冥王計画ゼオライマー / Hades Project Zeorymer

Excellent animation but...

Background

I'm quite sure most of our readers have found out about our love for Animé with lots of robots in. Today's review has been a sketch for a long time, because we wanted to avoid putting similar Animé analyses together since the "one after another" effect could lead into misunderstanding that Japanese animation either runs short in varied storytelling or is purely a derivative product for mass consumption. Both cases are wrong, of course. If there's one thing that makes Manga and Animé great, is that seasoned fans can detect the many nuances they can get from following a certain genre. Newcomers, on the other hand can easily feel lost and disturbed by the apparent lack of originality some of these works carry.

Hades Project Zeorymer, known in Japan as 冥王計画（プロジェクト）ゼオライマー  is a manga by Yoshiki Takaya, written under the pen name Chimi Moriwo, and published in the adult manga magazine Lemon People from October 1983 to November 1984. A three-part finale was serialized in Monthly Comic Ryū in 2007. A four episode OVA adaptation by AIC and Artmic tones down the explicit sexual content and deviates entirely from the manga storyline and setting, and yet that's this week's Animé in review.

Friends and foes.

These ladies need no men for protection.

The four episode OVA was produced by Youmex & Toshiba EMI through Artmic and AIC studios. Directed by the legendary Toshiki Hirano (Megazone 23, Fight! Iczer 1, Dangaio & Urusei Yatsura are a few of his works), the mecha designs were in charge of Yoshiki Takaya himself. each 25 minute episode aired from Nov 26, 1988 to Feb 21, 1990. Rated  R+ - (Mild Nudity) this little 80's story is a hit & miss among Animé fans. To some, HPZ is a "proto-Evangelion" and after carefully rewatching the OVA (on pristine Blu Ray. Last time was on bootleg VHS many years ago) and to other fans this is only a heartless cash grab. 

The official international release came in the year 2000 in the good old VHS tape format in two volumes. The DVD update came one year later, and it was also divided into two separate volumes. The import Blu ray edition was released in 2008, and you can track a copy for about US$75. Today's review, as above mentioned, is based upon the Blu Ray release.

An extended cast for such a short OVA series.

Looking good.

Review

The 80's OVA decade is a strange animal. At its height, it was responsible for titles like Megazone 23 and Aim For the Top! Gunbuster that pushed the limits of anime. Yet this "edginess" (admit it, everyone thought any animation coming from Japan was either edgy or gritty even if it wasn't) acts as an unpredictable two-edged sword that is the cause of such travesties as M.D. Geist and Angel Cop. Overdoing anything is a recipe for disaster, but without it, the style of anime wouldn’t have been as unique as it was. Case and point, Zeorymer, which doesn’t test its boundaries, and just ends up insipid on all sides. 

This 1988 OVA came out in the span of about a year and a half, and it stars a kid named Masato who's kidnapped by G men and told that his family life was a lie and he is an artificial human groomed to pilot the mecha Zeorymer. He doesn't take it too well at first, but soon accepts his fate to fight against Hau Dragon, an organization bent on world domination using their mecha known as "Hakkeshu", and seeking revenge on Zeorymer for being the mech stolen from them by a traitor. The Hakkeshu are a legion of fighters in Tekkoryu's employ that plan to use their own machines to take Zeorymer down. With the help of the beautiful Miku (nothing to do with Hatzune Miku) , his co-pilot, Masato must stop the approaching menace. It may be an impossible task, though, since there's a mystery lurking in Masato's DNA which may make him even more dangerous to the safety of the world than all the Hakkeshu combined.

 

Masato doing his job.

The Zeorymer, a cool mecha.

HPZ offers some of the best animation OVAs in 1988 had to offer. It's an absolutely beautiful series with great character designs and a nice use of light and darkness. The animation looks more like a film than a made-for-video series in some sections, which enhances the mood considerably. If you dig big robots fighting and want everything to look as cool as possible, Zeorymer is probably your ticket.

Let's talk about the mechs, because I actually quite like Yoshiki Takaya's designs. The Hakkeshu look very alien in appearance due to their lack of an obvious human base in design. They don't have two eyes or visors reflecting helmets, and instead their "eyes" are expressed by glowing orbs that are simply stuck in square compartments. They're very blocky and not aerodynamic with sharp or inconsistent shapes jutting out. They kind of look like relics or statues of mythical gods with how they defy any facial characterization. Omzack doesn't even have limbs, just being some sort of floating aquatic-like machine with several tails flowing behind it. Zeorymer itself is a massively overpowered machine which can still be cool if pulled off well, but what makes its strength kind of dull is the fact it doesn't really escalate. It feels as though it's about demonstrating the same level of power in every fight all the way to the end, and it's simply always enough to destroy the enemy machines in one blow while never being an any serious danger. The fights aren't very dynamic nor do they have complex choreography due to their slow pace, but they're entertaining enough due to the plot and character development that continues to unfold as they play out. Zeorymer also doesn't have particularly great animation, but when it does decide to show off some action it looks fluid. What's most commendable is just the excellent illustration. I love the shading here, and there are several great stills that are incredibly detailed with scene compositions that are focused and easy to follow, so this does feel like a production worthy of an OVA and it has solid direction. The imagery is great, but there isn't a lot of complex motion to marvel at. The soundtrack is decent, with the brassy "Awake! Zeorymer" and the angsty, cathartic ending theme "Crimson Loneliness" being the highlights.

Peeping Tom mecha.

Make love, not war!

Unfortunately, there's not much to recommend beyond the animation. Although Zeorymer promises hidden secrets and layered characters, it's all an excuse for a "robot of the week" show with tedious plotting and asinine characters. We already know the plot from the narrator who spoils things not five minutes in. However, we could still have moved on from there. Instead, we get the worst cliché in the book: the "send out one man after another to defeat the monolith" style of enemy. Now I know that not every criminal has read Sun Tzu's Art Of War or Napoleon's diaries, but you'd think these folks would start to learn. When faced with a deadly protagonist, send in all your folks at once and take him down definitively! That would make sense, but not in anime land. Zeorymer would have been no match for the whole of the Hakkeshu all at once, but it's never a situation faced. How annoying.

What's more unsettling is how the show breaks up internal logic for its character storylines. For example, Masato finds himself changing into an altogether nasty fellow when he gets angry, sort of like The Hulk but with a sarcastic disposition instead of muscles and lime green acne. Now that could make sense in a way; after all, he was programmed to be a fighter pilot who would someday take on the world. But instead (and skip this next part if you dislike spoilers)...he realizes that he is becoming his creator. And somehow, he literally has to fight turning into this horrific sadistic scientist. It's too much to bear--how would this guy's whole memory wind up implanted? The show doesn't explain, only using it to create pathos.

Nude babes!

Nude fighting!

I never thought I would chastise an ‘80s OVA for having too little carnage or porn. The animation is good enough that it wouldn’t come off as disgusting. Besides, as movies like Fist of the North Star have shown, the extra mile can go a long way when there is little else to play on. Granted Zeorymer could have always gone the preferred route and play to the ideas it leaves on the table. The series brings up some pretty interesting concepts having to do with abuse, exploitation, and even predestined servitude. Personally, I don’t really care for how they went about it. But that aside, the real issue is that it deals with these issues with very little follow-through. Let’s face it, that premise isn’t so creative that it can stand on its own, so the OVA really needed something beyond the same one note it had for every character to be meaningful.

I wish I could have recommended this title on action. I’m sorry I cannot. The animation quality and artwork are not bad at all, as stated above. However, there is no point to good looking animation if nothing is done with it. The fights mostly involve the robots slowly charging up some kind or energy blast while the other dodges it with no visible sense of urgency. And it was all done with no real choreography and no semblance of tension. Even something as incoherent and mind-numbing as M.D. Geist had movement in it.

No pubes! momma!

Wired fanservice.

Zeorymer in general just sort of ends unsatisfyingly. This OVA is full of a lot of great concepts that it doesn't have the breadth to pull off, so it ends up being emotionally limp due to weak set-ups that don't provide enough relationship detail or nuance to do its ideas justice, even though it has respectable ambition. The ideas that are still there such as the dark tone and psychological themes make it a decent enough watch for its run time even though they're minor, but it never ends up outdoing itself. I can safely recommend this to hardcore mecha fans or 80s/90s OVA junkies because it does enough to distinguish itself, but most people will probably think there just isn't enough here to leave a lasting impression. Zeorymer isn't a heavily flawed series, it just needed to actually be big rather than just think big. 

I got more and more depressed and bored as the series progressed, knowing that it was only going to get worse. And it did. By the time the tragic conclusion happens, I was ready to find out what was on TV. Hades Project Zeorymer has gorgeous artwork, nice explosions, a few naked people, and little else of any interest. If you're among its intended audience, you now know.

Sunny fanservice.

Here's a Blu ray clip (featuring the "Awake!" main theme song) , proving HD is the best that's happened to Animé:

The Manga Corps preview:

The ending featuring "Crimson Loneliness" sang by Yukio Yamagata:

新・キューティーハニー / New (Super Android) Cutie Honey

Honey Kusaragi, the fanservice goddess!

Background

Honey Kusaragi is a familiar name among seasoned Animé fans. Just by hearing her name, we're taken back to the early 70's where the 魔法 少女 (mahō shōjo) genre was born thanks to a fantastic manga that was published under the title Cutie Honey. its popularity immediately demanded the creation of an animated series that ran for 25 episodes until it was cancelled for being too sleazy for TV. Moreover, some say this Animé was the avant-garde of fanservice. Ultimate our naked heroine, would end up becoming a member of Go Nagai's holy trinity of characters, with Devilman & Mazinger Z being the other two.

 

Fast forward 21 years later, and voila! New Cutie Honey  becomes the 90's addition to the Cutie Honey media franchise. Inspired by continued popularity of the original 1973 Cutie Honey television series, and first announced by Toei Video in October 1993, it was the only Cutie Honey anime production to be licensed for distribution in the United States until Discotek Media released the 1973 series on DVD in November 2013. Unlike the original, it was developed as an OVA (straight to video). Its filmed episodes were released by ADV Films in the US, and have also been sold in the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Australia, and New Zealand.

Dressed to kill.

She fights for love!

Context

Set one hundred years after the original, it follows protagonist Honey Kisaragi, along with her friends from the Hayami family, as she fights criminals in the fictional Cosplay City. Honey Kusaragi, a female android, has a device within her that allows her to transform into various personas, or summon weapons and other powers, by shouting "Honey Flash!" The first four episodes contain a complete story in which Honey battles the forces of Dolmeck, a man feared even by other criminals. In later episodes, she defeats other enemies empowered by her returning former nemesis, Panther Zora. The series staff planned to make at least twelve episodes, but it ended with eight in 1995. A 2004 DVD release included a scripted but unfilmed ninth episode—a Christmas story—as a drama CD.

New Cutie Honey includes many characters and cameos from or based on prior works by Nagai, such as Mazinger Z and Devilman. It has inspired merchandise of its own, including many scale model kits of Honey. ADV's English language dub of the series features Jessica Calvello, who Nagai picked for the title role. Critical responses to the series have focused on its production values and voice work, and have explored Honey's transformations—which often tear off her clothes and show her naked body as they occur—in relation to her strong character traits. It has also been compared and contrasted with other anime based on Nagai's works. 

Transformation time!

Honey Flash!

Review

This eight anime is actually a fascinating update. Basically, it takes every great aspect from the original cutie honey (1973), and then greatly improves every aspect of the original to make it look, feel and sound like a top notch creation from the 90's.

While the animation style follows the classic look from a Go Nagai series, it has been updated to 90's standards, making the designs more detailed & balanced, which is a good thing as it is meant to be enjoyed by newer generations, and not necessarily old school fans. The soundtrack obviously features the original main theme, because it was just too fucking good to not be reused here. Obviously, the reused music has been given the 90's treatment in order to appeal younglings who don't understand funky disco music, but then again, the changes are subtle, so that original fans can get the kicks out of it as well.

Honey spends a fortune in clothes.

But she doesn't go the gym because she's a super android!

While lifelong fans expected a true homage to the original series, the nods to it are light, and even the psychedelic look the original one had, has been replaced by a darker (you know, the 90's) overall mood that demands a more serious animation style in order to bring Cosplay City to life. The monsters and/or bad guys, have distinctive yet varied, physical features, and their reasons for doing what they do are far more believable now. Honey's friends have also been greatly improved in terms of animation and personalities.  However, the series maintains the very essence that made the original great: Comedy, great action scenes, and obviously world famous Honey Kusaragi's transformations that provide a  lot of nudity and fanservice, nevertheless it is handled properly - in humorous manner and does not feel forced. 

For the most part New Cutey Honey delivers a much more solid experience than the original. For those wondering, no, you do not need to watch the original 1973 series to enjoy this show. The original anime doesn't even finish the manga arc that this follows up. Just know a long time ago Cutey Honey beat up some bad guys and good enough.

You're so dead bad guy!

Back stabbing for justice.

The animation is fantastic in this show. It really gives a vibe of an early 90s anime or even American cartoon with it's dark cities and generally grosser enemies. It's a pretty large, and in my opinion needed, contrast from the 1973 series. I love that Danbei is now this cyborg thing. He still gets knocked around like before, but it shows the progression of his character needing to help Honey.

While the original did slip in small amount of nudity , this show opts to have nudity everywhere. Every transformation has nipples. So if this is your type of thing than you'll like it. There is also fan service everywhere, however I never feel it's enough to degrade Cutey as a character. Although it is certainly a lot more than the 1973 series.

The fault I have with this OVA is the story sadly. While the first arc is very involved with lots of progression, the show devolves into a monster of the week show after it. This is what Cutey was known for sure, but I just feel like things could have gone better way in such a short anime.

The many faces of Honey Kusaragi.

A perfect body is a perfect weapon.

Brick by Brick


Story:

The real Honey Kusaragi died a hundred years ago. However, his father was the Oscar Goldman of the series ("We have the technology"), so he saved her DNA and build a "new super android" body that allows her to return from the death to protect Cosplay City from new and old enemies. The first four episodes have a satisfying story arc that isn't episodical story telling. Unfortunately, the remaining four chapters are episodical, so they kinda feel like they were either filler material, or the producers didn't know what to do to give the series a proper finale.  Still, this isn't a bad thing considering New Cutie Honey is a remake of the original, so the apparent flaws the series has, might as well be understood as homage to the original which didn't provide fans with an ending to the story.

 
Art:

As above mentioned, the art & animation is top notch work. The original Animé suffered from technological and artistic limitations where it couldn't properly portray 3D space, kept deforming characters in movement, and monsters had stereotypical "evil villain face". However, in this anime, things are properly hand-drawn, characters and bodies have proper anatomy, at the same time somehow preserving cartoonish faces of certain side characters when necessary. Anyway, I'm not saying the original series looked "awful", all I'm saying is early Animé in general didn't follow a realistic approach when drawing characters, vehicles, and background. This update only follows the higher standards the 90's had in this matter.

Go Nagai's finest.

Honey's friends.

Sound:

For the most part, and I if I didn't say it enough times already, New Cutie Honey is a tribute to the original series, so most of the soundtrack, including the iconic original Cutie Honey theme song (reworked twice to fit the 90's musical needs) will please both old and new Honey fans.

Character Development:

Better than in the original series. Original characters in 1973 were pretty much embodiment of one idea or one role, but here they actually start resembling people. There's a very small bit of character development going on in some of the side characters, but in general, interactions between them are fairly believable/convincing. 

Bad girls.

Good girl.

 
Overall, 新・キューティーハニー is a fair update on what Japanese people saw on TV in the early 70's, and what fans outside Japan saw in the late 80's & early 90's on bootleg VHS tapes. While this new take improves greatly on some aspects, it still feels like unfinished business, which is the main problem this OVA has. Even some of the worst OVA out there featured a finale but here, we're just left wondering whatever is going to happen to Honey Kusaragi in her neverending battle against evil. The animation style is great, the action scenes are cool, the bad guys are great too, the music is good enough but the story could have been better. Anyway, if you want to see it, you don't need to see the original series in order to fully enjoy this one. Recommended for fans of Maho Shojo, Ecchi, comedy and adventure. 

PS: Yes, the original series misspells "Cutie" as "Cutey".

Here's opening 1:



Here's opening 2 with English lyrics:




Ending #1 featuring the "Circle Game" song performed by Les 5,4,3,2,1:



Ending #2 featuring "Rendez-Vouz In Space" also by Les 5,4,3,2,1:



the Cutie Honey theme live (a fragment of it. It's a special feature from the Blu Ray release):



Every outfit Honey wears to fight crime:

ヴィナス戦記 / Venus Wars

The future sucks.

New year, new me! happy 2019 fellow readers! While some silly government has been shut down for even sillier purposes, here  the Sleazy Pictures Muggy Archive will still be opened to connoisseurs, thus bringing  the latest in forgotten and/or old Animé. However, we did go to the movies last year to enjoy Aquaman (a fucking masterpiece made with hairy manly sweaty balls that no Marvel flick will ever have) and Bumblebee (a very entertaining prequel and true to the original G1 nostalgia) We won't be reviewing those very soon because we're busy with Animé that needs room in the internet world.

Today's entry is about an OVA that is very popular in Italy! mamma mia! 

Background

Venus Wars (ヴイナス戦記 Vinasu Senki) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko. It was serialized in the Gakken magazine Nora Comics from 1987 to 1990. In 1989, The Venus Wars was adapted into an anime film directed by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, and co-written by Yuichi Sasamoto and Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, and produced by Bandai Visual, Gakken, and Shochiku. 

Who'd have thought there'd be War on Venus?

Shopping malls are no longer what they used to be.

International Release

The Venus Wars film was localized in the United Kingdom and the United States by Manga Entertainment and Central Park Media respectively, gaining recognition when it aired in heavy rotation on the Sci-Fi Channel "Saturday Anime" movie block in the late 1990s. The movie was licensed by Central Park Media was released on VHS on October, 20th 1993 in North America. It was later released on DVD on November 3, 1998, and again on DVD on January 28, 2003. In Australia and New Zealand, it was distributed by Madman Entertainment. Discotek Media later licensed the film and released it on DVD in 2012 from a new film print which has anamorphic widescreen, a significant upgrade over the old Central Park Media release, which was letterboxed and from a grainy, stretched source. Discotek later released the film on Blu-ray on December 15, 2015 (we made the review based on this edition)

8 Bit War

Based on the movie, Venus Senki is a Nintendo FAMICOM  strategy game with an innovative battle system that is used to this very day by very similar war strategy games. The story is about eight Hound Combat Bikers fighting against the invading Ishtar Empire forces in an effort to liberate the city of Io and driving Ishtar out of their homeland of Aphrodia.  

Here's a quick look at the FAMICOM game:

Susan Summers.

Hiro Seno.

The Review

If you want a gritty another war anime full of tanks, look no further! This sci fi OVA embodies the charm of 80's anime; though very flawed, the aesthetics and love put into its making is enough for an enjoyable watch. Specially if you were one of the many 80's kids discovering Animé for the first time, and getting their hands on anything that looked like it came from Japan.
The premise is sound if not a bit basic. Humans have colonized Venus (out of all the planets in the solar system) but due to ecological disasters, it is a backwater hellhole far from the supposed utopia of this world's Earth. Its people have a reckless, fatalistic and at times apathetic view towards life and peace (the ridiculously deadly bike racing games they have!). The nation Ishtar launches a surprise attack on Aphrodian's capital, Io and conquer it in one day. The anime then chronicles a bike racing gang's involvement in the war to recapture Io. The simple plot is made up for by a sense of scale. There is a huge array of futuristic armored fighting vehicles with the combined arms firepower that lays waste to the massive industrial complex of Io. Rarely in anime will you see such gratuitous scenes of warfare! There is more attention to detail than you'd think. The only aircraft are all prop driven as jet aircraft do not work in Venuses' atmosphere.

Not this war thing again!

No time for beauty advice.

At the same time, while one and a half hours is enough to craft a rich geopolitical thriller and a dose of history on top of the basic story, we only get a couple of basic anti war and totalitarian messages. The government is pretty corrupt and incompetent; that's always fun!

Instead, the run time focuses on the biker gang. While there are no problems with good character development, there's much left to be desired on this area. A lot of the dialogue is unnatural as hell, the characters' interactions do not reveal as much about themselves and the world around them as it could have and a lot of the movie seriously lacks a sense of direction. The beginning could have been condensed to half the amount of time without much difference. Definitely the weakest aspect of the anime!

The old get older, the young get stronger.

Pew! pew!

The characters are decent to poor. Most of the biker gang are the standard kids transitioning to adults type characters. There is no development for most of them save the main character and the alpha male and even then it is poor. It is quite probable that you'd make no real emotional connection to any of them! This is nothing compared to the Susan Summers character; she takes the blondes are dumb stereotype to the max and is easily the dumbest character in anime I've ever seen. She contributes almost nothing to the anime and her only redeeming feature is that she has more balls (or is it ignorance?) than most of the male cast! Literally just a dumb pretty face. Likewise, Hiro Seno is the stereotyped teenager that is forced to care about the war, thus accidentally becoming the inexperienced hotshot hero you know he's going to be after you've seen the first ten minutes of the OVA. The support cast is barely that, but still, you're watching this because you like the 80's overall mood of mechanical designs and cyberpunk, not character development. Besides, most of the Animé from this decade, have that je ne sais quoi feel to them, and Venus Wars, certainly has that in it.

Art wise is typical 80's ova type stuff; brilliant if you are used to old anime. What really boosts this anime are the insanely over the top and extremely cool military weapon designs. The giant tanks bristle with cannons that cover all of its sides! It is absolutely ridiculous and the anime knows it. They often operate alone as assault weapons; presumably because their all round fire power is expected to cover every possible approach to the tank. In practice, there are only 3 or so crewmembers operating the tank; so in battle, half of the guns are never used! Those monowheel motorbikes are also so impractically dumb that they end up becoming cool. You know what else is dumb? That experimental section of the movie where they animated motorbikes on top of live action video footage. Interesting? Yes. Well done? No, very roughly! It's more jarring than bad anime CGI!

My way or the highway.

A cast that looks cool.

The soundtrack, while not memorable, is fitting for the decade this OVA was made. Fans of the sounds of the futuristic 80's, will feel at home here. For obvious reasons, most of the Animé made in the 80's reflected what was going on in the decade music wise. Moreover, most of us seasoned fans, built a connection between futuristic cyberpunk & 80's pop thanks to these Animé. Clearly, the quality is nowhere near Bubblegum Crisis and other works made by very talented musicians. However, Shakunetsu No Circuit (skillfully performed by Eiko Yamane) is probably one of the coolest songs ever written for an 80's OVA.

Overall, I really enjoyed this, you don't watch this anime for the lame, unrealistic characters and the barebones plot. You watch this for the badass mechanical designs waging blitzkrieg war over desert wastes and wreaking total destruction of the intricately detailed cities of Venus. What makes this even more interesting is the asymmetrical forces of the two nations. The Ishtarians have massive tank armies while Aphrodian's prefer hard hitting mobile forces. In conclusion, this is one of the coolest war animes ever made! Recommended for fans of military sci fi, the junkyard future aesthetic and war anime in general.

Here's the official trailer:

The 1993 English dubbed trailer:

Venus Wars Main Theme by Joe Hisaichi:

The ending theme:

Shakunetsu No Circuit by Eyko Yamane, probably the coolest song in the soundtrack: