Space Adventure Cobra

Serves best as an introduction to the Space Cobra series. A 1982 movie with great visuals that holds up today. Note this movie is a retelling of episodes 1-12 & there are two English dubs to this film: Manga UK & Streamline Pictures. The UK version has a soundtrack done by Yello & various changes in its script. This review covers the Discotek release which should be the Streamline dub.

Premiering a few months before its television anime, Space Adventure Cobra: The Movie delivers what you expect in anything Cobra related being; sexy women, stylish visuals, great soundtrack, science fiction & manly action. That being said, ... the movie's plot is an alternative form of Cobra's 1st manga story arc which was adapted in the anime version of that same year.

To quickly summarize the story, Cobra is a space pirate with a bounty on his head who comes in contact with a bounty hunter named Jane who then asks for Cobra to rescue her sisters Catherine & Dominique. Along the way, they encounter "The Guild" a mafia group filled with space pirates. The movie version has various differences from its manga storyline which in some cases seems almost better than its source material.

The main difference is Jane being Cobra's main love interest while in the anime it was Dominique, however this is presented better through the newly made up mythology. While the triplet sisters were human in the anime, the film decided for them to be part of this ancient alien civilization who hold the secret to the most dangerous weapon in the galaxy. Their unique traits as a species are lot more explored in the film as it presents this theme of passionate love which at the time was a recurring trend among 80's shonens such as City Hunter, Fist Of The North Star & Saint Seiya.

Cobra's villain, Crystal Boy, also makes an appearance yet he is presented a bit different from his anime counterpart. Crystal Boy is portrayed a bit more sadistic in this film as he tends to make these facial expressions & often having close ups of his read bulging eyes. Another key difference is Crystal Boy not using his signature hook but instead uses his ribs like a spear. Aside from those changes he still remains as threatening & stylish as ever.

In terms of visuals, this is a great film as it was directed by Osamu Dezaki who knows how to make eye pleasing scenes. The character designs are improved in this film such as Jane having blue hair to contrast Cobra's blonde hair & red jumpsuit. The same goes for Crystal Boy as he looks his best in this film giving a more "pop art style". As for Cobra, the only significant change in his design are his boots being black instead of red.

Space Adventure Cobra is set in a "Star Wars like" world where various aliens & robots inhabit different planets. Cobra himself is a mix of James Bond & Han Solo, although his comedic side isn't shown in the film. The movie is a good starting point to get into Cobra & its English dub is good enough, especially in its 90's release date. However, I've only seen the Discotek release which contains the Streamline Pictures dub. I've heard its Manga UK release had several changes including dialogue, names, & even soundtrack which too many viewers came off as an odd movie experience.

Essentially, it's a good movie but serves as a taste for the 1982 anime series "Space Cobra" which explores more of its universe & Cobra's character.

An 80s psychedelic sci-fi spectacle. It's really amazing looking, and features some stunningly creative layouts, choreography and animation for its time. Miyazaki and Dezaki (along with a spry Ryuutarou Nakamura!) are working together here, so it should come as little surprise.

I feel it's an appropriate time to say that I personally watched this film out of an interest in Osamu Dezaki's work, expecting to see a fun and visually spectacular piece of anime. That's truly what I got, and I can't say I'm at all disappointed. However, I watched the Ace wo Nerae film with similar intent, and while Ace wo Nerae is a bit ... older and not as awesome in the visual department as this is, I rated them about the same because I am far more interested in checking out the story of Ace wo Nerae beyond the film, than I am in the story begun here in this introduction to Cobra. That's just me, though.

Back to Space Adventure Cobra: It's kind of like an 80s Redline without any trace of the latter's tongue-in-cheek self awareness as an inheritor of the fun sexy action anime tradition. If we put Cobra on Freud's couch, the first things we'd have to note is that he is constantly playing around with a cigar (dick) and has a massive magical gun (dick) growing out of his elbow. His penis arm is called the psycho-gun. He's an utterly silly picture of outmoded masculinity and his life is a ridiculous juvenile fantasy. The hottest babe in the galaxy and the Queen of Miros (who's actually three babes in one, scattered in 3 different locations) is in love with him and he has to save 1/3 of her from an evil crystal man named Crystal Bowie (or boy?) with a skeleton made of energy (or something). Crystal Bowie's skeleton doubles as a sort of devastatingly powerful armory that he can access by reaching into his own body and pulling his bones out, and he's brainswashed the 1/3 of space babe in his possession, Catherine, to be in love with him. Is it not equally suspicious that whenever Cobra makes out with Jane or Dominique, he starts tripping balls and finds himself hopelessly enamored by her? I guess perfect, unearthly beauty is supposed to have that intoxicating effect.

The scenarios and characters here are as dweeby by design as the scenery and action are visually dazzling, though they aren't totally without a certain cheesy, boyish charm and cutting-edge style. In any case, it fortunately works out that devil-may-care Cobra's hidden feelings for Jane/Dominique that he himself doesn't seem aware of coincide with "doing the right thing," e.g. destroying the guild before they destroy the galaxy, and preventing Crystal Bowie from ruling the 3 in 1 space babe's special home planet of Miros. All this means Cobra gets to fulfill the role of casually disinterested hero that we so love to see. I tell you, the ending I would've preferred would've been if Catherine had been pretending to be under Crystal Bowie's control, seeing as how the power of Love allowed Cobra to resist being brainwashed toward the beginning of the film; in turn allowing Catherine to be the one to save the 7th Galaxy. But what are ya gonna do, eh? The story is far more conventional than that, not that it's a surprise.

I don't want to spoil things too badly, but let's just say, despite what the characters explicitly say about Cobra's feelings for the Triple Waifu Queen of Miros, he doesn't really act like he feels all that strongly, even through the very end of the story. Also, I think it's pretty clear that the Cobra character "works better" as a sort of womanizing space ruffian, and in that sense he certainly doesn't undergo a major arc of character development over the course of the series (as a side note, would people remember Kamina as fondly if he lived to love Yoko, or would he have changed too much? I wonder... TTGL is another series this one reminds me of). Fair enough I suppose, since there's a lot more story (in the TV series and manga) left to go by the point this film leaves us.

In short, you can turn your brain off for this one (and perhaps you should. jk, never turn your brain off. critique everything you see!!) and just enjoy how cool everything looks, and how hot the space babes are if you're into those.

WARNING - THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS

I'll start off by saying my review is not at all reflective of the rest of the Space Adventure Cobra series - simply the one I've watched. Cobra is a Gary Stu. This needs to be said simply because male characters need to be called out just like female characters. Does this mean one can't enjoy the movie? No, but it's not a bad idea to go into the movie a bit wary.

The next thought popping into my head regarding the Anime is how "that's not how love works". This movie definitely tries playing up the true love angle for ... the viewers, yet no matter how the series tries painting the interaction as something more than lust on the part of the characters, what we have is a guy lusting after three hot babes who just so happen to be triplets which is supposed to be one of those wet dreams guys have.

I also felt the narrative rather sexist with how the viewer ends up hit over the head regarding how a female protagonist needs a man to save her. We've a brainwashed female, but two females who don't know anything but the need to find their true love because they need a man that much. Added, the planet needs a woman of just the right proportions and only one female of these proportions exist - the Queen.

Wait! But doesn't the lives of these three girls end tragically meaning that the Gary Stu doesn't get his happy ending? While your classic Mary Sue often ended up with a happy ending and the guy she wanted the classic Gary Stu often ended up with their love interest dying. After all, that means no kids to tie them down and they can have as many love interests as possible. The dynamics between a Mary Sue and a Gary Stu changed because of differing expectations, but he's a Gary Stu none the less.

Was there anything enjoyable about this movie? I'm actually a fan of B-movies, so I loved watching how bad this one was, but I knew this would be one of those rides when I saw the bouncing head earlier on. For me, that made this a lot of fun - but for others - no, not fun at all.