Megazone 23 Part I

Megazone 23 Part I poster

Megazone 23 is probably one of the most groundbreaking animé along with Akira, Macross and Ghost in the Shell. Originally titled Omega Zone 23 オメガゾーン23 (read as Omega Zōn Tsū Surī) before the title was changed just before release to Megazone 23. Written by Hiroyuki Hoshiyama, and directed by Noboru Ishiguro, Ichiro Itano, Kenichi Yatagai and Shinji Aramaki.

Megazone 23 was conceived as a 12-episode television series, but it was changed to a direct-to-video project after the sponsors withdrew their support mid-production. According to Noboru Ishiguro, the end result was a "compilation movie" of already produced episodes. Megazone was not conceived as a multi-part story. As such, the original release of "Part I" lacks the subtitle that has been added to subsequent re-releases.

The Garland is the main character in the trilogy.

The best Mecha design of all times.

Original mecha designs for the OVA series were created by Shinji Aramaki, while character designs were made by Toshihiro Hirano and Haruhiko Mikimoto, who would provide Eve Tokimatsuri's character designer for all three parts. For "Part II", Yasuomi Umetsu was the character designer, and for "Part III", Hiroyuki Kitazume took over.

The original planned title was "Omega City 23," then "Vanity City" and "Omega Zone 23," but trademark issues compelled the producers to a title change. The number "23" was originally a reference to the 23 municipal wards of Tokyo. In the retroactive continuity established by Part III, the number refers to the 23rd man made city-ship, with Megazone 1 named "Big Apple". However, the title is pronounced "Megazone Two Three" as referenced by several reference books and anime magazines published during the release of the series, the Japanese Wikipedia entry, and even within the series itself in "Day of Liberation".

Bad guys feel love too.

Yui & Shogo's after sex ritual: television!

The movie (OVA) was released on March, 9, 1985 and licensed for distribution to ADV Films for the USA, and Canada and for the UK it was distributed by Manga Entertainment. However, the first official western release date came ten years later in 1995.

Harmony Gold, (you know, the instigators of Robotech) got interested in the OVA, so they bought the rights and turned it into the awful Robotech: The Movie AKA The Untold Story.  This "original" film would tell the story of a secret weapon (the Garland) while The Southern Cross army would fight the Robotech Masters in space. Also, Harmony Gold commissioned a new ending (because the original was uhm, maybe too dark and sad?) more on the side of what could be called a happy ending (not the happy ending from porn films) The nude, sex & graphic violence scenes were removed as well.

The film was a disaster from start to finish but it allowed many growing Animé fans to look for the original film in which the Robotech movie was made upon.Nevertheless, the growing Animé fandom allowed some lucky people to get their hands in import tapes where there were no dubs or subs of any kind, just plain Japanese language.

Garland or "Bahamut" in action

Eve: AI.

The events in Megazone 23 take place in a post-apocalyptic future, where Tokyo only exists as a simulated reality (The Matrix has you Neo)  The story follows the main character Shogo Yahagi, an apparent delinquent motorcyclist whose possession of a government prototype bike leads him to discover the truth about the city and the human race destiny as well.
 
I'm sure you've all seen The Matrix by now. The creators of The Matrix say that it is 'anime inspired'. Just from watching the trailer to this classic, you can see where they took the plot from.

The film is sort of set in 1980's Japan, and it really shows. The costumes, music and words(in the recent English Language version by AD Vision) are all like they've been directly lifted from the era. I believe it was made in that time also, but due to certain plot points, this doesn't date the film!

As you probably guessed by my referencing to The Matrix, the world isn't real. It's not really the 1980's. In fact, it's something more like the 2480's. After a nuclear war, the Earth AKA Biosphere Prime's ecosystem was destroyed. The survivors were forced to escape into space, where the conflict continued. Once the planets (or "Biospheres") were all abandoned, people began to live in space fortresses known as Mega Zones - cities inside of spaceships, where, via hypnotism techniques and Truman Show-esque illusion, they were made to believe they we're back on earth, in the most peaceful time in recent memory... The 1980s. When young Shogo obtains a mysterious advanced looking motorcycle, it leads him to find out more than he's supposed to know... The Garland (a bike which becomes a mecha), a weapon from the 2400's, aids Shogo in his escape from the pursuing military. As more and more is discovered about the MegaZone, the war comes closer to home, and due to conflicts between the military and the computer, the war comes to the MegaZone too... I apologize if those points are seen as spoilers, but the plot is outlined basically that way on the synopsis.

Operator 7G, the chosen one.

the Garland, a masterpiece.

Emotions run high in this movie, more so than The Matrix. You really do believe the war is going on, and Shogo really does become quite scarred by what he's discovering. What starts off as an uber-happy cool 80's flick becomes a tragic tale of war and unreality. These characters are real people, not the cardboard cutouts we saw flipping around in bullet-time in The Matrix. There really is the sense of the suffering people can go through after being caught up in such a conspiracy, and a war. It may just choke you up towards the end... I know it did me.

When it comes to character development, the film doesn't fall short either. Shogo Yahagi is a youngster who's living a life of ease sharing with friends, and clearly enjoying being a fan of the pop diva known as EVE. Obviously, this changes once he discovers the secret weapon his new bike is. Shogo wants the world to know the truth and despises war or violence of any kind. BD, The antagonist, is a top gun who will stop at nothing to ensure the truth doesn't come out. While he seems to be the bad guy, the second film reveals him to be more human than previously seen on part 1. Yui Tanaka, is a hot dancer and Shogo's love interest. Mai Yumekano & Tomomi Murashita are friends in common with both Yui & Shogo. They're planning to film a science fiction romance movie, so they rely on Shogo's Garland for the action/adventure supply. While other characters appear, the previously mentioned are the ones with more on screen time.

Better than Lynn Minmei.

Girls from the 80's.

Animation is pretty impressive for it's day, and the picture quality on the ADVision DVD is unbelievable for it's age. The artwork style is beautiful and reminiscent of traditional anime, very cultural. Be prepared for quite a lot of violence and blood, there's also an erotic sex scene.

The ending can be seen as a 'there can be no ending', similar to the Matrix, or, supposedly can be followed by the sequel.

I have to say that this is one of the best Animé I've seen, in fact, one of the best movies I've seen, and considered by many to be one of the greatest Animé of all time.

Sex in an OVA!

Boobs!

Overall, Megazone 23 Part I is definitely the best out of the three OVAs as it sets up an original story with great characters, action, music and high quality drawing style. This film raises the bar in what comes to standards in animation and despite being a 1985 OVA new generations can enjoy as much as the original target audience. 

I must recommend the ADVision DVD, as their take on the English Language is incredible, and does the movie justice, and can be purchased with an artbox for holding the two sequels when they are released, which will have the same vocal cast. All in all, MegaZone 23 is an incredible movie, and deserves to be held highly, and should be an essential in any anime fan's collection.

Here's a fan made video which shows the most important fragments of the plot and it's accompanied with the main song sung by Eve "Sentimental over the shoulder": 

And here's the official trailer for the film: