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Jul 14, 2018
In the year 2031, geeky main character screws up the world and created intelligent machine creatures of rapid evolution! How's that for a hook?
Kawamori's latest directorial sci-fi creates a mystery amidst a "war" against an enemy of the state, and the beasts created by our main character, Leon Lau. Already, there is a sense of surprise and sympathy for the main, who receives the end of a batting stick because his beloved technology put mankind in a big crisis - The Neo Xianlong Crisis.
It's "surprising" because it's amazing how much he screwed up, and the B.R.A.I are amazing. The series doesn't start off at
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school, or maybe in someone's local standard home. How does Leon repent?
However, I believe it's called Pandora, referring to Pandora's box - while chaos, evolving machine beasts called B.R.A.I, comes out of the box, there is also the possible power to bring miracles, and Leon wants to use his Quantum technology to make life better. He creates the Hyperdrive to equip with the MOEV, and that's where we have Kawamori's signature: the variable combat machine that can change into a bipedal form.
Pandora is probably difficult to clutch with a loyalty on a same level with core mainstream anime, but it really shows Kawamori Shoji's style. I say this because we keep revering the flashy, angular aggression of our most famous, "unforgettable" shows that, for one reason or another, makes us cry and moves our minds.
The CGI is a bit wonky compared to Macross. Think maybe Macross Zero and the duels of Frontier and Delta; because Pandora's low visual setting, I suppose it's hard to follow with the eye, compared to the skies of most Macross dogfighting. However, the action scenes are interesting, especially when the MOEV's hyperdrive is triggered. Then, it actually gets a bit "gutsy".
Many of the characters, particularly on the Pandora team, have suffered a tragedy brought on by the Crisis. Their activities come in close contact to the main antagonist, Mister Gold and his group. The team itself being a harmony together - a mood-maker, a quiet beauty, a cranky young lieutenant, a cheerful girl, a composed (and very stubborn) mayor and her contrastive high-strung adjutant, a vulgar but responsible and caring veteran soldier, and a nerdy man. Also, one of the characters has to carry himself as being a bit of a burden.
Again, the B.R.A.I are amazing, one of the highlights, their accelerated growth bringing their physiological qualities to the limit.
Pandora is also packed with a radio series, a gag comic and a novel centered on Queenie, Leon and Chloe's pasts. To quote Queenie's VA, Kanazawa hana, "martial artist which carries anger and sorrow deep in her heart."
Please enjoy sci-fi. For now, it's too early to suggest Pandora's qualities at their peak. I hope I'll change my score for the better.
FULL Non-spoiler review here: https://glculturetree.wordpress.com/2018/07/13/gutsy-science-and-doug-loves-the-pussy-about-jushinki-pandora/
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Jul 30, 2017
I wrote a review on my blog, compressing it a bit (and a few changes) for MAL.
I like to call this the "BROKEN BAE SHOW".
IMPACT/STORY: Pronounced “ik-zah”, this short OVA was produced in a dark era called the Gore genre. These anime popularized splitting faces, saliva-dripping maws, disfigured loved ones, popped out eyeballs, and everything being ripped or melted. Tatakae Iczer-1 is a total shock, and Nagisa gets to suffer with the watchers as her hometown is secretly invaded by Cthulhu. Since it’s sci-fi, the aliens can propagate in the body and take control. There is some traditional sci-fi action as well with both small
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and large robots.
SOUND/ANIMATION: This is Hirano Toshiki’s (平野 俊貴) debut leading work; he did Dangaioh, Zeoraimer and Iczer-1 adjacent to each other. He and composer Watanabe Chuumei work closely, and Iczer-1 (and even Hirano's other works) are given this nice heroic tokusatsu touch that fits with the action. The design for Iczer-1 is flamboyant and there is a lot of tone overall, representing the dark quality.
The VA cast are good as well, even though they are slightly vague these days. You may recognize C.V Yamamoto Yuriko as your favorite nice sister who can fight for you (Saint Seiya’s Eagle Marian, Dancouga’s Sara). One of my favorite C.Vs is Toda Keiko, providing the voice of the cold-hearted Iczer-2. Nagisa herself is Sho Mayumi, who had lead in the above-mentioned Hirano works, has proven a performance in gentleness (Nagisa), dignity/strength (Yuretei) and a bit of both (Alice). Oh yeah! Shiozawa Kaneto. Just Shiozawa Kaneto~
CHARACTER: Remember when I mentioned Watanabe? Outside of the soundtrack, there is an influence of classic tokusatsu and Kikaider in this series as Izcer is an android with a laser beam and sword (ie: Kikaider, Gavan). She values the mission, likes Nagisa and wants to protect Earth. Nagisa is a gentle girl pushed into despair and Iczer focuses on the mission; Iczer-2 adds on to the pain given by this OVA's gut-wrenching quality but because of that, she is an excellent enemy that you wish to see defeated. I don't have an opinion on Big Gold. It is (?) basically the thing that drives the main antagonist by the reigns and gives orders.
CONCLUSION ("Do you like zetsubou anime?"): It’s difficult to place in my heart. It’s done well, it has a shock factor (a good point and bad point), but it feels indeed conceptual. A “sit on the couch” (and hold on to dear life) show, and it promotes the original work. It feels like an OVA. When animation was mostly cels, OVA releases were popular, especially for an original work or following the popularity of a comic or tv series. Thus, production cost aid and promotion, going right into the 90s.
In many classic OVAs, however, the endings are left vague or just plain rushed. I don’t think the origins of Cthulhu and Violet are completely clear either, and I was a bit disappointed by the ending itself.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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May 21, 2012
"A story than spans 3 generations for 100 years." (100年に渡る3世代の物語)
ART: Being the animated gundam series to succeed Gundam 00 on TV, AGE has received some negative lashes for its "colorful" or "childish" character art. Nagumo Takuzo (video games Inazuma Eleven and Prof. Layton) is responsible for the character art, and it does give off the impression that it wouldn't respect the serious story of the Asuno Family, nor respect the military fiction genre that commonly follows Gundam. While I do feel that way, and while I do think their characters faces and noses sometime look lazy, I think the style accentuate the characters. The
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mecha art is good, and I enjoy checking out blogs for the toy models. There are a few designers who worked on different previous gundam works such as Wing, X, Crossbone, and even 00, but the gundam AGE itself seems to adopt more from 00. You can't help but see Exia within AGE-1. Except the starcraft, there are little to no CGI used anywhere. That's a plus for me! You can follow the battles easily. Background art, like the forests and building structures of the colony, are well done. The openings are great to watch too.
STORY: AGE is developed for younger watchers to recognize the Gundam product, and to appeal to a wide audience, which I think makes it easy to follow. I thought a storyline about three generations of pilots from the same family was a great idea. Destruction and violence takes place; also, it has features that are orthodox to the previous shows like the Earth Federation and space colonies, a youthful gundam pilot compelled to battle with a super weapon designed by his family, and military personnel and civilians escaping on a spacecraft. Explaining more may be giving out spoilers, but you if you're familiar with the UC series, you can probably point them out while watching AGE. Plus, I think the UE are a cool enemy. Their vicious fighting tactics, and the Federation's helplessness against them, make them interesting to watch. On the other hand however, the story being VERY linear and being unfair to its supporting characters is a negative. Since the storyline is split into three generations, time passes quickly and the seasons are shortened. Plenty of climaxes, but short seasons. This leaves things to have small develop time.
SOUND: Lovely music. The OPs and EDs are a mix of rock and pop. I especially like the opening themes "Asu he" and "SHARP". The ED "My World" is well done too. Voice-wise, Kazuhiko Inoue (Jerid from Z gundam, Gai from ASTRAY) does well as a narrator. Like a grandfather to his grandchildren, his gruff tone relays the setting's tense reality, of generations thrown into chaos by the UE. Along with him, other VA from previous gundam works such as Sakaguchi Daisuke (Usso from Victory Gundam), Yusa Koji (a minor in gundam X), Ono Daisuke (Sven Cal of STARGAZER), Toichi Hiroki (Lasse of 00), Endoh Aya, (Kimie Crossroad in 00), Romi Paku (Loran from Turn A), Suwabe Junichi (Sting of SEED DESTINY), and Kusanoki Taiten appear in the cast. The main characters (Eguchi Takuya, Toyonaga Toshiyuki, Yamamoto Kazutomi) are voiced by more-or-less new VAs but they do well in portraying the boys.
CHARACTER: Like I said, the story is straight-forward. The main characters, as members of the Asuno family, receive the most development. Each season quickly passes by, leaving characters and replacing them before you get to know them well enough. This feels pretty bad when it comes to romantic relationships. One thing that bothers me is that because the gundam is a force to be reckon with, many (not all) side characters are more-or-less insignificant. Also, the antagonists are so vicious in their supposedly "fair goal" that they seem like monsters more than anything.
ENJOY/OVERALL: Simplicity in story, bad direction with some characters. I like the family concept in AGE and the evolution of the gundam. Good music. I think it's a fair show and has the gundam essentials. If this show teaches you anything, don't give in to anger and spite.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Sep 23, 2009
Along with enjoying that the main character was a little dog named Gin, I was surprised by the emotional quality of this piece of work. I also appreciated the courage, fervor, and growth of Gin.
[ GOOD POINTS ]
- Bravery of Gin, Daisuke (human), and others are attractive. And, I like that it is a comic/show centered around the adventures of dogs (or is it revenge?). They are skillful and characteristic like their human counterparts.
- I also liked the music. The OP is passionate and unforgettable, and ED is lovely!
- Futhermore on characters, the voice casting is elite. Chika Sakamoto is the strong young boy Daisuke,
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Banjo Ginga feels like the handsome and resolute father that makes Riki, Eiko Hisamura makes Gin much like an typical hot-blooded boy, Hideyuki Tanaka as Ben is lovely and a determined friend, Toshiko Fujita as Cross is precious, etc.
[ "BAD POINTS" ]
- There are scenes that may be considered TOO violent to some people. I mean it gets ugly. ;) I kinda like it because it's moving, but just to warn ya.
- Animal cruelty of Daisuke's grandfather. It doesn't make the show"bad", but it can be difficult to watch.
- The pace of the show may feel a little slow at the start, and sometimes the battle animation looks VERY ugly (weird maneuvers and ugly spinning lines for example). I can't really think of much else for bad points.
It's a bit short, but one of my top rated shows on my list.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Sep 21, 2009
After watching the Ryu Knight TV series and the first Adeu Legend OVA series, the short Adeu Legend II dissapointed me a little. If you're a Ryu Knight fan, it is probably okay to pick it up.
Story
The story mostly surrounds a mysterious woman, Ryu Knight, and the Dial of Destruction. Compared to the first Adeu Legend, I thought ALII had a more interesting storyline, and definately shows the "alternative retelling" aspect of the OVAs. But because the series is short, I think some potential was lost.
Art
Keeps with the "OVA style" like from the first one. There seems to be more shade. Apparently, some years
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have passed because Adeu and Paffy look a bit older, especially Adeu. I love Adeu's look. He really looks strong and heroic now. Ryu Knight looks cool with the shoulder emblems from AL I. BUT! The Ryu doesn't have the impressive "summon" scenes like from the TV series. Ryu Knight's first summon in this OVA looked pretty good, but it's downhill after that. Plus, I wish the fighting was a bit more better animated.
Sound
Haha, the main cast is like from the first OVA, a few of them having different roles. Takehito Koyasu, Hiro Yuuki, Juurouta Kosugi, Ai Orikasa, Akiko Yajima, and Tomohiro Nishimura is a fine cast from the 90s. Koyasu (Ikazeus from AL1) plays the main villain this time, the power-hungry and cold Dyuma. Ai (Hyunto) is Dyuma's pretty and loyal right-hand servant, Ron. Sakiko Tamagawa (Malto) is the calm-but-hurting-inside Sophie. When it comes to sound-effect, nothing in particular seems bad.
Character
There are a few changes with the four main characters. Let's just say that a wandering killer happens to coincidently look and behave like an old friend, and the heroine runs into a look-a-like. Adeu seems more mature, but still the lovable reckless knight of justice. Paffy also seemed more matrue and strong.
Enjoyment
Few episodes so there's little fighting. I was dissapointed by the final fight.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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