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Title Info
- seen: 1 of 1
- type: OAV
- grade: flawed
- people: Macek
- form: dub
- source: Streamline (defunct)
- made: 1991
- Review created: Fri Feb 2 18:18:55 EST 2001
- mod: none
I'm not exactly sure what the status was for this single OAV episode. 5 episodes of the TV series were released to the western market, and i've reviewed these here. While they never released the whole TV series they did release this episode which acts as a closer to the TV series. What the timing, and logic, behind this plan was I don't know.
In any case you can read the zillion review for details. Although you don't have to, because the two aren't nearly as connected as you might expect. Apparently the war that featured in the TV series is well and truly over, and it look like the aliens lost. Mind you, it also looks like the humans didn't exactly win. There's a strong feeling of post apocalypse living and the background is full of burnt out buildings. The `white knights' have also changed somewhat. They've lost the weapons and their military mission and have instead become, wait for it, a rock band. And their commander now owns the pub in which they play. I'd love to know how the TV series got to this point, but it certainly came as a shock.
In any case, while the war is over it still looks like things are far from peaceful. More specifically the people of the town live in fear of a small clan of criminals. They've staked out some sort of island industrial plant, have all sorts of deadly toys, tools and abilities and steal anything they want. And, unfortunately for the white knights, one of the sons has decided he wants to be married, and the wife he wants to steal is apple (the female member, and now lead vocalist) of the white knights. Needless to say the other two members aren't letting anyone steal their woman so it isn't long before they're fighting it out with the bandits in the their fortress called the `zone'. Other elements of complexity include a psychotic ex-friend of one of the team members. There's also a very strange interlude showing a `childrens' cartoon version of zillion which is very weird but sort of amusing.
It's a little bit silly. Everyone has guns but no-one actually manages to hit any living target. Thus there's quite a lot of somewhat artifical gun-fights or melee's. The criminal clan, having only five members, is compensated for their lack of numbers by having impressive combat abilities. Although this steals any sense of realism from the show. So in essence it all feels a bit like a shallow action romp. There are some elements of character interaction, but without the foundation of the full TV series they're a bit mysterious and you get the feeling you're missing something. It's not bad, it's certainly better than the silliness of the TV series, but it lacks strong foundations and is still only average anime.
The production is a little bit better than the TV series, as can be expected. They certainly don't have time to irritate you with repeated sequences. On the other hand it has a short running time further reduced by some pretty lame `song' sequences and the mildly amusing `cartoon' interlude. It's reasonable animation, not flashy but deeper and more detailed than the TV. The action is not too impressive but is more imaginative in its staging and sense of energy. Although to keep the story going the white knights seem more incompetent than usual. Voices are archetypal and sound is fine.
Words by Andrew Shelton, Web by Ticti, Last Compile: Wed Aug 5 12:39:27 WST 2009