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So the "plot" for this OVA was you have two "good" kids who use Benesse products to prep for first grade and three "lazy" kids who ain't doing squat to prepare. They all go to the future through some random magic artifact (very Doraemon-coded) and see their future selves in first grade. The good kids see how successful they are as first graders but the lazy kids see that they're going to turn into flops if they don't shape up. You see how insidious this is?? The whole plot of this special is "kids, if you don't use our products you'll be a failure in ... life!!" Gross. (Admittedly the toys look kinda fun tho lol).

TL;DR Thoughts:

I feel like this was just a bunch of nonsense. The film kept jumping from idea to idea hoping something would stick. I did enjoy the more original bits (like the cultures of the different planets), but the really awkward homages to Hollywood were just off putting. I know that movie references are kinda a Tezuka thing and normally I like them, but these did not feel well integrated at all. At one point they made a reference to The Birds and it just said "A. HITCHCOCK" in the background in text. Like, yeah, thanks for that. Also, Dracula and the mummy show ... up, cuz why not?


Full Thoughts (SPOILERS BELOW):

-As usual, although it's definitely not as smooth as modern shows/movies, 70s anime is beautiful and you can see the passion behind it (especially with how much more difficult animation was back in that time). Some of the character design was pretty whack (Bander's design is really doofy looking), I admire the inventiveness and variety (no same-face syndrome here!) I don't really have the vocabulary to describe it but the simple color palette is very pleasing to the eyes as well.

-I'm very confused how Black Jack fits into this story. I've never read/watched a single Black Jack story, but I had no idea he had anything to do with Sci-Fi. I legit just thought he was a rogue doctor lol. I can't tell if this is supposed to be part of his canon or if they were just reusing the character and this is like an alternate universe where he has a space brother. -big shrug-

-One confusing aspect of the film were characters just magically knowing names. Somehow Banders' adoptive parents knew he was named Bander (was his capsule labelled or something?) and somehow Marina knew Mimuru's name (plant lady powers??) Zero explanation.

-Two very anime/Japan things about this movie: a fixation on boobs (EVERY animal had boobs including reptiles) and the step sister being the love interest, because of course she is. The second Mimuru was introduced as a step sibling, I instantly knew. DangitJapan, it doesn't matter if they're not blood related if you spend 17 years growing up with someone it's weird!!

-The transformation sequences were fun. I bet those were tricky to animate.

-Why did that one lady wear her transformation ring on her nipple and then the dad wore his on his arm? Do these people not know that you can wear rings on your finger? Is that one lady just kinky?

-They did the same thing they did in I'm Standing on a Million Lives where you use the word for horse ("uma") to describe something that's definitely not a horse. I guess anything you ride is an "uma"?? (Unless it's a chocobo).

-The alien designs were a mixture of creative and cursed. That weird water-boob monster in the desert freaked me out lol

-Can't say the female characters were super inspiring. Their only traits were "love interest #1" and "love interest #2" It was also hella awkward how Mimuru was just waiting for Marina to die to swoop in and be the rebound.

-I enjoyed Black Jack's old timey badassery. He kinda reminds me of Tuxedo Mask with his suave cape swishes haha

-I got major Star Wars vibes from some scenes, but this only came out a year after that, so I don't know if they would really have had time to be inspired by it.

-I feel like the movie mostly made sense until we got to the part with Dracula and then I just lost the plot completely. The plot felt pretty aimless to begin with because Bander was just like "I'm going to Earth because a robot told me so!!" Like, he didn't exactly have a plan or goal.

-Dr. Sharaku made no sense. First of all: why is he a baby? I swear they just didn't explain that. Second, why exactly did he create "the power of fear"? He was literally just like "Yeah, I spent 3 years making this uber deadly weapon, sure would be bad if someone used it." Then why'd you make it!? Just for science reasons?

-I could have done without the "history of the world" bit. That honestly felt like padding. Even Bander was like "get on with it!"

-Marina's death sequence where she transforms into a tree was nice. Reminded me of Fantasia 2000. I feel like snippets of this movie are great, but all together it's a bit of a mess.

So yeah, that was a thing. Definitely one of my more obscure viewings (not a lot of info about this online). As far as I can tell, this is a standalone work, aside from referencing other stuff. The way it's called "Bander Book" makes it sound like it's one "book" in a series, so I'm not sure why they called it that. Anyway, it was a hot mess so I give it a 5 outta 10.

It’s not like I ever expected a video game to manga adaptation to be good but…this is pretty bad. I genuinely think that if this had been an art book it would have been soooo much better. The art in these two volumes is excellent. As I’ve said before, the R1 games’ graphics are super dated and so there are some aspects of the character design that come off kind of clunky and hard to look at. Manga artist Megane Kikuya really improved on the designs in her style and her art is what made reading this spin-off worthwhile.

The writing? Not so much…

Notes:

-Honestly, the writing ... in XXXX is practically gibberish, especially if you’re not familiar with the games. The story from the games is sped through at a breakneck pace and random new elements come out of no where. We get no time to care about the characters and it is strictly written for people already familiar with the games.

-I just finished reading volume 2 and the final fight is so “make it up as you go along.” Orca is brought back by Cubia out of nowhere (it’s not explained how), Balmung’s wings are ripped off randomly, and Kite turns into Azure Kite all of the sudden (which was kind of cool tbh) and then instantly reverts to normal Kite when the battle is over. It just feels like zero thought was put into writing a logical story for this manga.

-So much is out of context, Helba suddenly says “The world has been saved by the strength of the hero, Saya” after the final battle who was not once mentioned before in the manga or in…anything! I had to google who the heck Saya was (she’s in the Epitaph of Twilight) and I shouldn’t have to do that.

-Some visuals that made the manga worth it: we get to see Helba’s face, we get to see Morganna (kinda), Orca gets more screentime and looks great, the bosses look great, bonus art from other artists in the final pages

-Cubia’s entire character is very bad-fanfic-OC. His design is cute but he’s so poorly shoehorned into a story that’s already been hyper-condensed. He takes away a lot of Black Rose and Mistral’s roles and is kind of just Kite’s weird yandere boyfriend. I don’t really care about getting an accurate adaptation of IMOQ but if I did I’d be pissed.

It’s sad, I checked Megane Kikuya’s MAL entry and apparently she’s only worked on this and the .Hack//Link manga. She’s a great artist, she just needs to collab with a good writer and she’d be fine :/

I give volumes 1 and 2 of .Hack//XXXX a 4 out of 10