarre backdrops, for example Ivy seems to have some asteroid fields inside her, as well as cloudy blue skies... WTF?

Secondly, the story is ridiculous. the inside of Ivy's body contains stone castles, kingdoms and living people who live in a medieval type society. WTF?
, also, the numerous large explosions and battles that go off in her innards dont appear to affect her in the slightiest...double WTF??

Finally, Diatron 5s "hero theme"...it goes like this...

"Diaton 5....DIATRON 5!!....fighting for your life...Diatron 5...warrior of justice"...repeated over and over to the tune of some sort of early 80s attempt at synth pop, you know, the sort of attempt which consists of a teenager sitting in their bedroom attempting to play a cheap casio keyboard and thinking they are badass.

So, to sum up, Diatron 5, which incidentally I think sounds like the name of a product you would use to ease stomach related problems, is an absolute horror of an attempt to produce something resembling an anime film. If it were an animal, I would have shot it at birth, then cremated the body, then sealed the ashes in a lead box and tossed it into the deepest ocean trench I could find.

If you would like to torture yourself by watching this piece of shit...click HERE

Urotsukidoji V: The Final Chapter

Urotsukidoji V: The Final Chapter (1 episode, OAV, 1996)

This single episode OAV pretty much marks the end of the "original" Urotsukidoji saga, however due to various problems with production, it really doesnt do it very well at all.

100 years have passed since Osaka castle was consecrated as the place for the rebirth of the Chojin into our world, however 75 years ago, Amano Jyaku was tricked into believing the Chojin had come early in response to the birth of the Kyo-O. In fact, the Chojin that sent Amano Jyaku to Tokyo was in fact a normal demon in disguise (all of this is explained in flashback) , and when the Kyo-O was brought to it, it attempted to rape her,in order to bring her under its control, but was destroyed after the Kyo-O realised it was a fake.
The real Chojin is reborn and assumes the form of an androgynous human, possessing characteristics and genitalia of both, which it changes at will, and it sets about destroying the world, starting with resurrecting its father Nagumo in his destructor Demon form (him having been killed at the end of the third part when the Kyo-O released its full power) .
Amano Jyaku, Megumi and the now released Akemi all try and stop the Chojin from destroying everything, but the Chojin proves it is every bit the super being by thwarting their every attempt.


This film is a pretty horrid mish-mash of bits of unused footage left over from Urotsukidoji III, as well as reused footage from the first two films, as well as some hastily made and really low quality bits of "filler", all jammed in together alongside some original animation created for this film before its original production was halted. As such, the film is little more than one massive plot hole which sort of brings the saga to an end, but then fucks this up by having it end on a bit of a cliffhanger, which has to date not been resolved, and more than likely never will be.
There are only really two scenes which stand out in this film, both of which were newly created.
the first one is the birth of the Chojin, in which Akemi basically masturbates herself until she gives birth, and the second scene in which the Chojin rapes Megumi, using both its male and female sex organs to complete a spell which it uses to resurrect Nagumo.

This is easilly the most forgettable part of the Urotsukidoji saga, unfortunately though as it forms the last entry in the "classic" series, it is all we will be getting.

1 very limp tentacle up, which really took a hell of a lot of effort.

Urotsukidoji IV: Inferno Road.

Urotsukidoji IV: Inferno Road. (3 parts, OAV, 1993-1995)


The fourth part in the saga continues more or less from where the previous OAV ended.
At the end of the third part, Buju pledged to escort the Kyo-O, who has now fully manifested in the form of a young girl after unwittingly releasing her full powers at the end of part III. Buju is joined by a small group of other Makemono, as well as the demon-cyborg D9, who drives their transport tank.
It is thought that should the Chojin and the Kyo-O meet, they would cancel each other out and thus stop either side from destroying the world, or at the very least, stop the Chojins destruction and reshaping of it.

The first 2 parts of this OAV take place in a seemingly abandoned city block which rests at the bottom of a crater and is perpetually shrouded in fog, in which the children who live there all have ridiculously powerful psychic abilities and use them to make the adults bend to their will. This town is seemingly ruled over by a pair of boys, the youthful Ellis, and his disfigured twin brother Fallis, however not all is as it seems and Amano Jyaku suspects the Chojins interference.

The final part deals with the gangs eventual arrival in Osaka, and Amano Jyakus eventual final defeat of Munchausen and his new lackey, Suikakujus sister, who has sworn revenge on him for killing her brother in the first and second films...


Overall, the first and second parts serve little to no purpose in the overall storyline, and again exist merely as a platform to bombard the viewer with horrific scenes of a sexual nature, although most of them were trimmed, cut or obscured for western release. The storyline itself is half decent though, so its not all bad.
The final part acts merely to "wrap up" the plot line introduced in part III which, in all honesty, didnt really go anywhere fast and just kind of clogged up the nice smooth flow of the story with the addition of characters that no one gave two shits about and didnt miss one bit when they had gone. It does however nicely round off the story line though, albeit in a rather disjointed and cack handed manner.

My final verdict is "watchable but forgetable"

5 tentacles up.

Urotsukidoji III: Return of the Overfiend.

Urotsukidoji III: Return of the Overfiend (4 parts, OAV, 1992-1993)

The third part in the Urotsukidoji saga (Japanese name "Chojin  Densetsu Urotsukidoji: Mirai hen")  takes the story in a rather different direction than the first two installments.


Following on from parts 1 and 2, the story begins 21 years after Nagumo became the destructor demon and the Chojin placed Osaka castle behind an impenetrable holy barrier so that it could gestate in Akemis womb for 100 years.

Things move more quickly than imagined though, and Amano Jyaku finds himself being summoned by a seemingly prematurely born Chojin, who tells him that due to the arrival of "the evil from the east", he has had to come early in order to stop the world from being destroyed, and, as such, he requires Amano Jyaku to travel to Tokyo to find and destroy this evil.
the "evil" in question is actually the legendary Kyo-O", the Chojins opposite number in natures balance, and as the prophecy quoted by Munchausen in the previous film goes "if there is a god, then there must also be a devil..".

One of the side effects of the Chojins appearance and subsequent joining of the three realms is that the mixing of spiritual energies has created a new race, the "Makemono", or "Demon-Beasts", many of whom now live in the Tokyo area, and work for the evil cyborg crime boss known as Caesar.
One of these Makemono is Buju, a large and very bestial looking man who ruthlessly kills and rapes people who live within his domain, however his world is shaken by his growing affection for Caesars daughter, Alector.

over the course of the film, Caesar and his assosiate, Faust, continue Munchausens work and use Takeakis blood (spilled at the end of the previous film) to bring about the birth of the Kyo-O, which oddly takes the form of a young girl, surprising all concerned.


The film never really properly made it out of Japan, as, like the previous entries in this series, the content was considered to be far too horrific to be given an uncut western release.In the original release of this film on video/dvd in the late 1990s, one part which caused the most controversy, and which was subsequently removed in its entirety, was a scene christened "the rape of Alektor", in which Alektor, after finding out some truths about herself and her father, is subsequently violently raped by him while Buju looks on powerless to stop it. Some parts of this scene were restored in later DVD releases, however the entire scene has never been shown in western media, quite simply due to the combination of incestuous content and due to the horrifyingly graphic and disturbing nature of the scene itself.

This reason on its own, for me anyway, marks the turning point in the Urotsukidoji saga in which the series became more concerned with packing in as much violent sex as possible, and focusing on that rather than the main storyline itself, which overall in this entry is rather poor and seems simply to be tacked on as filler in between scenes of rapes, orgies and violent deaths.
This entry in the series also marked the introduction of new characters, while older characters were relegated to being merely second bananas, and the storyline suffers because of it, although i can see that basically Nagumo and Akemi needed to be written out for a while due to their plot not needing to be advanced until later, but the most ridiculous omission was Amano Jyaku himself, who plays little to no role in the films overall plot, instead, most of the stuff he should be doing gets lumped on Bujus shoulders.

So overall, a disappointing entry in the series, I can see what they were trying to do, but instead of sticking to it, they decided instead to make an animated hardcore shocker porn film.

4 tentacles up.

Urotsukidoji II: Legend of the Demon Womb

Urotsukidoji II (Jap: "Shin Chōjin Densetsu Urotsukidōji: Mataiden") Was the 1990/1991 follow up to the original 1987/1989 OVA, consisting of 2 parts, both if which were later edited together into a feature length film which was released on home video in the early 1990s.

Unlike the first OVA however, Urotsukidoji II was not based on the original manga, instead taking some of the established characters and building up a completely stand alone story which introduced some new characters.

This particular OVA is generally not considered to be "canon" amongst Urotsukidoji fans, because its place within the overall storyline is unclear. On the surface, it appears to take place both during and between parts #2 & #3 of the original, as the apocalyptic events that occured at the end of that chapter havent yet happened, but Nagumo and Akemi are obviously in a relationship, however the sequence of events shown do not properly appear to fit in with the complete story, and a few plot holes appear, but this argument is really rendered moot as in later parts, events of this chapter are mentioned as being historical events.

Either way though, for a sequel, it isnt half bad.

As with the previous entry in the series, the main focus of this entry is Nagumos growing powers and Amano jyaku trying to protect him so he can fulfill his destiny to become the Chojin and unite the three realms in to a utopia, and, as with the previous entry, the storytelling is a mixture of horror, fantasy and adult drama.
Again, Urotsukidoji II was not well liked by the BBFC, and numerous cuts had to be made, once again calling for new scenes to be created that were less explicit, although this time round some scenes of penetration, rape and murder were blurred out, but generally left in where their removal would cause problems, this way, the OAV didnt suffer as badly as its predecessor had.

The main story begins with a flashback..

In 1945, the insane scientist, Doktor Munchausen (named "Muni Hauser/Hausen" in some dubs)  begins a dark and perverse ritual in the presence of the fuhrer himself.
A dozen women are strapped to a large contraption, which begins to masturbate them viogourously. As the machine does its work, Maunchausen explains that the device and the ritual will bring about the coming of the "Kyo-O", the natural enemy of the Chojin (The Kyo-O is also referred to as the devil or "the evil king" depending on which version you are watching). Once the women reash orgasm, the machine drains their life force and channels it through a demonic artifact, which begins tearing a hole in reality and allowing a portal to the demon realm to form.
Before the ritual can be completed however, a squadron of American bombers destroy the castle, killing Munchausen in the process (uncle Adolf escapes) , however as the smoke clears, Munchhausens assistant, his teenaged son, still lives, and seeing that his father is dead, he claims the demon artefact for himself, and vows that he will continue his fathers work and one day summon the Kyo-O so it can prevent the union of the three realms.

45 years later, Nagumo, Akemi, Megumi and Kuroko wait at Tokyo airport for the arrival of Nagumos cousin Takeaki, who he hasnt seen for 10 years since Takeakis family moved to Europe.
As the plane comes in to land, a shadowy figure lands on the wing and rips off one of the engines causing the plane to crash, but miraculously, Takeaki survives, and Nagumo, wanting to help his cousin, offers to donate his blood, which after what happened in the previous film when someone got a hold of Nagumos blood, Megumi and Kuroko have reservations about.
Meanwhile in the beast realm, Amano Jyaku, desperate to see the future world which will be created by the Chojin, has sex with the elders grandaughter, whose orgasms can rip a hole in time, despite the fact that he had been warned by the elder to keep away from her.
Eventually, Takeaki becomes corrupted by Munchausen II (Doktor Munchausens son) and a series of events take place in which Munchausen II plans to kill the Chojin, resurrect the Kyo-O and become a despotic tyrant, all in one afternoon, however, at the end, all is not as it seems....


Like i said, this entry in the series isnt bad, however the differences in the plot direction (this OAV is much heavier on the humour and less heavy with gross sex acts, even though there are still some toe curling corkers in there) do make it stick out like a sore thumb from the rest of the series.

all in all though, id give it 7 tentacles up!

Urotsukidoji - Legend Of The Overfiend

Urotsukidoji - Legend of the Overfiend (aka "Choujin Densetsu Urotsukidoji" - lit "The wandering kid- Super god-demon legend") is a 3 part anime OVA based on the original 1986 manga by Toshio Maeda.

The story itself is, at heart, a love story, centered around the burgeoning passions of high school geek Tatsuo Nagumo and the object of his lustful passions, Ito Akemi.

....Of course, this being based on a japanese adult manga, its not as simple as that, for this OVA folks, is single handedly responsible for introducing the "Demon/Tentacle rape" genre of hentai not only to the west, but to the entire world....


This first OVA, made up of 3 chapters first released in Japan between 1987 and 1989, is only the first part in an epic five part story detailing how the simple act of a young couple falling in love and conceiving a child has near apocalyptic consequences not only for the human race, but also for the races of other realms which inhabit the same plane as the human world.

When Urotsukidoji first made its way westward and was earmarked for release on home video by Manga entertainment back in the early 90s, they found themselves with an unusual problem.
previous to this, the BBFC (British Board of Film Censorship) had allowed many adult oriented japanese anime titles to be released with only minimal cuts for violent or sexual content, meaning that with some creative editing, most things could sail through and receive either a 15 or 18 certificate without losing too much of the footage or plot, Urotsukidoji however, with its many, many disturbing and sexually explicit scenes crammed into almost 3 hours of film, did not fare so well.
After several rounds of censorship cuts, the leftover "usable" stuff amounted to little more than an hours worth of footage, and even then the plot holes created by losing nearly two thirds of the story to the cutting room floor meant that the finished product wouldnt make any sense to those viewing it who hadnt already had a chance to read the original manga.
To get around this, the original animation studio, West Cape productions, were commissioned to create new, less explicit footage to fill in the gaps as it were, and to boost the film, as it was to now be released as, to a more viewable 90 minutes. As well as creating new footage, West Cape also used the opportunity to touch up some of the original footage, thus more or less creating an entirely new anime film with a similar, albeit less explicit, storyline to the original.

The plotline unfolds like this:-

Several thousand years ago, the Overfiend (aka, the "Chojin" - lit "superbeing") created the Earth and populated it with Humans (the Ningen), Demons (the Majin) and the man-beasts (the Juujin - the man-beasts did not feature in the original manga, there were only humans, demons and hybrids). After some time passed, the Chojin realised that the three races could not co-exist peacfully, nor could they fully evolve into higher beings while they were too busy fighting amongst themselves over matters as trivial as sexual conquests, some of which had produced many bizarre, horrible and/or powerful hybrid offspring, so, to allow the three races to develop along their own paths, the Chojin decided that it would create realms existing simultainiously but kept completely seperate from the rest for each race, so thus was created the realm of man (the Ningenkai) the realm of demons (the makai) and the relam of man-beasts (the juujinkai).
The Chojin then decided that the three races would be allowed to develop without its guidance or interference, and thus the legend of the Overfiend was born.

The legend stated, or so it was believed at the beginning of the first episode of the OVA, that in 3000 years time, the Chojin would return and reunite the three realms into a single realm of peace and plenty for all, and, as the OVA begins, the man-beast Amano Jyaku (the "wandering kid" as alluded to in the translated title) nears the end of his 300 year search for the reborn Chojin, whom he swears to defend so that it can return and bring about the utopia it promised.

The unedited original japanese version of the Urotsukidoji OVA has NEVER been released anywhere in europe, however the closest it came to being released was the Anime 18 "perfect edition" DVD release, which still had ot make some edits in order to be granted a certificate for release, however this version comes in with a run time of 2 hours and 35 minutes, retaining some footage that was originally considered to be "too shocking" for an animated film, but still having to make some use of the newly created footage, along with some on screen blurring/distortion to remove some of the more "risque" elements from scenes which are otherwise perfectly useable (e.g - huge throbbing demon penis-tentacles, close up scenes of multiple penetrations and anal rape, ejaculation, forced sex acts etc.).

All in all, as a standalone movie/OVA, "Urotsukidoji - Legend of the Overfiend" is a fairly good, if somewhat disturbing story, and makes for a good first chapter in the whole saga, which manages to blend horror, fantasy and adult oriented sex drama into an enjoyable enough animated romp, so to speak.

I give it 7 tentacles up!