AIKa / Agent Aika

The 2007 remaster box cover art.

Today we'll do a time jump and leave the 80's behind to go straight to the 90's with one of the most loved/hated Anime from that Grungy decade: AIKa AKA Agent Aika. Agent Aika (Japanese: アイカ Hepburn: Aika, stylized AIKa) is an adventure anime OVA series produced by Studio Fantasia, and directed by Katsuhiko Nishijima (From Project A-KO fame). The series was released in Japan from 1997-1999. The anime was initially licensed by Central Park Media, but was later licensed by Bandai Entertainment. The series is well known for its copious amounts of fan service, specifically the camera angles on panties of the many female characters that populate the show. Despite not being so popular overseas, the series has a pretty strong fan base in Japan, thus spawning a couple of sequels: AIKa R-16: Virgin Mission (2007), detailing Aika's time when she was 16 years old. A remastered version of the original series was released also in 2007, along with a special live-action edition of Agent Aika. In 2009 the OVA AIKa ZERO with 19-year-old Aika was released. 

AIka takes place right after a  catastrophic earthquake left Tokyo, and most of the Earth, under the sea. Aika Sumeragi is a salvager who retrieves various remains from the watery ruins. When she accepts the dangerous mission of locating and obtaining the mysterious Lagu, she discovers that she's not the only one after it.

Panties & Guns.

Guns & Panties.

Whenever people are talking about Aika, the first things You get to hear are complains about panty shots, wannabe porn, wannabe hentai etc. Well, I guess for the vast majority of viewers, Aika is indeed nothing more than this. I for one, think Agent Aika plays like an animated Russ Meyer movie. It's perfect 1:00 AM entertainment and great way to play 'count-the-panties' (you won't be able to keep up the near 400 shots featuring them). Obviously, AIKa is not meant to be taken seriously, and perhaps you can get a better enjoyment of this little OVA series if you see it as a soft spoof at the Ecchi genre, rather than considering it part of it.

In the 1980s, the lord of the spoof was named Katsuhiko Nishijima. Mr. Nishijima created the anime Project A-ko, which despite a rather cool reception by today's otaku, was absolutely beloved back in 1986. A-ko perfectly skewered all the anime cliches and tropes from the early 1980s and late 1970s. A-ko also made fun of animation techniques and featured many inside jokes for animators and anime staff workers. Back in its day, A-ko was THE definitive anime spoof. Unfortunately for Nishijima, he wasn't able to build on his early success. He took some time off to direct hentai and came back in the 1990s to try spoof and "satirize" echii anime by recycling his old formula of lampshading cliches and going way over the top. However, audience tastes had changed and despite a decent reception in Japan, Agent Aika was largely despised in the US.

The episode direction, storyboard and screenplay was in charge of Katsumi Terahigashi. "Silent City" by Mari Sasaki is the opening for the first four episodes, while "Manatsu No Seiza" is the opening for the remaining episodes and it's sung by Mink. Hiroko Konishi sings "More Natural" the first ending theme, and "Dance With Me Tonight" is the second ending song in charge of Punky Fruites.  The soundtrack is clearly 90's inspired, so you'll be getting a lot of Grunge/Alternative Rock vibes. Fujiyama Fusanobu is the sound director for the entire series. 

The series is rated R due to mild nudity content. AIKa aired for the first time on
Apr 25th, 1997 and ended on Apr 25th, 1999.

Tight suits.

Karate trained panties.

However, a few will like the show, but for others things: The story is absurd, but funny and fast paced. The characters are rather likable, except for Hagen and his sister, nobody is completely unappealing. There's a lot of violence in the show, but almost nobody gets killed and even seriously hurt. Most of the characters are rather beautiful and some even admirable.

But the main reason for me to love Aika is the fact, that some of the characters even develop some deeper kind of identity. I mean, it is obvious that the creators didn't intend to make more than a simple action flick with only two dimensional characters. But nevertheless some of the characters seem to grow when the show is going on, and some of them I really learned to love (especially the White Delmo couple and the Golden Delmos). Obviously, depending on your point of view, AIKa it's either a catastrophic train-wreck of an anime series or actually so damn bad it's absolutely hilarious again.

Battle worn ladies.

Shaving is an art long mastered by Animé characters.

AIKa is usually seen by fans as an ecchi light-hearted action-comedy, but it puts it on so thick that it can only count as a parody of that genre.
 

If it excels at anything , it's how the producers managed to cram so very many panty shots into it: Girls in other series wear t-shirts and sweaters that reach farther down than the skirts of the characters in this series. It also helps that the villain's underlings are all female and wear the same skimpy uniforms. And if all else fails, there's still frog's perspective. If counting panty shots was a sport, then AIKa is definitely the World Cup of it! According to a My Anime List user, By the end of "Beautiful Agent", the first episode, he reached 140 and stopped counting. Moreover, considering each episodes' length is roughly 30 minute that would make about 4.6 panties on screen every minute. And that is only the first episode! Someone should give AIKa a Record Guiness for that alone! 

Did I mention perfect shaving techniques?

Not what it looks like! She's actually transforming into the hero we deserve!

Aside from the general stereotypical stupidity of the plot (Some sort of catastrophe has destroyed the planet a little and made the water rise, so now special divers called Salvagers (Why not scavengers?) dive up valuable sunk junk but you'd barely even notice that if it wouldn't be mentioned occasionally) it's plot has some very precious highlights along with a set of "memorable" characters:

Aika Sumeragi, is a 26-year-old salvaging agent with blonde hair and typically a red business dress. The cover of the English video describes her as "sexy, suave, and sophisticated, but she's no bimbo. She's a martial arts expert and a jet fighter pilot with the body of a supermodel. She's Aika, and she's one of the best secret agents in the business." Her parents were scientists and made her a test subject of their experiments until the global earthquakes, after which she is looked after by Gozo Aida, who trains her in art of salvaging. She possesses a bustier made out of ultranate (オルタネートメタル), which transforms her into a dark-skinned and blue-haired woman with extraordinary strength and resilience.

Rion Aida, is Aika's teenage glasses-wearing partner and the daughter of her boss. She hopes to continue in the family business. She admires Aika, and strives to seek for a big treasure, and is also occasionally nude in a few episodes. 

Ass!

Twat!

Aika and Rion are accompanied by Gozo Aida, Gusto Turbulence, B.A. Bandora, Maypia Alexymetalia (probably the only secondary character worth mentioning) & Shuntaro Mishikusa. Unfortunately, here's is where I agree with the fact that characters are very underdeveloped compared to similar Anime from the same decade. The "Good guys" are barely there, and they're nowhere near being the comic relief or sidekick/wingman type of stereotype. Perhaps, with more resources the series would have lasted longer and expanded on the personalities of secondary characters that are the number one weakness of the show. All of the Ecchi cliches are here in full force and the characters are the most cardboard stereotypes possible. The problem with simply abusing cliches in a shallow and repetitive manner is that it isn't "brilliant" spoofing. 

Anyway I don't think this short OVA series is meant to be taken that seriously, because, producers delivered a light story that is the accompanying plot of the main character: Panties! Who fucking cares if you have an overload of gratuitous panty shots with some T & A here and there? AIKa is not selling an elaborated Shakespearean set of stories and characters, it's only your casual late night Anime watch! But! and this is a big BUT, this Anime is neither Hentai nor Porn. All the fanservice you get is just for the laughs of it, and I assure you, you will laugh hard at how impossible the situations are.

Hygiene is a very important part of a heroine's life.

This is a highlight from the opening sequence.

The main Villain, Rudolf Hagen, is an effeminate man stereotype who actually wants to destroy the world with the power of a mysterious substance called Lagu only so that he can repopulate it with the offspring of - yes, you might have guessed - himself and every member of the all-female crew of his spaceship/submarine/headquarters. Which sadly, seems to include his own sister! Also, why would women want to mate with such an ass? His sister, Neena Hagen, who loves him dearly and even sleeps in the nude with him!. She's  a sadistic character with an unstable mood, that likes walking around naked and constantly has the Black Delmo (their infantry) punished for failure. 

These bad siblings are accompanied by the Delmo, a different ranking class of servants/soldiers. The Black Delmo are the infantry class. The White Delmo are officers, Golden Delmo are special operations, Blue Delmo are elite infantry class and last but not least, Pink Delmo are the mechanics and engineers aboard the ships and vehicles.

Again, every Anime girl has mastered shaving.

If panties & nudes are not enough...

Also, on the side of original ideas, Aika Sumeragi was given a special bustier made by her father (yes, his father, made her a bustier) that allows her to transform into an unnamed heroine with dark blue hair with extraordinary strength and resilience! Is this a nod to the heart necklace Cutie Honey wore way back in 1973 when her show came out? I wouldn't know because there are so many maho shojo Anime with girls relying on special items to transform that I just lost count. And of course, Rudlof Hagen, , eventually makes his own super-powered panty to give his sister Neena the necessary power to battle AIKa for the ultimate prize.

Here's the complete Episode AKA "Trial" guide:

No.	Title	Original release date
1	"Beautiful Agent" (美しきエージェント)	April 25, 1997
2	"Naked Mission" (NAKED MISSION)	June 25, 1997
3	"Takeoff Position" (TAKE OFF POSITION)	September 25, 1997
4	"A Flower Blooming in Space" (宇宙に咲く華)	January 25, 1998
5	"The Golden Delmo Operation" (黄金のデルモ作戦)	August 25, 1998
6	"Delmo Operation: White Silver" (白銀のデルモ作戦)	December 18, 1998
7	"Break the Decisive Battle! Delmo Base!" (決戦突入！ デルモ基地!!)	April 25, 1999
Special	"Special Trial" (Special TRIAL)	May 25, 1998

 

There's never been so much panty action before!

Wink Wink indeed!

Beyond the paper-thin plot, this show is all about hot looking, long legged girls in ridiculously short skirts and high heels for as far as the eye can see, not to mention the almost endless number of panty shots and the imaginative camera angles used to display same. To call Aika outrageous would be an understatement, this show isn't enlightening, emotionally gripping or even intelligent, but for sheer fun on an amazing scale, Aika fills the prescription! 

AIKa, the remastered DVD box is widely available on your favorite online shop. Unfortunately, AIKa Zero is not officially available in North America.

Now, moving to the final section of our review, it's video time!

Here's the 1st opening:

Here's the 2nd opening:

Here's Ending 1:

Here's Ending 2:

Here's the Special Ending: