The 90's are fondly remember as the decade where everything that had graphic violence, language and sex was "cool". Video-games, comic books, movies, the music industry, fashion, and of course, Animé where vastly influenced by this idea of coolness. However, I'd say the Animé industry did it before in the late 80's with a massive collection of OVAs that granted hours of graphic content for the enthusiasts from those days, which became today's seasoned Animé fans.
A.D. Police is a three-part OVA produced by Youmex and animated by Artmic and AIC. It's the direct prequel of the now classic, Bubblegum Crisis OVA series released between 1987 and 1991. The series takes place in 2027, five years before the Knight Sabers arc, which explains their absence and makes room for the AD Police to unravel the origins of the boomers and boomeroids. The series was directed by Akira Nishimori, and Furukawa Toshio performed "Lonely Soldier" the main theme song, while Lou Bonnevie perfomed "Love Me Tonight", "What a Fool I am" & "Cry, Cry, Cry" the ending theme songs.
Unfortunately, due to the legal conflict between Artmic and Youmex, the production of the series was stopped with only three complete episodes made.
Beyond the call of duty.
Nah! it's only a boomer!
In North America, the series is licensed by AnimEigo, who first released the series to VHS and Laserdisc in 1993 in Japanese with English subtitles. They later reissued it in both formats in 1995 with an English dub produced by Southwynde Studios in Wilmington, NC. The show was released to bilingual DVD in 2004, with bonus content featuring music videos for various songs featured in the series as performed by Filipino singer Lou Bonnevie in addition to translation notes and production artwork. Today's review is based upon this version. In the UK, the series was licensed by Manga Entertainment, who produced their own English dub for VHS in 1994, and later issued it onto dub-only DVD in 2004. Their release is now out-of-print.
Moving on to what you're really interested in, I can tell you this prequel is very different from the colorful and light-hearted overall mood from the original series. The AD. Police team doesn't have super powered exo-skeletons to match the menacing power of the mechanical boomers. So, instead of going for the direct approach, which would have resulted in massive deaths for the police department, we're given three small stories set in the same Knight Sabers universe. The only returning character is Leon McNichol who is a rookie witnessing violence unleash first hand. Each episode has a different set of characters, and even though they're supposed to be there for reasons, there's a bigger picture developing within: Is robotics the future mankind needs to consider themselves safe from evil? More philosophical questions raise as each episode develops the dark atmosphere that covers Mega Tokyo.
Dead or alive you're coming with...oh! wait!
Robo hooker.
A.D. Police 101:
Episode 1 幻の女 (The Phantom Woman)
Alles, an A.D. police man, has been killed by a boomer hooker, and investigators suspect the police man convinced/programmed the boomer to kill him so that his family could get the money from his life insurance plan and eventually pay over 3 million he owes to the bank or something. Here's where inexperienced cop Leon McNichol & his veteran partner, Gina Marceau set out to discover the truth and protect their late partner's reputation. Episode 2 ザ·リッパー (The Ripper) Six prostitutes have been murdered the same way. The regular police department can't handle it, and so A.D. Police sets out to find another haywire boomer. Iris Cara enters the game and with the aid of Leon & Gina is set to solve the mysteriously violent crimes. What they find out has to do with the "Boomeroids", which are human beings that have been cybernetically enhanced by replacing malfunctioning parts from their bodies. The problem is these special surgeries become an addiction that can make people go mad and do insane shit. Episode 3 舌を噛む男 (The Man Who Bites His Tongue)
Since boomer & booomeroid incidents are becoming the norm in Mega Tokyo, Billy Famword, captain of the A.D. Police Special Mobile Squad, becomes the first anti-boomer cyborg unit. The only human parts left are his brain & tongue (I'm not kidding). Unfortunately, the little humanity he's left, is swallowed by the cybernetic parts of his body. Can he be a human person once again?, or will he be lost forever inside his technological body?
If you don't kill me, I won't bet horny honey.
Robotic ass.
A.D. Police the review:
While Bubblegum Crisis is largely recognized as one of the most important Animé from the 80's, its many sequels tend to be overlooked. A.D. Police is obviously a must watch if you were intrigued by these boomers that widely populated Mega Tokyo city. Why are the going rogue? what's their role in human society? Are they necessary? and ultimately, can they be more human than human beings?. Despite all the gory violence and sex this little 3 episode Animé has, the essential viewing factor is not connected with the obvious but with what's inside of every episode. If you're a Blade Runner fan look no more! Because most of the questions raised there, are also discussed here in A.D. Police. The boomers were created to make people's lives easier, but most of them, at least in 2027, are malfunctioning to the point they need to be hunted down. Predictably, most of the boomers we see are prostitutes that for some reason go nuts, and get turned on if you kill them. Yes, you read that right. Moreover, if you don't kill them, they will kill you! But do these sex workers have feelings? are they happy?
Can robots feel love?
Lady boomer is dead.
Another intriguing story is that of the Boomeroids. Normal people that require a special surgery to replace a malfunctioning organ. The only problem, they may or may not go crazy and become a murdering menace just like the original boomers. All of these takes place in episode 2, which some people find quite disturbing, while I think it's perhaps the best story out of the three episodes. The question raised by this story is basically how far a person would go into enhancing/replacing their body parts just so that they can fit a work profile. Yes, a fucking work profile! Caroline, a successful businesswoman doesn't get the position she deserves because her bosses find her to be inefficient while she's menstruating!! As if women didn't have enough shit in real life, poor Caroline replaces her female parts so that she can be more efficient. Obviously, this will cost her everything, since later she'd fall in love and get married without the chance of giving birth. The high levels of sexism Caroline is exposed to are just criminal! Do you want a better job? Get rid of your femininity! Do you want to get married? You'd be unhappy because you won't have any children! So you don't have a real vagina? Fuck it! Your husband will fuck a boomer and find it to be more human than you'll ever be! But wait,! there's more! Since the A.D. Police discovers boomeroids are going the same path of the boomers, poor Caroline becomes an obvious target after the mysterious death of her husband. Even though Caroline did kill her husband, the amount of sexist atrocities committed towards her, are the real imprisonment she's facing, and honestly, she's more innocent than every other citizen from Mega Tokyo. Her finale is the worst man made crime...
I am not a number! I'm a freeman!
She used to be my wife!
The question of whether boomers are more human than human beings is once more studied in the last episode, but from a very different perspective. Billy Famword starts the final episode, and as many reviewers & friends have discussed, the episode is a darker remake of Robocop. While on duty, captain Famword sustains a heavy amount of injuries that would put him six feet under in no time, that is unless he takes part in a pilot program to become the very first Anti-Boomer Cyborg Unit!, and since he's completely comatose, the choice is made and voila! Unfortunately, Billy struggles to adapt to this new body and easily succumbs to an inexplicable thirst for murdering boomers and boomeroids in the most violent ways you can think of. Since these robots are considered mere machines servicing mankind, nobody gives a flying fuck about Billy's obsessive behavior until the deaths become so morbid, that his human counterparts begin to fear he's becoming the very thing he swore to destroy. Strangely enough, the doctor that "built him" becomes sexually attracted to his new cybernetic being and whenever she can, she fucks the machine. Sadly, Billy only has a human brain and a human tongue, so there isn't much to enjoy there. When madness hits the ceiling, this doctor (I can't remember her name now) helps him stand the pain by providing him with DA-27, a drug tranquilizer of sorts. Obviously, he becomes and addict, and loses control completely, killing everyone in his way. Here's where we can make a Robocop 2 parallel, since the bad guy from that movie is also a junkie. So, the lesson the final episode delivers is "don't combine robotics with living organisms, and drugs ever".
I want your wires inside me.
C'mon be a good boy, and help a lady get off.
Although A.D. Police has this dark serious cyberpunk mood throughout the three episodes, it fails in the crusade of expanding the Bubblegum Crisis universe. However, we can't deny they tried. Moreover, the series does succeed in adding more depth to the boomers and especially the A.D. Police department, which seems to be a joke in its original 1987 incarnation. Here, A.D. Police takes the job beyond the call of duty. Once the series was cancelled, Bubblegum Crash came a year after (1991) and was a direct sequel to the 1987 OVAs, leaving A.D. Police as a prequel or an alternate setting. Moreover, in 1998 Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040 would be a brand new re-telling of the knight sabers story with the original characters but starting from scratch. The series ran for 26 episodes and it succeeded where the previous ones failed: character development. In addition, A.D. Police, the TV series, had a 12 episode run in 1999, but it fucking sucked.
Anyway, We will be reviewing these sequels later. In the meantime, let's enjoy the A.D. Police video section below: The A.D. Police opening: "Love Me Tonight" by Lou Bonnevie: The Cyberpunk Collection trailer by Manga Entertainment: A.D. Police promo trailer by Manga Entertainment:
Just so that we have a variety of OVAs in our humble blog, we'll move on from "so bad it's good" to "so good it should have had more episodes".
Hyper Combat Unit Dangaio (破邪大星ダンガイオーHaja Taisei Dangaiō) is an anime OVA series produced and animated by AIC and Artmic and released in Japan in 1987. The remaining episodes were released in 1988 & 1989 respectively. Dangaioh featured character designs by creator Toshiki Hirano, mechanical designs by Shoji Kawamori, and animation direction by Masami Ōbari. Moreover, much of the production crew from Fight! Iczer-1 worked on this series as well, on top of this, Mayumi Sho voices the protagonists of both series.
Disclaimer: Today's review is based upon the latest officially available edition from the OVA, that is, the Blu-Ray released in Japan in 2016, which contains the original three episodes in Japanese language only, without the wrong subtitles from the first VHS edition by U.S Renditions, released in 1990 with only the first episode. After the demise of U.S. Renditions in the mid-1990s, Manga Entertainment re-released Dangaioh in 1996 as Dangaioh: Hyper Combat Unit,
which was an English-dubbed compilation of episodes 2-3. For reasons
unknown, episode 1 was omitted from this release. This incomplete version was
re-released on DVD in 2003 and you can find it for around $60 dollars in used markets. However, my humble recommendation is that you look for the 2016 Blu Ray Japanese import edition, because it's simply the best in quality.
Beautiful heroic ladies.
Beautiful heroic mecha!
If you Google Dangaio, the first thing you'll notice is that is misspelled "Dangioh". The second thing you'll notice is that most of the available reviews are based on the 1990 VHS tape, with poor subtitles that clearly spoil the experience, for even the mos enthusiast fans. Third, most of the reviews state that the series lacks heavily in the plot department, which again, has to do with either early import versions, or poor fan subs. Now, if you're like me, watching the official Japanese edition, things change drastically in terms of experience, so don't be fooled into thinking this little 80's gem is nothing but a piece of shit, because it isn't.
The story is pretty straight forward: 4 cybernetically enhanced random people with psychic powers wake up in the middle of a war, knowing nothing but the fact they want to get out of there as soon as they can. Little do they know, they were specially trained to pilot the Dangaio, the ultimate space robot.
Character wise, internet people have complained they're underdeveloped, and that we never learn anything from their lives. Wrong! fucking wrong! maybe paying attention and learning to read will improve the experience. Mia Alice, the leader of the team has psychic powers that could easily scare away the X-Men's Phoenix, yet she hates violence, and doesn't want to have anything to do with it. Pai Thunder, is her opposite, a very strong woman with fighting skills that would make a great match for She-Hulk. Lambda Nom, the youngest and weakest member of the team. She hardly remembers how to summon her kinetic energy powers. And last but not least, the only man in the gang, Rol Kuran, gifted with kinetic super speed. Altogether, they fly the coolest airplanes that can form the Dangaio super robot. As every episode goes by, they meet different people from their past, so they do have moments where they remember where they come from or what they used to do or work for in the past. Doctor Tarsan, is the scientist behind the group, and while he works for the bad guys, he always finds a way to let his children be free and use the Dangaio for dealing with evil doers (his own bosses).
Fuck you!
Teamwork.
Plot wise, our four heroes have to either escape or face the Bunkers led by Yoldo and his minions (they all seem to have been designed as homage to 70's/early 80's super robot villains). Out of all of them Gil Berg (who looks exactly like Roy Fokker) is the one that stands out, and has a hidden agenda towards Mia Alice. Unfortunately, with only three episodes, I really felt had they made more episodes, the overall rating of this greatly underrated OVA would have been very different. To put it in simpler terms, we all want to cum, so when we're about to, it's not nice to be left there hopeless.
A new 13-episode series named Great Dangaioh ran from April 5, 2001 through July 5, 2001 on TV Asahi in Japan. The series was created and directed by Hirano, and produced by AIC. Hirano's wife, Narumi Kakinouchi,
was the animation director. Originally perceived as a completely
different story, the series was revealed halfway as the sequel to the
OVA series.
The series was licensed in North America by Viz Media, featuring an English dub produced in the Philippines by Telesuccess Productions.
Music wise, I'd say the soundtrack is a clear "throwback" to the 1970's super robot Animé shows, therefore, it could be again misunderstood by younger audiences who'd prefer to stick to 80's synth wave, basically because this is an OVA from that decade. Homage is a good thing kids. "Cross Fight" by Mitsuko Horie & Ichiro Mizuki is the opening theme for the first two episodes, while "Cheap Thrills" by Hidemi Nakai, is the more updated rock theme opening the last episode."Kokoro no Honesty (Honesty of the Heart)" and "Who's Gonna Win" are the ending themes by Mitsuko Horie and Hidemi Nakai respectively. The official soundtrack was released on CD in 2007.
The original 1990 U.S. Renditions VHS tape.
The fantabulous Blu Ray set!
The animation style and mecha design is perhaps one of the best I've seen in my 36 years of life. You can tell the show has Shoji Kawamori all over! Even some of the designs are hints at what he'd do in future Macross sequels. The color palette is also brilliant! You can see the 80's vividly alive and well in this OVA. Moreover, the HD remaster is easily a top 5 of all the classic Animé that have received the same treatment in the last 10 years. Strangely enough, the third episode is not as pristine as the first two. Probably, producers lost the original reels, or they were damaged at some point so they had to work with what was left. Anyway, the art made for this OVA could easily be a 101 lesson on how to design classic Animé characters/Mecha, and no, I'm not biased, just honest.
Hyper Combat Unit Dangaio is an 80's homage/update of the original super robot Animé genre from the 60's & 70's where you used to have a team of young members that had unique skills that allowed them to control a fantastic giant robot. Usually, the bad guys had demonic looks and would be hidden far away in a super secret planet/fortress. On each episode the heroes would face a "villain of the week" type of enemy until the series would reach its climax and get into the real final battle. Since Dangaio is only three episodes, we don't really get the luxury of seeing our heroes face the big bad guy. Instead, we're given an unexpected revenge that leaves an open ending, suggesting there could be more episodes in the future. Obviously, none of this happened, and the 2001 remake series is only 50% a sequel that also failed to have an ending since it was cut short from 26 to only 12 episodes due to poor ratings.
The most powerful robot in the universe!
Mia Alice may look weak but...
Overall, don't let other people ruin the experience of witnessing forgotten history. Dangaio is the second OVA ever to be brought to the USA by the late U.S. Renditions (the other being Gunbuster). The artistic work by Shoji Kawamori is reason alone for you to get the fantastic Blu-Ray release of this underrated , and clearly not seen by many online reviewers, super robot homage adventure. Moreover, here you have a story with a lot of pros: Great voice acting (the original Japanese actors, that is), awesome movie-like quality character designs, great animation, giant robots, and the overall look of the whole story makes me think this is an A+ OVA series in my book. The cons? there are no cons! save for you not running to find a copy of it!
The opening for the first two OVAs, with the highly criticized by "overnight experts" dated theme: Same opening but in stunning HD as taken from the Blu-Ray release: "Kokoro No Heart" the song used in the opening for the third OVA (I didn't find the opening, sorry): The ending: A fan made AMV to push you into craving for some Dangaio: Manga Entertainment's Dangaio trailer: The Dangaio action figure set:
Sokihei M.D. Geist (Japanese: 装鬼兵MDガイスト Hepburn: Sokihei M.D. Gaisuto, literally "Demon-Garbed Soldier M.D. Geist") is an anime and comic series about a post-apocalyptic world where Geist (the "hero") is MD-02, a Most Dangerous Soldier, genetically engineered to function as a killing machine, but every one of the MDS units went homicidally insane. As a result, Geist was placed in suspended animation
in a stasis pod orbiting the planet Jerra until it crashed several
years later, awakening him and bringing him into another war on the
planet. The overall mood of the 45 minute OVA is basically violence and more violence. It's funny how most of the OVA released in the second half of the 80's seem to have directly, or indirectly influenced what would happen in the 90's pop culture: Dark & violent were the new definition of "cool" in the entertainment industry, and most fans would consider graphic violence, f-bombs and grittiness a synonym of a quality product. Believe you me, I was there.
M.D. Geist was originally released on May the 21st, 1986 in Japan by Nippon Columbia and re-released under the Denon
label. In 1988, a trailer of the OVA under the title "Thunder Warrior"
was produced by Gaga Communications along with a string of other anime
titles the company was hoping to sell to the North American market. M.D. Geist was released in North America by Central Park Media
in 1992 (six years after the original release!); two years prior, the company used Geist as the logo for their
mainstream anime label U.S. Manga Corps. Curiosity by fans over U.S.
Manga Corps' logo boosted domestic sales of the OVA and prompted Central
Park Media to collaborate with co-creator Koichi Ohata in producing a
sequel. In 1996, Central Park Media released M.D. Geist - Director's Cut (this review is based on this edition of the OVA) ,
featuring roughly five minutes of additional footage - including a new
introduction and epilogue that paved the way for the sequel. Months
later, CPM released M.D. Geist II: Death Force. In addition, the company commissioned Ohata and American artist Tim Eldred to illustrate the comic book adaptation.
Funded and co-produced by Central Park Media, M.D. Geist: Director's Cut
includes over five minutes of footage added to the original 1986
release, including new introduction and ending sequences that lead the
way to "M.D. Geist II: Death Force". Moreover, M.D. Geist himself has been the corporate mascot (a.k.a. "spokesmecha") of U.S. Manga Corps since day one.
Blonde Rambo.
Looks that kill.
In the United States, the Sci Fi Channel premiered M.D. Geist I and II during their Ani-Monday block at midnight E.S.T. September 29 and October 6, 2008 respectively. Following the closure of Central Park Media, M.D. Geist was re-licensed by ADV Films and was re-released on DVD in July 2009. It is currently available for streaming on Hulu and digital download on iTunes by Manga Entertainment, along with Now and Then, Here and There, respectively.
M.D. Geist has been described for ages as one of the worst OVAs of all time, and I don't blame you if you agree with that statement too. However, once there was an interest for developing the sequel, there came some sort of revised edition that featured the important missing bits of information that made the original version (the one from 1986) seem like a collection of non-sensical scenes of one guy going against the other just because. Fortunately, the "Director's Cut" from 1996 course corrected what the original had left out: a clear plot. Geist is the sole survivor of a "bio-cloning" for your eyes only military project. Once he was used & abused, their creators discovered these M.D.S (most dangerous soldiers, LOL) were too unstable to keep them around waiting for the next mission, so they were disposed of. Unfortunately, Geist survived, and once he woke up for a long unwanted nap, he woke up looking like Kurt Cobain in a future where even Grunge was no more. Still, he didn't forget the sons of bitches who betrayed him, and as you may have already guess, he's hungry for revenge and justice. Despite the general belief M.D. Geist is the offspring of Kenshiro, Cobra & Duke Nukem, meaning the OVA is full of that sweaty macho attitude that may seem dated today, there is a couple of heres and theres that prove this little movie does have something to say: 1: Vaiya, the only female character from the story seems to be a slut desperately craving cock, yet once she encounters with Geist he tells her, and I'm not kidding, that "he wants her for what's inside her mind only." Probably one of the most everlasting feminist lines ever to come out from an 80's Animé. Although her character represents the clichéd (slutty) damsel in distress, Geist is not into Netflix and chill. 2: Team work is good. Geist simply can't do it alone. Going against an entire super technological fortress is too much even, for an enhanced soldier. While the reasons as to why the Mad Max wannabe gang and the military decide to help Geist are not the most befriending (they fear him, that's why they're on his side) you can still appreciate the helping hand.
Rated R.
Who's a good boy?
Artwork wise I'd say the mecha, vehicles and armors look pretty cool and they don't really resemble designs from other Animé. The character design is also varied, every single one of the main characters have unique features. The background art is also good. The scenery, and futuristic landscapes are OK in my book. On the other hand, the sound production didn't pull off such an original job since M.D. Geist has many sounds you'd probably heard before in American cartoons, other Animé and even Star Wars. However, "Hijoh no Soldier (Soldier of No Mercy)" & "Honoo no Violence (Violence of the Flame)", the opening & ending themes respectively, are really good at reprising 80's Glam Rock. Both songs are skillfully performed by Hironobu Kageyama.
Obviously, what made this OVA known overseas, was basically the graphic violence and never ending thirst for battle the main character has, and the awful dub plus a non existent plot that was somehow hidden until the director's cut explained everything the original version didn't. Like Angel Cop, this OVA requires a particular state of mind (or lack of) as to thoroughly enjoy or hate what director Koichi Ohata did here. If you search for opinions around the web, you'll find most of them are significantly negative, because they're allegedly based on the original edition, and/or written by younglings who lack the connection of experience that is required to understand older Animé in my opinion.
Hey violent guy, wanna fuck?
I'm on duty dear damsel.
Just when you think people couldn't criticize M.D. Geist anymore, one of the recurrent critics became reality: Geist ripped off Mad Max (as its
creators admit to in the notably entertaining commentary track from the DVD set). Though
Director credit was initially given to Hayato Ikeda, the truth is that it was really Koichi Ohata's
work all along, and he was so young and inexperienced that the
producers brought Ikeda in for appearances. In fact, Ohata was only 23
when he made Geist, and he pretty clearly had no idea how to tell a
story. He and screenwriter Riku Sanjo
pretty much approached the production as a collection of stuff they
found to be "cool" without much regard as to how it came together. The
animators, Ohata admits, were frustrated to the point of mutinous. Some
scenes, such as the ultimate final battle, are so poorly laid out and
colored that it's almost impossible to figure out what's happening.
Indeed, in its original state M.D. Geist
was downright funny: it made almost no sense and had numerous
registration errors. Characters erratically jump around the screen at
least five times because the cells weren't properly aligned. One shot is
so awkwardly animated that Geist's head appears to be flapping in the
wind. Another features a guy being stabbed in the head, but then
bleeding from his eyes. And then there's the ending, which crams such a
ridiculous twist into the last 5 seconds that it seems like a mistake.
Seven years later, Central Park Media
sponsored a Director's Cut edition along with a sequel. Scenes were
added and rearranged, the mistakes were smoothed over with video
effects, and something resembling a coherent story emerged. (The
American comic book adaptation by Tim Eldred
was apparently used as a guide.) This elevated the show from "horrid"
to "not so good:" the new animation simply looks nothing like the older
stuff and it's actually even worse in quality, but the story actually
kind of works.
Yes, there were specials about M.D. Geist.
Original artwork.
Overall, M.D. Geist is a product of it's time. Made in the heyday of OVA, the whole story feels rushed, and the ending is a sorry excuse for an underdeveloped opportunity, which is the reality most OVAs faced from 1985 to 1989. Even some of the ones considered a masterpiece followed the same sorry pattern of limited time schedules and most importantly, limited budget. I can't help to mention this because it was the way things happened back then. Anime exploded in America, hence the rest of the world, and I really don't blame all of the artists that took advantage of that brief five year period where, anything made in Japan would become an object of interest overseas.On the contrary, I thank them, because there's not one, but many great OVA that are now cult classics that paved the way for the future of Animé in the 90's and beyond. Strangely enough, for an Anime everyone seems to hate, the M.D. Geist/Death Force DVD is out of print and the prices are around $60 Dollars!
The "Thunder Warrior" classic trailer: The restored M.D. Geist trailer:
The Central Park/ U.S. Manga Corps. trailer:
The "Soldier of No Mercy" opening theme/main theme: "Violence of the Flame" ending theme:
The golden era of the 'Original Video Animation' or 'Original Animated
Video' is a time which is remembered fondly by 30 something/40 something years old anime fans.
Beginning in the early to mid nineteen eighties, the age of the OVA
continued right until the end of the millennium, and throughout the
years produced some of the finest animation to ever come out of Japan;
from its earliest classics like 'Gunbuster' to works like 'Rurouni
Kenshin: Tsuiokuhen' and 'FLCL' in its twilight years. The format can
even boast 'Legend of the Galactic Heroes' among its ranks, an anime
that is often touted as the greatest ever made.
But none
of that matters, because we don't remember OVA format for the less-commercialized or more creative and experimental nature it tended
to produce. No, we remember the OVA for the veritable smorgasbord of
ridiculous trash it spawned in the late eighties and early nineties, and
then charitably brought to Western shores by companies like Manga
Entertainment and Central Park Media and now providing entertainment for
drunken anime fans the world over. Today we will be taking a closer
look at one of the less terrible examples of this bygone era; the
delightfully offensive (or just offensive) five episode spectacular that
is 'Angel Cop'.
Angel Cop (エンゼルコップEnzeru Koppu) is a six-part OVA created and directed by Ichirō Itano. A manga adaptation written and illustrated by Taku Kitazaki was serialized in Newtype in 1989 and collected into a Newtype 100% collection that was released in April 1990. The series was originally licensed by Manga Entertainment. Discotek Media re-released it on DVD and Blu-ray in North America in August this year. You can get it on Blu Ray for $25 and/or in DVD for $15. The newly restored edition comes packed with a new
uncensored subtitle track, essays, an interview, trailers and the original infamous English dubbed version we all love to hate.
For a complete review of the Blu Ray release, read the last two paragraphs.
Rent another OVA.
Go ahead punk, make my day!
Angel Cop is the story of a special branch of Japanese police officers,
known as 'Special Security Agents', remarkable because it is neither a
contrived acronym nor a portmanteau. The role of the 'Special Security
Agents' is somewhere between a police force, a counter-terrorism unit
and a band of superheroes. They operate within the context of the
Japanese police force, but without unnecessary burdens like the judicial
system or human rights laws to weigh them down. Naturally, all their
members have almost superhuman abilities. This is in contrast to some of
the other characters, which I will discuss later.
Throughout the OVA, the Special Security Agents are involved battling
against a conspiracy; the nature of which depends on the version you
watch. If you choose to watch the dubbed version (which you would, since
that is the whole point of watching bad 80s OVAs) then they are
battling against the Red May, a communist terror organization which is
actually a front for a greedy capitalist government... as you can
imagine, it makes absolutely no sense at all and clearly wasn't intended
to be a work of political intrigue.
Gene Simmons.
That not so innocent bystander.
But not making any sense at all is hardly a surprise when you take a
complete production and introduce radical changes to the storyline, just
because you are worried that some people might be offended about a
couple of offhand remarks that some could choose to interpret as
'anti-Semitic'.
If you choose to watch the fan subbed version of the original Japanese
version, you'll find that the story of a communist terror organization
that is a front for a corrupt government is itself a front for a story
about a Jewish Zionist domination conspiracy... This also goes some way
to explaining the use of so many Judeo-Christian references and imagery
in an anime without any clear connection to religion whatsoever.
Naturally when the show was brought to the West, the licensing company
decided that racist conspiracy theories and anti-Semitic tones would not
go over well with audiences. Not wanting to waste this otherwise
wholesome story filled with violence, gore and sexual imagery they
decided to change the story completely for the dubbed version, and then,
for good measure, inserted random swear words into every second line.
The result is, to put it simply, so fucking stupid that I don't
understand how the piss they come up with this fucking shit.
Violence? What violence?
You better not be eating Ragu when watching Angel Cop.
The title refers to the main character; a woman named 'Angel' but
described as a 'total bitch' in her own terms. Naturally this aspect of
her character changes over the course of the show and by the end her
character has made the transition from cyberpunk feminist icon to
bawling blob of moe; by which I mean she actually hesitates before
blowing her own partner's brains out in order to kill a genetically
enhanced psychic military experiment. Yes, you read that right.
Analyzing most of the cast in any real depth would be a waste of time.
With only a few exceptions, all of them are entirely one dimensional and
completely uninspired. Furthermore, describing their qualities would
involve investing more time into the characters than the time the
creators invested in their screen time. Developing them is unnecessary
because we've seen them all so many times before, and since they're not
gonna last why even bother trying to give them any depth?
At the end of the day, Angel Cop is all about the action; and that's
okay, because that is all we really wanted in the first place. It comes
thick and fast, it comes in a variety of forms and it's never too
repetitive or sporadic for us to ever really notice the ludicrousness of
the actual story. It manages to delve between the reality of the
relatively near future and the realms of science fiction and fantasy
without seeming discontinuous or out of place. The animation, while not
"good" by any means, is functional and only in the last episode does the
shoddy workmanship start to become obtrusive.
The hero we deserve?
A total bitch?
The same cannot be said for the soundtrack, which is often so
inappropriate it is a curiosity. The defining moment of this is the very
first timeItami (痛み)(the ending theme) plays, which is so inappropriate that one
cannot help but laugh. Additionally, on several occasions the action
scenes -which are quite violent and bloody- will be supplemented with
light-hearted, optimistic music. The purpose of background music is to
complement the image on screen without becoming a distraction, but in
Angel Cop the contrast between the two can become so stark that it
actually leaves you feeling puzzled. Moreover, some of the background music sounds suspiciously similar to music from the Ghostbusters cartoon. In addition, where's the opening theme? I mean, c'mon! it's a tradition! no Animé/OVA comes without one!
However to be fair to Angel Cop this is not always the case; nor is the
music exceptionally bad. It mainly uses a combination of harder sounding
electronic music for action scenes, with more surreal sounding music to
enhance the more paranormal or mysterious aspects of the show. The
backing music for the action is fit for purpose but unremarkable, while
the paranormal music is repetitive, clichéd and quickly becomes
irritating. On all accounts, the soundtrack is the worst thing about
Angel Cop, with the exception of the highly offensive original
storyline.
A new type of "Manboob".
Yeah, tits and violence!
Having explored every aspect of Angel Cop, we can conclude that it is
not exactly a work of quality. The story is riddled with clichés, and
the plot is a total mess. The cast consists entirely of hackneyed
stereotypes. The animation is unexceptional, if not outright bad, and
the soundtrack is so unsuitable for the task at hand that it's actually
humorous. As a production, Angel Cop is completely uninspired and poorly
made.
But to see it for what it really is, would be to miss the point
entirely. You are not watching Angel Cop because you expect it to be
good, but because you expect it to be bad. A very special kind of bad,
to the point where it is almost self-conscious, where there is no other
objective than producing trash lower than the level of the lowest common
denominator, and doing it unreservedly and unashamedly. And from there,
it is simply a matter of providing creative licence to the art of
translation and making the cheapest voiceover possible, before you've
transcended both bad and good; to produce something that is so bad... it
is good.
Angel
Cop is an acquired taste. It can't reasonably be called good, but it is
highly entertaining in a "What the fuck?" kind of way. The original dub is
notorious for its use of "fifteening" where swearing was added at every
opportunity in order to get a "15" rating in the UK and appeal to people
who were seeking out "edgy" (a very 90's concept ) Anime at the time. It's hilarious, the
amount of cursing that is randomly inserted into the dub. Still, it
wasn't necessary, considering that the animation alone is so violent and
gory that nobody in their right mind would ever think that it was aimed
at kids. The thing is, the dubbing, in all its prurience, eliminates
the out-of-left-field anti-semitism that is revealed toward the end. The
unedited subtitles are included, if you want to see the original
intention of the creators. It's... something else. Thankfully, a text
supplement included on the disc explains the history of anti-semitism in
Japan and puts the material in the context of the time when it was
made. Still... wow.
As to the quality of the Blu Ray disc itself, this is
where it falters, sadly. Through no fault of Discotek, the only
materials made available to them by the rights holders was an old
standard definition videotape. I will say that the work that they did on
stabilizing the image and smoothing out artifacts from the source
material was commendable. However, there was no reason to release this
on Blu-ray. All the upscaling and increased bitrate in the world
wouldn't make a difference in the end product. It looks like what it is,
a cleaned up transfer from an old videotape. The resulting image lacks
any detail because you can't pull anything extra out of material where
it doesn't exist. Contrast is limited as well. There's no such thing as a
true black on old NTSC videotape. Sound is fine, but no better than was
on the old Manga DVD.
If you are a fan of Angel Cop or
interested in Angel Cop, the decision you have to make is whether or not
you want to shell out the money for a Blu-ray that, at best, looks like
a well-transferred analog videotape. It's the best release that the
material has ever had, but that's like saying, "Great Value's Peanut Butter ice-cream is the same as Reese's".
Angel cop "condensed" edition with violence and F bombs:
A compilation of every time female characters curse in the series: Angel Cop's ending theme: Itami (痛み)(the ending theme) completely live:
a quick look at the packaging of the Blu Ray disc recently released:
